Medications

Rumination: 1. Regurgitating food after a meal and then swallowing and digesting some of it. Cattle and other ruminant animals have a four-chambered stomach for the rumination of food and so can chew their cud. Some people, particularly infants, enga...

Rule out - Medical

Rule out: A term much used in medicine, meaning to eliminate or exclude something from consideration. The ACB (albumin cobalt binding) test helps rule out a heart attack in the differential diagnosis of severe chest pain. Last Editorial Review: 7/...

RUL - Medical

RUL: Acronym for the right upper lobe (of the lung). The right lung has three lobes: the right lower lobe (RLL), the right middle lobe (RML), and the right upper lobe (RUL). The left lung has but two lobes: the left upper lobe (LUL) and the left l...

Rubor - Medical

Rubor: Redness, one of the four classic signs of inflammation (together with dolor, calor, and tumor). From the Latin rubor, heat. See also: Dolor; Calor; Tumor. Last Editorial Review: 10/23/2003 Inflammation: A basic way in which the body reacts t...

Rubeola (measles) - Medical

Rubeola ( measles): Rubeola is the ordinary measles, an acute highly contagious viral disease with fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes, and a spreading skin rash. Rubeola (measles) is a potentially disastrous disease. It can be complicated b...

Rubella vaccine - Medical

Rubella vaccine: A vaccine designed to prevent rubella, or German measles. German measles was once seen merely as a child's unpleasant rite of passage. It was thought to be a mild malady that was usually over and done in three days. So what? T...

Rubella syndrome - Medical

Rubella syndrome: The constellation of abnormalities caused by infection with the rubella (German measles) virus before birth. The syndrome is characterized by multiple congenital malformations (birth defects) and mental retardation. The in...

Rubella immunization - Medical

Rubella immunization: The standard MMR vaccine is given to prevent measles, mumps and rubella ( German measles). The MMR vaccine is now given in two dosages. The first should be given at 12-15 months of age. The second vaccination should be g...

Rubella (historical note) - Medical

Rubella (historical note): In 1941 N. M. Gregg, an Australian ophthalmologist, recognized that infection of the mother with rubella (German measles) during early pregnancy could malform an embryo and cause a characteristic syndrome of congenita...

RTT (Rett syndrome) - Medical

RTT (Rett syndrome): See Rett syndrome. Last Editorial Review: 4/7/2003...

RTS - Medical

RTS: Rothmund-Thomson syndrome.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM Rothmund-Thomson syndrome: An hereditary disease characterized by progressive degeneration (atrophy), scarring and abnormal pigmentation of the skin together with growth reta...

RT-PCR - Medical

RT-PCR (Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction): a highly sensitive technique for the detection and quantitation of mRNA (messenger RNA). The technique consists of two parts: The synthesis of cDNA (complementary DNA) from RNA by r...

RT - Medical

RT: 1. Respiratory therapist. 2. Radiation therapy. 3. Reverse transcriptase.Last Editorial Review: 10/9/2004 Respiratory therapist: A person who has graduated from an approved respiratory therapist program and is qualified to provide respirator...

RSV - Medical

RSV: Although several standard medical dictionaries indicate only that RSV stands for Rous sarcoma virus, RSV in clinical medicine is the abbreviation for respiratory syncytial virus. See: Respiratory syncytial virus.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/201...

RS1 - Medical

RS1: The gene on the X chromosome involved in the integrity of retina, Mutation of RS1 is responsible for juvenile retinoschisis.Last Editorial Review: 6/7/2004 Juvenile retinoschisis: A genetic disease of the eye characterized by retinoschisis (spl...

rRNA - Medical

rRNA: Ribosomal RNA, a molecular component of a ribosome, the cell's essential protein factory. Strictly speaking, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) does not make proteins. It makes polypeptides (assemblies of amino acids) that go to make up proteins. A tiny p...

RPR test - Medical

RPR test: Rapid plasma reagin, a blood test for syphilis that looks for an antibody that is present in the bloodstream when a patient has syphilis. A negative (nonreactive) RPR is compatible with a person not having syphilis, but in the early s...

RP - Medical

RP: Retinitis pigmentosa.Last Editorial Review: 1/29/2003...

Royal Society, the - Medical

Royal Society: A venerable scientific society in England which in 1665 published one of the first 2 scientific journals in the world: the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society." The other was the "Journal des Scavants" (Scholars) which a...

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass - Medical

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: A surgical procedure which may be done for severe obesity. The procedure involves cutting the stomach in two to create a pouch out of the smaller proximal (near) portion of the stomach, attaching it to the small intestine, b...

Roundworm genome - Medical

Roundworm genome: See: C. elegans genome. Last Editorial Review: 2/4/2004 C. elegans genome: All of the genetic information contained in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The genomes of particular nonhuman organisms such as C. ...

Roundworm C. elegans genome - Medical

Roundworm C. elegans genome: See: C. elegans genome. Last Editorial Review: 2/4/2004 C. elegans genome: All of the genetic information contained in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The genomes of particular nonhuman organisms ...

Roundworm - Medical

Roundworm: A type of parasitic worm that hatches in the intestines and lives there. The eggs of the roundworm usually enter the body through contaminated water or food or on fingers placed in the mouth after the hands have touched a contaminated ob...

Rounds - Medical

Rounds: The act of seeing patients in the hospital or another in-patient setting. After doing his hospital rounds, Dr. Moscati felt ill, went to his room, sat in his chair and expired. Last Editorial Review: 11/6/2004...

Round window - Medical

Round window: The membrane separating the inner ear and middle ear. The tympanum ( eardrum) separates the middle ear and outer ear. Last Editorial Review: 6/7/2004 Membrane: A very thin layer of tissue that covers a surface. Last Editorial Review: ...

Round - Medical

Round: To go around and see a patient in a hospital or other in-patient setting.Last Editorial Review: 11/6/2004...

Rothmund-Thomson syndrome - Medical

Rothmund-Thomson syndrome: An hereditary disease characterized by progressive degeneration (atrophy), scarring and abnormal pigmentation of the skin together with growth retardation, premature baldness, juvenile cataracts, depressed nasal bridge, and...

Roth's spot - Medical

Roth's spot: A hemorrhage in the retina with a white center. Originally associated with bacterial endocarditis, Roth's spots may be seen in leukemia, diabetes, collagen-vascular diseases, and other conditions that predispose to hemorrhage in the reti...

Rotavirus - Medical

Rotavirus (RV): A leading cause of severe winter diarrhea in young children, RV each year causes an estimated 500,000 doctor visits and 50,000 hospital admissions in the United States. Almost everyone catches RV before entering school but, wit...

Rotator cuff disease - Medical

Rotator cuff disease: Damage to the rotator cuff, a group of four tendons that stabilize the shoulder joint and move the shoulder in various directions. A common cause of shoulder pain, rotator cuff disease can be due to trauma (e.g., from falling ...