Category: Ra-Re

  • Rash

    Breaking out (eruption) of the skin. A rash can be caused by an underlying medical condition, hormonal cycles, allergies, or contact with irritating substances. Treatment depends on the underlying cause of the rash. Medically, a rash is referred to as an exanthem.

  • Rapid plasma reagin test

    A screening blood test for syphilis. Rapid plasma reagin is commonly abbreviated RPR. A negative (“nonreactive”) RPR test result is compatible with a person not having syphilis. However, a person may have a negative RPR test and still have syphilis since, in the early stages of the disease, the RPR often gives negative results. This is a false…

  • Rape

    Forced sexual intercourse; sexual assault; sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor. Rape may be heterosexual (involving members of opposite sexes) or homosexual (involving members of the same sex). Rape involves insertion of an erect penis or an inanimate object into the female vagina or the male anus. Legal definitions of rape may also include forced oral sex and other sexual acts. Heterosexual…

  • RANTES

    A cytokine that is a member of the interleukin-8 superfamily of cytokines. RANTES is a protein. It is a selective attractant for memory T lymphocytes and monocytes. It binds to CCR5, a coreceptor of HIV. RANTES is an acronym for Regulated on Activation, Normal T Expressed and Secreted. It is also known as CCL5.

  • Range of motion

    The full movement potential of a joint, usually its range of flexion and extension. For example, a knee might lack 10 degrees of full extension due to an injury.

  • Range

    In medicine and statistics, the difference between the lowest and highest numeric values. For example, if five premature infants are born, weighing 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 pounds, respectively, the range of their birth weights is 2 to 6 pounds.

  • Randomized controlled trial

    (RCT) A study in which people are allocated at random (by chance alone) to receive one of several clinical interventions. One of these interventions is the standard of comparison or control. The control may be a standard practice, a placebo (“sugar pill”), or no intervention at all. Someone who takes part in a randomized controlled trial (RCT)…

  • Random number table

    A table of numbers generated in an unpredictable, haphazard sequence. Tables of random numbers are used to create a random sample. A random number table is therefore also called a random sample table. Random numbers were traditionally selected from a printed table. Today random numbers can be generated by computer.

  • Random

    Determined solely by chance.

  • Ramus

    In anatomy, a branch, such as a branch of a blood vessel or nerve. For example, the ramus acetabularis arteriae circumflexae femoris medialis is the branch of an artery that goes to the socket of the hip joint. The plural of ramus is rami.