Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Weakness on one side of the body.

Half of the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen and that serves as the main muscle of respiration. Both hemidiaphragms are visible on X-ray studies from the front or back. The right hemidiaphragm is protected by the liver and is stronger than the left. The left hemidiaphragm is more often subject to rupture and hernia than the right.…

Prefix meaning one half, as in hemiparesis, hemiplegia, and hemithorax. From the Greek hemisus meaning half and equivalent to the Latin semi-. As a general rule, not always followed, hemi- goes with words of Greek origin and semi- with those of Latin origin.

Blood in the urine. Hematuria may or may not be accompanied by pain, but it is always abnormal and should be further investigated. Painful hematuria can be caused by a number of disorders, including infections and stones in the urinary tract. Painless hematuria can also be due to many causes, including cancer.

The production of all types of blood cells including formation, development, and differentiation of blood cells. Prenatally, hematopoiesis occurs in the yolk sack, then in the liver, and lastly in the bone marrow. In the normal situation, hematopoiesis in adults occurs in the bone marrow and lymphatic tissues. All types of blood cells are derived from primitive cells…

An abnormal and persistent fear of blood is called hematophobia. Sufferers of this very common phobia dread the sight of their own blood, the sight of the blood of another person or an animal, and sometimes printed or filmed images of blood or even thoughts of blood. Blood may remind them of their own vulnerability to…

A localized swelling that is filled with blood caused by a break in the wall of a blood vessel. The breakage may be spontaneous, as in the case of an aneurysm, or caused by trauma. The blood is usually clotted or partially clotted, and it exists within an organ or in a soft tissue space, such as…

The diagnosis, treatment and prevention of blood diseases (hematology) and cancer (oncology) and research into them. Hematology-oncology includes such diseases as iron deficiency anemia, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, the thalassemias, leukemias and lymphomas, as well as cancers of other organs. Abbreviated hem-onc.

The diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases of the blood and bone marrow as well as of the immunologic, hemostatic (blood clotting) and vascular systems. Because of the nature of blood, the science of hematology profoundly affects the understanding of many diseases.

The proportion of the blood that consists of packed red blood cells. The hematocrit is expressed as a percentage by volume. The red cells are packed by centrifugation. For example, an hematocrit of 25% means that there are 25 milliliters of red blood cells in 100 milliliters of blood. The red cells make up a quarter of the…