| ASA | acetylsalicylic acid; active systemic anaphylaxis; Adams-Stokes attack; American Society of Anesthes... |
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| BHAT | Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial |
| HAPPHY | Heart Attack Primary Prevention in Hypertension |
| MAC | MacConkey [broth]; major ambulatory category; malignancy-associated changes; maximum allowable conce... |
| NHAAP | National Heart Attack Alert Program |
| vagal attack | <syndrome> Syndrome consisting of palpitation, chest pain, respiratory difficulties, and disturbances in gastric motility; once attributed to vagal stimulation, now considered psychogenic (anxiety neurosis). Synonym: vagal attack, vasovagal attack. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| vasovagal attack | <syndrome> Syndrome consisting of palpitation, chest pain, respiratory difficulties, and disturbances in gastric motility; once attributed to vagal stimulation, now considered psychogenic (anxiety neurosis). Synonym: vagal attack, vasovagal attack. (05 Mar 2000) |
| membrane attack complex | <immunology> A term originally used to refer to the heat labile factor in serum that causes immune cytolysis, the lysis of antibody coated cells and now referring to the entire functionally related system comprising at least 20 distinct serum proteins that is the effector not only of immune cytolysis but also of other biologic functions. Complement activation occurs by two different sequences, the classic and alternative pathways. The proteins of the classic pathway are termed components of complement and are designated by the symbols C1 through C9. C1 is a calcium dependent complex of three distinct proteins C1q, C1r and C1s. The proteins of the alternative pathway (collectively referred to as the properdin system) and complement regulatory proteins are known by semisystematic or trivial names. Fragments resulting from proteolytic cleavage of complement proteins are designated with lower case letter suffixes, for example, C3a. Inactivated fragments may be designated with the suffix i, for example C3bi. Activated components or complexes with biological activity are designated by a bar over the symbol for example C1 or C4b, 2a. The classic pathway is activated by the binding of C1 to classic pathway activators, primarily antigen-antibody complexes containing IgM, IgG1, IgG3, C1q binds to a single IgM molecule or two adjacent IgG molecules. The alternative pathway can be activated by IgA immune complexes and also by nonimmunologic materials including bacterial endotoxins, microbial polysaccharides and cell walls. Activation of the classic pathway triggers an enzymatic cascade involving C1, C4, C2 and C3, activation of the alternative pathway triggers a cascade involving C3 and factors B, D and P. Both result in the cleavage of C5 and the formation of the membrane attack complex. Complement activation also results in the formation of many biologically active complement fragments that act as anaphylatoxins, opsonins or chemotactic factors. (05 Jan 1998) |
| complement membrane attack complex | The assembly of complement plasma glycoproteins c5b, c6, c7, c8, and polymeric c9 as a group on biological membranes. The complex forms transmembrane channels which displace lipid molecules and other constituents, thus disrupting the phospholipid bilayer of target cells leading to cell lysis by osmotic leakage. The formation of the membrane attack complex is the terminal step in the complement cascade. (12 Dec 1998) |
| heart attack | This refers to that damage that occurs to the heart when one of the coronary arteries becomes occluded. Common symptoms include crushing, substernal chest pain that may radiate to the jaw or the left arm, accompanied by nausea, sweating and shortness of breath. Fainting is a more uncommon presentation. (27 Sep 1997) |
| salaam attack | In infants, a drop of the head on the chest due to loss of tone in the neck muscles as in epilepsia nutans, or to tonic spasm of anterior neck muscles as in West's syndrome, in adults, a nodding of the head from clonic spasm's of the sternomastoid muscles. Synonym: salaam attack, salaam spasm, spasmus nutans. (05 Mar 2000) |
| uncinate attack | A form of psychomotor epilepsy or complex partial seizure initiated by a dreamy state and hallucinations of smell and taste, usually the result of a medial temporal lesion. Synonym: uncinate attack. (05 Mar 2000) |