Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

polycythemia

(Encyclopedia)polycythemia pŏlˌēsīthēˈmēə [key], condition characterized by an increase in the production of red blood cells, or erythrocytes, in the blood. Primary polycythemia, also called erythremia, or ...

hemolysis

(Encyclopedia)hemolysis hĭmŏlˈĭsĭs [key], destruction of red blood cells in the bloodstream. Although new red blood cells, or erythrocytes, are continuously created and old ones destroyed, an excessive rate of...

vein

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Cross section of vein showing valves vein, blood vessel that returns blood to the heart. Except for the pulmonary vein, which carries oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart, veins carry ...

kidney, artificial

(Encyclopedia)kidney, artificial, mechanical device capable of assuming the functions ordinarily performed by the kidneys. In treating cases of kidney failure a tube is inserted into an artery in the patient's arm ...

blister

(Encyclopedia)blister, puffy swelling of the outer skin (epidermis) caused by burn, friction, or irritants like poison ivy. A response of the body to protect deeper tissue, blisters generally contain serum, the liq...

McCulloch v. Maryland

(Encyclopedia)McCulloch v. Maryland, case decided in 1819 by the U.S. Supreme Court, dealing specifically with the constitutionality of a Congress-chartered corporation, and more generally with the dispersion of po...

Black, Eugene Robert

(Encyclopedia)Black, Eugene Robert, 1898–1992, American financier, b. Atlanta, grad. Univ. of Georgia (B.A., 1917). After serving in the navy during World War I and working at the investment firm Harris, Forbes, ...

spleen

(Encyclopedia)spleen, soft, purplish-red organ that lies under the diaphragm on the left side of the abdominal cavity. The spleen acts as a filter against foreign organisms that infect the bloodstream, and also fil...

papaverine

(Encyclopedia)papaverine pəpăvˈərēn [key], alkaloid found in opium that acts as a muscle relaxant and vasodilator. The drug relaxes the smooth muscle of the larger blood vessels and is used to increase the blo...

Preston, Lewis Thompson

(Encyclopedia)Preston, Lewis Thompson, 1926–95, American financial executive, b. New York City. After serving as a U.S. Marine during World War II and graduating from Harvard (1951), he joined J. P. Morgan. He be...