| closed comedo | A comedo with a narrow or obstructed opening on the skin surface; closed comedo's may rupture, producing a low-grade dermal inflammatory reaction. Synonym: whitehead. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| closed dislocation | A dislocation not complicated by an external wound. Synonym: simple dislocation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed drainage | Drainage of a body cavity via a water-or air-tight system. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed fracture | A fracture in which skin is intact at site of fracture. Synonym: simple fracture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed head injury | A head injury in which continuity of the scalp and mucous membranes is maintained. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed hospital | A hospital that restricts membership on its attending or consulting staff, and thereby limits who may admit and treat patients. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed-loop obstruction | Obstruction of a segment of intestine by rotation on a fixed point (volvulus); frequently impairs venous circulation of the affected bowel segment, resulting in strangulation and gangrene; the segment of intestine contained in a hernia can also become a closed-loop obstruction when sufficient compression occurs at the neck of the sac. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed reading frame | A sequence of DNA that cannot be translated into a viable protein; usually due to the interruption by one or more termination codons. Synonym: closed reading frame. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed reduction | The physical manipulation of a joint or bone externally (without making a surgical incision) to affect a joint relocation or more proper anatomic alignment of broken bone fragments. Closed reductions are often performed using intravenous analgesics, local anaesthetic nerve blocks or regional anaesthesia. (27 Sep 1997) |
| closed reduction of fractures | Reduction by manipulation of bone, without incision in the skin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed skull fracture | Fracture with intact overlying scalp and/or mucous membranes. Synonym: simple skull fracture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed surgery | Surgery without incision into skin, e.g., reduction of a fracture or dislocation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed system | <biology, ecology> A chemical or biological system that exchanges no matter or energy with the ouside environment. (12 Mar 1998) |
| wound | 1. A hurt or injury caused by violence; specifically, a breach of the skin and flesh of an animal, or in the substance of any creature or living thing; a cut, stab, rent, or the like. "Showers of blood Rained from the wounds of slaughtered Englishmen." (Shak) 2. An injury, hurt, damage, detriment, or the like, to feeling, faculty, reputation, etc. 3. An injury to the person by which the skin is divided, or its continuity broken; a lesion of the body, involving some solution of continuity. Walker condemns the pronunciation woond as a "capricious novelty." It is certainly opposed to an important principle of our language, namely, that the Old English long sound written ou, and pronounced like French ou or modern English oo, has regularly changed, when accented, into the diphthongal sound usually written with the same letters ou in modern English, as in ground, hound, round, sound. The use of ou in Old English to represent the sound of modern English oo was borrowed from the French, and replaced the older and Anglo-Saxon spelling with u. It makes no difference whether the word was taken from the French or not, provided it is old enough in English to have suffered this change to what is now the common sound of ou; but words taken from the French at a later time, or influenced by French, may have the French sound. <zoology> Wound gall, an elongated swollen or tuberous gall on the branches of the grapevine, caused by a small reddish brown weevil (Ampeloglypter sesostris) whose larvae inhabit the galls. Origin: OE. Wounde, wunde, AS. Wund; akin to OFries. Wunde, OS. Wunda, D. Wonde, OHG. Wunta, G. Wunde, Icel. Und, and to AS, OS, & G. Wund sore, wounded, OHG. Wunt, Goth. Wunds, and perhaps also to Goth. Winnan to suffer, E. Win. 140. Cf. Zounds. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| wound botulism | <microbiology> A form of illness that results from the liberation of botulism toxin from the anaerobic bacteria Clostridium botulinum, found in an infected wound. (27 Sep 1997) |