| distress | 1. Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of friends. "Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress." (Shak) 2. That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery. "Affliction's sons are brothers in distress." (Burns) 3. A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc. 4. The act of distraining; the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction. "If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle." (Spenser) "The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for." (Blackstone) Abuse of distress. See Abuse. Synonym: Affliction, suffering, pain, agony, misery, torment, anguish, grief, sorrow, calamity, misfortune, trouble, adversity. See Affliction. Origin: OE. Destresse, distresse, OF. Destresse, destrece, F. Detresse, OF. Destrecier to distress, (assumed) LL. Districtiare, fr. L. Districtus, p. P. Of distringere. See Distrain, and cf. Stress. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| adult respiratory distress syndrome | <chest medicine, syndrome> A clinical syndrome that includes pulmonary insufficiency. It is a descriptive term that is applied to a variety of diffuse infiltrative processes in the lung. Manifestations include severe shortness of breath, rapid breathing and arterial hypoxaemia (low oxygen). Chest X-ray shows bilateral diffuse infiltrates. Treatment most often includes mechanical respiratory support. Causes include toxic gas (chlorine, NO2, smoke) exposure, severe metabolic derangement, gastric acid aspiration, pancreatitis, sepsis and trauma. Acronym: ARDS (12 Jul 2000) |
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| respiratory distress syndrome | <syndrome> A condition of the newborn marked by dyspnea with cyanosis, heralded by such prodromal signs as dilatation of the alae nasi, expiratory grunt, and retraction of the suprasternal notch or costal margins, mostly frequently occurring in premature infants, children of diabetic mothers, and infants delivered by cesarean section, and sometimes with no apparent predisposing cause. (12 Dec 1998) |
| respiratory distress syndrome, adult | A syndrome of life-threatening progressive pulmonary insufficiency in the absence of known pulmonary disease, usually following a systemic insult such as surgery or major trauma. (12 Dec 1998) |
| respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn | A disease seen especially in premature neonates with respiratory distress; characterised postmortem by atelectasis and alveolar ducts lined by an eosinophilic membrane; also associated with reduced amounts of lung surfactant. Synonym: hyaline membrane syndrome, respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn. (05 Mar 2000) |
| foetal distress | Compromise of the foetus during the antepartum period (before labour) or intrapartum period (birth process). (12 Dec 1998) |