The following are health and medical definitions of terms that appear in the Vasectomy article. Adjacent: Lying nearby. Related terms include superjacent, subjacent, and circumjacent. From ad-, near + the Latin jacere, to lie = to lie near.
American Medical Association (AMA): The AMA. The AMA's mission statement proclaims:
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Analysis: A psychology term for processes used to gain understanding of complex emotional or behavioral issues.
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Anesthetic: A substance that causes lack of feeling or awareness. A local anesthetic causes loss of feeling in a part of the body. A general anesthetic puts the person to sleep.
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).
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.
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Birth control : Birth control is the use of any practices, methods, or devices to prevent pregnancy from occurring in a sexually active woman. Also referred to as family planning, pregnancy prevention, fertility control, or contraception; birth control methods are designed either to prevent fertilization of an egg or implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.
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Cancer: An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).
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Child health: Child health is the purview of pediatrics.
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Cuts: Severed skin. Washing a cut or scrape with soap and water and keeping it clean and dry is all that is required to care for most wounds. Putting alcohol hydrogen peroxide, and iodine into a wound can delay healing and should be avoided. Seek medical care early if you think that you might need stitches. Any delay can increase the rate of wound infection. Any puncture wound through tennis shoes has a high risk of infection and should be seen by your healthcare professional. Any redness, swelling, increased pain, or pus draining from the wound may indicate an infection that requires professional care.
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).
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Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease ; the identification of an illness. 2 A conclusion or decision reached by diagnosis. The diagnosis is rabies . 3 The identification of any problem. The diagnosis was a plugged IV.
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Ejaculate: To ejaculate is to release semen during an orgasm in a male.
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Epididymis: A structure within the scrotum attached to the backside of the testis. The epididymis is a coiled segment of the spermatic ducts that serves to store, mature and transport spermatozoa between the testis and the vas (the vas deferens).
Essential: 1. Something that cannot be done without.
2. Required in the diet, because the body cannot make it. As in an essential amino acid or an essential fatty acid.
3. Idiopathic. As in essential hypertension. "Essential" is a hallowed term meaning "We don't know the cause."
Father: (1) The male parent. (2) One who originates. For example, "Wilhelm Roentgen is considered the father of radiology." (3) To produce offspring as a male. (4) To provide paternal protection and guidance to children.
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.
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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.
Hormone: A chemical substance produced in the body that controls and regulates the activity of certain cells or organs.
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Immune: Protected against infection. The Latin immunis means free, exempt.
Immune response: Any reaction by the immune system.
Incidence: The frequency with which something, such as a disease, appears in a particular population or area. In disease epidemiology, the incidence is the number of newly diagnosed cases during a specific time period. The incidence is distinct from the prevalence which refers to the number of cases alive on a certain date.
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Incision: A cut. When making an incision, a surgeon is making a cut.
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.
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Infertility: The diminished ability or the inability to conceive and have offspring . Infertility is also defined in specific terms as the failure to conceive after a year of regular intercourse without contraception.
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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 .
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JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA began publication in 1883. It now bills itself as "the world's best-read medical journal". However one defines "best-read", JAMA clearly ranks as one of the two leading general medical journals published in the United States. (The other is the New England Journal of Medicine.)
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Journal of the American Medical Association: JAMA, which began publication in 1883, now bills itself as "the world's best-read medical journal". However one defines "best-read", JAMA clearly ranks as one of the two leading general medical journals published in the United States. The other is the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Juvenile: Between infantile and adult as, for example, in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (onset before age 16 years) and juvenile diabetes (type 1 diabetes).
Multiple sclerosis : Abbreviated MS. A disease of the central nervous system (CNS) marked by numbness, weakness, loss of muscle coordination, and problems with vision, speech, and bladder control. MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks myelin, a key substance that serves as a nerve insulator and helps in the transmission of nerve signals. The progress, severity and specific symptoms in MS are unpredictable. One never knows when attacks will occur, how long they will last, or how severe they will be. Most people with MS are between the ages of 20 and 40 at the time of diagnosis. The term "multiple" refers to the multiple places in the CNS that are affected and to the multiple relapses and remissions characteristic of MS.
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NICHD: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the US National Institutes of Health . NICHD is in a sense the NIH for kids in that it is concerned with child health .
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NIH: The National Institutes of Health. The NIH is an important U.S. health agency. It is devoted to medical research. Administratively under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the NIH consists of 20-some separate Institutes and Centers. NIH's program activities are represented by these Institutes and Centers.
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Operation: Although there are many meanings to the word "operation", in medicine it refers to a surgical procedure.
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Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pain has both physical and emotional components. The physical part of pain results from nerve stimulation. Pain may be contained to a discrete area, as in an injury, or it can be more diffuse, as in disorders like fibromyalgia . Pain is mediated by specific nerve fibers that carry the pain impulses to the brain where their conscious appreciation may be modified by many factors.
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Pregnancy : The state of carrying a developing embryo or fetus within the female body. This condition can be indicated by positive results on an over-the-counter urine test, and confirmed through a blood test, ultrasound, detection of fetal heartbeat, or an X-ray. Pregnancy lasts for about nine months, measured from the date of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP). It is conventionally divided into three trimesters, each roughly three months long.
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Pregnant: The state of carrying a developing fetus within the body.
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Prevalence: The proportion of individuals in a population having a disease. Prevalence is a statistical concept referring to the number of cases of a disease that are present in a particular population at a given time.
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Prospective: Looking forward. A prospective study or a prospective clinical trial is one in which the participants are identified and then followed forward in time.
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Prostate: A gland within the male reproductive system that is located just below the bladder. Chestnut shaped, the prostate surrounds the beginning of the urethra, the canal that empties the bladder.
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Prostate cancer: An uncontrolled (malignant) growth of cells in the prostate gland which is located at the base of the urinary bladder and is responsible for helping control urination as well as forming part of the semen. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death of males in the U.S.
Public health: The approach to medicine that is concerned with the health of the community as a whole. Public health is community health. It has been said that: "Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time."
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Retrospective: Looking backward on the past, on what has already taken place. A retrospective study looks backward in time, usually using medical records and interviews with patients who already known to have or have had a disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis : An autoimmune disease which causes chronic inflammation of the joints, the tissue around the joints, as well as other organs in the body. Autoimmune diseases occur when the body tissues are mistakenly attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is a complex organization of cells and antibodies designed normally to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, particularly infections. Patients with these diseases have antibodies in their blood which target their own body tissues, where they can be associated with inflammation. Because it can affect multiple other organs of the body, rheumatoid arthritis is referred to as a systemic illness and is sometimes called rheumatoid disease. While rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic illness (meaning it can last for years) patients may experience long periods without symptoms.
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Sclerosis: Localized hardening of skin.
Scrotum: A pouch of skin which contains the testes, epididymides, and lower portions of the spermatic cords.
Semen: The fluid that is released through the penis during orgasm. Semen is made up of fluid and of sperm. The fluid comes from the prostate, seminal vesicle and other sex glands. The sperm are manufactured in the testicles. The seminal fluid helps transport the sperm during orgasm. Seminal fluid contains sugar as an energy source for sperm.
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Sore: 1. (adjective) A popular term for painful. I have sore fingers from typing dictionary terms. She has a sore throat . 2. (noun) A nondescript term for nearly any lesion of the skin or mucous membranes. He has a number of sores in his mouth.
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Sperm: A sperm is the male "gamete" or sex cell. It combines with the female "gamete," called an ovum, to form a zygote. The formation process is called "fertilization." (see ovum, zygote).
Surgeon: A physician who treats disease, injury, or deformity by operative or manual methods. A medical doctor specialized in the removal of organs, masses and tumors and in doing other procedures using a knife (scalpel). The definition of a "surgeon" has begun to blur in recent years as surgeons have begun to minimize the cutting, employ new technologies that are "minimally invasive," use scopes, etc.
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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.
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Testes: The male sex glands. They are located behind the penis in a pouch of skin called the scrotum. The testes produce and store sperm, and are also the body's main source of male hormones, such as testosterone. These hormones control the development of the reproductive organs and other male characteristics, such as body and facial hair, low voice, and wide shoulders.
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Testicular cancer : Cancer of the male sex organ, the testicle, that normally produces the hormone testosterone. One of the most common cancers in young men. Most testicular cancers are found by men in themselves as a lump in the testicle.
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Testis: The testis (or testicle) is the male sex gland. A pair of testes are located behind the penis in a pouch of skin called the scrotum.
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Testosterone: A "male hormone" -- a sex hormone produced by the testes that encourages the development of male sexual characteristics, stimulates the activity of the male secondary sex characteristics, and prevents changes in them following castration. Chemically, testosterone is 17-beta-hydroxy-4-androstene-3-one.
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Tubes: The "tubes" are medically known as the Fallopian tubes. There are two Fallopian tubes, one on each side, which transport the egg from the ovary to the uterus (the womb). The Fallopian tubes have small hair-like projections called cilia on the cells of the lining.
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Vas deferens: The tube connecting the testes with the urethra. The vas deferens is a coiled duct that conveys sperm from the epididymis to the ejaculatory duct and the urethra.
Vasectomy: A vasectomy is a surgical procedure designed to make a man sterile by cutting or blocking both the right and left vas deferens, the tubes through which sperm pass into the ejaculate.
Viable: Capable of life. For example, a viable premature baby is one who is able to survive outside the womb.
World Health Organization: An agency of the United Nations established in 1948 to further international cooperation in improving health conditions. Although the World Health Organization inherited specific tasks relating to epidemic control, quarantine measures, and drug standardization from the Health Organization of the League of Nations (that was set up in 1923) and from the International Office of Public Health at Paris (established in 1909), the World Health Organization was given a broad mandate under its constitution to promote the attainment of "the highest possible level of health" by all people. WHO defines health positively as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
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- Questions To Ask Before Surgery - Surgery questions to ask prior to having a procedure are important. Your surgeon should be available to answer your surgery questions prior to the procedure.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis - Learn more about rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic joint inflammation, which has symptoms that include stiffness, fever, muscle and joint aches, loss of appetite, and fatigue. Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis incorporates the use of first-line drugs (aspirin and corticosteroids for pain and inflammation) and second-line drugs (methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine to prevent joint destruction and promote remission).
- IUD (Intrauterine Device) - Learn about the IUD (intrauterine device), a birth control method to prevent pregnancy. Side effects of an IUD include cramps, infection, spotting, heavy periods, infertility, and pelvic inflammatory disease.
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