Medical terms - Letter M (page 20) | MedicalVocabulary.org

Muscle, papillary

Small muscles within the heart that anchor the heart valves. The anchor ropes are the chordae tendineae, thread-like bands of fibrous tissue that attach on one end to the edges of the tricuspid and mitral valves of the…
Muscle, piriformis

A muscle that begins at the front surface of the sacrum (the V-shaped bone between the buttocks at the base of the spine) and passes through the greater sciatic notch to attach to the top of the thigh bone (femur) at…
Muscle, psoas

Muscles of the lower back (the loin). There are two psoas muscles on each side of the back. The larger of the two is called the psoas major and the smaller the psoas minor. The psoas major originates at the spine around…
Muscle, subscapularis

>The subscapularis muscle; >The supraspinatus muscle, which is responsible for elevating the arm and moving it away from the body; >The infraspinatus muscle, which assists the lifting of the arm during turning the arm…
Muscle, supraspinatus

>The supraspinatus muscle; >The subscapularis muscle, which moves the arm by turning it inward (internal rotation); >The infraspinatus muscle, which assists the lifting of the arm during turning the arm outward…
Muscle, teres minor

>The teres minor muscle; >The infraspinatus muscle, which (like the teres minor) helps in the outward turning (external rotation) of the arm. >The supraspinatus muscle which is responsible for elevating the arm and…
Muscles, abdominal

A large group of muscles in the front of the abdomen that assists in the regular breathing movement and supports the muscles of the spine while lifting and keeping abdominal organs such as the intestines in place…
Muscular

Having to do with the muscles. Also, endowed with above average muscle development. Muscular system refers to all of the muscles of the body collectively
Muscular atrophy, post-polio (PPMA)

Late muscle wasting that occurs as part of the post-polio syndrome (PPS), a constellation of symptoms and signs that appear belatedly, from 20 to 40 years, after the initial polio infection and at least 10 years after…
Muscular dystrophy

One of a group of genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal or voluntary muscles which control movement. The muscles of the heart and some other involuntary muscles are also…
Muscular dystrophy, Becker

A form of muscular dystrophy that is quite similar to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, except that patients with Becker do produce some of the key protein, dystrophin, whereas those with Duchenne do not. Progression of the…
Muscular dystrophy, congenital

A form of muscular dystrophy that is present at birth. Various types of congenital MD have been identified, each caused by a different genetic error. Congenital MD can affect males or females. Diagnosis is initially by…
Muscular dystrophy, distal

One of two genetic muscle diseases characterized by wasting of the muscles most distant from the midline, such as those of the hands and feet. Both types of distal MD are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner and…
Muscular dystrophy, Emery-Dreifuss

Abbreviated EDMD. A form of muscular dystrophy that begins in childhood or adolescence as a slowly progressive disorder of the upper arms or upper legs characterized by weakness and atrophy of muscles without…
Muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral

A form of muscular dystrophy that begins before age 20 with slowly progressive weakness of the muscles of the face, shoulders, and feet. The severity of the disease is variable. Although most people with…
Muscular dystrophy, limb-girdle

One of a group of diseases that may begin in childhood or later with slowly progressive weakness and wasting of the muscles restricted to the limb musculature, especially to the hips and shoulders. Muscle biopsies of…
Muscular dystrophy, myotonic

Myotonic dystrophy, an inherited disease in which the muscles contract but have decreasing power to relax -- this phenomenon is termed myotonia (irritability and prolonged contraction of muscles). The disease also…
Muscular dystrophy, oculopharyngeal

A form of muscular dystrophy that begins in the muscles of the eyes and throat. It usually appears between the ages of 40 and 60, and progresses slowly. Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy is inherited in an autosomal…
Muscular dystrophy, tibial

A specific form of muscular dystrophy in which weakness is usually confined to the anterior compartment (the front part) of the lower leg and, in particular, to the tibialis anterior muscle. The muscle weakness usually…
Muscular dystrophy, Ullrich congenital

A disorder evident at birth characterized by muscle weakness, contractures of multiple joints, and hyperextensibility (looseness) of joints, particularly distal joints (well away from the trunk). The muscle weakness…
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Nat'l Institute

F Arthritis and (NIAMS): One of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. As its somewhat cumbersome name indicates, NIAMS's mission is a broad and important one, namely to 'conduct and support a broad spectrum of…
Musculus

The Latin for muscle. Plural: musculi. In anatomy and many medical textbooks and dictionaries, the muscles are referred to by their Latin names such as musculi abdominis (the abs), musculus gluteus maximus (the big…
Music therapy

The use of music in therapy; the therapeutic use of music. There are many different definitions of music therapy ranging from the trivial (a form of distraction that uses music as an aid to relaxation) to the lofty (the…
Musical hallucination

A form of auditory hallucination in which music is heard, often the same piece of music. In most cases the music is familiar to the person. Musical hallucinations are most common in older people, especially women, with…
Musical hallucinosis

See: Musical hallucination
Musicomania

A singular passion for music that is excessive and beyond all reason. From the French musicomanie, from music + -mania, frenzy
Musicotherapy

See: Music therapy
Musset sign

See: de Musset sign
Mustard (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome

All of the genetic information contained in Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant belonging to the mustard family. The genomes of particular nonhuman organisms such as Arabidopsis thaliana have been studied for a number of…
Mustard plaster

A mild mixture of mustard seed powder, an adhesive such as flour, and water warmed and spread on a moist cloth that is then applied to the skin. The original mistaken notion was that the mustard plaster would draw out…
Mutagen

Something capable of causing a gene-change. Among the known mutagens are radiation, certain chemicals and some viruses.
Mutagenesis

The development and production of mutations in the genome
Mutant

An individual with a mutant (changed) gene.
Mutation

A permanent change, a structural alteration, in the DNA or RNA. In humans and many other organisms, mutations occur in DNA. However, in retroviruses like HIV, mutations occur in RNA which is the genetic material of…
Mutation, acquired

See: Acquired mutation.
Mutation, germline

Mutation, germline: A heritable change in the DNA that occurred in a germ cell (a cell destined to become an egg or in the sperm) or the zygote (the conceptus) at the single-cell stage. When transmitted to a child, a…
Mutation, hereditary

Mutation, hereditary: A heritable change in the DNA of a gene or chromosome in a cell destined to become an egg or a sperm or the zygote (the conceptus) at the single-cell stage. When transmitted to a child, an…
Mutation, missense

Mutation, missense: A genetic change involving the substitution of one base in the DNA for another which results in the substitution of one amino acid in a polypeptide for another. A missense mutation is a 'readable'…
Mutation, nonsense

A mutation (a change) in a base in the DNA that prematurely stops the translation (reading) of messenger RNA (mRNA) resulting in a polypeptide chain that ends prematurely and a protein product that is truncated…
Mutation, null

A mutation (a change) in a gene that leads to its not being transcribed into RNA and/or translated into a functional protein product. For example, a null mutation in a gene that usually encodes a specific enzyme leads…
Mutation, point

A single nucleotide base change in the DNA. A point mutation may consist of the loss of a nucleotide, the insertion of an additional nucleotide, or the substitution of one nucleotide for another. The first point…
Mutation, private

A rare mutation found usually only in a single family or a small population. (It is like a privately printed book.
Mutation, somatic

See: Somatic mutation.
Mute

A mute is a person who does not speak, either from an inability to speak or an unwillingness to speak. The term 'mute' is specifically applied to a person who, due to profound congenital (or early) deafness, is unable…
Mutilating keratoderma

See: Vohwinkel syndrome
Mutism

The inability or unwillingness to speak. A person who is mute cannot or does not care to talk. Someone who was mute was said to be dumb, not in the sense of being stupid, but in the sense of being devoid of the power of…
Mutism, akinetic

A state in which a person is unspeaking (mute) and unmoving (akinetic). A textbook on clinical neurology observes that a person with akinetic mutism has 'sleep-waking cycles but, when apparently awake, with eyes open…
Mutism, elective

Complete lack of speech (mutism) that is believed to be volitional (willed) on the part of the patient. True elective mutism may be a reaction to a traumatic event, the aftermath of an injury to the mouth or throat…
MUTYH

See: MYH
MVP

In medicine, not the most valuable player but mitral valve prolapse