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blood pressure

(Encyclopedia)blood pressure, force exerted by the blood upon the walls of the arteries. The pressure in the arteries originates in the pumping action of the heart, and pressure waves can be felt at the wrist and a...

anticoagulant

(Encyclopedia)anticoagulant ănˌtēkōăgˈyələnt [key], any of several substances that inhibit blood clot formation (see blood clotting). Some anticoagulants, such as the coumarin derivatives bishydroxycoumarin...

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...

adrenocorticotropic hormone

(Encyclopedia)adrenocorticotropic hormone ədrēˈnōkôrˌtəkōtrŏpˈĭk [key], polypeptide hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. Its chief function is to stimulate the cortex of the adrenal gland to...

scarlet fever

(Encyclopedia)scarlet fever or scarlatina, an acute, communicable infection, caused by group A hemolytic streptococcal bacteria (see streptococcus) that produce an erythrogenic toxin. The disease is now uncommon, p...

cancer, in medicine

(Encyclopedia)cancer, in medicine, common term for neoplasms, or tumors, that are malignant. Like benign tumors, malignant tumors do not respond to body mechanisms that limit cell growth. Unlike benign tumors, mali...

alternative medicine

(Encyclopedia)alternative medicine, the treatment and prevention of disease by techniques that are regarded by modern Western medicine as scientifically unproved or unorthodox. The term alternative medicine can enc...

Ménière's disease

(Encyclopedia)Ménière's disease mən-yĕrzˈ [key], disorder of the inner ear characterized by recurrent vertigo combined with hearing loss and tinnitus (a ringing sensation). It was first described by the French...

osteopathy

(Encyclopedia)osteopathy ŏstēŏpˈəthē [key], practice of therapy based on manipulation of bones and muscles. This school of medicine, founded by A. T. Still in 1874, maintains that the normal body produces for...