Accoucheuse

Accoucheuse: French for a woman who is an obstetrician (a physician skilled in the art and science of managing pregnancy, labor and the time after delivery) or a midwife (today a non-physician trained to assist a woman during childbirth). The ending "-euse" is feminine and indicates that the accoucheuse is a woman

Accoucheur

Accoucheur: French for a male obstetrician, a physician skilled in the art and science of managing pregnancy, labor and the puerperium (the time after delivery).

Accommodation

Accommodation: In medicine, the ability of the eye to change its focus from distant to near objects (and vice versa). This process is achieved by the lens changing its shape.
Accommodation is the adjustment of the optics of the eye to keep an object in focus on the retina as its distance from the eye varies. It is the process of adjusting the focal length of a lens.

Acclimatization to altitude

Acclimatization to altitude: The main cause of altitude sickness is going too high too fast. Given time, the body can adapt to the decrease in oxygen concentration at a specific altitude, process known as acclimatization.
To acclimatize, a number of changes take place in the body occur to allow it to operate with decreased oxygen:
The depth of respiration increases;
The pressure in the pulmonary arteries increases, forcing blood into portions of the lung which are normally not used at sea level;
We make more red blood cells to carry oxygen;
We make more of a specific substance (called 2,4-DPG)that facilitates the release of oxygen from hemoglobin to the body tissues.
Acclimatization generally takes 1 to 3 days at a given altitude. For example, if a person hikes to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and spends several days at that altitude, their body acclimatizes to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). If the person then climbs to 12,000 feet (3,658 meters), the body needs to acclimatize once again and it takes another 1 to 3 days.

Accessory placenta

Accessory placenta: An extra placenta separate from the main placenta. Also called a succenturiate or supernumerary placenta. The placenta is the organ joining the mother and fetus, the organ that permits the provision of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and the release of carbon dioxide and waste products from the fetus to the mother. The word "placenta" means a flat cake. The main placenta is disk-shaped and at full term measures about 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter and a bit less than 2 inches (4 cm) thick. The upper surface of the placenta is smooth while the under surface is rough. The placenta and the fetal membranes are the afterbirth.

Accessory-neuropathy

Accessory neuropathy: Disease of the accessory nerve which is the eleventh cranial nerve. The accessory nerve supplies the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles. The sternocleidomastoid muscle is in the front of the neck and turns the head. The trapezius muscle moves the scapula (the wingbone), turns the face to the opposite side, and helps pull the head back.
Damage to the accessory nerve can be confined to the accessory nerve or it may also involve the ninth and tenth cranial nerves which exit through the same opening (foramen) from the skull . Accessory neuropathy can sometimes occur and recur for unknown reasons. Most patients recover.
Paralysis of the accessory nerve prevents rotation of the head away from that side and causes drooping of the shoulder.

Accessory-nerve

Accessory nerve: The eleventh cranial nerve, which emerges from the skull and receives an additional (accessory) root from the upper part of the spinal cord. It supplies the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles. The sternocleidomastoid muscle is in the front of the neck and turns the head. The trapezius muscle moves the scapula (the wingbone), turns the face to the opposite side, and helps pull the head back. The accessory nerve is so-called because, although it arises in the brain, it receives an additional (accessory) root from the upper part of the spinal cord.
Damage to the accessory nerve can be isolated (confined to the accessory nerve) or it may also involve the ninth and tenth cranial nerves which exit through the same opening (foramen) from the skull . Accessory neuropathy (nerve disease) can sometimes occur and recur for unknown reasons. Most patients recover.
Paralysis of the accessory nerve prevents rotation of the head away from that side and causes drooping of the shoulder.

Accessory dwelling unit

Accessory dwelling unit: (ADU) A separate housing arrangement within a single-family home. The ADU is defined by Medicare as a complete living unit and includes a private kitchen and bath.

Accessory digestive organ

Accessory digestive organ: An organ that helps with digestion but is not part of the digestive tract. The accessory digestive organs are the tongue, salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder.

Accessory

Accessory: Additional, extra, supplementary, subsidiary to the main thing. An accessory digestive organ is an organ that helps with digestion but is not part of the digestive tract. The accessory nerve is so-called because it receives an additional (accessory) root from the upper part of the spinal cord. An accessory placenta is an extra placenta separate from the main placenta.

Accessibility of services

Accessibility of services: The ability to get medical care and services when needed.

Access

Access: 1. In general, a means of approaching something. 2. In health care, the opportunity or right to receive health care. 3. In dialysis, the point on the body where a needle or catheter is inserted to gain entry to the bloodstream.

Acceptable daily intake

Acceptable daily intake: Estimate of the amount of a substance in food or drinking water, expressed on a body mass basis (usually mg/kg body weight), which can be ingested daily over a lifetime by humans without appreciable health risk. For calculation of the daily intake per person, a standard body mass of 60 kg is used. The acceptable daily intake is normally used for food additives (tolerable daily intake is used for contaminants). Abbreviated ADI.

Acaricide

Acaricide: An agent, usually a chemical, that kills mites. This class of pesticides is large and includes antibiotic acaricides, carbamate acaricides, formamidine acaricides, mite growth regulators, organophosphate acaricides, and many others. From the Latin acarus, a mite + -cide, to kill.

Acapnia

Acapnia: Less than the normal level of carbon dioxide in the blood. The opposite of hypercapnia. The origin of the word "acapnia" is curious. It comes from the Greek "a-" meaning "without" + "kapnos" meaning "smoke" so acapnia literally means "smokeless" referring to carbon dioxide which is a principal part of smoke.

Acanthosis nigricans

Acanthosis nigricans: A skin condition characterized by dark thickened velvety patches, especially in the folds of skin in the axilla (armpit), groin and back of the neck. The condition is complex. It can occur with endocrine diseases such as Cushing disease, tumors of the pituitary, and diabetes mellitus. It is common in people who have insulin resistance -- whose body is not responding correctly to the insulin that they make in their pancreas. Acanthosis nigricans also occurs with underlying malignancies (especially carcinomas of the vicera), administration of certain drugs, and as a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant manner.

Acanthamoeba

Acanthamoeba: A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting, and air conditioner units, humidifiers, and dialysis units.
Acanthamoeba can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, Acanthamoeba can enter the eye and there cause infection.
A particularly dire infection caused by Acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death. Acanthamoeba infections occur more frequently in people with compromised immune systems and the chronically ill. Eye and skin infections are generally treatable while infections of the brain are almost always fatal.

Abstemious

Abstemious: Marked by restraint, especially in the consumption of food or alcohol.
From the Latin prefix "abs-," meaning "from" or "away," and the Latin noun "temetum," meaning "intoxicating drink."

Abstinence

Abstinence: The voluntary self-denial of food, drink, or sex. Today, abstinence most commonly refers to denial of one's sexual activity.

Absorption

Absorption: Uptake. In the biomedical sciences, absorption has diverse specific meanings.
In the body, absorption is the process whereby a cell, tissue or organ takes up a substance.
In the intestinal tract, absorption is the uptake of food (or other substances) from the digestive tract.
In radiology, absorption refers to the taking up of energy by matter with which the radiation interacts.
In immunology, absorption is the process by which an antibody or antigen is used to remove a corresponding antigen or antibody from a mixture.

Absence seizure

Absence seizure: A seizure that takes the form of a staring spell. The person suddenly seems to be "absent." An absence seizure involves a brief loss of awareness, which can be accompanied by blinking or mouth twitching. Absence seizures have a very characteristic appearance on an electroencephalogram (EEG).
Also called a petit mal seizure

Abiotrophy

Abiotrophy: Loss of function or degeneration for reasons unknown. For example, cerebellar abiotrophy may affect coordination while cone-rod abiotrophy may cause blindness at birth

Aberration

Aberration: (1) A deviation or irregularity. For example, a chromosome aberration is a deviation from the normal chromosome number or the normal chromosome structure. In this sense, aberration is also synonymous with deflection, departure, divergence, diversion, turning. (2) A mental aberration is a significant deviation from normal mental activity. In this sense, aberration is synonymous with mental derangement, mental illness, psychopathy.

Abiotic

Abiotic: 1. Not associated with living organisms.2. Anything in the environment incapable of life, such as the soil or weather.3. Incompatible with life or antagonist to it.Also called abiological.