Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Premature separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus. Abruption is a potentially serious problem both for the mother and baby.

A phytotoxin (plant poison) found in the seeds of a plant called the rosary pea or jequirity pea. These seeds are red with a black spot covering one end. Abrin is similar to ricin, a toxin that is also found in the seeds of a plant (the castor bean plant), although abrin is much more poisonous…

An abrasion or “excoriation” is a wearing away of the upper layer of skin as a result of applied friction force. In dentistry an “abrasion” is the wearing away of the tooth substance.

Also abram-man. One of a class of beggars who once wandered over England after the dissolution of the religious houses in the 16th century, pretending lunacy for the sake of obtaining alms. To sham Abraham (or sham Abram) now means to feign sickness, to fake illness.

to wear away by friction or erosion. The term “abrasion” comes from the verb abrade and is used in medicine to refer to an injury characterized by scraping or wearing away of tissue, most often on the skin. Synonyms include excoriate, scrape, scratch, rub raw, and chafe.

Auditory brainstem response test. An automated test for hearing and brain (neurological) functioning that is performed by applying wires to the skin around the ear. ABR may be used in the evaluation of: Hearing integrity (and neurologic normalcy) in infants and young children. Neurologic integrity (and hearing) in patients who are comatose, unresponsive, or impaired due to…

Abortive polio is a minor illness. It accounts for 80-90% of clinically apparent cases of polio infection, chiefly in young children. It does not involve the CNS. The usual symptoms are slight fever, malaise, headache, sore throat and vomiting which hit 3-5 days after exposure to the polio virus. Full recovery occurs in 24-72 hours. There are no permanent disabilities of…

Tending to cut short the course of a disease, as in abortive polio (polio cut short).

An abortion that is brought about intentionally. Also called an artificial or induced abortion. As opposed to a spontaneous abortion (a miscarriage).

A miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of pregnancy from conception to 20 weeks gestation. The term stillbirth refers to the death of a fetus after 20 weeks of gestation. Miscarriage is sometimes referred to as spontaneous abortion because the medical term abortion means ending a pregnancy, whether intentional or unintentional. Most miscarriages occur in the first trimester of pregnancy, from seven to twelve weeks…