Glossary

Category: D

  • Digestive system

    The organs that take in food and turn it into products that the body can use to stay healthy. Waste products the body cannot use leave the body through bowel movements. The digestive system includes the salivary glands, mouth, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, small and large intestines, and rectum. A series of organs and…

  • Digestion (within chemical production plants)

    The process of breakdown of food for metabolism and use by the body. Breakdown of feed-stocks by various processes (chemical, mechanical, and biological) to yield their desired building-block components for inclusion as raw materials in subsequent chemical or biological processes.  

  • Diffusion

    The tendency of a gas or solute to pass from a point of higher pressure or concentration to a point of lower pressure or concentration and to distribute itself throughout the available space; a major mechanism of biological transport. The tendency of gaseous, liquid, or solid molecules to move from an area of higher concentration…

  • Diaper rash

    A type of irritant dermatitis localized to the area in contact with a diaper and occurring most often as a reaction to prolonged contact with urine, feces, or retained soap or detergent. Localized redness and irritation of an infant’s skin, from prolonged contact with urine and feces and from the ammonia produced by bacteria working…

  • Diagnostic procedure

    A method used to identify a disease.  

  • Diabetes Mellitus

    A heterogeneous group of disorders that share glucose intolerance in common. A metabolic disorder involving impaired metabolism of glucose due to either failure of secretion of the hormone insulin (insulin-dependent or type I diabetes) or impaired responses of tissues to insulin (non- insulin-dependent or type II diabetes). Abnormally high blood sugar levels caused by lack…

  • Deuterium

    Deuterium. The stable isotope of hydrogen. It has one neutron and one proton in the nucleus. A hydrogen isotope having twice the mass of the common hydrogen atom. The isotope of hydrogen, whose mass is 2, sometimes called heavy hydrogen.  

  • Detergents

    Detergents

    Purifying or cleansing agents, usually salts of long-chain aliphatic bases or acids, that exert cleansing (oil-dissolving) and antimicrobial effects through a surface action that depends on possessing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. A cleansing agent, generally a surface active organic compound that Emulsifies the “dirt” and lowers the surface tension of the water. A compound…

  • DES

    Diethylstilbestrol. A synthetic hormone that was prescribed from the early 1940s until 1971 to help women with complications of pregnancy. DES has been linked to an increased risk of clear cell carcinoma of the vagina in daughters of women who used DES. DES may also increase the risk of breast cancer in women who used…

  • Dermal

    Pertaining to or coming from the skin.