Glossary
BioScience.com.pk try the best to avoid the use of medical terms that could make it more difficult to understand the information on this website. Still, there are a number of terms that can't be avoided and that are useful to know because they are so often used by the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals with whom you might speak. The list below includes the terms used on BioScience.com.pk for which we have provided definitions.
Term | Definition |
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Paget Disease | 1) The most common use of the term refers to a bone disorder in which bone is formed and broken down excessively, resulting in weakened bones. This condition can cause bone pain, deformed bones, arthritis, and numerous fractures. |
Pallor | Pale skin color |
Pandemic | An epidemic that occurs over a wide geographic area (across continents) |
Paraganglioma | tumor that releases excess hormones called catecholamines (e.g., dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine and their metabolites, such as metanephrines) and usually occurs somewhere in the abdomen but outside the adrenal glands |
Paramecium | Any of a genus (Paramecium) of ciliate chiefly freshwater protozoans that have an elongate body rounded at the anterior end and an oblique funnel-shaped buccal groove bearing the mouth at the extremity. |
Parasite | One of the four major groups of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites) that may live freely in nature, live on another organism without harming it, or live at the expense of the host organism |
Parenteral | Administration of a substance (e.g., a drug) by injection (under or through the skin) or intravenously but not through the digestive system (not enterally) |
Paresthesia | numbness, tingling, or prickling; an alteration in sensation |
Parietal | |
Paroxysmal choreoathetosis | A condition characterized by involuntary, intermittent, and irregular movements of facial muscles and limbs |
Pathogen | Organism that causes disease |
Pathogenic | Disease-causing |
Pathologist | A physician who diagnoses and characterizes disease by examining a patient’s tissues, blood, and other body fluids. Pathologists work in two broad areas: |
Pericardium | Sac-like membrane that surrounds the heart and the base of the blood vessels that lead into it |
Peripheral nervous system | All parts of the nervous system except the brain and spinal cord |