Category: C

  • Crack baby

    An infant exposed to crack cocaine in utero owing to the mother’s use of the drug during pregnancy.  

  • Coxiellosis

    Infection with Coxiella burnetii, a disease more commonly known as Q fever.  

  • Coxib

    Any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat pain and inflammation by inhibiting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) but not cyclooxygenase- 1 (COX-1). Most NSAIDs (e.g., celecoxib) inhibit both COX-2 and COX-1. Selective inhibition prevents the coxibs from forming prostaglandins, which irritate the upper gastrointestinal tract.  

  • Coxa saltans

    Snapping hip. A sound produced by either the gluteus maximus or the iliopsoas muscles as they rub over bony structures that lie deep to them. Most cases do not influence gait or balance and resolve spontaneously.  

  • Cowling’s rule

    A method for calculation of pediatric drug dosages in which the age of the child at the next birthday is divided by 24. However, the most safe and accurate methods of pediatric dosage calculation include the weight and body surface area or both of the patient. A plant virus used in vaccine development to deliver…

  • Cover

    To provide protection from potential illnesses with drugs, e.g., to cover a patient with a fever with antibiotics pending results of cultures. The fraction of the external surface of vegetation or specific segments of plants upon which a substance is held persistently after being administered via powdering, misting, or other analogous methods.  

  • Covariant

    In mathematics, pert, to variation of one variable with another so that a specified relationship is unchanged.  

  • Covalence

    The sharing of electrons between two atoms, which bonds the atoms.  

  • Couvelaire uterus

    A potential complication of placental abruption in which blood flows into the myometrium (uterine musculature). On physical examination the uterus is enlarged and tense. A Couvelaire uterus contracts poorly and may occasionally rupture.  

  • Couple-year of protection

    In family planning, the number of days per year that any method of birth control will prevent conception. Abstinence from sexual intercourse, or sterilization of both members of a couple, provides absolute (365 days/year) protection. Other methods of family planning or fertility inhibition are relatively less effective. Couples that attempt penile withdrawal before male climax…