Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

An aching, crampy, tired, and sometimes burning pain in the legs that comes and goes — it typically occurs with walking and goes away with rest — due to poor circulation of blood in the arteries of the legs. In very severe claudication the pain is also felt ar rest. Intermittent claudication may occur in one or both legs and often…

A disease that intervenes during the course of another disease. A patient with AIDS may develop an intercurrent bout of pneumonia.

A mobile DNA element that can capture and carry genes, particularly those responsible for antibiotic resistance. Integrons do this by site-specific recombination. There are at least three classes of integrons based upon which integrase gene they contain. The antibiotic resistance genes that integrons capture are located on gene cassettes. These cassettes can exist as free circular DNA.…

A natural hormone made by the pancreas that controls the level of the sugar?glucosein the blood. Insulin permits cells to use glucose for energy. Cells cannot utilize glucose without insulin.

A nonprofit organization established in 1970 as a component of the US National Academy of Sciences that works outside the framework of government to provide evidence-based research and recommendations for public health and science policy. Abbreviated IOM. The IOM is also an honorific membership organization.

Insomnia is the perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep due to a number of factors, such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or unrefreshing sleep. Insomnia is not defined by the number of hours of sleep a person…

In the biomedical sciences, to introduce slowly, through a winding or narrow passage, or by a persistent movement. The term “insinuate” in this sense carries the connotation of introducing artfully and gently, as a cardiologist would do in insinuating a catheter (a tube) into the arteries of ones heart. The origin of “insinuate” is from the Latin in-, in + sinus,…

International normalized ratio.

A patient whose care requires a stay in a hospital. As opposed to an outpatient. The term inpatient dates back to at least 1760. The case of an inpatient was referred to an incase.

Affecting the force of muscle contraction. An inotropic heart drug is one that affects the force with which the heart muscle contracts. Ionotropic can be negative or positive.