| airway | 1. Any part of the respiratory tract through which air passes during breathing. 2. In anaesthesia or resuscitation, a device for correcting obstruction to breathing, especially an oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airway, endotracheal airway, or tracheotomy tube. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| airway obstruction | Any hindrance to the passage of air into and out of the lungs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| airway pattern | Chest radiographic appearance of thickened bronchial walls, bronchiectasis, bronchiolitis, or acinar consolidation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| airway resistance | The opposition of the tracheobronchial tree to air flow: the mouth-to-alveoli pressure difference divided by the air flow. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anatomical airway | The volume of the conducting airways from the external environment (at the nose and mouth) down to the level at which inspired gas exchanges oxygen and carbon dioxide with pulmonary capillary blood; formerly presumed to extend down to the beginning of alveolar epithelium in the respiratory bronchioles, but more recent evidence indicates that effective gas exchange extends some distance up the thicker-walled conducting airways because of rapid longitudinal mixing. Compare: alveolar dead space, physiologic dead space. Synonym: anatomical airway. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory airway | That part of the airway where interchange of gases occurs; it includes respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts, sacs, and alveoli. (05 Mar 2000) |
| conducting airway | The airway from the nasal cavity to a terminal bronchiole. (05 Mar 2000) |
| continuous positive airway pressure | A technique of respiratory therapy, in either spontaneously breathing or mechanically ventilated patients, in which airway pressure is maintained above atmospheric pressure throughout the respiratory cycle by pressurization of the ventilatory circuit. (05 Mar 2000) |
| upper airway | The portion of the respiratory tract that extends from the nares or mouth to and including the larynx. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lower airway | The portion of the respiratory tract that extends from the subglottis to and including the terminal bronchioles. (05 Mar 2000) |
| arthritis, reactive | An abacterial form of arthritis developing after infection at a site distant from the affected joint or joints. The causative bacteria cannot be cultured from synovial specimens but bacterial antigens have been demonstrated in cells from the synovial fluid and membrane. It often follows yersinia infection. (12 Dec 1998) |
| brief reactive psychosis | <psychiatry> A brief display of psychotic behaviour that lasts for at least several hours, but not more than one week. Typically these reactions are brought on by periods of increased stress (for example death of a loved one). Symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, disordered thinking, impaired speech and bizarre dress. (27 Sep 1997) |
| reactive arthritis | Reiter's syndrome is also called reactive arthritis since it is thought to involve the immune system which is reacting to the presence of bacterial infections in the genital, urinary, or gastrointestinal systems. Accordingly, certain people's immune systems are genetically primed to react aberrantly when these areas are exposed to certain bacteria. The aberrant reaction of the immune system leads to inflammation in the joints and eyes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| reactive astrocyte | <cell biology> A round to oval astrocyte cell with abundant cytoplasm containing glial filaments and an eccentric nucleus; may contain two nuclei in the cell hypertrophy of astrocytes. Synonym: gemistocyte, gemistocytic cell, reactive astrocyte, reactive cell. (05 Mar 2000) |
| reactive attachment disorder | Markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness that begins before age 5 and is associated with grossly pathological child care. The child may persistently fail to initiate and respond to social interactions in a developmentally appropriate way (inhibited type) or there may be a pattern of diffuse attachments with nondiscriminate sociability (disinhibited type). (12 Dec 1998) |