Medical Dictionary Definitions A-Z List
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z - «K»:
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Knockout
Knockout: Inactivation of specific genes. Knockouts are often created in laboratory organisms such as yeast or mice so that scientists can study the knockout organism as a model for a particular disease....
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Knockout mouse
Knockout mouse: A mouse missing a single gene (that has been knocked out). Knockout mice are used in biomedical research....
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Knuckle
Knuckle: The dorsal aspect of the flexed metacarpophalangeal
joint. Knuckle may be shorter and simpler to say. ...
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Koch's postulates
Koch's postulates: In 1890 the German physician
and bacteriologist Robert
Koch set out his celebrated criteria for judging whether a
given bacteria is
the cause of a given disease. Koch's criteria brought some
much-needed
scientific clarity to what was then a very confused field.
Koch's postulat...
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Kok disease
Kok disease: 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), exaggerated startle respo...
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Koplik's spots
Koplik's spots: Little spots inside
the mouth that are highly characteristic of the early phase
of measles (rubeola). The spots look like a tiny grains of
white sand, each surrounded by a red ring. They are found
especially on the inside of the cheek (the buccal mucosa)
opposite the 1st and 2n...
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Kostmann disease
Kostmann disease: Children born with this condition lack neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that is important in fighting infection). These children suffer frequent infections from bacteria which in the past led to death in three-quarters of cases before 3 years of age. This disease is also kn...
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Krabbe disease
Krabbe disease: A progressive degenerative disorder of the nervous system due to mutation in the galactosylceramidase
(GALC) gene, leading to the accumulation of galactocerebroside and destruction of myelin, a fatty material that surrounds and insulates nerves. (Galactocerebroside is a component o...
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Krukenberg tumor
Krukenberg tumor: A tumor of the ovary caused by the
spread of
stomach cancer. When the stomach cancer spreads to an ovary, the
tumor in the ovary is called a Krukenberg tumor. (This tumor, named
for a doctor, is not a different disease; it is metastatic stomach
cancer. The cancer cells in a Kr...
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KSS
KSS: Kearns-Sayre syndrome....
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KUB
KUB: Kidney, ureter, and bladder....
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KUB film
KUB film: An X-ray showing the kidney, ureter, and bladder. This is in
reality a plain abdominal X-ray and includes other structures such as the diaphragm above
and the pelvis below....
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Kubler-Ross
Kübler-Ross: See: Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth....
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Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth: (1926-2004) Swiss-born American psychiatrist whose work with and teching about terminally ill patients helped alter attitudes toward death and the care of the dying. She opposed the taboo against openly discussing and studying death and was a force in the US for the crea...
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Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth: See: Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth....
