| sudden death | An arrhythmogenic death in aortic stenosis, coronary disease, mesothelioma of the AV node, or single coronary artery. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| 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) |
| death, black | The black plague or the plague. In 14th century Europe, the victims of the black plague had bleeding below the skin (subcutaneous haemorrhage) which made darkened ( blackened ) their bodies. The black death swept recurrently through Europe, killing half its population in the middle of the 14th century. (12 Dec 1998) |
| death certificate | Official, legal document and vital record, signed by a licensed physician or other designated authority, that includes cause of death, decedent's name, sex, place of residence, date of death; other information, e.g., birth date, birth place, occupation may be included; the immediate cause of death is recorded on the first line of the certificate, followed by the condition(s) giving rise to this, with the underlying cause on the last line; the underlying cause is coded and tabulated in official publications of mortality. (05 Mar 2000) |
| death certificates | Official records of individual deaths including the cause of death certified by a physician, and any other required identifying information. (12 Dec 1998) |
| death instinct | The instinct of all living creatures toward self-destruction, death, or a return to the inorganic lifelessness from which they arose. Synonym: aggressive instinct. (05 Mar 2000) |
| death phase | <cell culture> The final growth phase in a culture, during which nutrients have been depleted and cell number decreases. (09 Oct 1997) |
| death-rattle | A respiratory gurgling or rattling in the throat of a dying person, caused by the loss of the cough reflex and accumulation of mucus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| death's-head | A naked human skull as the emblem of death; the head of the conventional personification of death. "I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth. <zoology> " (Shak) Death's-head moth, a very large European moth (Acherontia atropos), so called from a figure resembling a human skull on the back of the thorax. Synonym: death's-head sphinx. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| death, sudden | The sudden cessation of all vital bodily functions. Legally and medically, this includes the permanent cessation of total cerebral function, spontaneous function of the respiratory system, and spontaneous function of the circulatory system. (12 Dec 1998) |
| death, sudden, cardiac | The sudden cessation of cardiac contraction, leading to death of the heart and, ultimately, of the individual, resulting from ventricular tachycardia-fibrillation or asystole. (12 Dec 1998) |
| death trance | A condition of suspended animation, marked by unconsciousness and barely perceptible respiration and heart action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| infant death | Death of a liveborn infant within the first year. (05 Mar 2000) |