| respirator | A divice of gauze or wire, covering the mouth or nose, to prevent the inhalation of noxious substances, as dust or smoke. Being warmed by the breath, it tempers cold air passing through it, and may also be used for the inhalation of medicated vapors. Origin: Cf. F. Respirateur. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| respirator brain | A swollen and congested brain with necrotic and autolytic changes seen in patients who have been on a respirator. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory | <physiology> Pertaining to respiration. Origin: L. Spirare = to breathe (18 Nov 1997) |
| respiratory acidosis | <biochemistry> A metabolic derangement of acid-base balance where the blood pH is abnormally low. Causes include haemorrhagic shock, cardiogenic shock, severe dehydration, sepsis, toxic ingestion (for example isopropyl alcohol, methanol), alcoholic ketoacidosis, lactic acidosis, renal failure and diabetic ketoacidosis. Respiratory acidosis will occur if the lungs are not ventilating properly resulting in an excess of carbon dioxide in the body. (25 Jun 1999) |
| respiratory airway | That part of the airway where interchange of gases occurs; it includes respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts, sacs, and alveoli. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory alkalosis | The alkalosis resulting from abnormal loss of CO2 produced by hyperventilation, either active or passive, with concomitant reduction in arterial plasma bicarbonate concentration. See: compensated alkalosis. Synonym: acapnial alkalosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory apparatus | The organs that are involved in breathing. These include the nose, throat, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| respiratory arrhythmia | Phasic sinus arrhythmia or any other rhythm fluctuation induced by respiratory fluctuation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory ataxia | Completely irregular breathing pattern, with continually variable rate and depth of breathing; results from lesions in the respiratory centres in the brainstem, extending from the dorsomedial medulla caudally to the obex. Synonym: ataxic breathing, Biot's breathing, respiratory ataxia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory bronchioles | The smallest bronchioles (0.5 mm in diameter) that connect the terminal bronchioles to alveolar ducts; alveoli rise from part of the wall. Synonym: bronchioli respiratorii. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory burst | <biochemistry> Response of phagocytes to particles (particularly if opsonise d) and to agonists such as formyl peptides and phorbol esters, an enhanced uptake of oxygen leads to the production, by an NADH dependent system, of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals, all of which play a part in bactericidal activity. Defects in the metabolic burst, as in chronic granulomatous disease, predispose to infection particularly with catalase positive bacteria and are usually fatal in childhood. (27 Jun 1999) |
| respiratory capacity | <chest medicine, physiology> The volume of gas that can be expelled from the lungs from a position of full inspiration, with no limit to the duration of expiration, it is equal to the inspiratory capacity plus the expiratory reserve volume. (11 Nov 1997) |
| respiratory care unit | The hospital unit in which patients with respiratory conditions requiring special attention receive intensive medical care and surveillance. (12 Dec 1998) |
| respiratory centre | The region in the medulla oblongata concerned with integrating afferent information to determine the signals to the respiratory muscles; the inspiratory and expiratory centre's considered together. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory chain | The mitochondrial electron transport chain. (18 Nov 1997) |
| volume-controlled respirator | A respirator that provides a predetermined volume of gases during inhalation, with the pressure required to move that volume remaining variable, depending upon resistance. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| cuirass respirator | One of several types of respirator's producing alternating negative pressure about the thoracic cage; now rarely used. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pressure-controlled respirator | A respirator that provides a predetermined pressure to gases during inhalation, the volume of gas moved being variable, depending upon resistance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Drinker respirator | A mechanical respirator in which the body except the head is encased within a metal tank, which is sealed at the neck with an airtight gasket; artificial respiration is induced by making the air pressure inside negative. Synonym: iron lung, tank respirator. (05 Mar 2000) |
| tank respirator | A mechanical respirator in which the body except the head is encased within a metal tank, which is sealed at the neck with an airtight gasket; artificial respiration is induced by making the air pressure inside negative. Synonym: iron lung, tank respirator. (05 Mar 2000) |