Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

An area of hardened skin, usually called a callus which is usually a response to frictional trauma to the skin.

A skin disease that occurs in patients with reactive arthritis (formerly Reiter’s syndrome). Abbreviated KB. Classically, the areas of the skin that are involved are the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, although other body surfaces may also be affected. The inflammation of the skin can come and go. When the inflammation is present,…

Prefix that can refer either to the cornea (as in keratitis and keratocornea) or to “horny” tissue (as in keratin and keratosis).

Inflammation of the cornea. Keratitis can occur due to abrasion trauma, infection, or underlying diseases such as Sjogren’s syndrome and lupus. Keratitis can lead to blindness.

A protein found in the upper layer of the skin, hair, and nails, and in animal horns.

1. The skin disease Keratodermia blennorrhagicum. 2. Kilobase of DNA. The preferred abbreviation for kilobase is kb in lower case letters.

A disorder of the bones and joints of the hands and fingers, elbows, knees, and ankles of children and adolescents who slowly develop stiff deformed joints, shortened limb length and short stature due to necrosis (death) of the growth plates of bones and of joint cartilage. The disorder is endemic in some areas of eastern Siberia, Korea, China and Tibet…

During cell division, the process of partition of a cell’s nucleus into the daughter cells. 

Any cell that possesses a nucleus. A neuron (nerve cell) is a karyocyte; it has a nucleus. A mature erythrocyte (red blood cell) is not a karyocyte; it lacks a nucleus. The term “karyocyte” is made up of “kary-” from the Greek “karyon” meaning “nut or kernel” + “-cyte” from the Greek “kytos” meaning a “hollow vessel” = a…

The presence of potassium in the blood. The word “kalemia” is seldom used today although it is the basis for the terms for abnormally high blood potassium (hyperkalemia) and low blood potassium (hypokalemia).