Medical terms - Letter M (page 16) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Monoamine oxidase inhibitor

One of a potent class of medications used to treat depression. Abbreviated MAOI.
Monoarticular

Involving just one joint. As opposed to polyarticular (affecting many joints). From the Latin 'articulus,' meaning a joint
Monochromat

A person with one of the many forms of colorblindness
Monochromatism

1) Total inability to perceive color. A person with true monochromatism perceives only black, white, and shades of gray. It is due to lack of or damage to the cones of the eye that perceive color, or to inability of the…
Monoclonal

Pertaining to a single clone of cells, a single cell and the progeny of that cell. As opposed to polyclonal. A monoclonal tumor is one that is derived from a single cell and the progeny of that cell. Monoclonal…
Monoclonal antibody

An antibody produced by a single clone of cells (specifically, a single clone of hybridoma cells) and therefore a single pure homogeneous type of antibody. Monoclonal antibodies can be made in large amounts in the…
Monocular

1. With one eye, as in monocular vision.2. With one eyepiece, as in a monocular microscope
Monocular diplopia

See: Diplopia, monocular
Monocyte

A white blood cell that has a single nucleus and can ingest (take in) foreign material. (In other words, a monocyte is thus a mononuclear phagocyte that circulates in the blood.) Monocytes later emigrate from blood into…
Monocyte chemotactic and activating factor

See: MPC1
Monocyte chemotactic protein-1

See: MPC1
Monogenic

Pertaining to one gene. As opposed to polygenic
Mononeuritis

Inflammation of a single nerve. There are many causes of mononeuritis including diabetes mellitus, carpal tunnel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and Lyme disease. The treatment of mononeuritis depends on the underlying…
Mononeuritis multiplex

Inflammation of two or more nerves, typically in unrelated portions of the body. Mononeuritis multiplex causes a loss of function of the muscle tissue that is innervated by the affected nerve. For example, sudden loss…
Mononeuropathy

A disorder of a single nerve or nerve trunk. Mononeuropathies may be due to entrapment, compression, stretch injury, ischemia, infection, or inflammation of a nerve. The most common entrapments are of the median nerve…
Mononucleosis

Infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV, human herpesvirus 4, HHV-4) in which there is an increase of white blood cells that have a single nucleus (monocytes). The infection can be spread by saliva. Its incubation…
Mononucleotide

A single base pair. A trinucleotide (a triplet of base pairs) may be split into a dinucleotide and a mononucleotide
Monosodium glutamate

MSG, a sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid that enhances the flavor of certain foods. Originally isolated from seaweed, MSG is now made by fermenting corn, potatoes and rice. It does not enhance the four basic…
Monosomy

Missing one chromosome from a pair. For example, if a female has one X chromosome (X monosomy) rather than two, Turner syndrome is the result
Monozygous twins

Twin: Identical twins that originate from a single fertilized egg (a zygote)
Monte Carlo simulation

A statistical method used in biomedical research, involving computer simulation in which data are randomly shuffled many different times, enabling assessment of the probabilities of certain known outcomes
Montgomery, William W.

Pioneering American otolaryngologist who developed many techniques used in surgery on the throat and the vocal cords. Dr. Montgomery operated on kings and queens, celebrities and the less-celebrated at the Mass. Eye and…
Moonflower

An hallucinogenic but poisonous plant known scientifically as Datura that has white flowers that bloom at night. Moonflowers contain scopolamine and hyoscyamine, both of which can cause anticholinergic poisoning…
Moral behavior center

An area of the brain in what is known as the prefrontal cortex. Children who suffer damage before 16 months of age to the prefrontal cortex in the front of the brain tend later to display pathological behavior problems…
Moraxella kingae

See: Kingella kingae
Morbid jealousy

See: Othello syndrome
Morbidity

Illness, disease.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Known for short as MMWR, this is a key weekly scientific publication prepared and published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC). MMWR contains data and reports on specific health and safety…
Morbilli

Another name for measles, an acute highly contagious viral disease with fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes, and a spreading skin rash. Also known as rubeola, it is a potentially disastrous disease and can be complicated…
Morbus gallicus

The French disease. Syphilis. The name 'syphilis' was coined by Hieronymus Fracastorius (Girolamo Fracastoro). Fracastorius was a true Renaissance man; he wrote on the temperature of wines, the rise of the Nile, poetry…
Mordant

A substance capable of deepening the reaction to a stain (as in the pathology laboratory); incisive; burning or pungent; and so, by extension, biting and caustic in thought, manner, or style. The word 'mordant' has some…
Morgagni's tubercle

See: Olfactory bulb
Morgue

A place where bodies of the dead are kept before autopsy, funeral, or burial. The first Morgue was in Paris. In the 1880s the word morgue entered English to mean a mortuary.
Morning glory syndrome

A birth defect of the optic nerve (the nerve to the eye) in which there is a coloboma (cleft) of the optic disc. The coloboma results in a funnel-shaped optic nerve head with a white dot in the center, an elevated ring…
Morning sickness

Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Morning sickness is a misnomer, because it can occur at any time of the day (though not at night during sleep) and it is not a sickness. It is a normal characteristic of early…
Morning-after pill

A form of contraception used after rather than before sexual intercourse. Morning-after pills interfere with pregnancy by blocking the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus (womb). The pills contain the same…
Morphea

Skin changes that are localized to one or more patchy areas of skin that become hardened, dry, smooth and slightly pigmented. Morphea is called 'localized scleroderma' but it rarely, if ever, evolves into full-fledged…
Morpheus

In Greek and Roman mythology, the son of sleep and the god of dreams who lay on an ebony bed in a dim-lit cave, surrounded by poppies. Morpheus was the son of Hypnos from whence comes hypnosis. To be in the arms of…
Morphia

Another name for morphine. Both morphia and morphine come from the name of Morpheus, the ancient god of sleep and dreams
Morphine

A powerful narcotic agent with strong analgesic (painkilling) action and other significant effects on the central nervous system. It is dangerously addicting. Morphine is a naturally occurring member of a large chemical…
Morphology

1. Literally, the study of form. The study of structure. 2. The form itself, as of an organ or part of the body
Morquio syndrome

An inherited error in carbohydrate metabolism that results in mucopolysaccharide accumulation and severe skeletal defects. The defects are present at birth and include severe deformity of the spine and chest, short…
Mortality

A fatal outcome or, in one word, death. The word 'mortality' is derived from 'mortal' which came from the Latin 'mors' (death). The opposite of mortality is, of course, immortality. Mortality is also quite distinct from…
Mortality rate

A death rate. There are a number of different types of mortality rates as, for examples, the following: > >The fetal mortality rate: The ratio of fetal deaths to the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal…
Mortality rate, fetal

The ratio of fetal deaths to the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal deaths) in that year. In the United States, the fetal mortality rate plummeted from 19.2 per 1,000 births in 1950 to 9.2 per 1,000 births…
Mortality rate, infant

The number of children dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births that year. The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. The infant mortality rate is an important measure of the…
Mortality rate, maternal

The number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births (or by the number of live births + fetal deaths) in that year. The maternal mortality rate in the United States in 1993 (and…
Mortality rate, neonatal

The number of children dying under 28 days of age divided by the number of live births that year. The neonatal mortality rate in the United States, which was 8.4 per 1,000 live births in 1980, declined to 5.8 per 1,000…
Mortality, infant

The death of an infant before his or her first birthday. The infant mortality rate is, by definition, the number of children dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births that year. The infant mortality…
Morton disease

See: Morton's neuroma