Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cayenne

(Encyclopedia)Cayenne kīĕnˈ, kāĕnˈ [key], city and district (2021 est. pop. 61,550), capital of French Guiana, on Cayenne isl...

Black, Sir James Whyte

(Encyclopedia)Black, Sir James Whyte, 1924–2010, Scottish pharmacologist, M.B., Ch.B. Univ. of St. Andrews, 1946. A drug researcher, he held a series of posts with universities and drug companies before serving a...

Bleuler, Eugen

(Encyclopedia)Bleuler, Eugen oiˈgən bloiˈ lər [key], 1857–1939, Swiss psychiatrist. He taught (1898–1927) at the Univ. of Zürich, serving concurrently as director of Zürich's Burghölzi Asylum. Bleuler is...

neostigmine

(Encyclopedia)neostigmine nēˌōstĭgˈmēn, –mĭn [key], drug used to mimic the effects of stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Along with several other drugs that have a similar mode of action, i...

meditation

(Encyclopedia)meditation, religious discipline in which the mind is focused on a single point of reference. It may be a means of invoking divine grace, as in the contemplation by Christian mystics of a spiritual th...

meninges

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Meninges: Section of spine showing meningeal layers meninges mĭnĭnˈjēz [key], three membranous layers of connective tissue that envelop the brain and spinal cord (see nervous system). The ...

saiga

(Encyclopedia)saiga, sīˈgə [key], Eurasian antelope, Saiga tatarica, found in steppes, grasslands, and semidesert regions in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Kalmykia, Russia. Noted for its large, flexible, and inflata...

tetany

(Encyclopedia)tetany tĕtˈənē [key], condition of mineral imbalance in the body that results in severe muscle spasms. Tetany occurs when the concentration of calcium ions (Ca++) in extracellular fluids such as p...

toxemia

(Encyclopedia)toxemia tŏksēˈmēə [key], disease state caused by the presence in the blood of bacterial toxins or other harmful substances. The effects of the bacterial toxins known as endotoxins are relatively ...

DDT

(Encyclopedia)DDT or 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1,1,-trichloroethane, chlorinated hydrocarbon compound used as an insecticide. First introduced during the 1940s, it killed insects that spread disease and fed on crop...