Category: An-An

Treatment designed to suppress or block the production of male hormones. Androgen suppression can be achieved by surgical removal of the testicles, by taking female sex hormones, or by taking other drugs called antiandrogens. Also called androgen suppression.

A male sex hormone that promotes the development and maintenance of the male sex characteristics. The major androgen is testosterone.

A genetic disease caused by a mutation in the GLA gene, resulting in a deficiency of the enzyme alpha-galactosidase A, also known as ceramide trihexosidase. This enzyme is essential to the metabolism of a fat compound known as globotriaosylceramide. Without alpha-galactosidase A, this fatty substance accumulates in the walls of blood vessels, leading to narrowing and decreased…

Hookworm, an intestinal parasite that usually causes diarrhea or cramps. Heavy infestation with hookworm can be serious for newborns, children, pregnant women, and persons who are malnourished. Hookworm infections occur mainly in tropical and subtropical climates and affect about 1 billion people — about one-fifth of the world’s population. One of the most common species of hookworm, Ancylostoma duodenale, is…

The absolute neutrophil count, the number of white blood cells (WBCs) that are neutrophils. The ANC is not measured directly. It is derived by multiplying the WBC count times the percent of neutrophils in the differential WBC count. The percent of neutrophils consists of the segmented (fully mature) neutrophils) + the bands (almost mature neutrophils). The…

The use of friction as a treatment modality for a medical condition. Anatripsis may or may not also involve the application of a medicament.

The study of normal structure of an organism under the microscope. Known among medical students simply as ‘micro.’ Also known as histology.

In medicine, the study of human structures that can be seen with the naked eye.

A book entitled Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical by Henry Gray appeared in 1858. It is still in print today and be perhaps the best known of all medical books. The English anatomist Henry Gray was born in 1825 or 1827. He studied the development of the endocrine glands and spleen and in 1853 was appointed Lecturer on…

There are in the Bible but few direct references to the internal organs. Biblical poetry, however, abounds with expressions in which the names of such organs are used metaphorically, e.g.: “His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground” (Job xvi.…