English dictionary of medical terms (34)
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- No:660 - feedback
-
the return of some of the output of a system as input so as to
exert some control in the process.
- No:661 - femoral
-
(L. femoralis) pertaining to the femur, or to the thigh.
- No:662 - fermentation
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(L. fermentatio) the anaerobic enzymatic conversion of organic
compounds, especially carbohydrates, to simpler compounds,
especially to ethyl alcohol, resulting in energy in the form of
adenosine triphosphate (ATP); the process is used in the production
of alcohol, bread, vinegar; and other food or industrial products.
It differs from respiration in that organic substances rather than
molecular oxygen are used as electron acceptors. Fermentation
occurs widely in bacteria and yeasts, the process usually being
identified by the product formed; e.g. , acetic, alcoholic,
butyric, and lactic fermentation are those that result in the
formation of acetic acid, alcohol, butyric acid, and lactic acid,
respectively.
- No:663 - ferriprive
-
suffering from, or characterized by iron deficiency.
- No:664 - fertility
-
the capacity to conceive or induce conception.
- No:665 - fibrillation
-
a small, local, involuntary contraction of muscle, invisible under
the skin, resulting from spontaneous activation of single muscle
cells or muscle fibres.
- No:666 - fibrin
-
the insoluble protein formed from fibrinogen by the proteolytic
action of thrombin during normal clotting of blood. Fibrin forms
the essential portion of the blood clot.
- No:667 - fibrinolytic
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pertaining to, characterized by, or causing the dissolution of
fibrin by enzymatic action
- No:668 - fibrosis
-
the formation of fibrous tissue; fibroid or fibrous degeneration
- No:669 - filmcoated
-
coated by a thin transparent sheet of cellulose acetate or similar
material with an emulsion that is sensitive to light or radiation.
- No:670 - filtration
-
the passage of a liquid through a filter, accomplished by gravity,
pressure, or vacuum (suction).
- No:671 - firstpass
-
connected with the first barrier the medicine has to pass, where it
is filtered.
- No:672 - fissure
-
(L. fissura) any cleft or groove, normal or otherwise; especially
a deep fold in the cerebral cortex which involves the entire
thickness of the brain wall.
- No:673 - fistula
-
(L. 'pipe') an abnormal passage or communication, usually between
two internal organs, or leading from an internal organ to the
surface of the body; frequently designated according to the organs
or parts with which it communicates, as anovaginal,
brochocutaneous, hepatopleural, pulmonoperitoneal, rectovaginal,
urethrovaginal, and the like. Such passages are frequently created
experimentally for the purpose of obtaining body secretions for
physiologic study.
- No:674 - fixation
-
(L. fixatio) 1. the act or operation of holding, suturing, or
fastening in a fixed position. 2. the condition of being held in
a fixed position. 3. in psychiatry, a term with two related but
distinct meanings : (1) arrest of development at a particular
stage, which like regression (return to an earlier stage), if
temporary is a normal reaction to setbacks and difficulties but if
protracted or frequent is a cause of developmental failures and
emotional problems, and (2) a close and suffocating attachment to
another person, especially a childhood figure, such as one's mother
or father. Both meanings are derived from psychoanalytic theory
and refer to 'fixation' of libidinal energy either in a specific
erogenous zone, hence fixation at the oral, anal, or phallic stage,
or in a specific object, hence mother or father fixation. 4. the
use of a fixative (q.v.) to preserve histological or cytological
specimens. 5. in chemistry, the process whereby a substance is
removed from the gaseous or solution phase and localized, as in
carbon dioxide fixation or nitrogen fixation. 6. in ophthalmology,
direction of the gaze so that the visual image of the object falls
on the fovea centralis. 7. in film processing, the chemical
removal of all undeveloped salts of the film emulsion, leaving only
the developed silver to form a permanent image.
- No:675 - flaccid
-
(L. flaccidus) weak, lax and soft.
- No:676 - flatulence
-
(L. flatulentia) the presence of excessive amounts of air or gases
in the stomach or intestine, leading to distention of the organs.
- No:677 - flegmon or phlegmon
-
(Gr. phlegmon) 1. a spreading, diffuse inflammatory reaction to
infection with microaerophilic streptococci, which forms a
suppurative or gangrenous and undermining lesion that may extend
into deep subcutaneous tissues and muscles, creating multiple small
pockets of pus. Called also phlegmonous cellulitis. Cf.
cellulitis and erysipelas. 2. a solid, swollen, inflamed mass of
pancreatic tissue occurring as a complication of acute
pancreatitis, which may subside spontaneously or become secondarily
infected and develop into an abscess.
- No:678 - flexion
- (L. flexio) in gynaecology, a displacement of the uterus in which
the organ is bent so far forward or backward that an acute angle
forms between the fundus and the cervix.
- No:679 - fluor albus
-
(L. 'a flow', a discharge) leucorrhea.
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