Copy of `Dorland's Medical Dictionary`

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Dorland's Medical Dictionary Category: Health and Medicine > Medical Dictionary Date & country: 31/12/2010, USA Words: 39128

red nucleus
an oval mass of gray matter (pink in fresh specimens) in the anterior part of the tegmentum mesencephali, extending into the posterior part of the hypothalamus; it receives fibers from the cerebellum.

red pulp
the dark reddish brown substance filling the areas between the sinuses of the spleen.

red reflex
a luminous red appearance seen upon the retina in retinoscopy.

red strawberry tongue
raspberry tongue.

red-glass test
(for ocular deviation) a red glass is placed over the right eye while the patient looks at a light; the position at which the patient sees the red image reveals any affected muscle.

red-green blindness
red-green color blindness popular names for any imperfect perception of red and green tints, including all the most common types of color vision deficiency. See deuteranomaly, deuteranopia, protanomaly, and protanopia.

redia
(re´de-ә) a larval stage of certain parasitic flukes, which develops in the body of a snail host and gives rise to daughter rediae, or to the cercariae.

redintegration
(red-in″tә-gra´shәn) the restoration or repair of a lost or damaged part. a psychic process in which part of a complex stimulus provokes the complete reaction that was previously made only to the complex stimulus as a whole. reintegration (def. 2).

redox
(re´doks) oxidation-reduction.

reduce
(re-dldbomacs´) to restore to the normal place or relation of parts, as to reduce a fracture. to undergo reduction. to decrease in weight or size.

reducible
(re-doo´sĭ-bәl) capable of being reduced.

reducible hernia
one that can be returned by manipulation.

reducing agent
a substance that acts as an electron donor in a chemical oxidation-reduction reaction.

reductant
(re-duk´tәnt) the electron donor in an oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction.

reductase
(re-duk´tās) an enzyme that catalyzes a chemical reduction. 5α-reductase an enzyme that catalyzes the irreversible reduction of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone.

reduction
(re-duk´shәn) a lessening or diminishing. the correction of a fracture, dislocation, or hernia. the addition of hydrogen to a substance, or more generally, the gain of electrons; the opposite of oxidation. closed reduction the manipulative reduction of a ...

reduplication
(re″doo-plĭ-ka´shәn) a doubling back. the recurrence of paroxysms of a double type. a developmental anomaly resulting in doubling of an organ or part, with a connection between them at some point and the excess part usually a mirror image of the other.

Reed cells
Reed-Sternberg cells giant histiocytic cells, usually with several nuclei, that are the common histologic characteristic of Hodgkin disease.

Reed-Hodgkin disease
(rēd´ hoj´kin) Hodgkin disease.

reef
(rēf) an infolding or tuck of tissue, as a tuck made in plication.

reentrant tachycardia
any tachycardia characterized by a reentrant circuit; called also circus movement tachycardia.

reentry
(re-en´tre) in cardiology, reexcitation of a region of cardiac tissue by a single impulse, continuing for one or more cycles and sometimes resulting in ectopic beats or tachyarrhythmias; see also circus movement.

Rees test
(for albumin) small amounts of albumin are precipitated from solution by tannic acid in alcoholic solution.

refeeding
(re-fēd´ing) restoration of normal nutrition after a period of fasting or starvation.

refeeding syndrome
moderate to severe electrolyte and fluid shifts occurring during a period of refeeding; hypophosphatemia is common, and heart failure sometimes occurs.

reference dose
an estimate of the daily exposure to a substance for humans that is assumed to be without appreciable risk; it is calculated using the no observed adverse effect level and is more conservative than the older margin of safety.

reference electrode
an electrode whose placement is remote from the source of recorded activity, so that it is presumed to be at either a negligible or constant potential.

referred pain
pain felt in a part other than the one where the cause is actually located; it usually originates in an internal organ and is felt in the skin or less often is felt somewhere deep inside the body. This phenomenon probably occurs because pain signals from the internal organs travel along the same nerve pathways as pain sig...

refine
(re-fīn´) to purify or free from foreign matter.

reflection
(re-flek´shәn) a turning or bending back. the folds produced when a membrane passes over the surface of an organ and then passes back to the body wall that it lines. the turning back of a ray of light, sound, or heat when it strikes a surface it does not penetrate. a communicati...

reflection point
the point from which a ray of light is reflected.

reflex
(re´fleks) a reflected action or movement; the sum total of any particular automatic response mediated by the nervous system. A reflex is built into the nervous system and does not need the intervention of conscious thought to take effect. Some reflexes have simple reflex arcs, and others are more complex.

reflex bladder
automatic bladder.

reflex center
any nerve center at which afferent sensory impressions are converted into efferent motor impulses.

reflex cough
a cough due to the irritation of some remote organ.

reflex epilepsy
epileptic seizures that happen in response to a sensory stimulus; there are numerous types, most often involving the senses of sight, hearing, or touch.

reflex incontinence
the urinary incontinence that accompanies detrusor hyperreflexia.

reflex paralysis
paralysis ascribable to peripheral irritation; in some cases secondary changes occur in the spinal cord, and the paralysis ceases to be truly reflex.

reflex seizure
an epileptic seizure in response to a sensory stimulus, which may be tactile, visual, auditory, or musical.

reflex tachycardia
tachycardia initiated through a reflex neural arc by an event occurring elsewhere in the body.

reflex therapy
treatment by producing a reflex action.

reflexogenic
(re-flek″so-jen´ik) producing or increasing reflex action. resulting from a reflex reaction.

reflexogenous
(re″flek-soj´ә-nәs) reflexogenic.

reflexograph
(re-flek´so-graf) an instrument for recording a reflex.

reflexometer
(re″flek-som´ә-tәr) an instrument for measuring the force required to produce myotatic contraction.

reflux
(re´flәks) a backward or return flow; see also backflow and regurgitation (def. 1). esophageal reflux , gastroesophageal reflux reflux of the stomach contents into the esophagus; see gastroesophageal reflux disease. hepatojugular reflux ...

reflux nephropathy
childhood pyelonephritis in which the renal scarring results from vesicoureteric reflux, with radiological appearance of intrarenal reflux.

refract
(re-frakt´) to cause to deviate. to ascertain errors of ocular refraction.

refracting media
the transparent tissues and fluid in the eye through which light rays pass and by which they are refracted and brought to a focus on the retina.

refraction
(re-frak´shәn) the act or process of refracting; specifically, the determination of the refractive errors of the eye and their correction with glasses. Refraction by the eye in (A) emmetropia; (B) hyperopia; and (C) myopia. the deviation of light in passing obli...

refraction point
the point at which a ray of light is refracted.

refractionist
(re-frak´shәn-ist) one skilled in determining the refracting power of the eyes and correcting refracting defects.

refractive
(re-frak´tiv) pertaining to or subserving a process of refraction; having the power to refract.

refractive error
error of refraction.

refractive index
the refractive power of a medium compared with that of air (assumed to be 1).

refractometer
(re″frak-tom´ә-tәr) an instrument for measuring the refractive power of the eye. an instrument for determining the indexes of refraction of various substances, particularly for determining the strength of lenses for spectacles.

refractoriness
(re-frak´tah-re″nes) the state of being refractory. postrepolarization refractoriness refractoriness to stimuli that exists even after a fiber has completely repolarized; see also absolute refractory period.

refractory
(re-frak´tә-re) resistant to treatment. not responding to a stimulus; see refractory period.

refractory anemia
anemia unresponsive to hematinics.

refractory normoblastic anemia
refractory sideroblastic anemia a sideroblastic anemia clinically similar to the hereditary sideroblastic form but occurring in adults and often only slowly progressive. It is unresponsive to hematinics or withdrawal of toxic agents or drugs and can be a preleukemic disorder.

refractory period
the period of depolarization and repolarization of the cell membrane after excitation; during the first portion (absolute refractory period), the nerve or muscle fiber cannot respond to a second stimulus, whereas during the relative refractory period it can respond only to a strong stimulus.

refractory state
a condition of subnormal excitability of muscle and nerve following excitation.

refrangible
(re-fran´jĭ-bәl) susceptible of being refracted.

refresh
(re-fresh´) to freshen. to make raw again; to denude a wound of epithelium to enhance tissue repair.

refrigeration
(re-frij″әr-a´shәn) therapeutic application of low temperature; see also induced hypothermia.

refrigeration anesthesia
cryoanesthesia.

Refsum disease
(ref´soom) an autosomal recessive disorder of lipid metabolism in which deficiency of phytanic acid α-hydroxylase results in accumulation of phytanic acid; it is manifest chiefly by chronic polyneuritis, retinitis pigmentosa, cerebellar ataxia, and persistent elevation of protein in cerebrospinal fluid; there...

refusal
(re-fu´zal) a declining to do something or to accept something. conscientious refusal conscientious objection. informed refusal refusal of treatment after one has been informed about it in an effort to gain informed consent. refusal of treatm...

refusion
(re-fu´zhәn) the return of blood to the circulation after its temporary removal or after stoppage of flow, as after ligature of a part or passage through a heart-lung machine.

regeneration
(re-jen″әr-a´shәn) the natural renewal of a structure, as of a lost tissue or part.

regenerative nodule
a region of localized proliferation of hepatocytes and underlying stroma arising in response to liver injury. There are several different types; some are premalignant and some are not.

regio
(re´je-o) Latin word meaning region. In anatomy, it is used for any of various areas on the surface of the body.

region
(re´jәn) a plane with more or less definite boundaries; called also regio. adj., re´gional., adj.

regional anesthesia
insensibility caused by interrupting the sensory nerve conductivity of any region of the body; the two primary types are field block (encircling of an operative field by means of injections of a local anesthetic) and nerve block (making of injections close to the nerves supplying an area). Called also block.

regional hypothermia
temperature reduction in a limb or organ resulting from application of external cold or perfusion with a cold solution.

regional reflex
segmental reflex.

Reglan
(reg´lan) trademark for preparations of metoclopramide hydrochloride, used to stimulate gastrointestinal motility.

Regnoli operation
excision of the tongue through a median opening below the lower jaw, reaching from the chin to the hyoid bone.

Regonol
(reg´o-nol) trademark for preparations of pyridostigmine bromide, a cholinesterase inhibitor used in treatment of myasthenia gravis and as an antidote to nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents.

regression
(re-gresh´әn) return to a former or earlier state. subsidence of symptoms or of a disease process. the statistical tendency in successive generations to exhibit values closer and closer to the mean. a type of defense mechanism used to resolve conflict or frustration by returning...

Regroton
(reg´ro-ton) trademark for a preparation of chlorthalidone and reserpine, an antihypertensive agent.

regular astigmatism
that in which the refraction changes gradually in power from one principal meridian of the eye to the other, with the two meridians always at right angles. This type is further classified as being either against the rule (with the meridian of greatest refractive power approaching the horizontal), with the rule (with that meridi...

regular insulin
insulin (def. 3).

regulation
(reg″u-la´shәn) the act of adjusting or state of being adjusted to a certain standard. in biology, the adaptation of form or behavior of an organism to changed conditions. the power to form a whole embryo from stages before the gastrula. the biochemical mechanisms that con...

regulator gene
regulatory gene a gene whose product controls the activity of other, distant genes. The term was originally used specifically to denote a gene that synthesizes a repressor, and it is still sometimes so used.

regurgitant
(re-gur´jĭ-tәnt) flowing back.

regurgitant murmur
a heart murmur due to a dilated valvular orifice with consequent valvular regurgitation.

regurgitation
(re-gur″jĭ-ta´shәn) a backward flowing; see also backflow and reflux. movement of undigested or partially digested food upward through the esophagus; see also vomiting and rumination.

rehabilitation
(re″hә-bil″ĭ-ta´shәn) the process of restoring a person's ability to live and work as normally as possible after a disabling injury or illness. It aims to help the patient achieve maximum possible physical and psychologic fitness and regain the ability to be independent. ...

rehabilitation medicine
the branch of physiatry concerned with restoration of form and function after injury or illness.

rehabilitee
(re″hә-bil´ĭ-te) a person undergoing rehabilitation.

Rehberg test
a formerly used test of creatinine clearance.

rehydration
(re″hi-dra´shәn) the restoration of water or fluid content to a patient or to a substance that has become dehydrated. See also oral rehydration therapy.

Reichel syndrome
(ri´kel) Henderson-Jones disease.

Reichert cartilage
the dorsal cartilage of the second branchial arch.

Reichl test
(for proteins) add 2 or 3 drops of an alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde and a quantity of sulfuric acid previously diluted to twice its volume with water; then add a few drops of ferric sulfate solution. The mixture will take on a deep-blue color if proteins are present.

Reifenstein syndrome
(ri´fәn-stīn) a syndrome of male hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, due to an inherited incomplete androgen resistance (inability to respond to testosterone), with hypospadias, gynecomastia, primary hypogonadism, and postpubertal testicular atrophy and azoospermia.

reiki
(ra´ke) an Eastern healing tradition whose purpose is to rebalance the complex energy systems that compose the body when they have become out of balance. In this tradition, we are considered to be surrounded by an unlimited universal energy source, from which the physical universe is built. The energy systems in t...

Reilly bodies
large, coarse granulations found in the leukocytes in Hurler syndrome.

reimbursement
(re″im-bers´ment) a compensation or paying back; see also payment. third party reimbursement third party payment.