Category: Pp-Pr

An enzyme that can split a protein into the peptides from which it was originally created.

Very variable; easily changing; or continually changing. Protean is not to be confused with protein (a member of a large group of chemicals necessary to and found in all living things). Protean refers to Proteus, the mythologic master of disguise. According to the ancient Greeks, Proteus was the shepherd who looked after Poseidon’s sea creatures. Proteus had…

Referring to a prosthesis, an artificial substitute or replacement of a part of the body such as a tooth, eye, a facial bone, the palate, a hip, a knee or another joint, the leg, an arm, etc. A prosthesis is designed for functional or cosmetic reasons or both. Typical prostheses for joints are the hip, knee, elbow, ankle,…

An artificial replacement of a part of the body, such as a tooth, a facial bone, the palate, or a joint. A prosthesis may be removable, as in the case of most prosthetic legs or a prosthetic breast form used after mastectomy. Other types of prosthetic devices, such as artificial hips or teeth, are permanently implanted. With advances in medical…

A type of inflammation of the prostate not due to bacterial infection and in which there are no objective findings, such as the presence of infection-fighting cells, in the urine of men who suffer from the disease. The prostate is a walnut-sized organ below the male bladder that surrounds the urethra and contributes fluid to the semen. Prostatodynia is typically a chronic, painful disease.…

A gland in the male reproductive system that is located just below the bladder. It surrounds part of the urethra, the canal that empties the bladder. The prostate gland helps to control urination, and it forms part of the content of semen. Also known as simply the prostate.

Most prostatic enlargement is due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a problem that bothers men increasingly with advancing age. The process of BPH generally begins in a man’s 30s, evolves very slowly and usually causes symptoms only after he has passed the half-century mark. In BPH the normal elements of the prostate gland grow in size and number. Their…

A malignant tumor of the prostate, the gland that produces some of the components of semen. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death of males in the US. It is often first detected as a hard nodule found during a routine rectal examination. The PSA blood test is a screening test for prostate cancer. Diagnosis of prostate cancer is established when cancer cells are identified in…

A gland within the male reproductive system that is located just below the bladder. Chestnut shaped, the prostate surrounds the beginning of the urethra, the canal that empties the bladder. The prostate is actually not one but many glands, 30-50 in number, between which is abundant tissue containing many bundles of smooth muscle. The secretion of the prostate is a milky fluid…

One of the prostaglandins, a group of hormone-like substances that participate in a wide range of body functions such as the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle, the dilation and constriction of blood vessels, control of blood pressure, and modulation of inflammation. Prostaglandin F2-alpha(PGF-2 alpha) is a stable prostaglandin that stimulates the contraction of uterine and bronchial smooth muscle and produces vasoconstriction (tightening)…