Category: P
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Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis)
Unusual vine bearing spectacular star-like lavender flowers. Edible purple fruits possess pleasant flavour. Used as table fruit and in sherbet, jam, and beverages. This fruit is about the size of a plum and is cultivated in California. It has a yellow aromatic pulp that suggests a blend of the flavors of peach, apricot, and guava.…
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Pasque Flower (Anemone Pulsatilla)
Pretty rock garden plant with masses of purple flowers appearing early in spring. Valuable in correcting membrane disorders of the respiratory and digestive passages.
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Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Once highly esteemed for curing chronic diarrhea and dysentery. Rarely used in medicine now, loosestrife is grown for the beauty it lends to the garden.
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Pilates
A system of body conditioning that improves posture, balance, alignment, flexibility and breathing. A holistic form of exercise and postural therapy that develops the deep abdominal muscles to control body movement and protect the back.
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Prostate-specific antigen test
A test that measures blood levels of the prostate-specific antigen, a protein produced by the prostate gland that may be elevated when cancer is present. The test has come into wide use as a screening device, especially for men over 50. A blood test used to detect and monitor prostate cancer. PSA is a protein…
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Precancerous
A change in color, size, or shape in a skin blemish (such as a mole) or other abnormal growth anywhere on the body that may develop into cancer if left untreated. Referring to a growth which is not malignant now, but which can become cancerous later. To a growth that is not malignant but probably…
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Plaque (arterial)
Deposits of fatty substances, such as cholesterol, in the inner lining of the artery walls. The buildup of these deposits can lead to atherosclerosis.
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Pap smear
A diagnostic test for detecting cervical cancer in which a sample of cervical cells is examined for cellular changes. The death rate from cervical cancer is almost zero among women who have regular Pap smears. A method of detecting abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix that could lead to cervical cancer. The test…
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Para aminobenzoic acid
A chemical compound that is one of the most commonly used ingredients in sunscreens. The derivatives made from it—such as Padimate O—effectively screen out the ultraviolet rays responsible for sunburn, but don’t offer protection against the full spectrum, including those that may play a role in skin cancer.
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Powdered yeast
Powder made from microorganisms used in baking bread and the alcohol fermentation process. Available at grocery stores.