Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Bubo
An enlarged lymph node that is tender and painful. Buboes particularly occur in the groin and armpit (the axillae). These swollen glands are seen in a number of infectious diseases, including gonorrhea, syphilis, tuberculosis, and the eponymous bubonic plague.
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BSL
1. Biosafety level, as in a BSL-4 laboratory. 2.Biohazard safety level. 3.Blood sugar level. 4.British Sign Language.
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BSA
In medicine, body surface area.
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Brushfields spots
Speckled iris. Little white spots that slightly elevated on the surface of the iris arranged in a ring concentric with the pupil. These spots occur in normal children but are far more frequent in Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21). They were described in 1924 by Thomas Brushfield and are due to aggregation of a normal iris element…
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Brunhilde virus
Type 1 poliovirus. Named after a female chimpanzee from which it was first isolated. There are two other strains of poliovirus: Type 2 (known as the Lansing virus) and Type 3 (known as the Leon virus). Immunity to one strain does not provide protection against the other two. All three strains are therefore included in…
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Bruit
A sound heard over an artery or vascular channel, reflecting turbulence of flow. Most commonly, a bruit is caused by abnormal narrowing of an artery. Listening for a bruit in the neck with a stethoscope is a simple way to screen for narrowing (stenosis) of the carotid artery, which can be a result of cholesterol plaque accumulation.
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Bruise
Injury of the soft tissues that results in breakage of the local capillaries and leakage of red blood cells. In the skin it can be seen as a reddish-purple discoloration that does not blanch when pressed. When a bruise fades, it becomes green and brown, as the body metabolizes the blood cells in the skin. It is best…
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Bruce protocol
A standardized multistage treadmill test for assessing cardiovascular health, The test was developed and described in 1963 by the American cardiologist Robert A. Bruce (1916-2004). According to the original Bruce protocol, the patient walks on an uphill treadmill in a graded exercise test with electrodes on the chest to monitor the EKG. Every 3 minutes, the speed and incline of…
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Brontophobia
An abnormal and persistent fear of thunder that causes undue anxiety even though sufferers realize that thunder itself poses no threat to them. When outdoors during a thunderstorm, they may suffer excessive anxiety. When indoors, they may hide under beds or desks, behind sofas, or in closets. “Brontophobia” is derived from the Greek “bronte” (thunder)…
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Bronchus
A large air tube that begins at the end of the trachea and branches into the lungs. The supporting walls of the bronchus are made up in part of cartilage.
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