| immunological deficiency | Inabillity to mount a normal immune response. Immunodeficiency can be due to a genetic disease or acquired as in aids due to HIV. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| immunologic deficiency syndromes | Syndromes in which there is a deficiency or defect in the mechanisms of immunity, either cellular or humoral. (12 Dec 1998) |
| iodine deficiency | Iodine is a natural requirement of our diets. Iodine deficiency can lead to inadequate production of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). For example, in some parts of zaire, ecuador, india, and chile, remote, mountainous areas, such as in the alps (in the past), andes and the himalayas have a particular predisposition to severe iodine deficiency, goiter, and hypothyroidism. Since the addition of iodine to table salt, iodine deficiency is rarely seen in the united states. (12 Dec 1998) |
| iron deficiency | Deficiency of iron results in anaemia because iron is necessary to make haemoglobin, the key molecule in red blood cells responsible for the transport of oxygen. In iron deficiency anaemia, the red cells are unusally small (microcytic) and pale (hypochromic). Characteristic features of iron deficiency anaemia in children include failure to thrive (grow) and increased infections. The treatment of iron deficiency anaemia , whether it be in children or adults, is with iron and iron-containing foods. Food sources of iron include meat, poultry, eggs, vegetables and cereals (especially those fortified with iron). According to the National Academy of Sciences, the recommended dietary allowances of iron are 15 milligrams per day for women and 10 milligrams per day for men. (12 Dec 1998) |
| iron deficiency anaemia | Hypochromic microcytic anaemia characterised by low serum iron, increased serum iron-binding capacity, decreased serum ferritin, and decreased marrow iron stores. Synonym: hypoferric anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| taste deficiency | Reduced or absent ability to detect a bitter taste in a group of compounds of which phenylthiocarbamide is the prototype, due to the homozygous state of a common allele. See: phenylthiourea. (05 Mar 2000) |
| thiamin deficiency | An endemic form of polyneuritis (nerve inflammation), due to an unbalanced diet, with a deficiency of vitamin B1(thiamin). Common in those who chronically abuse alcohol. Synonym: beriberi. (27 Sep 1997) |
| thiamine deficiency | A nutritional condition produced by a deficiency of thiamine in the diet, characterised by anorexia, irritability, and weight loss. Later, patients experience weakness, peripheral neuropathy, headache, and tachycardia. In addition to being caused by a poor diet, thiamine deficiency in the united states most commonly occurs as a result of alcoholism, since ethanol interferes with thiamine absorption. In countries relying on polished rice as a dietary staple, beriberi prevalence is very high. (12 Dec 1998) |
| thrombotic disease due to protein c deficiency | Protein C is a protein in plasma that enters into the cascade of biochemical events leading to the formation of a clot. Deficiency of protein c results in thrombotic (clotting) disease and excess platelets with recurrent thrombophlebitis (inflammation of the vein that occurs when a clot forms). The clot can break loose and travel through the blood stream (thromboembolism) to the lungs causing a pulmonary embolism, brain causing a stroke (cerebrovascular accident), heart causing an early heart attack, skin causing what in the newborn is called neonatal purpura fulminans, the adrenal gland causing haemorrhage with abdominal pain, abnormally low blood pressure (hypotension), and salt loss. Protein c deficiency is due to possession of one gene (heterozygosity) in chromosome band 2q13-14. The possession of two such genes (homozygosity) is usually lethal. (12 Dec 1998) |
| transferase deficiency galactosaemia | An autosomal recessive disorder in which there is a deficiency of galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (see main entry for galactosaemia). (05 Mar 2000) |
| epimerase deficiency galactosaemia | An inborn error in metabolism in which there is a deficiency of uridine diphosphate galactose 4-epimerase; galactose 1-phosphate accumulates. (05 Mar 2000) |
| yang deficiency | In the yin-yang system of philosophy and medicine, a lack of vital energy (called yangxu in chinese). It manifests itself in various systemic and organic diseases. (12 Dec 1998) |
| familial high density lipoprotein deficiency | Familial high {density lipoprotein deficiency}; a heritable disorder of lipid metabolism characterised by almost complete absence from plasma of high density lipoproteins, and by storage of cholesterol esters in foam cells, tonsillar enlargement, an orange or yellow-gray colour of the pharyngeal and rectal mucosa, hepatosplenomegaly, lymph node enlargement, corneal opacity, and peripheral neuropathy; autosomal recessive inheritance. Synonym: familial high {density lipoprotein deficiency}, Tangier disease. Origin: G. An-, priv., + alpha, a, + lipoprotein + -aemia, blood (05 Mar 2000) |
| yin deficiency | In the yin-yang system of philosophy and medicine, an insufficiency of body fluid (called yinxu), manifesting often as irritability, thirst, constipation, etc.. (12 Dec 1998) |
| familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency | An rare inherited disorder where there is a deficiency of an enzyme (lipoprotein lipase) which breaks down fat molecules, causing the accumulation of fats or lipoproteins in the blood. Symptoms in infancy include abdominal pain (appears as if its colic), failure to thrive and skin lesions (xanthomas). (27 Sep 1997) |