This book offers a set of chapters which describes the procedure for drug treatment of the principal diseases that older people suffer from. In the pharmacological concept, it has been established that pharmacokinetics is the most useful strategy to determine the prime schedule of different medications for seniors. These strategies can be applied in a clinic or nursing home as well as in a home. The initial chapter describes optimising this technique, continuing with a description of the most common illnesses due to old age. The next chapter discusses deep concepts of pharmacokinetics. Afterwards, some examples of pharmacokinetics studies are described. The text finishes with a description based on previous studies about the patterns of drug consumption in older individuals. The authors hope this material can be useful first to aid the elderly population and can motivate the investigation of pharmacokinetic studies, since this material is lacking in the global context.

Child abuse is a modality of violence against children and adolescents which remains to be comprehensively attended. The complexity of the problem implies not only the clinical manifestations (physical, sexual and psychological abuses and neglect), but also the social component (social determinants for health) as well as the judicial implication. This makes the suspicion, diagnosis, comprehensive care of each case, the physical and emotional rehabilitation of each patient, and the strategies for the prevention of this phenomenon very difficult. Undoubtedly, child abuse is fraught with enormous emotional and economic loads for the child, the family and society.In the light of the abovementioned facts, the propositions in this book lie in the presentation and development of the most frequent and known modalities of child abuse. These modalities include physical, sexual and psychological abuses and neglect, as well as other forms like fetal abuse, ethnic maltreatment, abuse among peers, bullying, and parental alienation among others that are little known or barely considered; hence, these latter issues are not frequently seen by physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, lawyers, etc. In addition, some preventive programs that have been successful as viable strategies in many countries of the world are proposed.The aim of this book is to give a wide vision on the knowledge concerning child abuse, based on the analysis of behaviors and attitudes and revising some new strategies ensuing from information furnished by research works. The authors are convinced that the consideration of these concepts would definitely permit the elaboration of optimum and specific management for this population.

Pediatrics is the form of medical care that is concerned with children from birth to adolescence, specializing in a variety of characteristics and changes subjective to each patient. Undoubtedly, these changes influence drug distribution and response. The body composition and the processes of biological and physiological maturation constitute important variables worthy of consideration in the effort to adequately satisfy the therapeutic necessities of all the age groups, since different formulations are required to achieve optimum therapy. The technological advances in the last decades have endowed humanity with the facilities to painstakingly analyze biological samples and thus give way to potential progress in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. From this knowledge, it becomes clear that the body is a dynamic model and thus, brings to light the necessity to individualize treatment regimens based on parameters of each and every individual, which in the past was not as important. There are instruments that contribute to optimizing drug management and safety in the pediatric population as recommended by the World Health Organization that rotate on the application of drug monitoring strategies that would contribute to ensuring the safety of patients and improve treatment schemes with increasingly safe and effective drugs. Furthermore, recourses to the therapeutic monitoring of drugs would become available where a monitoring based principally on the drug plasma levels is carried out in order to make the pertinent dose adjustments. The need for this will arise, since the most effective therapeutic range of many drugs is still unknown; unnecessarily high concentrations with potential risks of producing toxicity in patients is something that must be avoided. With these factors in mind, the decision to compose this book for pediatric doctors as well as specialists in the health sector who are dedicated to childcare became apparent, with the hope of portraying an array of pharmacokinetic knowledge, based on new therapeutic strategies ensuing from information furnished by research. The authors are convinced that the consideration of these concepts would definitely permit the elaboration of optimum and specific treatment for each pediatric patients.