Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Lability of mood

    A tendency for a person’s mood to change suddenly.  

  • Kyphotic

    Referring to kyphosis.  

  • Kveim test

    A skin test to confirm the presence of sarcoidosis [After Morten Ansgar Kveim (b. 1892), Swedish physician]. The characteristic histological test used for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. The test involves an intradermal injection of sarcoid spleen tissue; if positive, non-caseating granulomata are seen at the injection site in 4—6 weeks. A positive test is highly…

  • Kupffer’s cells

    Large specialised liver cells which break down haemoglobin into bile. Specialized cells found in the liver that destroy bacteria, foreign proteins, and worn-out blood cells.  

  • Kuntscher nail

    A long steel nail used in operations to pin fractures of long bones, especially the femur, through the bone marrow [Described 1940. After Gerhard Kiintscher (1900-72), German surgeon.] A surgical nail inserted into the medulla of a fractured bone to fix it. First introduced by a 20th-century German surgeon.  

  • Krukenberg tumour

    A malignant tumour in the ovary secondary to a tumour in the stomach [After Friedrich Krukenberg (1871-1946), German gynaecologist].  

  • Krause corpuscles

    Encapsulated nerve endings in the mucous membrane of the mouth, nose, eyes and genitals [Described 1860. After Wilhelm Johann Friedrich Krause (1833-1910), German anatomist.]  

  • Kraurosis vulvae

    A condition in which the vulva becomes thin and dry due to lack of oestrogen, found usually in elderly women.  

  • Kraurosis penis

    A condition in which the foreskin becomes dry and shrivelled. Kraurosis in which the glans penis atrophies and becomes shriveled.  

  • Korotkoff’s method

    A method of finding a person’s blood pressure by inflating a cuff around his or her upper arm to a pressure well above the systolic blood pressure and then gradually decreasing it.  

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