Medical Dictionary Definitions A-Z List
Medical Dictionary Definitions A - Z - «C»:
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Cartilage
Cartilage: Firm, rubbery tissue that cushions bones at joints. A
more flexible kind of cartilage connects muscles with bones and makes up other parts of
the body, such as the larynx and the outside parts of the ears. ...
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Cartilage hair hypoplasia syndrome
Cartilage hair hypoplasia syndrome: A specific genetic form of short-limbed dwarfism with skeletal features that also include normal head, inability to fully extends the elbows, chest cage deformity, bow legs (genu varum), and the tibia shorter than the fibula. The fingers are usually loose-jointed ...
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Casals-Ariet
Casals-Ariet: See: Casals-Ariet, Jordi....
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Casals-Ariet, Jordi
Casals-Ariet, Jordi: (1911-2004) Spanish-born American physician and viral epidemiologist who discovered Lassa virus in 1969. Dr. Casals nearly died in the process.
Casals's team at Yale University found the Lassa virus in the blood of three American missionary nurses who had contracted Lassa fever...
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Cascade
Cascade: A sequence of successive activation reactions involving enzymes (enzyme cascade) or hormones (hormone cascade) characterized by a series of amplifications of an initial stimulus. In blood coagulation, for example, each enzyme activates the next until the final product, the fibrin clot, is r...
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Case-fatality percentage
Case-fatality percentage: See: Case-fatality proportion....
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Case-fatality proportion
Case-fatality proportion: The number of cases of a disease ending in death compared to the number of cases of the disease. Usually expressed as a percentage....
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Case-to-infection proportion
Case-to-infection proportion: See: Case-to-infection ratio....
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Case-to-infection ratio
Case-to-infection ratio: The ratio of the number of cases of a disease compared to the number of infections with the agent that causes the disease. Also called the case-to-infection proportion....
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Casein
Casein: The main protein found in milk and other
dairy products....
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Caseous
Caseous: Cheeselike. In caseous lymphadenitis, the lymph nodes turn into a soft, dry, crumbly mass resembling cheese, usually due to tuberculosis or a related infection. From caseum, the Latin word for cheese....
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Cashew allergy
Cashew allergy: An allergic reaction to cashew nuts.
Cashew allergy can be isolated, meaning that the individual is only allergic to cashews and not to other nuts, or the allergy may extend to other kinds of tree nuts such as walnuts and pistachios. Isolated cashew allergy can strike children or ad...
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Caspase 3
Caspase 3: An enzyme that plays a key role in programmed cell death, or apoptosis.
Caspase 3 has been called the "henchman that goes around and executes the cell." It is a member of the family of asparate-specific cysteinyl proteases and is also known as caspase-3, CPP32, apopain, or YAMA....
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Cassette
Cassette: A pre-existing structure into which an insert can be moved. In molecular biology, a gene conversion process in which the old gene is replaced with a copy of a silent gene and the new copy becomes active. As the process involves replacing one ready made construct with another in an active s...
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Cast
Cast: 1) A protective shell of fiberglass, plastic, or plaster, and
bandage that is molded to protect broken or fractured limb(s) as it heals. 2) An
abnormal mass of dead cells that forms in a body cavity. For example, cases of
cells that form in the tubules of the kidneys are sometimes detected ...
