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Willis, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Willis, Thomas, 1621–75, English physician and anatomist. He became professor at Oxford in 1660 and in 1666 established a practice in London. An authority on the brain and the nervous system, he dis...

beta-blocker

(Encyclopedia)beta-blocker or beta-adrenergic blocking agent bāˈtə ădˌrənûrˈjĭk [key], drug that reduces the symptoms connected with hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, angina pectoris, migraine headaches, ...

Richet, Charles Robert

(Encyclopedia)Richet, Charles Robert shärl rōbĕrˈ rēshāˈ [key], 1850–1935, French physiologist. From 1887 to 1927 he was professor at the Univ. of Paris. His special study was anaphylaxis, a term he used t...

Loewi, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Loewi, Otto lōˈē [key], 1873–1961, American physiologist and pharmacologist, b. Frankfurt, Germany. He was professor of pharmacology (1909–38) at the Univ. of Graz, Austria, until forced into e...

Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert, 1929–2018, British athlete and neurologist. On May 6, 1954, at Oxford's Iffley Road track, Bannister, a medical student, became the first man to run the mile in less th...

galactosemia

(Encyclopedia)galactosemia gəlăkˌtəsēˈmēə [key], inherited metabolic disorder caused by an enzyme deficiency and transmitted as a recessive trait; it results in the accumulation of the sugar galactose in th...

solar plexus

(Encyclopedia)solar plexus, dense cluster of nerve cells and supporting tissue, located behind the stomach in the region of the celiac artery just below the diaphragm. It is also known as the celiac plexus. Rich in...

Brown-Séquard, Charles Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Brown-Séquard, Charles Édouard broun-sākärˈ, –sākwärˈ [key], 1817–94, physiologist, b. Mauritius, of French and American parents. He taught at Harvard (1864–68), practiced medicine in Ne...

bladder, urinary

(Encyclopedia)bladder, urinary, muscular sac located in the pelvis that stores urine and contracts to expel it from the body. Urine enters the bladder from the kidneys through the ureters and is discharged from the...

MacKinnon, Roderick

(Encyclopedia)MacKinnon, Roderick, 1956–, American biochemist, b. Burlington, Mass., M.D. Tufts Univ., 1982. MacKinnon was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School from 1989–96 and has been a professor at the H...