Medical Dictionary Definitions A-Z List
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z - «D»:
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Disease, chronic obstructive lung (COLD)
Disease, chronic obstructive lung (COLD):
Any disorder that persistently obstructs bronchial airflow. COLD mainly involves two related diseases -- chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Both cause chronic obstruction of air flowing through the airways and in and out of the lungs. The obstruction is gener...
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Disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD)
Disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD):
Any disorder that persistently obstructs bronchial airflow. COPD mainly involves two related diseases -- chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Both cause chronic obstruction of air flowing through the airways and in and out of the lungs. The obstruction is ...
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Disease, chronic wasting
Disease, chronic wasting: See Chronic wasting disease....
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Disease, clinical
Disease, clinical: A disease with clinical signs and symptoms that can
be recognized. As distinct from a subclinical illness without recognizable clinical
manifestations. Diabetes, for example, can be subclinical in a person before emerging as a
clinical disease....
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Disease, congenital heart
Disease, congenital heart: A malformation of the heart or the large blood vessels near the heart. The term "congenital" speaks only to time, not to causation; it means "born with" or "present at birth."
Congenital heart disease is the most frequent form of major birth
defects in newborns affecting ...
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Disease, Conor and Bruch
Disease, Conor and Bruch: African tick typhus, one of the tick-borne rickettsial diseases of the eastern hemisphere similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever but less severe. Characteristic features include fever, a small ulcer (tache noire) at the
site of the tick bite, swollen glands nearby (satelli...
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Disease, coronary artery
Disease, coronary artery: A major cause of illness and death, coronary artery disease (CAD) begins when hard cholesterol substances (plaques) are deposited
within a coronary artery.
(The coronary arteries arise from the aorta adjacent to the heart and supply the heart muscle with blood that is ric...
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Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD)
Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD): A
dementing disease of the brain. It is believed due to an unconventional (not a bacteria or
virus), transmissible agent called a prion. Symptoms of CJD include forgetfulness,
nervousness, jerky trembling hand movements, unsteady gait, muscle spasms, chronic
dement...
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Disease, Crohn
Disease, Crohn: A chronic inflammatory disease
primarily involving the small and large intestine but which can
affect other parts of the digestive system. It is named for
Burrill Crohn, the American gastroenterologist who first described
the disease in 1932.
Crohn disease is usually diagnosed ...
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Disease, Cushing
Disease, Cushing: The constellation of symptoms and
signs caused by an excess of cortisol hormone.
Cushing disease (or syndrome) is an extremely complex hormonal
condition that involves many areas of the body. Common symptoms are
thinning of the skin, weakness, weight gain, bruising, hypertens...
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Disease, cystine transport
Disease, cystine transport: Commonly known as cystinuria, this is an inherited (genetic) disorder of the transport of an amino acid (a building block of protein) called cystine resulting in an excess of cystine in the urine (cystinuria) and the formation of cystine stones.
Cystinuria is the most com...
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Disease, degenerative joint
Disease, degenerative joint: Also known
as osteoarthritis, this type of arthritis is caused by inflammation, breakdown and
eventual loss of the cartilage of the joints. Among the over 100 different types of
arthritis conditions, osteoarthritis is the most common, affecting usually the hands,
feet, s...
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Disease, delta-storage pool
Disease, delta-storage pool: See: Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome....
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Disease, exaggerated startle
Disease, exaggerated startle: A genetic disorder also known as hyperexplexia in which babies have an exaggerated startle reflex (reaction).
This disorder was not recognized until 1962 when it was described by Drs. Kok and Bruyn as a disease with the onset at birth of hypertonia (stiffness), exaggera...
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Disease, Fabry
Disease, Fabry: See: Fabry disease....