Solution:
Analgesics
Analgesics reduce or abolish pain without causing impairment of consciousness, mental confusion, incoordination or paralysis, or some other disturbances of the nervous system . Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect.
These are classified as follows:
1. Non-narcotic (non-addictive) analgesics Aspirin and paracetamol belong to the class of non-narcotic analgesics .
Aspirin is the most familiar example.
Aspirin inhibits the synthesis of chemicals known as prostaglandins which stimulate inflammation in the tissue and cause pain.
These drugs are effective in relieving skeletal pain such as that due to arthritis.
These drugs have many other effects such as reducing fever ( antipyretic ) and preventing platelet coagulation . Because of its anti-blood clotting action, aspirin finds use in the prevention of heart attacks.
2. Narcotic drugs Morphine and many of its homologs , when administered in medicinal doses, relieve pain and produce sleep .
In poisonous doses , these produce stupor, coma, convulsions, and ultimately death .
Morphine narcotics are sometimes referred to as opiates since they are obtained from the opium poppy.
These analgesics are chiefly used for the relief of postoperative pain, cardiac pain, and pains of terminal cancer, and in childbirth.
Antibiotics Antibiotics are used as drugs to treat infections because of their low toxicity for humans and animals . Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect.
Initially, antibiotics were classified as chemical substances produced by microorganisms ( bacteria, fungi, and molds ) that inhibit the growth or even destroy microorganisms.
The development of synthetic methods has helped in synthesizing some of the compounds that were originally discovered as products of microorganisms .
Also, some purely synthetic compounds have antibacterial activity, and therefore, the definition of antibiotic has been modified.
An antibiotic now refers to a substance produced wholly or partly by chemical synthesis , which in low concentrations inhibits the growth or destroys microorganisms by intervening in their metabolic processes.
H.W. Florey and Alexander Fleming shared the Nobel prize for Medicine in 1945 for their independent contributions to the development of penicillin .
© examsnet.com
