Body systems

The seventh cranial nerve, which moves the muscles of the face and carries taste from the front of the tongue.

The reduced form of flavin adenine dinucleotide, a molecule that carries electrons inside cells during energy production.

Poor growth in a child, with weight gain well below what is expected for the child's age.

A sickle-shaped fold of peritoneum that ties the liver to the front abdominal wall and the underside of the diaphragm.

One of the two tubes that carry an egg from the ovary to the uterus, where fertilization usually happens.

A sheet or band of tough connective tissue that covers and separates muscles and organs.

A building block of fats: a chain of carbon atoms that the body uses for energy and to build cells.

A seizure in a young child brought on by a fever, without an infection of the brain or another known cause.

Having to do with feces, the solid waste passed from the bowel; stool.

Solid waste passed from the bowel through the anus, made of undigested food, water, bacteria and cells.

Information about a result that is sent back to change what happens next, in the body or between people.

Relating to the thigh or the femur, the thigh bone.

The large artery that carries blood to the leg, running through the groin and down the thigh.

The thigh bone, the long bone between the hip and the knee.

The ability to become pregnant or to cause a pregnancy.

The joining of a sperm and an egg to form a single new cell, the start of a pregnancy.

Relating to a fetus, the unborn baby from the ninth week of pregnancy until birth.

The number of times the unborn baby's heart beats per minute.

The small, irregular ups and downs of the baby's baseline heart rate seen on a fetal monitor tracing.

How far the presenting part of the fetus has moved down the birth canal, measured against the ischial spines of the pelvis.

An unborn baby from about the ninth week of development until birth.

Fast, uncoordinated twitching of muscle fibers, most often in the heart, so the muscle quivers instead of contracting together.

The tough, threadlike protein that forms the mesh of a blood clot, made when thrombin acts on fibrinogen.

The body's process of breaking down a blood clot once it is no longer needed.

Breast tissue with benign fibrous thickening and fluid-filled cysts that feels lumpy and is often tender before a menstrual period.

A long-term condition of widespread pain and tenderness in the muscles and soft tissues, with no damage to the joints.

The thickening and scarring of tissue, which replaces normal tissue with tough fibers.

Made of or containing tough threads (fibers), especially of connective tissue.

The thin outer bone of the lower leg, beside the larger tibia.

A common childhood viral illness caused by parvovirus B19, also called erythema infectiosum.

The passing of fluid through a filter or membrane, which holds back larger particles; in the kidneys, the first step in making urine.

The hard plate of keratin that covers the top of the end of each finger.

The end of a finger.

Fraction of inspired oxygen: the percentage of oxygen in the air a person breathes in.

The first part of pregnancy, from the first day of the last menstrual period through the end of week 13.

A narrow crack or split in the skin, a lining or an organ.

An abnormal passage between two organs or vessels, or between an organ and the skin.

Soft, limp and relaxed, without firmness or muscle tone.

A long, whiplike strand that moves a cell along, as on many bacteria and on a sperm cell; the plural is flagella.

The side of the trunk between the lowest ribs and the top of the hip bone, over the kidney.

Gas in the stomach or intestines, or passing that gas through the anus.

Gas passed from the intestines through the anus.

Bending a joint so that the angle between the two body parts gets smaller.

A liquid; in the body, the water and what is dissolved in it, inside and outside the cells.

The match between the fluid that goes into the body and the fluid that leaves it.

Too much fluid in the body, in the blood vessels and the tissues.

Giving large amounts of IV fluid quickly to restore blood volume and blood flow to the organs.

Extra fluid that the body holds in its tissues instead of removing it.

The amount of fluid in the body, or in one of its spaces such as the blood vessels.

The point where light rays meet after a lens or the eye bends them; in a healthy eye it falls on the retina.