Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

325 results found

mastitis

(Encyclopedia)mastitis măstīˈtĭs [key], inflammation of the breast. Mastitis most commonly occurs in nursing mothers between the first and third weeks after childbirth, usually of the first child. It is an infe...

Crashaw, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Crashaw, Richard krăshˈô [key], 1612?–1649, one of the English metaphysical poets. He was graduated from Cambridge in 1634 and remained there as a fellow at Peterhouse until the Puritan uprising,...

chorea

(Encyclopedia)chorea kərēˈə, kō– [key] or St. Vitus's dance, acute disturbance of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary muscular movements of the face and extremities. The disease, known al...

giardiasis

(Encyclopedia)giardiasis jēärdīˈəsĭs, järdīˈəsĭs [key], infection of the small intestine by a protozoan, Giardia lamblia. Giardia, which was named after Alfred M. Giard, a French biologist, is spread via...

goldenrod

(Encyclopedia)goldenrod, any species of the large genus Solidago of the family Asteraceae (aster family), chiefly North American weedy herbs. They have small yellow flowers clustered, often in panicles, along a wan...

equine encephalitis

(Encyclopedia)equine encephalitis ēˈkwīn ĕnsĕfˌəlīˈtĭs [key], infectious disease of horses caused by any of several viruses, three of which—the Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan viruses—can also infect...

Hodgkin's disease

(Encyclopedia)Hodgkin's disease, a type of cancer of the lymphatic system. First identified in 1832 in England by Thomas Hodgkin, it is a type of malignant lymphoma. Incidence peaks in young adults and the elderly....

Jolley, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Jolley, Elizabeth (Monica Elizabeth Jolley), 1923–2007, Australian novelist, b. Birmingham, England. A nurse during World War II, she immigrated to Western Australia in 1959. Although she had writte...

southern tick-associated rash illness

(Encyclopedia)southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI) or Masters disease, illness characterized by a Lyme disease–like rash that is associated with bite from the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) rather...

beriberi

(Encyclopedia)beriberi bĕrˈēbĕrˈē [key], deficiency disease occurring when the human body has insufficient amounts of thiamine (vitamin B1). The deficiency may result from improper diet (e.g., ingestion of hi...