| CPN | central parenteral nutrition; chronic polyneuropathy; chronic pyelonephritis |
|---|---|
| CR-DIP | chronic relapsing demyelinating inflammatory polyneuropathy |
| DPN | dermatosis papulosa nigra; diabetic polyneuropathy; diphosphopyridine nucleotide; disabling panscler... |
| FAP | familial adenomatous polyposis; familial amyloid polyneuropathy; fatty acid polyunsaturated; fatty a... |
| PN | papillary necrosis; parenteral nutrition; penicillin; perceived noise; percussion note; periarteriti... |
| severity of illness index | Levels of severity of illness within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| decompression illness | <physiology> Also called the bends, this multisystem disorder results when nitrogen bubbles form within the bloodstream and interrupt tissue oxygenation. (27 Sep 1997) |
| illness | 1. The condition of being ill, evil, or bad; badness; unfavorableness. "The illness of the weather." 2. Disease; indisposition; malady; disorder of health; sickness; as, a short or a severe illness. 3. Wrong moral conduct; wickedness. Within the present century, there has been a tendency in England to use illness in the sense of a continuous disease, disorder of health, or sickness, and to confine sickness more especially to a sense of nausea, or "sickness of the stomach." Synonym: Malady, disease, indisposition, ailment. Origin: From Ill. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| illness, acute | An illness with an abrupt onset and usually a short course. (12 Dec 1998) |
| illness, chronic | An illness that has persisted for a long period of time. It is a continuing disease process. (12 Dec 1998) |
| environmental illness | A polysymptomatic condition believed by clinical ecologists to result from immune dysregulation induced by common foods, allergens, and chemicals, resulting in various physical and mental disorders. The medical community has remained largely skeptical of the existence of this "disease", given the plethora of symptoms attributed to environmental illness, the lack of reproducible laboratory abnormalities, and the use of unproven therapies to treat the condition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| functional illness | A physical disorder with no known or detectable organic basis to explain the symptoms. See: behaviour disorder, neurosis. Synonym: dynamic disease, functional disease, functional illness. (05 Mar 2000) |
| critical | 1. Denoting or of the nature of a crisis. 2. Denoting a morbid condition in which death is possible. 3. In sufficient quantity as to constitute a turning point. (05 Mar 2000) |
| critical angle | The angle of incidence at which a ray of light, in passing between two media, changes from refraction to total reflection. Synonym: limiting angle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| critical care | Health care provided to a critically ill patient during a medical emergency or crisis. (12 Dec 1998) |
| critical care unit | A hospital facility for provision of intensive nursing and medical care of critically ill patients, characterised by high quality and quantity of continuous nursing and medical supervision and by use of sophisticated monitoring and resuscitative equipment; may be organised for the care of specific patient groups, e.g., neonatal or newborn ICU, neurological ICU, pulmonary ICU. Synonym: critical care unit. (05 Mar 2000) |
| critical concentration | <chemistry> The minimum concentration of units needed before a biological polymer will form. Examples of biopolymers are microtubules from tubulin units, polypeptides from amino acid units, polysaccharides from simple sugar units, etc. (09 Oct 1997) |
| critical dissolved oxygen concentration | <biology> The minimum concentration of oxygen in the water needed for the growth of a culture which has been submerged, where oxygen is the limiting factor to the growth of the culture. (09 Oct 1997) |
| critical flicker fusion frequency | The minimal number of flashes of light per second at which an intermittent light stimulus no longer stimulates a continuous visual sensation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| critical gradient | <botany> The maximum stable inclination of an unsupported slope under the most adverse conditions that it will likely experience, as determined by current engineering technology. (09 Oct 1997) |