Category: Dh-Dk

Diphallia: an extremely rare congenital abnormality (birth defect) in which a male infant is born with duplication of the penis. This condition is estimated to occur in only one out of every 5 to 6 million live births. Diphallia is often associated with other abnormalities including gastrointestinal problems and other genitourinary abnormalities. The anatomical abnormality is often referred to as diphallus.

Dioscorides of Anazarbus. First century Greek physician, botanist and pharmacologist whose encyclopedia of materia medica was used for centuries after his death. Born in southeast Asia Minor in the Roman Empire in the first few decades C.E. During his lifetime, Dioscorides traveled extensively seeking medicinal substances from all over the Roman and Greek world. He benefited greatly from the ease…

The process of enlargement, stretching, or expansion. The word “dilatation” means the same thing. Both come from the Latin “dilatare” meaning “to enlarge or expand.”

A disorder in which the chambers of the heart are dilated (enlarged) because the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump effectively. There are many causes, the most common being myocardial ischemia (not enough oxygen supplied to the heart muscle) due to coronary artery disease.

To stretch or enlarge. Also known as dilatate.

A byproduct of the male hormone testosterone. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is considered to be the essential androgenic hormone. DHT is responsible for the formation of male primary sex characteristics during embryonic life. It is responsible for the development of most secondary sex characteristics in males at puberty. And it continues to be important to male sexual function throughout adult life. A semisynthetic analog of…

A finger or toe.

The system of organs responsible for getting food into and out of the body and for making use of food to keep the body healthy. The digestive system includes the salivary glands, mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, colon, and rectum. The digestive system’s organs are joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. Inside this tube…

Pain during urination, or difficulty urinating. Dysuria is usually caused by inflammation of the urethra, frequently as a result of infection.

1 The process by which cells become progressively more specialized; a normal process through which cells mature. This process of specialization for the cell comes at the expense of its breadth of potential. Stem cells can, for example, differentiate into secretory cells in the intestine. 2 In cancer, differentiation refers to how mature (developed) the cancer cells are…