Category: Ci-Co

Prefix meaning around, surrounding, or encircling. As in circumcision, circumflex, and circumjacent. From the Latin preposition circum meaning round.

The system that moves blood throughout the body. The circulatory system is composed of the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins. This remarkable system transports oxygenated blood from the lungs and heart throughout the body via the arteries. The blood goes through the capillaries which are situated between the arteries and veins. And the blood that has been depleted of oxygen…

Having to do with circulation, the movement of fluid in a regular or circuitous course.

In medicine, the movement of fluid through the body in a regular or circuitous course. The circulatory system, composed of the heart and blood vessels, functions to produce circulation. Heart failure is an example of a problem with circulation.

A drug that acts as a calcimimetic and that is marketed under the trade name Sensipar.

A distinctive syndrome of headaches, better known today as cluster headache. There are two main clinical patterns of cluster headache — the episodic and the chronic: The episodic and acute forms of cluster headache may transform into one another, so it seems most likely that they are merely different-appearing clinical patterns of one and the…

A circular muscle that relaxes or tightens the zonules to enable the lens to change shape for focusing. The zonules are fibers that hold the lens suspended in position and enable it to change shape during accommodation.

The fine hairlike projections from certain cells such as those in the respiratory tract that sweep in unison and help to sweep away fluids and particles. Some single-celled organisms use the rhythmical motion of cilia for locomotion. Cilia is the plural of cilium, a Latin word referring to the edge of the eyelid and, much later, to the eyelashes. Cilia…

A seafood toxin that is acquired by eating fish that have consumed toxic single-celled marine organisms called dinoflagellates or fish that have consumed other fish that have become toxic. When someone eats these fish, they suffer seafood poisoning. Food poisoning from ciguatoxin is called ciguatera. Ciguatera can cause gastrointestinal, neuromuscular symptoms and respiratory problems. The gastrointestinal problems include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The neuromuscular problems may…

A small roll of finely cut tobacco enclosed in a wrapper of thin paper designed for smoking. “Cigarettes are the only product sold on the free market that, when used as directed, can kill people.” (L Chasan-Taber & M Stampfer, New Engl J Med 2001;345:1841-2) The word “cigarette” is the French diminutive of “cigare” (cigar),…