Medications

Auricle: 1. The principal projecting part of the ear. Also called the pinna. 2. Something ear shaped such as the upper chambers of the heart. Also called the atria. Auricle is not to be confounded with oracle. Neither the pinna nor the atria poss...

Aural vertigo, recurrent - Medical

Aural vertigo, recurrent: A condition, also known as Meniere's disease, with recurrent vertigo accompanied by ringing in the ears ( tinnitus) and deafness. Symptoms include vertigo, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of hearing (in the affected ear), ...

Aura - Medical

Aura: A premonition. There is often an aura before a migraine or a grand mal seizure. The aura, a symptom of brain malfunction, may consist of flashing lights, a gleam of light, blurred vision, an odor, the feeling of a breeze, numbness, weakness,...

Auditory tube - Medical

Auditory tube: The tube that runs from the middle ear to the pharynx, also known as the Eustachian tube. The function of this tube is to protect, aerate and drain the middle ear (and mastoid). Occlusion of the Eustachian tube leads to the developme...

Auditory prosthesis - Medical

Auditory prosthesis: A device that enhances the ability to hear or substitutes for it. More commonly called a hearing aid. See: Hearing aid.Last Editorial Review: 9/30/2003 Hearing aid: An instrument to help in hearing. There are four common styles ...

Auditory perception - Medical

Auditory perception: The ability to identify, interpret, and attach meaning to sound. Last Editorial Review: 10/15/1999 8:50:00 PM...

Auditory integration training - Medical

Auditory integration training: An experimental procedure for reducing painful hypersensitivity to sound. It has proved beneficial for some people with autism and other neuropsychiatric disorders.Last Editorial Review: 11/2/1999 Medi...

Auditory disease, central - Medical

Auditory disease, central: A condition in which there is an inability to differentiate, recognize or understand sounds while both the hearing and intelligence are normal. The problem is "central" as regards the auditory pathways. (In technical terms...

Auditory cortex - Medical

Auditory cortex: The part of the brain that is concerned with hearing. The auditory cortex is the temporal lobe, which the lower lobe of the cerebral hemisphere just forward of the occipital lobe. Last Editorial Review: 6/11/2003...

Auditory brainstem response test - Medical

Auditory brainstem response test: See: ABR test. Last Editorial Review: 9/28/2003 ABR test: Auditory brainstem response test. A test for hearing and brain (neurological) functioning. ABR may be used in the evaluation of: Hearing integrity (and ...

Auditory aphasia - Medical

Auditory aphasia: Impairment in the understanding of auditory language and communication. Sounds are heard but they convey no meaning. The 20th century Russian composer Vissarion Shebalin had auditory aphasia after a stroke but remained an outstandi...

Auditory acuity - Medical

Auditory acuity: The clarity or clearness of hearing, a measure of how well a person hears. Auditory acuity is what is measured when determining the need for a hearing aide and monitoring the ability to hear. The word "acuity" comes from the L...

Audiometry - Medical

Audiometry: The measurement of hearing. Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Audiology - Medical

Audiology: The study of hearing. Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Audiologist - Medical

Audiologist: A health care professional who is trained to evaluate hearing loss and related disorders, including balance (vestibular) disorders and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and to rehabilitate individuals with hearing loss and related disorders...

Audiogram - Medical

Audiogram: A test of hearing at a range of sound frequencies. Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Atypical measles syndrome (AMS) - Medical

Atypical measles syndrome (AMS): An altered expression of measles, AMS begins suddenly with high fever, headache, cough, and abdominal pain. The rash may appear 1 to 2 days later, often beginning on the limbs. Swelling ( edema) of the hands a...

Atypical - Medical

Atypical: Not typical, not usual, not normal, abnormal. Atypical is often used to refer to the appearance of precancerous or cancerous cells.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM...

Attenuated virus - Medical

Attenuated virus: To attenuate is to weaken or to make (or become) thin. The word derives from a combination of the Latin prefix "ad-," meaning "to" or "toward," and "tenuis," meaning "thin." The use of "attenuate" in medicine is not new. In the 16...

Attenuated FAP - Medical

Attenuated FAP: Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis.Last Editorial Review: 8/31/2004 Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis: An inherited predisposition to colorectal cancer characterized by fewer than 100 adenomatous polyps in the colon an...

Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis - Medical

Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis: An inherited predisposition to colorectal cancer characterized by fewer than 100 adenomatous polyps in the colon and rectum. It is said to be attenuated because there are fewer polyps than in classic familia...

Attenuated - Medical

Attenuated: Weakened, diluted, thinned, reduced, weakened, diminished. The use of "attenuated" in medicine is not new. In the 16th century, eating dried figs was claimed to attenuate the body fluids. Now "attenuated" refers to procedures that we...

Attenuate - Medical

Attenuate: To weaken, dilute, thin, reduce, weaken, diminish. The use of "attenuate" in medicine is not new. In the 16th century, eating dried figs was claimed to attenuate the body fluids. Now "attenuate" refers to procedures that weaken an age...

Attentional - Medical

Attentional: Relating to attention. The term is used in psychology and child development as, for example, early television exposure has been found to be associated with attentional problems at age 7.Last Editorial Review: 6/14/2004...

Attention getting - Medical

Attention getting: Attention getting is not a simple automatic act. It requires complex active thought processing. The types of stimuli that are attention getting depend on past experience, individual reactivity, and what a person considers to be...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - Medical

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A family of related chronic neurobiological disorders that interfere with an individual's capacity to: regulate activity level (hyperactivity), inhibit behavior (impulsivity), and attend to tasks (inatte...

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) - Medical

Attention deficit disorder (ADD): An inability to control behavior due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli. In November, 1998 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a consensus report developed by a panel of experts. The panel conc...

Attention - Medical

Attention: The ability to focus selectively on a selected stimulus, sustaining that focus and shifting it at will. The ability to concentrate. "Everyone knows what attention is," wrote William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890). "It is t...

Attack, vasovagal - Medical

Attack, vasovagal: See: Vasovagal reaction.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM Vasovagal reaction: A reflex of the involuntary nervous system that causes the heart to slow down ( bradycardia) and that, at the same time, affects the nerves t...

ATSDR - Medical

ATSDR: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Public Health Service that works with states and other federal agencies to prevent exposure to hazardous substances from...