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Einthoven, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Einthoven, Willem vĭlˈəm īntˈhōvən [key], 1860–1927, Dutch physiologist, b. Java, M.D. Univ. of Utrecht, 1885. He was professor at the Univ. of Leiden from 1886. To measure the electric curre...

stress test

(Encyclopedia)stress test or exercise electrocardiography, in medicine, a test that evaluates the performance of the heart by subjecting it to controlled amounts of physical stress. Such tests, which include walkin...

digitalis

(Encyclopedia)digitalis dĭjˌĭtălˈĭs [key], any of several chemically similar drugs used primarily to increase the force and rate of heart contractions, especially in damaged heart muscle. The effects of the d...

electrocardiography

(Encyclopedia)electrocardiography ĭlĕkˌtrōkärdēŏgˈrəfē [key], science of recording and interpreting the electrical activity that precedes and is a measure of the action of heart muscles. Since 1887, when ...

Forssmann, Werner

(Encyclopedia)Forssmann, Werner vĕrˈnər fôrsˈmän [key], 1904–79, German physician and physiologist, M.D. Univ. of Berlin (1929). In the late 1920s, he developed the technique of cardiac catheterization, whe...

Barnard, Christiaan Neethling

(Encyclopedia)Barnard, Christiaan Neethling krĭsˈtēänˌ nāˈᵺĭng bärˈnərd [key], 1922–2001, South African surgeon. The son of a Dutch Reformed minister, Barnard studied medicine at the Univ. of Cape To...

Baylor University

(Encyclopedia)Baylor University, mainly at Waco, Tex.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1845 by Baptists (see Baylor, Robert E. B.) at Independence, moved 1886 and absorbed Waco Univ. (chartered 1861). The libra...

physiology

(Encyclopedia)physiology fĭzēŏlˈəjē [key], study of the normal functioning of animals and plants during life and of the activities by which life is maintained and transmitted. It is based fundamentally on the...

Netter, Frank Henry

(Encyclopedia)Netter, Frank Henry, 1906–1991, American physician and medical illustrator, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended City College as well as the National Academy of Design and Art Students League and became a ...

autoimmune disease

(Encyclopedia)autoimmune disease, any of a number of abnormal conditions caused when the body produces antibodies to its own substances. In rheumatoid arthritis, a group of antibody molecules called collectively RF...