Body systems

The forming of thoughts or ideas, especially repeated thoughts about a particular act.

Having no known cause.

Immunoglobulin A: a kind of antibody found mostly in the body's linings and in saliva, tears and breast milk.

Immunoglobulin D: an antibody found mostly on the surface of B cells, where it helps start an immune response.

Immunoglobulin E: the type of antibody involved in allergic reactions and in fighting parasites.

The ring of muscle where the ileum, the end of the small intestine, opens into the cecum, the first part of the large intestine.

The last and longest part of the small intestine, which joins the large intestine.

A slowing or stopping of the normal movement of the intestines, with nothing physically blocking them.

Having to do with the ilium, the large, wing-shaped upper part of the hip bone.

The long, curved upper edge of the ilium, the wing of the hip bone, felt at the side of the waist; the most common site for taking a bone graft.

The main muscle that bends the hip, made of the psoas major and the iliacus, which join to end on the lesser trochanter of the femur.

The large, wing-shaped upper part of each hip bone.

A lack of balance: too much or too little of something the body needs to keep at a steady level.

Being unable to move about freely, such as being kept in bed or a chair.

Protected against a disease, or having to do with the body's defense system against germs and other foreign things.

The way the body recognizes and defends itself against germs and other substances it sees as foreign.

The body's defense system of cells, tissues and organs that fights germs and other foreign substances.

The body's ability to resist or fight off a particular infection or disease.

Having an immune system that is weaker than normal at fighting infection.

A state in which the immune system is weaker than normal and cannot fight infection well.

An antibody: a protein made by B cells that recognizes and helps destroy a specific germ or foreign substance.

The branch of science and medicine that studies the immune system.

Treatment that uses or changes the body's immune system to fight disease.

Firmly packed or wedged in place so it cannot move or pass normally.

A contagious bacterial skin infection, most common in young children.

In cleaning, jets of water striking instruments to blast off soil; in orthopedics, soft tissue or bone pinched between bones as a joint moves.

A small device placed under the skin with leads in the heart that watches the rhythm and shocks the heart out of a dangerous fast rhythm.

The attachment of a fertilized egg to the lining of the uterus, the start of a pregnancy.

An electrical signal that travels along a nerve or through the heart muscle; also, a sudden urge to act.

A fertility treatment in which eggs are joined with sperm in a lab and an embryo is then placed in the uterus.

To make something, such as an enzyme, drug, hormone or germ, stop working.

Loss of control over the bladder or bowel, so urine or stool leaks out without the person meaning it to.

Pressure inside the skull that has risen above the normal range.

The middle one of the three tiny bones of the middle ear, between the malleus and the stapes; also called the anvil.

A groin hernia that enters the inguinal canal through the deep inguinal ring, lateral to the inferior epigastric vessels, and may reach the scrotum or labia.

The ending of a pregnancy on purpose, by medicine or by a procedure that empties the uterus, before the fetus can live outside it.

An area of tissue that has become firm or hard, felt by touch.

The first year of life, from birth to about 12 months of age.

A baby from birth to 1 year of age.

Death of an area of tissue (an infarct) because its blood supply has been cut off.

Lower, or below; nearer the feet.

The artery and veins that branch from the external iliac vessels and run up the inside of the lower abdominal wall behind the rectus muscle.

The large vein that carries blood from the lower body back to the right atrium of the heart.

Not being able to become pregnant after a year of regular sex without birth control, or after six months for women over 35.

The body's protective response to injury or infection, with redness, heat, swelling, pain and sometimes loss of function.

A group of long-term diseases, mainly Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis, in which the lining of the digestive tract becomes inflamed.

The first phase of wound healing, from the injury to about day 3 to 5, when bleeding stops, a clot seals the wound and white cells clean it.

The body's protective reaction to injury or infection, which brings blood, fluid and white cells to the area.

An infection of the nose, throat and lungs caused by influenza viruses; the flu.

A funnel-shaped part of the body, most often the stalk that hangs the pituitary gland from the hypothalamus, or the fringed outer end of the uterine tube.