HIV i-base

Selected words and phrases

encephalopathy – degenerative brain function or disease

half-life (T1/2) the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.

What happens when you take a drug?

log value – a number expressed as a factor of 10 – ie 2 logs = 10 x 10=100; 3 logs = 10 x 10 x 10=1000. This measurement is used when needing to include very large and very small numbers on the same scale. A reduction by one log is a 90% reduction. A reduction by two logs is a 99% reduction etc.

Log conversion table.