Category: Ra-Re

The recommendation of a medical or paramedical professional. If you get a referral to ophthalmology, for example, you are being sent to the eye doctor. In HMOs and other managed care schemes, a referral is usually necessary to see any practitioner or specialist other than your primary care physician (PCP), if you want the service to be…

The first cell division in meiosis, the process by which germ cells are formed. In reduction division, the chromosome number is reduced from diploid (46 chromosomes) to haploid (23 chromosomes). Also known as first meiotic division and first meiosis.

Also called conjunctivitis. Redness or irritation of the conjunctivae, the membranes on the inner part of the eyelids and the membranes covering the whites of the eyes. These membranes react to a wide range of bacteria, viruses, allergy-provoking agents, irritants and toxic agents. Viral and bacterial forms of conjunctivitis are common in childhood. The leading cause of a red eye is…

The blood cells that carry oxygen. Red cells contain hemoglobin and it is the hemoglobin which permits them to transport oxygen (and carbon dioxide). Hemoglobin, aside from being a transport molecule, is a pigment. It gives the cells their red color (and their name). The abbreviation for red blood cells is RBCs. Red blood cells are sometime simply called red…

The blood cell that carries oxygen. Red cells contain hemoglobin and it is the hemoglobin which permits them to transport oxygen (and carbon dioxide). Hemoglobin, aside from being a transport molecule, is a pigment. It gives the cell its red color (and name). The mature red blood cell (RBC) is a non-nucleated biconcave disk. Thanks to this unusual…

Appearing or occurring again. For example, a recurrent fever is a fever that has returned after an intermission, a recrudescent fever.

The return of a sign, symptom, or disease after a remission. The reappearance of cancer cells at the same site or in another location is a form of recurrence.

To occur again; to return. For example, a symptom, sign, or disease can recur.

The last 6 to 8 inches of the large intestine. The rectum stores solid waste until it leaves the body through the anus.

An extension of the peritoneal cavity between the rectum and back wall of the uterus. The term “cul-de-sac,” aside from being any “blind pouch or cavity that is closed at one end,” is used specifically to refer to the rectouterine pouch. From that fact comes: In French, “cul-de-sac” literally is “bottom of (a)sack.” As early as the 13th century, a cul-de-sac was a…