Category: A

  • Afterpains

    Regular pains in the uterus which are sometimes experienced after childbirth. Pains from uterine contractions felt by a woman after her baby is born. Abdominal cramps a woman feels after childbirth. After delivery, hormones stimulate contractions that help shrink the uterus to its pre-pregnancy size. Contractions may last for several days after the birth. Pains…

  • After-image

    An image of an object which remains in a person’s sight after the object itself has gone. An impression of an image that is registered by the brain for a brief moment after an object is removed from in front of the eye, or after the eye is closed.  

  • After-effect

    A change which appears only some time after the cause. A response occurring some time after the original stimulus or condition has produced its primary effect.  

  • Afferent vessel

    A tube which brings lymph to a gland.  

  • Aetiology

    The cause or origin of a disease. That part of medical science dealing with the causes of disease. The term “pathogenesis” refers to the scientific investigation of the origins of disease, as stated by the Oxford English Dictionary and in the field of plant pathology. However, there is a wide range of interpretations regarding the…

  • Aetiological agent

    An agent which causes a disease.  

  • Aerogenous

    Referring to a bacterium which produces gas.  

  • Aerobic respiration

    The process where the oxygen which is breathed in is used to conserve energy as ATP. Cellular respiration in which oxygen is used in the production of energy.  

  • Aeroba

    A tiny organism which needs oxygen to survive.  

  • Aegophony

    A high sound of the voice heard through a stethoscope, where there is fluid in the pleural cavity. The bleating tone given to the voice when heard by auscultation with a stethoscope, when there is a small amount of fluid in the pleural cavity in the chest.