Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) catecholamine kătˌəkôlˈəmēn [key], any of several compounds occurring naturally in the body that serve as hormones or as neurotransmitters in the sympathetic nervous system. The catecholamines ...

(Encyclopedia) antioxidant, substance that prevents or slows the breakdown of another substance by oxygen. Synthetic and natural antioxidants are used to slow the deterioration of gasoline and rubber, and such antio...

(Encyclopedia) Health and Human Services, United States Department of, federal executive department charged with administering government health programs. Successor to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfar...

(Encyclopedia) virology, study of viruses and their role in disease. Many viruses, such as animal RNA viruses and viruses that infect bacteria, or bacteriophages, have become useful laboratory tools in genetic studi...

(Encyclopedia) serum sickness, hypersensitive response that occurs after injection of a large amount of foreign protein. The condition is named for the serum taken from horses or other animals immunized against a pa...

(Encyclopedia) emphysema ĕmfĭsēˈmə [key], pathological or physiological enlargement or overdistention of the air sacs of the lungs. A major cause of pulmonary insufficiency in chronic cigarette smokers, emphyse...

(Encyclopedia) fungal infection, infection caused by a fungus (see Fungi), some affecting animals, others plants. Serious damage is done to crops each year by fungal infections of plants such as smuts, rusts, ergo...

(Encyclopedia) mange mānj [key], contagious skin disease of domestic and wild animals. The several types of mange, including follicular and sarcoptic mange, are caused by various minute parasitic mites that burrow ...

(Encyclopedia) Pinel, Philippe fēlēpˈ pēnĕlˈ [key], 1745–1826, French physician, M.D. Univ. of Toulouse, 1773. After moving to Paris in 1778, he was appointed (1793) director of the Bicêtre hospital and sho...

(Encyclopedia) clubfoot or talipes tălˈəpēzˌ [key], deformity in which the foot is twisted out of position. Maldevelopment is usually congenital, although it can result from injury or disease (e.g., poliomyelit...