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| This glossary contains: 19186 medical terms |
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Enediyne
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EnediyneA very potent and naturally occurring antibiotic that acts by cleaving DNA. The adverse effects of enediynes on cells include mutagenicity (increase mutation), halting mitois (cell division) by arresting the cell cycle, and inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death).
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Antibiotic
A drug that stops or slows the growth of bacteria
DNA
Deoxyribo-Nucleic acid. DNA molecules carry the genetic information necessary for the organization and functioning of most living cells and control the inheritance of characteristics.
Cell
Fundamental structural unit of all life. The cell consists primarily of an outer plasma membrane, which separates it from the environment; the genetic material (DNA), which encodes heritable information for the maintainance of life; and the cytoplasm, a heterogeneous assemblage of ions, molecules, and fluid.
Apoptosis
A form of cell death in which a programmed sequence of events leads to the elimination of cells without releasing harmful substances into the surrounding area. Apoptosis plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining health by eliminating old cells, unnecessary cells, and unhealthy cells. The human body replaces perhaps a million cells a second. Too little or too much apoptosis plays a role in a great many diseases. When programmed cell death does not work right, cells that should be eliminated may hang around and become immortal. For example, in cancer and leukemia. When apoptosis works overly well, it kills too many cells and inflicts grave tissue damage. This is the case in strokes and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer, Huntington and Parkinson diseases. Apoptosis is also called programmed cell death or cell suicide. Strictly speaking, the term apoptosis refers only to the structural changes cells go through, and programmed cell death refers to the complete underlying process, but the terms are often used interchangeably.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Endostatin
Endostatin is a piece (a fragment) of a protein, collagen 18, found in all blood vessels. This fragment is normally secreted by tumors. It appears to halt the process of developing new blood vessels (angiogenesis) which is necessary to tumor development. Endostatin may, it is hoped, represent a prototype for a new class of agents with which to treat cancer.
Endothelial
Relating to the endothelium, the layer of flat cells lining the closed spaces of the body such as the inside of blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, the heart, and body cavities. By contrast, the outside layer of cells that covers all the free, open surfaces of the body including the skin and mucous membranes that communicate with the outside of the body is called the epithelium.
Endothelial progenitor cell
A primitive cell made in the bone marrow that can enter the bloodstream and go to areas of blood vessel injury to help repair the damage. The number of endothelial progenitor cells in the blood is a risk factor for vascular disease. Depletion or senescence of endothelial progenitor cells may contribute to blood vessel disease.
Endotherm
An endotherm is a warm-blooded animal (such as homo sapiens). Another term for us warm-blooded creatures is homeotherm. An endotherm or homeotherm is as opposed to a poikilotherm (an organism such as a frog that is cold-blooded) and a stenotherm (a creature that can only survive only within a very narrow temperature range).
Endourologist
An endourologist is a urologist with special expertise in navigating, using endoscopic optical instruments and other tools, inside the kidney, ureter and bladder. Endourologists are specialists in treating diseases of these organs.
Enediyne
Enervate
1. To remove part or all of a nerve, a procedure also called a neurectomy. 2. To lose nervous energy and feel sapped of energy.
Enervation
The act of enervating or the state of being enervated.
Enfeeble
To make feeble or weaken. Years of chronic illness may leave someone enfeebled. The word enfeeble is not often used in medicine, perhaps because of a negative connotation of the word.
Enhanced external counterpulsation
A non-invasive out-patient treatment for heart disease and, in particular, for angina (chest pain due to an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle). EECP is designed to relieve angina by improving perfusion in areas of the heart deprived of an adequate blood supply. EECP uses a device to inflate and deflate a series of compressive cuffs that are wrapped around the calves and lower and upper thighs. The basic principle involved is that of counterpulsation. The cuffs inflate during diastole, the period when the heart muscle relaxes and the chambers fill with blood. The cuffs inflate sequentially from the calves upwards, resulting in increased pressure in the aorta and coronary arteries. Compression of the vascular bed in the legs also increases the return of venous blood to the heart and increases cardiac output. Patients are customarily treated with EECP for an hour a day for a total of 35 hours.
Enophthalmos
Sunken eyeball.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Antibiotic
A drug that stops or slows the growth of bacteria
DNA
Deoxyribo-Nucleic acid. DNA molecules carry the genetic information necessary for the organization and functioning of most living cells and control the inheritance of characteristics.
Cell
Fundamental structural unit of all life. The cell consists primarily of an outer plasma membrane, which separates it from the environment; the genetic material (DNA), which encodes heritable information for the maintainance of life; and the cytoplasm, a heterogeneous assemblage of ions, molecules, and fluid.
Apoptosis
A form of cell death in which a programmed sequence of events leads to the elimination of cells without releasing harmful substances into the surrounding area. Apoptosis plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining health by eliminating old cells, unnecessary cells, and unhealthy cells. The human body replaces perhaps a million cells a second. Too little or too much apoptosis plays a role in a great many diseases. When programmed cell death does not work right, cells that should be eliminated may hang around and become immortal. For example, in cancer and leukemia. When apoptosis works overly well, it kills too many cells and inflicts grave tissue damage. This is the case in strokes and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer, Huntington and Parkinson diseases. Apoptosis is also called programmed cell death or cell suicide. Strictly speaking, the term apoptosis refers only to the structural changes cells go through, and programmed cell death refers to the complete underlying process, but the terms are often used interchangeably.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Endostatin
Endostatin is a piece (a fragment) of a protein, collagen 18, found in all blood vessels. This fragment is normally secreted by tumors. It appears to halt the process of developing new blood vessels (angiogenesis) which is necessary to tumor development. Endostatin may, it is hoped, represent a prototype for a new class of agents with which to treat cancer.
Endothelial
Relating to the endothelium, the layer of flat cells lining the closed spaces of the body such as the inside of blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, the heart, and body cavities. By contrast, the outside layer of cells that covers all the free, open surfaces of the body including the skin and mucous membranes that communicate with the outside of the body is called the epithelium.
Endothelial progenitor cell
A primitive cell made in the bone marrow that can enter the bloodstream and go to areas of blood vessel injury to help repair the damage. The number of endothelial progenitor cells in the blood is a risk factor for vascular disease. Depletion or senescence of endothelial progenitor cells may contribute to blood vessel disease.
Endotherm
An endotherm is a warm-blooded animal (such as homo sapiens). Another term for us warm-blooded creatures is homeotherm. An endotherm or homeotherm is as opposed to a poikilotherm (an organism such as a frog that is cold-blooded) and a stenotherm (a creature that can only survive only within a very narrow temperature range).
Endourologist
An endourologist is a urologist with special expertise in navigating, using endoscopic optical instruments and other tools, inside the kidney, ureter and bladder. Endourologists are specialists in treating diseases of these organs.
Enediyne
Enervate
1. To remove part or all of a nerve, a procedure also called a neurectomy. 2. To lose nervous energy and feel sapped of energy.
Enervation
The act of enervating or the state of being enervated.
Enfeeble
To make feeble or weaken. Years of chronic illness may leave someone enfeebled. The word enfeeble is not often used in medicine, perhaps because of a negative connotation of the word.
Enhanced external counterpulsation
A non-invasive out-patient treatment for heart disease and, in particular, for angina (chest pain due to an inadequate supply of oxygen to the heart muscle). EECP is designed to relieve angina by improving perfusion in areas of the heart deprived of an adequate blood supply. EECP uses a device to inflate and deflate a series of compressive cuffs that are wrapped around the calves and lower and upper thighs. The basic principle involved is that of counterpulsation. The cuffs inflate during diastole, the period when the heart muscle relaxes and the chambers fill with blood. The cuffs inflate sequentially from the calves upwards, resulting in increased pressure in the aorta and coronary arteries. Compression of the vascular bed in the legs also increases the return of venous blood to the heart and increases cardiac output. Patients are customarily treated with EECP for an hour a day for a total of 35 hours.
Enophthalmos
Sunken eyeball.
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This dictionary contains 19186 terms.
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