Category: F

Aminopterin is a folic acid antagonist occasionally used as an abortifacient (a drug to induce an abortion) in early pregnancy; methotrexate, the methyl derivative of aminopterin and also an abortifacient, is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Offspring of mothers treated with either drug early in pregnancy may show a complex of craniofacial, growth,…

Femoral hypoplasia-unusual facies syndrome (FH-IJFS) is an exceedingly rare disorder. Its main features include short stature, mildly dysmorphic facial features, and absent or underdeveloped bones of the lower extremity. Short stature is the result of severely shortened legs.  

Fairbank disease is the name for one of two traditional categories of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, or MED. Although other variations of MED are recognized, diagnoses are still often labeled by the former names. The Fairbank variant is the more severe of the two, and the milder version is referred to as the Ribbing variant. The…

Fabry disease, also known as angiokeratoma corpris diffusum, is a disorder of lipid metabolism caused by an a-galactosidase-A deficiency, which leads to accumulation of glycolipid products in various muscle tissues and cells in the nervous system. Individuals inherit Fabry disease as an X-linked recessive trait. It is caused by the gene located on the long…

Fibrous dysplasia is a skeletal disorder that affects bone growth and development within the first two decades of life; it destroys and replaces normal bone and is not usually fatal. Although classified as a benign process, local expansion can cause significant functional and aesthetic deformities. The cause of this disease is currently unknown, although protein…

The process of fat loading derives its name from the term carbohydrate loading, a technique of consuming a very high carbohydrate diet in the days leading up to competition. Fat loading techniques that have been the topic of a significant amount of scientific research vary from carbohydrate loading in two major ways. One is that…

Diet containing foods and beverages that are liquid at room temperature.  

Fructose is converted to glucose after phosphorylation. Although two enzymes are available for the phosphorylation of fructose, one of these, fructokinase, is present only in the liver. Hexokinase can catalyze the phosphorylation of fructose. However, fructokinase is a much more active enzyme. Its activity is so high that, in fact, most of the dietary fructose,…

Inability to use dietary fructose; a rare genetic disease of fructose metabolism. Three hereditary diseases result from a mutation in one of three key enzymes of fructose metabolism: (1) fructokinase, (2) aldolase B, and (3) fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase. A mutation in the gene for fructokinase is characterized by elevated blood and urine levels of fructose. A…

An angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor; antihypertensive agent.