APPENDIX GLOSSARY OF TERMS
AGGLUTINATION: To glue together or clot.
AMEBOID: Ability to wander through capillary walls into the surrounding tissue.
ANIONS: Negatively charged ions.
ANTIBODY: Protein substances developed by the body, usually in response to the resence of an antigen which has gained access to the body. Normal antibodies are also present in the circulation.
ANTIGEN: A substance which induces the formation of antibodies. An antigen may be introduced into the body or it may be formed within the body.
CATABOLISM: Energy released which results in the breakdown of complex materials within the body.
CATIONS: Positively charged ions.
CHARGE: Positive or negative valence.
COLLOID SOLUTION: Particles are dispersed throughout a liquid medium. These particles are organically complex substances which are much larger than crystalloids but not large enough to settle out of the liquid.
CRYSTALLOID SOLUTION: Containing crystal-like particles which pass readily through membranes. Unlike colloids, these particles are organically simple.
DIATHESIS: A constitution or condition of the body that makes the body react in special ways to certain external stimuli and makes a person more than usually susceptible to certain diseases.
DYSPNEA: Difficult or labored breathing.
ELECTROLYTES: Substances that break down into positively or negatively charged particles when placed in water.
EXCRETORY ORGANS: Those organs which throw off or eliminate waste products from the body. Examples are kidneys, bowels and lungs.
GRANULES: Remains of nuclei in three kinds of white blood cells. There can be up to five in a single cell.
HEMOSTASIS: Arrest of bleeding.
HOMEOSTASIS: The tendency of the body to maintain or achieve a normal state.
HYPERALIMENTATION: Total nutrition supplied directly into the body by intravenous route.
HYPERKALEMIA: Abnormally high potassium concentration in the blood.
HYPERTONIC: Solution that has a greater solute concentration than body fluids.
HYPOTHERMIA: A low body temperature.
HYPOTONIC: Solution which has a lesser solute concentration than body fluids.
ISOTONIC: A fluid which has the same tonicity as body fluids.
KCl: Abbreviation for potassium chloride.
MALAISE: A vague feeling of body discomfort.
mEq (Milliequivalent): The number of grams of a solute contained in one milliliter of a normal solution.
MICROEMBOLUS: Embolus of microscopic size (microemboli-plural).
NECROSIS: Cell death.
NEPHROSIS: Any disease of the kidneys.
OSMOTIC PRESSURE: The maximum pressure that develops in a solution separated from a solvent by membrane permeable only to the solvent.
PARENTERAL: A solution administered in some other manner than by mouth (intravenous, intradermal, and so forth).
PLASMAPHERESIS: To draw blood from a donor and return his red blood cell mass after removing plasma by centrifugation.
POLYCYTHEMIA: Increase in red blood cell mass or a decrease in plasma volume without change in red blood cell mass.
PRECURSOR: A substance from which another substance is formed.
SYNTHESIS: Union of elements to form compounds (complex substances).
TONICITY: The concentration of a substance (solute) dissolved in water.
VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIA: Variation from the normal heartbeat involving the ventricles of the heart.
VISCOUS: The thickness or thinness of fluid (that is, a lubricating oil would be highly viscous).