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gasohol

(Encyclopedia)gasohol, a gasoline extender made from a mixture of gasoline (90%) and ethanol (10%; often obtained by fermenting agricultural crops or crop wastes) or gasoline (97%) and methanol, or wood alcohol (3%...

mastitis

(Encyclopedia)mastitis măstīˈtĭs [key], inflammation of the breast. Mastitis most commonly occurs in nursing mothers between the first and third weeks after childbirth, usually of the first child. It is an infe...

Koprowski, Hilary

(Encyclopedia)Koprowski, Hilary, 1916–2013, Polish-American microbiologist and immunologist, b. Warsaw, M.D. Univ. of Warsaw, 1939. He fled Poland after the Nazi invasion (1939), making his way to Brazil where he...

leukemia

(Encyclopedia)leukemia lo͞okēˈmēə [key], cancerous disorder of the blood-forming tissues (bone marrow, lymphatics, liver, spleen) characterized by excessive production of immature or mature leukocytes (white b...

heartburn

(Encyclopedia)heartburn, burning sensation beneath the breastbone, also called pyrosis. Heartburn does not indicate heart malfunction but results from nervous tension or overindulgence in food or drink. The sensati...

Heck, Richard Fred

(Encyclopedia)Heck, Richard Fred, 1931–2015, American chemist, b. Springfield, Mass., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, 1954. Heck was a researcher at the Hercules Corporation in Wilmington, Del., from 1957...

silicone

(Encyclopedia)silicone, polymer in which atoms of silicon and oxygen alternate in a chain; various organic radicals, such as the methyl group, CH3, are bound to the silicon atoms. Silicones, which are unusually sta...

Kaposi's sarcoma

(Encyclopedia)Kaposi's sarcoma käpˈəshēˌ, kəpōˈsē [key], a usually fatal cancer that was considered rare until its appearance in AIDS patients. First described by an Austro-Hungarian physician, Moritz Kapo...

Tsien, Roger Yonchien

(Encyclopedia)Tsien, Roger Yonchien, 1952–2016, American biochemist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1977. Tsien was a researcher at Cambridge (1977–81) and a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley (...

Ford, Betty

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Betty, 1918–2011, American first lady (1974–77), wife of President Gerald Ford, b. Chicago as Elizabeth Anne Bloomer. A candid, outspoken, and popular first lady, she became an effective soc...