Body systems

A gradual dip in the fetal heart rate that starts, bottoms out and ends at the same times as a uterine contraction.

The waxy substance made in the outer ear canal; the medical word is cerumen.

A mental illness involving serious problems with eating behavior and with thoughts and feelings about food, weight or body shape.

A bruise: a flat purple or blue patch where blood has leaked from small vessels into the skin.

Seizures in a pregnant or recently pregnant person with preeclampsia, when no other cause explains them.

A pregnancy in which the fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus, most often in a fallopian tube.

An eyelid, usually the lower one, that sags and turns outward, away from the eye.

A long-lasting skin condition that comes and goes, in which the skin barrier is weak and patches of skin become inflamed; also called atopic dermatitis.

Estimated date of delivery: the expected due date of a pregnancy.

Swelling caused by extra fluid trapped in the body's tissues.

Having no teeth.

The thinning and shortening of the cervix as labor approaches and goes on, measured from 0 to 100 percent.

Carrying something away from a center or organ, such as nerve signals from the brain to the muscles.

Fluid that has leaked out and collected in a body space, such as around the lungs, the heart or in a joint.

The release of semen from the penis, usually at orgasm.

One of two short ducts, formed where each vas deferens joins the duct of a seminal vesicle, that pass through the prostate into the urethra.

The percentage of blood in the left ventricle that is pumped out with each heartbeat.

Harm or neglect of an older adult by someone they should be able to trust, such as a family member or caregiver.

A treatment for some severe mental illnesses in which a brief electric current is passed through the brain under anesthesia to cause a short seizure.

A mineral that carries an electric charge when dissolved in body fluids, such as sodium, potassium, calcium and chloride.

The removal of waste from the body, mainly as urine and stool; also the removal of a drug from the body.

The blocking of a blood vessel by a mass carried there in the blood (an embolus), such as a clot, fat or an air bubble.

The developing human from week 3 to week 8 after fertilization, while its organs form; from week 9 until birth it is a fetus.

Vomiting, or the material that is vomited.

A long-term lung disease in which the walls of the tiny air sacs are damaged and lose their stretch.

A collection of pus in a body cavity, most often the pleural space around a lung.

Breaking large drops of fat into tiny droplets spread through a liquid, as bile salts do to fats in the small intestine.

The walling off of a foreign material, such as nonabsorbable suture or an implant, inside a layer of fibrous tissue.

Inflammation of the brain tissue.

A birth defect in which brain tissue, its coverings and cerebrospinal fluid bulge out through an opening in the skull.

A general term for any disease or damage that changes how the brain works.

Repeated passing of stool in places other than the toilet, such as clothing, by a child aged 4 or older.

Describes the last stage of a long-term disease, when an organ has almost stopped working.

The last stage of chronic kidney disease, when the kidneys have lost almost all of their function for good.

Inflammation of the inner lining of the heart, most often on the heart valves.

The smooth inner lining of the heart's chambers, which also covers the heart valves.

Relating to the glands that release hormones straight into the blood, or to those hormones.

A gland that releases hormones straight into the blood instead of through a tube or duct.

The glands that make hormones and release them into the blood to control body functions.

The branch of medicine that deals with hormones and the glands that make them.

The way a cell takes in material by folding its membrane around it and pinching off a small pocket (vesicle) that carries it inside.

A condition in which tissue like the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.

The inner lining of the uterus, which thickens each month and is shed as the menstrual period if no pregnancy begins.

A natural chemical made in the brain that eases pain and creates a sense of well-being.

A poison that is part of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, the lipid A of lipopolysaccharide, set loose mainly when the cells die.

Inside the trachea, the windpipe.

A flexible plastic tube passed through the mouth or nose into the windpipe to keep the airway open and allow breathing support.

Swelling and painful fullness of the breasts as milk comes in or builds up.

A liver that is larger than normal; the medical word is hepatomegaly.

An increase in the size of an organ or part beyond what is normal.