Medications

Abdominal aneurysm: An aneurysm situated within the abdomen (belly). An aneurysm is a localized widening (dilatation) of an artery, vein, or the heart. At the area of an aneurysm, there is typically a bulge and the wall is weakened and may ...

Abdominal - Medical

Abdominal: Relating to the abdomen, the belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from the chest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body ca...

Abdomen, acute - Medical

Abdomen, acute:The abrupt (acute) onset of abdominal pain. A potential medical emergency, an acute abdomen may reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix (being inflamed = appendicitis), the gallbla...

Abdomen - Medical

Abdomen: The belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis. The abdomen is separated anatomically from the chest by the diaphragm, the powerful muscle spanning the body cavity below the lungs....

ABCD rating - Medical

ABCD rating: A staging system for prostate cancer. See the Jewett staging system. Last Editorial Review: 2/28/2003 Jewett staging system: A system for determining the stage of a prostate cancer. The system uses ABCD. The letters "A" and "B" design...

Abbreviations, prescription - Medical

Abbreviations, prescription: A prescription, as is well known, is a physician's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a patient. What may be less well known is that a prescription has several parts: The super...

Abatement - Medical

Abatement: A diminution, decrease or easing. In medicine there may be abatement of pain or any other symptom or sign. In the environment there may abatement in the degree of pollution. See also: Abate. Last Editorial Review: 3/14/2004 Pain: An...

Abate - Medical

Abate: To lessen or decrease. After a boil is lanced, the pus can drain and the pain and tenderness abate. From the French abbatre, to beat down. Last Editorial Review: 3/14/2004 Pus: A thick whitish-yellow fluid which results from the accumulatio...

Ab- - Medical

Ab-: Prefix meaning "from, away from, off" as in abduction (movement of a limb away from the midline of the body), ablate (carry or cut away), abnormal (away from normal), absorb (to suck away). Ab in Latin means "from." "Abs" in the plural is comm...

Ab ovo - Medical

Ab ovo: Latin expression for "from the beginning." Ab ovo literally means "from the egg."Last Editorial Review: 4/7/2002...

Aase-Smith syndrome II - Medical

Aase-Smith syndrome II: A genetic disorder that may be detected during early infancy and is characterized by the presence of three bones ( phalanges) within the thumbs (triphalangeal thumbs) rather than the normal two and abnormally reduced productio...

Aase-Smith syndrome I - Medical

Aase-Smith syndrome I: A syndrome of congenital malformations ( birth defects) characterized by hydrocephalus, cleft palate, and severe arthrogryposis (joint contractures). Other anomalies may include deformed ears, ptosis (drooping) of the eyelids, ...

Aarskog-Scott syndrome - Medical

Aarskog-Scott syndrome: A syndrome of wide spaced eyes (ocular hypertelorism), front-facing (anteverted) nostrils, a broad upper lip, a malformed ("saddle-bag") scrotum, and laxity of the ligaments resulting in bending back of the knees (genu recurva...

Aarskog syndrome - Medical

Aarskog syndrome: See: Aarskog-Scott syndrome. Last Editorial Review: 6/7/2003 Aarskog-Scott syndrome: A syndrome of wide spaced eyes (ocular hypertelorism), front-facing (anteverted) nostrils, a broad upper lip, a malformed ("saddle-bag") scrotum,...

AAP - Medical

AAP: The American Academy of Pediatrics.Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 5:27:15 PM American Academy of Pediatrics: AAP. Its member pediatricians "dedicate their efforts and resources to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, ...

AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) - Medical

AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons): The professional organization of American orthopaedists. Literally, the practice of child straightening, orthopaedics is the branch of surgery that is broadly concerned with the skeletal system...

AAO - Medical

AAO: 1. Alert and oriented. 2. American Association of Ophthalmology, a professional organization. 3. American Academy of Otolaryngology, a professional organization. 4. American Association of Orthodontists, a professional organization. 5. Amin...

AANAT - Medical

AANAT: The synbol for the enzyme arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase and for the gene that encodes it. AANAT is present in animals, bacteria and yeast but in no other living organisms. AANAT belongs to the large superfamily of acetyltransferase enzyme...

AAMC (Ass Am Medical Colleges) - Medical

AAMC (Ass Am Medical Colleges): The American Association of Medical Colleges, a nonprofit association of the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; more than 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems; s...

AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians) - Medical

AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians): Originally, most physicians in the U.S. (and elsewhere) were family doctors. Then there was a strong move away from family medicine toward the medical specialties in the U.S. The pendulum now has sw...

AAD - Medical

AAD: American Association of Dermatology, one of many important professional societies in the health arena. The AMA (the American Medical Association) is a better known example in the US. Only a small selection of the many health-related or...

AAAS - Medical

AAAS: Spoken of as the "triple-AS", the American Association for the Advancement of Science is an organization concerned not only with the biomedical sciences but with all of the sciences. The AAAS publishes the weekly journal "Science", one ...

AAA - Medical

AAA: Abdominal aortic aneurysm.Last Editorial Review: 10/19/2003 Abdominal aortic aneurysm: A ballooning or widening of the main artery (the aorta) as it courses down through the abdomen. At the point of the aneurysm, the aneurysm usually measure...

A1C - Medical

A1C: A test that measures how much glucose has been sticking during the past 3-4 months to hemoglobin, the substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen to the cells of the body. The A1C test is important in diabetes as a long-term measure of ...

a.c. - Medical

a.c.: Abbreviation on a prescription meaning before meals; from the Latin "ante cibum", before meals. This is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have traditionally been used in writing prescriptions. Some others: b.i.d...

A. baumannii - Medical

A. baumannii: Acinetobacter baumannii. See: Acinetobacter. Last Editorial Review: 8/2/2004 Acinetobacter: (Pronounced AH-sin-neto-bacter). A group of bacteria found in soil, water, and hospitals where they can cause serious infections in immunoc...

A-T - Medical

A-T: Ataxia-telangiectasia. Last Editorial Review: 4/4/2003 Ataxia-telangiectasia: A progressive neurodegenerative genetic disease characterized by cerebellar ataxia (incoordination and lack of balance), ocular telangiectasia ("red eyes" due ...

A- - Medical

A-: Prefix very much employed in medicine and all of the health sciences, indicating "not, without, -less" as, for example, in alexia (not read), aphagia (not eat), aphonia (not voice, voiceless). The "a-" usually becomes "an-" before a vowel...

A (adenine) - Medical

A (adenine): In genetics, A stands for adenine, one member of the A-T (adenine-thymine) base pair in DNA. The other base pair in DNA is G-C (guanine-cytosine). Each base pair forms a "rung of the DNA ladder." A DNA nucleotide is made of a molecule...

Goldthread

What other names is Goldthread known by? Cankerroot, Chinese Coptis, Chinese Goldthread, Coptide, Coptidis Rhizome, Coptis, Coptis Chinesis, Coptis deltoidea, Coptis Rhizome, Coptis teetoides, Coptis trifolia, Coptis groenlandica, Golden Thread, Gol...