Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The process of removing waste products and excess fluid from the body. Dialysis is necessary when the kidneys are not able to adequately filter the blood. Dialysis allows patients with kidney failure a chance to live productive lives. There are two types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Each type of dialysis has advantages and disadvantages. Patients can usually choose…

1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A conclusion or decision reached by diagnosis. The diagnosis is rabies. 3 The identification of any problem. The diagnosis was a plugged IV. The word diagnosis comes directly from the Greek, but the meaning has been changed. To the Greeks a diagnosis meant specifically a “discrimination, a distinguishing,…

More commonly referred to as “diabetes” — a chronic disease associated with abnormally high levels of the sugar glucose in the blood. Diabetes is due to one of two mechanisms: The two main types of diabetes correspond to these two mechanisms and are called insulin dependent (type 1) and non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes. In type 1 diabetes there…

Usually refers to diabetes mellitus or, less often, to diabetes insipidus. Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus share the name “diabetes” because they are both conditions characterized by excessive urination (polyuria). The word “diabetes” is from the Greek word meaning “a siphon” because people with diabetes “passed water like a siphon.” When “diabetes” is used alone, it refers to diabetes…

Prefix meaning through, throughout, or completely, as in diachronic (over a period of time), diagnosis (to completely define the nature of a disease), and dialysis (cleansing the blood by passing it through a special machine).

Prefix taken directly from the Greek meaning twice or double or twofold, as in diacid, diamelia (absence of two limbs), diandry (double male genetic contribution) and digyny (double female genetic contribution); the drugs diazepam, dicyclomine (Bentyl), and diethylstilbestrol (DES); etc. Di- should not be confused with the prefix dia- which has a wholly different meaning.

Acronym for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Also known as HHS. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has two types of operating divisions: the Human Services and the Public Health Service Operating Divisions. The Public Health Service Operating Divisions include the:

A syndrome due to the dengue virus that tends to affect children under 10, causing abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding) and circulatory collapse (shock). DHF starts abruptly with high continuous fever and headache plus respiratory and intestinal symptoms with sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Shock occurs after 2 to 6 days with sudden collapse, cool clammy extremities, weak thready pulse, and…

Dehydroepiandrosterone.

1. Docosahexaenoic acid, an essential fatty acid, thought to be important to the development of infants, particularly as regards their eyes and brain. DHA is present in breast milk and has been added to some infant formulas. Postnatal DHA may improve vision and some cognitive functions in infants and toddlers. DHA is an omega-3, polyunsaturated, 22-carbon fatty acid. It is present…