Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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The aging of the immune system, also called immunosenescence, contributes to the increased morbidity and mortality from infections, autoimmune diseases and cancer as well as to the low efficacy of vaccination in elderly persons. Immunosenescence is characterized by a decrease in cell-mediated immune function and by reduced humoral immune responses caused by age-related changes in the innate immune system and age-dependent defects in T-and B-cell function. This paper gives an overview of the most important modifications in the different compartments of the immune system during the ageing process.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Sep 2014
Review Comparative Study[Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of antiinfectives in intensive care medicine].
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is based on drug-level control in biological matrices and serves as a diagnostic approach for individualization of pharmacotherapy and drug safety. Drug levels of antibiotics are distinctly influenced by comorbidity, physiological changes and various concomitant drugs in patients on intensive care units. Several factors should be taken into account for calculation of relevant pharmacokinetic parameters (elimination half-life, bioavailability, and clearance) to deduce a recommendation for dosage. TDM is a diagnostic standard for the individualization of polypharmcotherapy based on validated analytical methods (in particular LC-MS/MS and HPLC-methods) in order to optimize dosing and drug safety.