| HC | hair cell; hairy cell; handicapped; head circumference; head compression; health care; healthy contr... |
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| HCPCS | Health Care Financing Administration common procedural collecting system; Health Care Financing Admi... |
| ICCU | intensive coronary care unit; intermediate coronary care unit |
| ICF | immunodeficiency-centromeric instability-facial anomalies [syndrome]; indirect centrifugal flotation... |
| MCO | managed care organization; medical care organization; multicystic ovary |
| acute glaucoma | <ophthalmology> A sudden blockage of the normal fluid circulation within the eyeball resulting in increased intraocular pressure. Increased pressure within the eyeball can cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Symptom include severe eye or facial pain, nausea, vomiting, decreased vision, blurred vision and seeing halos around objects. The eye appears red with a steamy cornea and a fixed (nonreactive) dilated pupil. Treatment is emergent with medications to lower the pressure within the eye. (27 Sep 1997) |
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| acute glomerulonephritis | <nephrology> A disease of the kidneys that results in inflammation of the glomerulus (the portion of the kidney that filters the blood). Conditions which may cause glomerulonephritis include post-streptococcal disease (strep throat), lupus, syphilis, bacterial endocarditis, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, sepsis, vasculitis, Goodpasture's syndrome, typhoid fever, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, hepatitis or a viral infection (for example mumps, measles, mononucleosis). (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute goiter | A goiter that develops very rapidly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute granulocytic leukaemia | <haematology> A form of leukaemia which is characterised by the proliferation of immature white blood cells (granulocytes) in the bloodstream. Occurs primarily in adults and in infants under 1 year of age. Complications include abnormal bleeding and susceptibility to infections. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis | Specific acute endemic conjunctivitis with eyelid swelling, tearing, conjunctival haemorrhages, and follicles; usually caused by Enterovirus type 70. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute haemorrhagic encephalitis | Encephalitis of apoplectoid character due to blood extravasation. Synonym: encephalitis haemorrhagica. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute haemorrhagic glomerulonephritis | <nephrology> A disease of the kidneys that results in inflammation of the glomerulus (the portion of the kidney that filters the blood). Conditions which may cause glomerulonephritis include post-streptococcal disease (strep throat), lupus, syphilis, bacterial endocarditis, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, sepsis, vasculitis, Goodpasture's syndrome, typhoid fever, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, hepatitis or a viral infection (for example mumps, measles, mononucleosis). (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis | A fulminating demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system that affects mainly children and young adults. Almost always preceded by a respiratory infection, characterised by the abrupt onset of fever, headache, confusion, and nuchal rigidity, soon followed by focal seizures, hemiplegia, or quadriplegia, brainstem findings, and coma; the CSF shows evidence of an inflammatory process; due to the massive destruction of the white matter of one or both hemispheres, often accompanied by similar destruction of the white matter of the brainstem and cerebellar peduncles; of unknown aetiology. Synonym: acute haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis, acute necrotizing haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute idiopathic polyneuritis | <neurology, syndrome> Acute infective polyneuritis that results in a form of peripheral neuropathy with temporary loss of movement and sensation due to inflammation of multiple nerves and loss of myelin. The exact cause is unknown but has been associated with an abnormal immune response to viral infection, particularly cytomegalovirus infection, in which there is cell-mediated immunity to a component of myelin. The disease may be autoimmune in origin and complete recovery can take up to six months. Synonym: Guillain-Barre syndrome (12 Jul 2000) |
| acute illness | A disease with an abrupt onset and usually a short course. (12 Dec 1998) |
| acute inclusion body encephalitis | The most common acute encephalitis, caused by HSV-1; affects persons of any age; preferentially involves the inferomedial portions of the temporal lobe and the orbital portions of the frontal lobes; pathologically, severe haemorrhagic necrosis is present along with, in the acute stages, intranuclear eosinophilic inclusion bodies in the neurons and glial cells. Synonym: acute inclusion body encephalitis, herpes encephalitis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis | An epidemic, highly communicable but rather mild disease of sudden onset, caused by the epidemic gastroenteritis virus (especially Norwalk agent), with an incubation period of 16 to 48 hours and a duration of 1 to 2 days, which affects all age groups; infection is associated with some fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and headache, one or another of which may be predominant. Synonym: acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute inflammation | Any inflammation that has a fairly rapid onset, quickly becomes severe, usually manifested for only a few days, but may persist for several days or even a few weeks. Synonym: active inflammation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute inflammatory polyneuropathy | <neurology, syndrome> Acute infective polyneuritis that results in a form of peripheral neuropathy with temporary loss of movement and sensation due to inflammation of multiple nerves and loss of myelin. The exact cause is unknown but has been associated with an abnormal immune response to viral infection, particularly cytomegalovirus infection, in which there is cell-mediated immunity to a component of myelin. The disease may be autoimmune in origin and complete recovery can take up to six months. Synonym: Guillain-Barre syndrome (12 Jul 2000) |
| acute intermittent porphyria | <gastroenterology, haematology> A group of rare inherited metabolic disorders that result from a disturbance in porphyrin metabolism, causing increased formation and excretion of porphyrin or its precursors. It is caused by hepatic overproduction of d-aminolevulinic acid, which has greatly increased urinary excretion and of porphobilinogen, and some increase of uroporphyrin, due to a deficiency of porphobilinogen deaminase. Clinical features: intermittent acute attacks of hypertension, abdominal colic, psychosis, and polyneuropathy, but with no photosensitivity. It is exacerbated by the ingestion of certain drugs such as; barbiturates). Inheritance: autosomal dominant. (20 Sep 2002) |