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polybrominated biphenyl

(Encyclopedia)polybrominated biphenyl or PBB, any of a group of organic compounds used as a fire retardant. In 1973 several thousand pounds of PBB were accidentally mixed with livestock feed that was later distribu...

Porter, Rodney Robert

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Rodney Robert, 1917–85, British biochemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1948. He was a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research, England (1949–1960), and a professor at St. Mary's Hos...

radiology

(Encyclopedia)radiology, branch of medicine specializing in the use of X rays, gamma rays, radioactive isotopes, and other forms of radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. X ray machines and fluoroscop...

Sigerist, Henry Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Sigerist, Henry Ernest sĭgˈərĭst [key], 1891–1957, American medical historian and writer, b. Paris, M.D. Univ. of Zürich, 1917. He taught history of medicine at the universities of Zürich (192...

Ceiba, La

(Encyclopedia)Ceiba, La lä sāˈbä [key], city (1997 est. pop. 96,000), N Honduras, capital of Atlántida dept., on the Caribbean Sea. It is the commercial and processing center of a rich agricultural region domi...

Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso

(Encyclopedia)Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso jōvänˈnē älfônˈsō bôrĕlˈlē [key], 1608–79, Italian physiologist, physicist, astronomer, and mathematician; son of a Spanish infantryman. His wide interests led ...

koala

(Encyclopedia)koala kōäˈlə [key], arboreal marsupial, or pouched mammal, Phascolarctos cinereus, native to Australia. Although it is sometimes called koala bear, or Australian bear, and is somewhat bearlike in ...

fetal tissue implant

(Encyclopedia)fetal tissue implant or fetal cell therapy, implantation of tissue from a fetus into a patient. In experimental procedures, fetal brain tissue has been implanted in the brains of patients with Parkins...

herpes simplex

(Encyclopedia)herpes simplex hûrˈpēz [key], an acute viral infection of the skin characterized by one or more painful, itching blisters filled with clear fluid. It is caused by either of two herpes simplex virus...

blindness

(Encyclopedia)blindness, partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in syst...