Category: H

Altered taste perception; may be due to specific drugs, toxins, or nutrient deficiencies. Zinc deficiency is an example. The perception of an inappropriate quality of taste when food is present in the mouth or being chewed. The taste sensation is unexpected and unusual but not necessarily unpleasant.  

The polymerization of two unlike compounds to DNA.  

Genetic disease characterized by excess hepatic glycogen due to a mutation in the gene for hepatic phosphorylase. Hers disease, glycogen storage disease VI, is a hereditary glycogen storage disease caused by a deficiency of the enzyme called liver phosphorylase. Typically seen in children between the ages of 1 and 5, Hers disease sometimes goes undiagnosed…

A hormone that is a key regulator of iron balance. During inflammation and/or infection, hepcidin- levels rise as do macrophage iron levels. Low levels of this hormone are associated with anemia, hypoxia, iron deficiency, and blood loss. Hepcidin acts by binding ferroportin on the plasma membranes, causing ferroportin to be internalized and degraded. Hepcidindeficiency seems…

A disulfide-linked protein that stimulates growth in a wide variety of tissue in addition to the liver. A cytokine, classed as a monokine, that is involved in immune and inflammatory responses. It is formed from platelets, fibroblasts, macrophages, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells. It stimulates growth of hepatocytes and increases migration and motility of…

Various ratios or indices used to express weight in terms of height. Body mass index is one such expression and is used to indicate relative body fatness.  

A 90-kDa protein involved in gene transcription. Many unliganded forms of receptors form heterooligomers that include one or more receptors and a dimer of this heat shock protein. The purpose of this interaction may be to occlude DNA binding by the receptor when it is unbound by its usual ligand. Any of a large group…

The heat produced by the body in the course of its metabolism.  

The additional heat production associated with the synthesis and excretion of waste products.  

The additional heat needed to maintain body temperature when the environmental temperature drops below the zone of thermal neutrality. It is the additional heat produced as a result of an animal’s efforts to maintain body temperature when the environmental temperature is either lower or higher than the zone of thermal neutrality. In either instance, excess…