Alcohol: An organic chemical in which one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups are attached to carbon (C) atoms in place of hydrogen (H) atoms. Common alcohols include ethyl alcohol or ethanol (found in alcoholic beverages), methyl alcohol or methanol (can cause blindness) and propyl alcohol or propanol (used as a solvent and antiseptic ). Rubbing alcohol is a mixture of acetone , methyl isobutyl ketone, and ethyl alcohol. In everyday talk, alcohol usually refers to ethanol as, for example, in wine, beer, and liquor. It can cause changes in behavior and be addictive.
See the entire definition of Alcohol
Analysis: A psychology term for processes used to gain understanding of complex emotional or behavioral issues.
See the entire definition of Analysis
Angioplasty: Procedure with a balloon-tipped catheter to enlarge a narrowing in a coronary artery. Also called Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA).
Arthritis: Inflammation of a joint. When joints are inflamed they can develop stiffness, warmth, swelling, redness and pain. There are over 100 types of arthritis. (see osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, gout, pseudogout).
Aspirin: A good example of a tradename that entered into the language, Aspirin was once the Bayer trademark for acetylsalicylic acid .
See the entire definition of Aspirin
Atherosclerosis: A process of progressive thickening and hardening of the walls of medium-sized and large arteries as a result of fat deposits on their inner lining.
See the entire definition of Atherosclerosis
Blood: The familiar red fluid in the body that contains white and red blood cells, platelets, proteins, and other elements. The blood is transported throughout the body by the circulatory system. Blood functions in two directions: arterial and venous. Arterial blood is the means by which oxygen and nutrients are transported to tissues while venous blood is the means by which carbon dioxide and metabolic by-products are transported to the lungs and kidneys, respectively, for removal from the body.
Blood pressure: The blood pressure is the pressure of the blood within the arteries. It is produced primarily by the contraction of the heart muscle. It's measurement is recorded by two numbers. The first (systolic pressure) is measured after the heart contracts and is highest. The second (diastolic pressure) is measured before the heart contracts and lowest. A blood pressure cuff is used to measure the pressure. Elevation of blood pressure is called "hypertension".
Bypass: An operation in which a surgeon creates a new tubular pathway for the movement of fluids and/or other substances in the body.
See the entire definition of Bypass
C-reactive protein: A plasma protein that rises in the blood with the inflammation from certain conditions.
See the entire definition of C-reactive protein
Cardiac: Having to do with the heart.
See the entire definition of Cardiac
Cardiovascular: The circulatory system comprising the heart and blood vessels which carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues of the body and removes carbon dioxide and other wastes from them.
See the entire definition of Cardiovascular
Cardiovascular disease: Disease affecting the heart or blood vessels.
See the entire definition of Cardiovascular disease
Cholesterol: The most common type of steroid in the body, cholesterol has gotten something of a bad name. However, cholesterol is a critically important molecule.
See the entire definition of Cholesterol
Clinical: 1. Having to do with the examination and treatment of patients. 2. Applicable to patients. A laboratory test may be of clinical value (of use to patients).
See the entire definition of Clinical
Clinical trial: See: Clinical trials. See also: Inconclusive clinical trial; Negative clinical trial; Non-inferior clinical trial; Positive clinical trial.
Condition: The term "condition" has a number of biomedical meanings including the following: - An unhealthy state, such as in "this is a progressive condition."
- A state of fitness, such as "getting into condition."
- Something that is essential to the occurrence of something else; essentially a "precondition."
- As a verb: to cause a change in something so that a response that was previously associated with a certain stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus; to condition a person, as in behavioral conditioning.
CRP: C-reactive protein.
Diabetes: Refers to diabetes mellitus or, less often, to diabetes insipidus . Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus share the name "diabetes" because they are both conditions characterized by excessive urination (polyuria).
See the entire definition of Diabetes
Disease: Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.
Family: 1. A group of individuals related by blood or marriage or by a feeling of closeness. 2. A biological classification of related plants or animals that is a division below the order and above the genus. 3. A group of genes related in structure and in function that descended from an ancestral gene. 4. A group of gene products similarly related in structure and function and of shared genetic descent. 5. Parents and their children. The most fundamental social group in humans.
Family history: The family structure and relationships within the family, including information about diseases in family members.
See the entire definition of Family history
Fat: 1 Along with proteins and carbohydrates, one of the three nutrients used as energy sources by the body. The energy produced by fats is 9 calories per gram. Proteins and carbohydrates each provide 4 calories per gram. 2 Total fat; the sum of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Intake of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help reduce blood cholesterol when substituted for saturated fats in the diet. 3 A slang term for obese or adipose. 4 In chemistry, a compound formed from chemicals called fatty acids. These fats are greasy, solid materials found in animal tissues and in some plants. Fats are the major component of the flabby material of a body, commonly known as blubber.
Health: As officially defined by the World Health Organization, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. It is positioned in the chest behind the sternum (breastbone; in front of the trachea, esophagus, and aorta; and above the diaphragm muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavities. The normal heart is about the size of a closed fist, and weighs about 10.5 ounces. It is cone-shaped, with the point of the cone pointing down to the left. Two-thirds of the heart lies in the left side of the chest with the balance in the right chest.
See the entire definition of Heart
Heart attack: The death of heart muscle due to the loss of blood supply. The loss of blood supply is usually caused by a complete blockage of a coronary artery, one of the arteries that supplies blood to the heart muscle. Death of the heart muscle, in turn, causes chest pain and electrical instability of the heart muscle tissue.
See the entire definition of Heart attack
Heart disease: Any disorder that affects the heart. Sometimes the term "heart disease" is used narrowly and incorrectly as a synonym for coronary artery disease. Heart disease is synonymous with cardiac disease but not with cardiovascular disease which is any disease of the heart or blood vessels. Among the many types of heart disease, see, for example: Angina; Arrhythmia; Congenital heart disease; Coronary artery disease (CAD); Dilated cardiomyopathy; Heart attack (myocardial infarction); Heart failure; Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; Mitral regurgitation; Mitral valve prolapse; and Pulmonary stenosis.
High blood pressure : Also known as hypertension, high blood pressure is, by definition, a repeatedly elevated blood pressure exceeding 140 over 90 mmHg -- a systolic pressure above 140 with a diastolic pressure above 90.
See the entire definition of High blood pressure
Infection: The growth of a parasitic organism within the body. (A parasitic organism is one that lives on or in another organism and draws its nourishment therefrom.) A person with an infection has another organism (a "germ") growing within him, drawing its nourishment from the person.
See the entire definition of Infection
Inflammation: A basic way in which the body reacts to infection , irritation or other injury, the key feature being redness, warmth, swelling and pain . Inflammation is now recognized as a type of nonspecific immune response .
See the entire definition of Inflammation
Lipid: Another word for "fat." (Please see the various meanings of Fat .) A lipid is more formally defined as a substance such as a fat, oil or wax that dissolves in alcohol but not in water. Lipids contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen but have far less oxygen proportionally than carbohydrates .
See the entire definition of Lipid
Male: The traditional definition of male was "an individual of the sex that produces sperm" (or some such). However, things are not so simple today. Male can be defined by physical appearance, by chromosome constitution (see Male chromosome complement), or by gender identification.
Marker: A piece of DNA that lies on a chromosome so close to a gene that the marker and the gene are inherited together. A marker is thus an identifiable heritable spot on a chromosome. A marker can be an expressed region of DNA (a gene) or a segment of DNA with no known coding function. All that matters is that the marker can be detected and trailed.
See the entire definition of Marker
Overweight: The term "overweight" is used in two different ways. In one sense it is a way of saying imprecisely that someone is heavy. The other sense of "overweight" is more precise and designates a state between normal weight and obesity .
See the entire definition of Overweight
Peripheral: Situated away from the center, as opposed to centrally located.
See the entire definition of Peripheral
Physicians Health Study: A very large, long-term, randomized study initiated in 1982 to look at the effects of aspirin and beta-carotene on cancer and cardiovascular disease. Its finding that daily low-dose aspirin decreased the risk of a first myocardial infarction by 44% helped focus attention on the role of aspirin in primary prevention of heart attacks. The study also showed no benefit or harm from beta-carotene, a finding that allowed investigators to turn to other, more promising agents. Now in phase II, the Physicians' Health Study is testing the balance of benefits and risks of three other widely used, but as-yet unproven, supplements --vitamin E, vitamin C, and a multivitamin -- for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and age-related eye disease. The participants, male physicians, are also tracked for other health issues. The Nurses Health Study is a comparable large long-term study of women's health issues. See: Nurses Health Study.
Postmenopausal: After the menopause . Postmenopausal is defined formally as the time after which a woman has experienced twelve (12) consecutive months of amenorrhea (lack of menstruation) without a period.
See the entire definition of Postmenopausal
Protein: A large molecule composed of one or more chains of amino acids in a specific order determined by the base sequence of nucleotides in the DNA coding for the protein.
See the entire definition of Protein
Risk factor: Something that increases a person's chances of developing a disease.
Stroke : The sudden death of some brain cells due to a lack of oxygen when the blood flow to the brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to the brain. A stroke is also called a cerebrovascular accident or, for short, a CVA.
See the entire definition of Stroke
Surgery: The word "surgery" has multiple meanings. It is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases and conditions which require or are amenable to operative procedures. Surgery is the work done by a surgeon. By analogy, the work of an editor wielding his pen as a scalpel is s form of surgery. A surgery in England (and some other countries) is a physician's or dentist's office.
See the entire definition of Surgery
 |
 |
From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com  |
|
|
- Heart Attack - Overview on heart attack (myocardial infarction) and heart attack symptoms including signs of a heart attack, includes causes, risk factors, prevention, and treatment. Produced by medical doctors. Source:MedicineNet
- Smoking and How to Quit Smoking - Learn how to quit smoking. Smoking is an addictive disease, read about the steps to quit smoking including medication and behavioral modification. Source:MedicineNet
- Peripheral Vascular Disease - Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) refers to diseases of the blood vessels (arteries and veins) located outside the heart and brain. PVD is sometimes referred to as peripheral artery disease. Symptoms include intermittent claudication, rest pain, numbness in the extremities and more. Source:MedicineNet
- Read 19 more C-Reactive Protein Test (CRP) related articles ...
|
| |
|
|
Heart RSS
