Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The age of the mother at the time of delivery. Advanced maternal age is usually defined as age 35 or more at delivery. Advanced maternal age predisposes to Down syndrome (trisomy 21). The risk of having a Down syndrome baby rises with maternal age. It essentially doubles from 1 in 725 at maternal age 32 to 1 in 365…

A term designating someone’s age by decade. For example, a septuagenarian refers to someone in his or her seventies (age 70 to 79). The prefix in such terms is always from the Latin. For example, the Latin septuageni = seventy. Denarian: Someone age 10 to 19. Vicenarian: Someone in his or her twenties. Tricenarian: Someone…

Total or near-total absence of infection-fighting antibodies belonging to the class called gamma globulins. Agammaglobulinemia can be due to certain genetic diseases or caused by acquired diseases, including AIDS.

The placenta and fetal membranes that are expelled from the uterus following the baby’s birth. Hence, the “afterbirth.” The placenta is what joins the mother and fetus. It also permits the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus besides the release of carbon dioxide and waste products from the fetus to the mother. As…

An American of black African descent. The term may also be written with a hyphen as African-American. The term entered into usage largely starting in 1988, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson held a news conference to urge Americans to use it to refer to blacks. African American has largely supplanted black in health matters. For…

Also called African trypanosomiasis, a systemic disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei that is transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, a gray-brown insect about the size of a honeybee. African trypanosomiasis is confined to tropical Africa from north of South Africa to south of Algeria, Libya, and Egypt. Tsetse flies inhabit rural…

One of the tick-borne rickettsial diseases of the eastern hemisphere, similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but less severe, with fever, a small ulcer (tache noire) at the site of the tick bite, swollen glands nearby (satellite lymphadenopathy), and a red raised (maculopapular) rash. Also called fievre boutonneuse.

Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, is the most common of the big tapeworms that parasitizes people, contracted from infected raw or rare beef. Can grow to be 12-25 feet (3.6-7.5 m) long in the human intestine.

A virus of the Asfarviridae family that causes a hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs. The virus infects pigs as well as soft ticks of the genus Onithodorus. Infected ticks are thought to serve as vectors of transmission. Transmission among pigs can also occur directly or through contaminated food. The illness produced is known as African swine fever; it is highly…

Also called African trypanosomiasis, a systemic disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei that is transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, a gray-brown insect about the size of a honeybee. African trypanosomiasis is confined to tropical Africa from north of South Africa to south of Algeria, Libya, and Egypt. Tsetse flies inhabit rural…