Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The deflections in an electrocardiogram (EKG) tracing that represent the ventricular activity of the heart.

Seen on a prescription, qd (or, written with periods, q.d.) means one a day (from the Latin quaque die). The abbreviation is sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QD”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to…

If a medicine is to be taken every so- many hours, it is written “q_h”; the “q” standing for the Latin word for once “quaque” and the “h” indicating the number of hours. So, for example, “2 caps q4h” means “Take 2 capsules every 4 hours.” However it is written, it is one of a…

On a prescription, as needed.

Seen on a prescription, q.i.d. (or qid) means 4 times a day (from the Latin quater in die). The abbreviation q.i.d. is also sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QID”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to specify…

Abbreviation for “every hour.” On a prescription or doctor’s hospital orders, q.h. means every hour. Also written qh (without the periods). From the Latin quaque meaning once + h for hour. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to specify the frequency with…

On a prescription, every three hours.

On a prescription, every two hours.

The long arm of a chromosome. All human chromosomes have 2 arms — a short arm and a long arm — that are separated from each other only by the centromere, the point at which the chromosome is attached to the spindle during cell division. By international convention, the short arm is termed the “p arm”…