Category: R

A legal principle in which a patient may decline to participate in unconventional or risky treatments.  

Transmitted by mites carried by the house mouse. A disease found in North America, caused by Rickettsia akari passed to humans by bites from mites which live on mice. A disease of mice caused by the microorganism Rickettsia akari and transmitted to man by mites: it produces chills, fever, muscular pain, and a rash similar…

A microorganism smaller than bacteria but larger than a virus. A genus of microorganisms which causes several diseases including Q fever and typhus. Small micro-organisms possessing some of the characteristics of bacteria (visibility, binary fission) and other features associated with viruses (obligatory intracellular parasitism). Some species cause typhus fever in man. Rickettsia are small (0.35…

The surgical procedure for a face-lift. The excision of wrinkles by plastic surgery; often called a “face-lift.” Within the realm of cosmetic procedures, there exists a term harking back to an earlier era, denoting a method for rejuvenating the face. Referred to as “wrinkle excision,” this terminology offers an alternative designation for the widely known…

A form of natural birth control involving a woman carefully observing her menstrual cycle to determine the time of ovulation. Ovulation indicators may be mittelschmerz, changes in body temperature, changes in the consistency of cervical mucous, and/or spotting. A method of birth control where sexual intercourse should take place only during the safe periods when…

A pattern of involuntary pelvic movements observed in conjunction with orgasm.  

A method of birth control in which a couple abstains from intercourse during the days in which the woman is most likely to be fertile. A regular movement or beat. Measured time or movement; one single event that is repeated; regular occurrence of an impulse, such as the cardiac rhythm. The relative measurement of an…

Loud rales, esp. whistling or snoring sounds produced in the larger bronchi or the trachea.  

The hindbrain, the part of the brain which contains the cerebellum, the medulla oblongata and the pons.  

The trade name for Rho(D) immune globulin.