Glossary Index by Letter

Inflammation of a joint or a state characterized by inflammation of joints. Arthritis is caused by inflammation, of the tissue lining the joints. Some signs of inflammation include redness, heat, pain, and swelling. In some types of arthritis, the joints involved can...

The adjustments and movements of speech organs involved in pronouncing a particular sound, taken as a whole. A neurological examination assesses motor and sensory skills, the functioning of one or more cranial nerves, articulation, hearing, vision, coordination and...

Something artificial, a distortion that does not reflect normal anatomy or pathology, not usually found in the body. A structure or substance not normally present but produced by an external agent or action, such as a structure seen in a microscopic specimen after...

An accidental sucking in of food particles or fluids into the lungs. Can also mean removal of a sample of fluid and cells through a needle. Aspiration as a medical procedure is the removal of fluid or tissue through a needle, called a needle biopsy. Breathing in a...

To have a disease condition without showing obvious outward symptoms. Many pituitary patients however, do have mild symptoms that are simply not recognized by treating physicians.

Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fat and other material inside the artery walls. Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque (plak) builds up on the insides of the arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart and other parts of the...

Thinning of the lining of the vagina due to decreased production of estrogen. Atrophic vaginitis is an inflammation of the vagina due to thinning and shrinking tissues and a decrease in lubrication. Atrophic vaginitis is typically caused by a decrease in estrogen...

A wasting of tissues, organs, or the entire body. Muscle atrophy can be caused by lack of physical exercise (Disuse atrophy), and can be reversed by exercise. But the second and most severe type of muscle atrophy is neurogenic atrophy. It occurs when there is injury...

A decrease in vitality or pathogenicityof a microorganism or in the severity of a disease. In radiology; the loss of energy of a beam of radiant energy due to absorption, scattering, beam divergence, and other causes as the beam propagates through a medium.

A test to measure hearing. An audiology exam tests the ability to hear sounds by intensity (volume or loudness) and tone (the speed of sound wave vibrations). Sound waves move to the nerves of the inner ear and then the brain and can travel to the inner ear by air...

Coming from the same individual, as opposed to being donated by another individual. Taken from an individual's own blood, tissues, cells, or DNA.

A form of inherited Kallmann's syndrome which affects both men and women, because the sex chromosomes are unaffected. Kallmann syndrome is a condition characterized by delayed or absent puberty and an impaired sense of smell. This disorder is a form of...

Those chromosomes which are not the sex chromosomes. In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. Twenty-two of these pairs, called autosomes, look the same in both males and females. The 23rd pair, the sex chromosomes, differ...

Lymph nodes in the armpit region that drains lymph channels from the breast. Numerous nodes around the axillary (below the shoulder joint) veins which receive the lymphatic drainage from the upper limb, scapular region and pectoral region (including mammary gland);...