Science in Medicine

Question 1

Define equipoise

Answer 1

A state of genuine uncertainty or doubt about whether one intervention or treatment is superior to another. Necessary condition for clinical research to be morally acceptable.

Question 2

Define therapeutic misconception

Answer 2

The tendency of some research participants to wrongly assume that whatever drug or intervention they are offered must work or be beneficial (or else why would it be offered?)

Question 3

Define Affinity

Answer 3

A measure of the equilibrium constant of the reversible reaction between a drug (agonist or antagonist) and a receptor

Question 4

Define Efficacy

Answer 4

A measure of the magnitude of the (cellular) response produced when an agonist binds to a receptor

Question 5

Define potency

Answer 5

A measure of the concentration of a drug at which it produces an effect of a given magnitude

Question 6

Define specificity

Answer 6

A measure of the number of receptor sites that a given drug may bind to or the range of effects it may produce

Question 7

Define selectivity

Answer 7

The degree to which a drug binds to a given receptor site relative to other receptor sites (related to affinity)

Question 8

What is the Ec50

Answer 8

the concentration of a drug needed to produce a half-maximal (50%) response