| cause of death | Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| cell death | <cell biology> Cells die (nonaccidentally) either when they have completed a fixed number of division cycles (around 60, the Hayflick limit) or at some earlier stage when programmed to do so, as in digit separation in vertebrate limb morphogenesis. Whether this is due to an accumulation of errors or a programmed limit is unclear, some transformed cells have undoubtedly escaped the limit. See: apoptosis. (26 Mar 1998) |
| cerebral death | A clinical syndrome characterised by the permanent loss of cerebral and brain stem function, manifested by absence of responsiveness to external stimuli, absence of cephalic reflexes, and apnea. An isoelectric electroencephalogram for at least 30 minutes in the absence of hypothermia and poisoning by central nervous system depressants supports the diagnosis. Synonym: brain death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| perinatal death | An inclusive term referring to both stillborn infants and neonatal death's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mitotic death | <cell biology> Cells fatally damaged by ionising radiation may not die until the next mitosis, at which point the radiation damage to the DNA becomes evident, particularly when there is fragmentation of chromosomes. (18 Nov 1997) |
| cot death | <syndrome> May affect infants of any age, but some risk factors have been identified: term infants who have had a life-threatening period of apnoea (not breathing), premature infants of low birth weight, siblings of infants who have succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome and infants of substance abusing mothers. Peak age is at 2.5 months and 4 months, but can range from 1 month to 1 year. High risk infants should have home monitoring done. It is recommended that the less than 4 month old infant should sleep on their back. Synonym: cot death syndrome. Incidence: 2 per 1,000 live births. Acronym: SIDS (27 Sep 1997) |
| crib death | <syndrome> May affect infants of any age, but some risk factors have been identified: term infants who have had a life-threatening period of apnoea (not breathing), premature infants of low birth weight, siblings of infants who have succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome and infants of substance abusing mothers. Peak age is at 2.5 months and 4 months, but can range from 1 month to 1 year. High risk infants should have home monitoring done. It is recommended that the less than 4 month old infant should sleep on their back. Synonym: cot death syndrome. Incidence: 2 per 1,000 live births. Acronym: SIDS (27 Sep 1997) |
| crude death rate | <epidemiology> The number of deaths in a year divided by the population size. (05 Dec 1998) |
| programmed cell death | <cell biology, molecular biology> The concept that certain cells are determined to die at specific stages and specific sites during development, for example cells in the spaces between the developing digits of vertebrates, thus dividing them. Programmed cell death occurs by apopotosis. (18 Nov 1997) |
| somatic death | Death of the entire body, as distinguished from local death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| neonatal death | Death of a young, liveborn infant; classified as: (05 Mar 2000) |
| sudden death | An arrhythmogenic death in aortic stenosis, coronary disease, mesothelioma of the AV node, or single coronary artery. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sudden infant death | The abrupt and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age, remaining unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history. (expert panel of the national institute of child health and human development in paediatric pathology, v.11, no.5, sept-oct 1991, p681) (12 Dec 1998) |
| sudden infant death syndrome | <syndrome> May affect infants of any age, but some risk factors have been identified: term infants who have had a life-threatening period of apnoea (not breathing), premature infants of low birth weight, siblings of infants who have succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome and infants of substance abusing mothers. Peak age is at 2.5 months and 4 months, but can range from 1 month to 1 year. High risk infants should have home monitoring done. It is recommended that the less than 4 month old infant should sleep on their back. Synonym: cot death syndrome. Incidence: 2 per 1,000 live births. Acronym: SIDS (27 Sep 1997) |
| death | 1. The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of resuscitation, either in animals or plants. Local death is going on at times and in all parts of the living body, in which individual cells and elements are being cast off and replaced by new; a process essential to life. General death is of two kinds; death of the body as a whole (somatic or systemic death), and death of the tissues. By the former is implied the absolute cessation of the functions of the brain, the circulatory and the respiratory organs; by the latter the entire disappearance of the vital actions of the ultimate structural constituents of the body. When death takes place, the body as a whole dies first, the death of the tissues sometimes not occurring until after a considerable interval. Death is much used adjectively and as the first part of a compound, meaning, in general, of or pertaining to death, causing or presaging death; as, deathbed or death bed; deathblow or death blow, etc. Black death. Civil death, the separation of a man from civil society, or the debarring him from the enjoyment of civil rights, as by banishment, attainder, abjuration of the realm, entering a monastery, etc. Death adder. <zoology> A kind of viper found in South Africa (Acanthophis tortor); so called from the virulence of its venom. A venomous Australian snake of the family Elapidae, of several species, as the Hoplocephalus superbus and Acanthopis antarctica. Death applies to the termination of every form of existence, both animal and vegetable; the other words only to the human race. Decease is the term used in law for the removal of a human being out of life in the ordinary course of nature. Demise was formerly confined to decease of princes, but is now sometimes used of distinguished men in general; as, the demise of Mr. Pitt. Departure and release are peculiarly terms of Christian affection and hope. A violent death is not usually called a decease. Departure implies a friendly taking leave of life. Release implies a deliverance from a life of suffering or sorrow. Origin: OE. Deth, dea, AS. Dea; akin to OS. D, D. Dood, G. Tod, Icel. Daui, Sw. & Dan. Dod, Goth. Daupus; from a verb meaning to die. See Die, and cf. Dead. (04 Mar 1998) |