| CRF | case report form; chronic renal failure; chronic respiratory failure; coagulase-reacting factor; con... |
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| RF | radial fiber; radio frequency; receptive field; regurgitant fraction; Reitland-Franklin [unit]; rela... |
| RVF | renal vascular failure; Rift Valley fever; right ventricular failure; right visual field |
| MODS | Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome |
| BFO | balanced forearm orthosis; ball-bearing forearm orthosis; blood-forming organ |
| failure | The state of insufficiency or nonperformance. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| failure to thrive | <paediatrics> A clinical finding in infants often associated with poor weight gain, malnutrition, poor feeding and a weight for age that is less than the 5th percentile. (27 Sep 1997) |
| kidney failure | <nephrology> The inability of the kidneys to adequately remove wastes from the bloodstream, resulting in severe metabolic derangement's. See: acute renal failure. (27 Sep 1997) |
| kidney failure, acute | A clinical syndrome characterised by a sudden decrease in glomerular filtration rate, often to values of less than 1 to 2 ml per minute. It is usually associated with oliguria (urine volumes of less than 400 ml per day) and is always associated with biochemical consequences of the reduction in glomerular filtration rate such as a rise in blood urea nitrogen (bun) and serum creatinine concentrations. (12 Dec 1998) |
| kidney failure, chronic | An irreversible and usually progressive reduction in renal function in which both kidneys have been damaged by a variety of diseases to the extent that they are unable to adequately remove the metabolic products from the blood and regulate the body's electrolyte composition and acid-base balance. Chronic kidney failure requires haemodialysis or surgery, usually kidney transplantation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| forward heart failure | A concept (formerly considered mutually exclusive of backward heart failure) that maintains that the phenomena of congestive heart failure result from the inadequate cardiac output, and especially from the consequent inadequacy of renal blood flow with resulting retention of sodium and water. Compare: backward heart failure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| left-sided heart failure | Inability of the left heart to maintain its circulatory load with corresponding rise in pressure in the pulmonary circulation usually with pulmonary congestion and ultimately pulmonary oedema. (05 Mar 2000) |
| left ventricular failure | <cardiology> A disorder where the left side of the heart fails to pump blood effectively. This results in a back flow (and pressure) and congestion of blood into the lungs. The causes of this condition include, valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathy, anaemia, hyperthyroidism, atrial myxoma, drug toxicity and congenital heart disease. Risk factors include diabetes, alcoholism, obesity and smoking. Symptoms include increasing shortness of breath with activity and while lying flat. Other symptoms include cough, palpitations, fatigue, decreased urine production and waking in the middle of the nigh with difficulty breathing. Complications include pulmonary oedema, arrhythmias and pleural effusion. (27 Sep 1997) |
| liver failure | A condition of severe end-stage liver dysfunction that is accompanied by a decline in mental status that may range from confusion (hepatic encephalopathy) to unresponsiveness (hepatic coma). Other features include a mousy odour to the breath, difficulty with balance and walking, tremor and impaired speech. (27 Sep 1997) |
| liver failure, acute | A form of liver failure with rapid onset. It is often induced by the toxic effect of drugs and various toxic substances in experimental studies in animals and in clinical states in humans. If coma ensues, the constellation of neurological symptoms is referred to as hepatic encephalopathy. (12 Dec 1998) |
| low output failure | Heart failure in which the cardiac output is subnormal, as is usually seen in failure due to coronary, hypertensive, or valvular heart disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| annulospiral organ | One of two types of sensory nerve ending associated with a neuromuscular spindle (the other being the flower-spray ending); after entering the muscle spindle, the fibre divides into two flat ribbon-like branches that wind themselves in rings or spirals about the intrafusal muscle fibres. Synonym: annulospiral organ. (05 Mar 2000) |
| auditory organ | Archaic term for gustatory organ. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bojanus organ | <zoology> A glandular organ of bivalve mollusca, serving in part as a kidney. Origin: From Bojanus, the discoverer. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vestibular organ | Collective term for the utricle, saccule, and saemicircular ducts of the membranous labyrinth, each having a single patch of ciliated receptor epithelium innervated by the vestibular nerve: macula of sacculus, macula of utriculus, and cristae of the saemicircular ducts. (05 Mar 2000) |