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CAT scan

(Encyclopedia)CAT scan kăt [key] [computerized axial tomography], X-ray technique that allows relatively safe, painless, and rapid diagnosis in previously inaccessible areas of the body; also called CT scan. An X-...

Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne

(Encyclopedia)Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne, 1851–1926, American nun, philanthropist, and writer; youngest daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1871 she married George Parsons Lathrop. In 1891 she and her husband embrac...

melanoma

(Encyclopedia)melanoma: see skin cancer.

Modrich, Paul Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Modrich, Paul Lawrence, 1946–, American biochemist and molecular geneticist, b. Raton, N.M., Ph.D. Stanford Univ., 1973. Modrich joined the faculty at the Duke Univ. School of Medicine in 1976, and ...

BRCA gene

(Encyclopedia)BRCA gene: see breast cancer.

amnesia

(Encyclopedia)amnesia ămnēˈzhə [key], [Gr.,=forgetfulness], condition characterized by loss of memory for long or short intervals of time. It may be caused by injury, shock, senility, severe illness, or mental ...

Mackenzie, Sir Morell

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 1837–92, English physician and laryngologist. A skillful surgeon, he was called to Germany to treat the crown prince (later Frederick III, emperor of Germany), who eventually ...

sunburn

(Encyclopedia)sunburn, inflammation of the skin caused by actinic rays from the sun or artificial sources. Moderate exposure to ultraviolet radiation is followed by a red blush, but severe exposure may result in bl...

man-o'-war bird

(Encyclopedia)man-o'-war bird or frigate-bird, most aerial of the water birds, found in the tropic seas. The man-o'-war bird's wingspread (71⁄2 ft/228.5 cm) is the largest in proportion to its body (3–4 lb/1.4�...

cellular telephone

(Encyclopedia)cellular telephone or cellular radio, telecommunications system in which a portable or mobile radio transmitter and receiver, or “cellphone,” is linked via microwave radio frequencies to base tran...