Effects Of Human Development Research Articles

Pollen limitation of native plant reproduction in an urban landscape.

Evidence suggests that bees may benefit from moderate levels of human development. However, the effects of human development on pollination and reproduction of bee-pollinated plants are less-well understood. Studies have measured natural variation in pollination and plant reproduction as a function of urbanization, but few have experimentally measured the magnitude of pollen limitation in urban vs. non-urban sites. Doing so is important to unambiguously link changes in pollination to plant reproduction. Previous work in the Southeastern United States found that urban sites supported twice the abundance of bees compared to non-urban sites. We tested the hypothesis that greater bee abundance in some of the same urban sites translates into reduced pollen limitation compared to non-urban sites. We manipulated pollination to three native, wild-growing, bee-pollinated plants: Gelsemium sempervirens, Oenothera fruticosa, and Campsis radicans. Using supplemental pollinations, we tested for pollen limitation of three components of female reproduction in paired urban and non-urban sites. We also measured pollen receipt as a proxy for pollinator visitation. We found that all three plant species were pollen-limited for some measures of female reproduction. However, opposite to our original hypothesis, two of the three species were more pollen-limited in urban relative to non-urban sites. We found that open-pollinated flowers in urban sites received less conspecific and more heterospecific pollen on average than those in non-urban sites. These results suggest that even when urban sites have more abundant pollinators, this may not alleviate pollen limitation of native plant reproduction in urban landscapes.

The effects of human development, environmental factors, and a major highway on mammalian community composition in the Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah, USA

AbstractHuman development and roads threaten wildlife through distinct mechanisms and understanding the influence of these elements can better inform mitigation and conservation strategies. We used camera traps to quantify the effects of major roads, environmental factors, and human development on the mammalian community composition between sites north and south of a major interstate highway in northern Utah, USA. We found no significant differences in species richness nor community similarity across the north–south divide of the highway. Through Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we compared the effects of the distance to the highway, housing and human population density, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the human footprint index to changes in mammalian community composition and species‐specific habitat usage. Community occupancy response, similarity, and species richness were negatively affected by increased housing and human population densities and positively affected by increased NDVI and decreased human footprint, whereas their response to the highway was more inconclusive. We conclude that mammalian community composition in our study area is influenced by both environmental conditions and human development while the effect of the highway was more nuanced, possibly due to the presence of a newly constructed wildlife overpass. Taken together, the lack of differences in species richness or community composition across the highway suggests that it may not currently exacerbate the effects of other anthropogenic sources of habitat fragmentation and highlights the need for additional research into human–wildlife conflict mitigation strategies.

The Effect of Human Development and Good Governance on Mobile Diffusion in the Sub-Saharan Region: Evidence from Panel Quantile Regression

The Effect of Human Development and Good Governance on Mobile Diffusion in the Sub-Saharan Region: Evidence from Panel Quantile Regression

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

AbstractRiver herring—a collective name for the Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis—play a crucial role in freshwater and marine ecosystems along the Eastern Seaboard of North America. River herring are anadromous and return to freshwater habitats in the tens to hundreds of millions to spawn, supplying food to many species and providing nutrients to freshwater ecosystems. After two and a half centuries of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and overfishing, river herring are at historic lows. In 2013, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries established the Technical Expert Working Group (TEWG) to synthesize information about river herring and to provide recommendations to advance the science related to their restoration. This paper was composed largely by the chairs of the TEWG subgroups and represents a review of the current state of knowledge of river herring, with an emphasis on identification of threats and discussion of recent research and management actions related to understanding and reducing these threats. Important research needs are then identified and discussed. Finally, current knowledge is synthesized, considering the relative importance of different threats. This synthesis identifies dam removal and increased stream connectivity as critical to river herring restoration. Better understanding and accounting for predation, climate change, and fisheries are also important for restoration. Finally, there is recent evidence that the effects of human development and contamination on habitat quality may be more important threats than previously recognized. Given the range of threats, an ecosystem approach is needed to be successful with river herring restoration. To facilitate this ecosystem approach, collaborative forums such as the TEWG (renamed the Atlantic Coast River Herring Collaborative Forum in 2020) are needed to share and synthesize information among river herring managers, researchers, and community groups from across the species’ range.

Land use/land cover change detection along the coastline of Nigeria and its probable causes

The Nigerian coastline has been subjected to studies on land use/land cover changes, using satellite images, for three decades. This paper is borne out of the need to understand the dynamics of coastal management. The study aims at assessing land use-land cover changes along coastline in Nigeria from 1986 to 2016 using multi-day satellite imageries. The satellite data were used to extract land use/cover changes and to map the physical extent of the coastal areas of Nigeria for the three-time series during the same season. Urban/built up areas, water and vegetation are the three land use/cover classes of interest along the Nigerian coastline. The urban/built up area class increased from 8.9% in 1986 to 13.7% in 2000, and then 23% in 2016. On the other hand, vegetation decreased from 55% in 1986 to 49% in 2000 and then 43% in 2016. In contrast, water class increased from 36% in 1986 to 37% in 2000, and then decreased to 32.7% in 2016. Considering observations made from this study, it is therefore recommended that the appropriate government agencies, coastal managers and urban planners should promote afforestation along with other mitigation measures, to reduce the adverse effects of human develop-ment on the ecosystem.

Fuzzy ANP and DEA approaches for analyzing the human development and competitiveness relation

Human development and competitiveness have a causal relation. However, the literature is not clear on which one affects the other. This study investigates the bilateral relation between human development and competitiveness. For this purpose, initially, Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) is utilized to develop a composite index based on the relative importance weights of respective human development and competitiveness drivers. By FANP, the effects of key dimensions of human development and indexes of competitiveness on each other are taken into account. Subsequently, countries’ efficiencies on converting their human development to competitiveness and inversely, competitiveness to human development is measured by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Two different DEA models are developed to consider the bilateral relations. 45 countries are evaluated using both FANP and DEA models. Finally, the results are synthesized to reveal the direction of the relationship. It is found that the effect of competitiveness on human development is more significant than the effect of human development on competitiveness.

EFECTOS DEL DESARROLLO HUMANO EN EL EMPRENDIMIENTO: UN ANÁLISIS INTERNACIONAL

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to provide new evidence about the effect of human development in the entrepreneurship. Therefore, human capability approach was used as theoretical framework. Similarly, an empirical analysis was carried out by principal components analysis technique, for grouping of development indicators, of World Bank and of the United Nations, and the creation of Basic Instrumental Freedoms Index (ILIB), which was used as independent variable in the estimation of models by means of panel data. The results provide new evidence that suggests that the growth of ILIB encourages innovative entrepreneurship and decreases necessity entrepreneurship. Keywords: Innovative entrepreneurship, necessity entrepreneurship, human development, capability approach, instrumental freedom.

Human development and security sector reform: The examples of Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo

ABSTRACTSecurity Sector Reform has become a central element in assisting post-conflict countries on their way out of conflict to lasting peace. Burgeoning literature explores many aspects of this transformation process. A strong emphasis has been placed on questions of program design and local ownership. In addition to these studies we add another dimension: the impact of human development. As Sector security reform is often applied to developing countries, the impact of human development conditions should be self-evident but has been given insufficient attention. For this reason this study explores the effect of human development in the form of education, welfare, and health on the performance of security forces in two long-term peacekeeping missions in Africa: Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will show that the structural impact of human development conditions is significant and warrants more attention than currently received.

Effect of human development on the relationship between generalised trust and health: an international cross-sectional investigation

BackgroundA growing amount of research, primarily from Western developed countries, has suggested that generalised trust (ie, trust of others in general) is positively linked to psychological and physical health, and health behaviours. This study aimed to test if the relationship between generalised trust and health would be moderated by the level of human development among older adults in six developing countries. MethodsThe study utilised a cross-sectional dataset from the World Health Organization's “Study on global AGEing and adult health, the sixth wave”. Measures included generalised trust, and health outcomes such as self-rated health, history of illnesses (eg, angina, arthritis, asthma, cataracts, depression, hypertension, and lung disease), happiness, life satisfaction, health behaviours (physical activity, diet), and health-compromising behaviours (sedentary behaviour, cigarette and alcohol consumption). Participants were adults aged 50 years and older from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Russia (35 329 adults in total; mean age 63·54 years [SD 9·76]). Hierarchical linear regression was used to test if generalised trust was related to the health outcomes, and if the strength of relationships were moderated by human development index of the countries. The regression models controlled for the effect of age, gender, and household income. FindingsConsistent with the hypothesis, generalised trust correlated positively with self-rated health (β 0·06, p<0·0001), happiness (β 0·09, p<0·0001), life satisfaction (β 0·06, p<0·0001), and quality of life (β 0·11, p<0·0001), and negatively with illnesses (ie, angina [OR 0·69, 95% CI 0·64–0·75, p<0·0001]), arthritis [0·87, 0·83–0·92, p<0·0001], asthma [0·83, 0·74–0·93, p=0·0011], cataracts [0·89, .83–0·96, p=0·0017], diabetes [0·72, 0·67–78, p<0·0001], depression [0·48, 0·42–0·55, p<0·0001], hypertension [0·71, 0·68–0·75, p<0·0001], and stroke [0·80, 0·71–0·90, p=0·0002]) and sedentary behaviour (β −0·01, p=0·0227). Significant interactions between generalised trust and human development index supported the hypothesis that the relationship between generalised trust and health outcomes was moderated by human development index. It was found that stronger relationships were observed for countries with higher human development index than countries with lower human development index. InterpretationThe findings were consistent with those from previous studies in developing countries, and found that the positive relationship between generalised trust and health could be impaired by poor level of human development. FundingNone.

Human Development, Banking Development and the Quality of Local Government: The Case of Indonesia

We extend the study of Trinugroho et al. (2015) by focusing on the effect of human development on banking development and the moderating effect of the quality of local government on the link between human development and banking development. We use unique data set by disentangling the type of banks (commercial bank, rural bank, and the total of both) to measure financial development. This research uses panel data at the provincial level for the period of 2010-2014. Generally, it could be concluded that human development has positive effect on banking development. To some extent, the quality of local government is found to strengthen the impact of human development on banking development.

Model Nitrogen-Carbon and Iron-Nitrogen-Carbon Materials for Investigating the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The effect of human development on the environment necessitates the advancement of sustainable and environmentally benign energy sources. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a promising technology to transform the energy sector, however their cost is currently a substantial limiting factor to commercial adoption [1]. The use of platinum (Pt) and other precious metals, which catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode, is the costliest component of PEMFCs. It is thus critical to develop inexpensive, earth-abundant Pt-group-metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts. PGM-free ORR catalysts based on transition metals (TMs) and nitrogen doped carbon (N-C) have shown promising performance. While significant effort has been put into investigating the chemical and structural properties of TM-N-C catalysts, the exact nature of these materials’ active site(s) is still debated due to their high degree of heterogeneity [2,3]. Therefore, it is important to develop clear correlations between morphological and chemical properties, and the electrocatalytic performance of TM-N-C electrocatalysts. Our approach is to synthesize a set of model N-C and TM-N-C materials with appropriate surface areas and controlled properties, to enable characterization of this class of materials with novel methods in order to elucidate the nature of the most active sites. Model high-surface area N-C nanospheres were synthesized by a hydrothermal treatment of resorcinol, formaldehyde, and ethylenediamine, followed by pyrolyzation under flowing nitrogen, producing materials with different nitrogen concentration and varied relative distribution of nitrogen functionalities. Iron (Fe) was incorporated into N-C nanospheres to form Fe-N-C model catalyst materials, either by addition of an Fe precursor during the N-C nanosphere synthesis, or by wet-impregnation and subsequent pyrolysis in flowing nitrogen following synthesis of the N-C nanospheres. Properties of N-C and Fe-N-C nanospheres were controlled by altering parameters of the synthesis, resulting in a set of model catalyst materials with varied nitrogen and iron content and functionality, and varying degrees of Fe-N coordination. Multiple characterization techniques were used to understand the chemistry and morphology of the N-C and Fe-N-C nanospheres. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to determine the morphology and distribution of elements within the materials. Further insights into the 3-D distribution of elements were made via atom probe tomography (APT), providing a unique view of the composition and structure of these model materials. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ambient-pressure XPS (AP-XPS) were employed to quantify the elemental concentrations and speciation both under ultra-high vacuum and in the presence of a few hundred millitorr of oxygen and water at elevated temperature. The state of iron in Fe-N-C nanospheres was further characterized by Fe57 Mossbauer spectroscopy, and by measuring the Fe L-edge both under ultra-high vacuum and in-situ using near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Figure 1. High angle annular dark field (HAADF) STEM images and EDS elemental maps of Fe-N-C nanospheres produced with different Fe precursors: a) iron (III) chloride, incorporated post NC synthesis, b) iron (II) acetate, incorporated post NC synthesis, and c) iron (II) acetate, incorporated during NC synthesis. The distribution of iron is highly varied and occurs in the form of both Fe nanoparticles and atomically dispersed sites. Figure 1

Capacity for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed, Canada

Canada’s watersheds are under increasing pressure from the cumulative effects of human development. There is a recognized need to assess and manage cumulative effects to Canada’s watersheds, but there has been limited assessment of the current capacity for cumulative effects assessment and management. This paper assesses the current capacity to implement and sustain watershed-based cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed. Eight core requisites and 40 capacity indicators for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management are assessed based on a survey of 73 watershed stakeholders. Results indicate that many of the perceived threats to the health of the South Saskatchewan Watershed are not subject to regulatory environmental assessment. Participants identified leadership and multi-stakeholder collaboration as the most important requisites for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management, but under-valued the importance of vertical and horizontal linkages to ensure that watershed plans and monitoring programs provide sufficient guidance to land uses and project development decisions. Participants believed current capacity to be lacking, or limited, across most assessment indicators, with data management and coordination and resources to ensure the long-term sustainability of watershed cumulative effects assessment and management as the most significant capacity constraints. Advancing watershed cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed requires a lead agency or consortium of agencies with a clear mandate for cumulative effects assessment, the legislated or regulatory means to ensure that watershed efforts influence land and water use and allocation decisions, the coordination of data and provision of specific guidance to monitoring programs, and long-term financial investment.

Human development effects of large changes in food prices: Does openness policy matter?

This paper analyses the effects of food price shocks on selected disaggregated human development indicators and investigates the role of openness policy in mitigating the adverse effects of large changes in food prices. Using a panel of 74 developing countries from 1980 to 2012, I find that positive food price shocks reduce life expectancy at birth both in the fixed-effect model and in the dynamic panel model while negative food price shocks do not seem to matter for this human development indicator in the static model but adversely affect it in the dynamic model. I also find that both positive and negative shocks have no effect on youth literacy rate; this probably means that households do not react to food price shocks by taking children out of school. Analysing the role of commercial openness, I find that openness policy enhances countries’ capacity to manage the adverse effects of food price shocks on life expectancy at birth. This suggests that the tempting policy option of reducing openness to trade during food price shocks is not an efficient choice as regards the human development. Countries must therefore set institutional arrangements that could prevent policy-makers from taking this inefficient policy option.

The Effect of Human Development on Mammal Populations of the Punta Leona Private Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica

The effect of human development on six diurnal mammal species was studied using transects in the Punta Leona Private Wildlife Refuge, Puntarenas, Costa Rica during the dry season months of March and April 2006. Individuals/km was recorded for each species in more developed (MD) (near paved roads, buildings, construction, or deforested trees) and less developed areas (LD) (secondary forest). The white-faced capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) (n = 233), coatimundi (Nasua narica) (n = 46), and Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) (n = 36) demonstrated a preference for less-developed habitats. The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) (n = 4), tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) (n = 2) and variegated squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides) (n = 5) were observed infrequently. White-faced monkeys avoided construction areas, but received artificial food daily in developed areas. Coatimundis also received artificial foods daily and showed aggression towards guests.

Increased Cyclosporin A Sensitivity In Vivo in Pediatric Renal Transplant Recipients Compared With Adults

Developmental regulation of the pharmacodynamics of cyclosporin A (CsA) has been suggested by in vitro studies. However, these results have not yet been reproduced in the complexity of an in vivo immune system, because reliable biomarkers of CsA effects have not been available. Gene expression of interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon (IFN)-γ, and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in peripheral blood from stable pediatric (N = 31) and adult renal transplant recipients (N = 153) (age range 6.5-78 years) was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction before (C0) and 2 hours (C2) after oral CsA intake. To control for the effect of varying CsA concentrations, an index was calculated as a measure of individual CsA sensitivity. The CsA sensitivity of IL-2 gene expression in pediatric patients was 3.9% higher than in middle-aged adults and 5.2% higher than in seniors, indicating stronger immunosuppression at a given CsA blood concentration in younger patients. For the entire patient cohort, there was a statistically significant inverse correlation between the CsA sensitivity of IL-2 and chronological age (r = 0.142, P < 0.0001). Also, the CsA sensitivity of IFN-γ (r = 0.131, P < 0.0001) and GM-CSF (r = 0.036, P < 0.01) were inversely correlated with chronological age. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age was a highly significant (P = 0.0027) independent predictor for residual gene expression of IL-2, but not of IFN-γ and GM-CSF. An increased sensitivity of IL-2 to suppression by CsA was found in pediatric renal transplant recipients in vivo compared with adults. Hence, there seems to be an effect of human development on CsA pharmacodynamics, which, besides the effect of age on pharmacokinetics, should also be considered for the design of treatment regimens of CsA and potentially other calcineurin inhibitors in the pediatric patient population.

Range Selection by Semi-Domesticated Reindeer (&lt;i&gt;Rangifer tarandus tarandus&lt;/i&gt;) in Relation to Infrastructure and Human Activity in the Boreal Forest Environment, Northern Finland

&lt;span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"&gt;During past decades, the amounts of infrastructure and human activity have increased in northern latitudes. Although the effects of human development on wild reindeer and caribou have been widely examined, its effects on semidomesticated reindeer and the reindeer herding environment are still poorly understood. We studied how seven different human activities (population centres, buildings, main roads, forest roads, snowmobile tracks, skiing trails, and gold digging areas) affect the range selection by semi-domesticated reindeer in northern Finnish Lapland using GPS tracking data on 29 female reindeer. Data were analyzed using compositional analysis on two spatial scales (home range selection and within-home-range selection) and in three seasonal periods (early winter, late winter, and summer-autumn). Results showed that during winter, reindeer strongly avoided almost all studied human activities when selecting home range areas (for forest roads, the direction of the effect was unclear), but in summer and autumn, only some of those activities were important. Within the selected home range areas, pasture use by reindeer appears to be less sensitive to infrastructure and human activity, probably because reindeer were able to avoid these anthropogenic disturbances at the upper level of habitat selection. The size of the potential cumulative area affected by infrastructure varied seasonally between 27.5% and 39.0% of the study area when calculated on the basis of home range selection, and between 7.2% and 20.3% when calculated from within-home-range selection. The strongest avoidance of infrastructure was found in late winter on both scales of range selection, but weakest avoidance was in early winter for home range selection and in summer for within-home-range selection. Cumulative impacts of different human activities on the usability value of reindeer ranges should be taken into account when planning new land-use operations in the areas important for the reindeer herding. &lt;/span&gt;

Assessment of Effects of Human Development on the Environment by Using System Dynamic Modeling Technique (SD): A Case Study of the Mkomazi Watershed (Pangani Basin) in Northeastern Tanzania

This study analyzes land use changes due to human development in the Mkomazi Valley, Tanzania, and its impacts on nature using the SD–Modeling (System Dynamic modeling) technique. Ultimately this method relates environment and economy of society with regard to a seasonal rainfall–based agriculture practice and their harmonization with irrigation agriculture for development sustainability. VENSIM PLE (VENTANA SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT, PERSONAL LEARNING EDITION 2002) software, which simplified the assessment, was used to build a SD–model that accommodated changes in Population, Deforestation, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Basin Storage. Model results indicate groundwater behavior, deforestation, public opinion and decreased health of the farmers all relate to changes in land use (i.e., introduction of a rice development project) with its associated environment degradation, deforestation, and poverty due to deforestation. Moreover, these changes might be the cause of animal flight from the Mkomazi game reserve and an increase in human disease and deaths. Finally, it is concluded that uncontrolled human activities and behavior are the main causes of environmental degradation and therefore a brief summary is presented on challenges and opportunities for decision–makers on the sustainable development of the Mkomazi Valley.

Effect of Human Development on Bacteriological Water Quality in Coastal Watersheds

Human development along the land–seawater interface is considered to have significant environmental consequences. Development can also pose an increased human health risk. In a rapidly developing coastal region we investigated this phenomenon throughout a series of five estuarine watersheds, each of which differed in both the amount and type of anthropogenic development. Over a four-year period we analyzed the abundance and distribution of the enteric pathogen indicator microbes, fecal coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli. We also examined how these indicator microbes were related to physical and chemical water quality parameters and to demographic and land use factors throughout this system of coastal creeks. Within all creeks, there was a spatial pattern of decreasing enteric bacteria away from upstream areas, and both fecal coliform and E. coli abundance were inversely correlated with salinity. Turbidity was positively correlated with enteric bacterial abundance. Enteric bacterial abundance was strongly correlated with nitrate and weakly correlated with orthophosphate concentrations. Neither fecal coliforms nor E. coli displayed consistent temporal abundance patterns. Regardless of salinity, average estuarine fecal coliform abundance differed greatly among the five systems. An analysis of demographic and land use factors demonstrated that fecal coliform abundance was significantly correlated with watershed population, and even more strongly correlated with the percentage of developed land within the watershed. However, the most important anthropogenic factor associated with fecal coliform abundance was percentage watershed-impervious surface coverage, which consists of roofs, roads, driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots. These surfaces serve to concentrate and convey storm-water-borne pollutants to downstream receiving waters. Linear regression analysis indicated that percentage watershed-impervious surface area alone could explain 95% of the variability in average estuarine fecal coliform abundance. Thus, in urbanizing coastal areas waterborne health risks can likely be reduced by environmentally sound land use planning and development that minimizes the use of impervious surface area, while maximizing the passive water treatment function of natural and constructed wetlands, grassy swales, and other “green” areas. The watershed approach used in our study demonstrates that the land–water interface is not restricted to obvious shoreline areas, but is influenced by and connected with landscape factors throughout the watershed.

Pediatric Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Recent advances in pediatric clinical pharmacology have provided a more rational approach to using several medications in children. An increased understanding of the effect of human development, concurrent medications, organ function, and disease states on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs has provided a stronger scientific basis for determining drug dosages in children. By measuring drug concentrations and utilizing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles, the probability of therapeutic response can be enhanced for a number of medications. Likewise, therapeutic drug monitoring can minimize the risk of adverse effects from many drugs used in children. However, it must be recognized that toxicity can occur in some patients even though plasma drug concentrations are in the therapeutic range; similarly, some patients may not experience a therapeutic effect when plasma drug concentrations are in the same target range. Therefore, achieving the desired plasma concentration of a drug can enhance both the probability of a therapeutic response and diminish the probability of a toxic response. Therapeutic ranges, however, are only intermediate endpoints that must be used in the context of additional criteria to assess the clinical efficacy of any given drug therapy.

Pediatric Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Recent advances in pediatric clinical pharmacology have provided a more rational approach to using several medications in children. An increased understanding of the effect of human development, concurrent medications, organ function, and disease states on the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs has provided a stronger scientific basis for determining drug dosages in children. By measuring drug concentrations and utilizing pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles, the probability of therapeutic response can be enhanced for a number of medications. Likewise, therapeutic drug monitoring can minimize the risk of adverse effects from many drugs used in children. However, it must be recognized that toxicity can occur in some patients even though plasma drug concentrations are in the therapeutic range; similarly, some patients may not experience a therapeutic effect when plasma drug concentrations are in the same target range. Therefore, achieving the desired plasma concentration of a drug can enhance both the probability of a therapeutic response and diminish the probability of a toxic response. Therapeutic ranges, however, are only intermediate endpoints that must be used in the context of additional criteria to assess the clinical efficacy of any given drug therapy.