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Flu
Flu Short for influenza. The flu is caused by viruses that infect the respiratory tract which are divided into three types, designated A, B, and C. Most people who get the flu recover completely in 1 to 2 weeks, but some people develop serious and potentially life-threatening medical complications, such as pneumonia. Much of the illness and death caused by influenza can be prevented by annual influenza vaccination.
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Influenza
An acute viral infection involving the respiratory tract. It is marked by inflammation of the nasal mucosa, the pharynx, and conjunctiva, and by headache and severe, often generalized, myalgia.
Medical
Pertaining to Medicine.
Pneumonia
Acute inflammation or infection of the lungs.
Death
1. The end of life. The cessation of life. (These common definitions of death ultimately depend upon the definition of life, upon which there is no consensus.) 2. The permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. (This definition depends upon the definition of "vital bodily functions.") See: Vital bodily functions. 3. The common law standard for determining death is the cessation of all vital functions, traditionally demonstrated by "an absence of spontaneous respiratory and cardiac functions." 4. The uniform determination of death.
Vaccination
Originally referred to immunization against smallpox with the less virulent cowpox (vaccinia) virus; more loosely used for any immunization against a pathogen.
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Floppy baby syndrome
A general medical reference to an abnormal condition of newborns and infants manifested by inadequate tone of the muscles. It can be due to a multitude of different neurologic and muscle problems. See also Hypotonia.
Flora
The population of microbes inhabiting the outside or inside surfaces of people (or other animals). Also, the population of plants including flowers, usually in a particular area.
Flow cytometry
Analysis of biological material by detection of the light-absorbing or fluorescing properties of cells or subcellular fractions such as chromosomes passing in a narrow stream through a laser beam. Flow cytometry can be used with automated sorting devices to sort successive droplets of the stream into different fractions depending on the fluorescence emitted by each droplet.
Flow karyotyping
Use of flow cytometry to analyze and/or separate chromosomes on the basis of their DNA content.
FLT-3 inhibitor
A gene-targeted therapy for a common subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) known as FLT-positive AML in which there is a FLT3 receptor mutation. The FLT-3 inhibitor is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that interferes with abnormal FLT3 function by preventing essential proteins from binding to the DNA. The FLT-3 inhibitor blocks the action of the altered FLT-3 gene, rendering it powerless.
Flu
Flu, stomach
So-called "stomach flu" actually has nothing to do with the influenza (flu) virus. This term is sometimes used to describe gastrointestinal illnesses caused by other microorganisms.
Fluctuating rib
One of the last two ribs. A rib is said to be "fluctuating" if it does not attach to the sternum (the breast bone) or to another rib. There are usually 12 pairs of ribs in all. Each pair of ribs is attached to the building blocks of the spine (the vertebrae) in the back. The 12 pairs of ribs consist of: True ribs: The first seven ribs attach to the sternum (the breast bone) in the front and are known as true (or sternal) ribs and False ribs: The lower five ribs do not directly connect to the sternum and are known as false ribs.The upper three false ribs connect to the costal cartilages of the ribs just above them. The last two false ribs, however, usually have no ventral attachment (no anchor at all in front) and are called fluctuating, floating, or vertebral ribs.
Fluid, cerebrospinal (CSF)
A watery fluid, continuously produced and absorbed, which flows in the ventricles (cavities) within the brain and around the surface of the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is produced by the choroid plexus, a series of infolded blood vessels projecting into the cerebral ventricles, and it is absorbed into the venous system. If production exceedes absorption, the CSF pressure rises and the result is hydrocephalus. This can also occur if the CSF pathways are obstructed and CSF accumulates.
Fluorescent in situ hybridization
An important molecular cytogenetic method for identifying chromosomes and parts of chromosomes, deciphering chromosome rearrangements, and locating genes on chromosomes.
Fluorescent microscope
A microscope equipped to examine material that fluoresces under ultraviolet light. Fluorescence microscopy is based on the principle that fluorescent materials emit visible light when they are irradiated with ultraviolet rays or with violet-blue visible rays.
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