medical

common of these injuries are the ear and sinus blocks that can occur during air travel.

BCG(bacilli caimette-guerin) vaccine: a vaccine that offers some protection against tuberculosis. It’s now rarely used in the U.S. because it doesn’t give total protection.

Bedsore: an ulcer caused by chafing or by the pressure of the body against the bed.

Bell’s palsy: a usually temporary loss of feeling or movement of the face, usually on one side, causing an inability to close the eye or mouth on that side.

Bends: a condition that results from rapidly decreasing atmospheric pressure on the body. Symptoms include joint pain, chest pain, shortness of breath and coma. The condition may be fatal.

Benign: a nonlife-threatening condition. Not malignant. Not cancerous.

Benign familial tremor: an inherited disorder that caused a slow tremor in the hands, head and voice. It may affect only one side of the body, be worse when moving than when resting and worsen with age.

Beriberi; a deficiency disease caused by dietary insufficiency of vitamin b1(thiamine). Symptoms include general weakness

and painful rigidity.

Biceps: a muscle having two heads. The most familiar is the large muscle in the front of the upper arm responsible for flexing the forearm.

Bicuspid: a tooth named for the two-pointed projections on the crown.

Bifocals: eyeglasses with divided lenses. The two parts of each lens have different strengths, allowing the wearer to focus the eye for either near or distant vision.

Bile: a clear yellow fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Aids in digestion.

Billirubin: a pigment produced in the liver by the breakdown of hemoglobin from old red blood cells. Billirubin is normally eliminated in the bile. A variety of diseases may cause billirubin to collect in the body, resulting in a yellow discoloration of the skin known as jaundice.

Biopsy: removal and exam of a tissue sample taken from a living body. This procedure helps determine if the tissue is cancerous.

Bipolar affective disorder: a psychiatric disorder in which the affected

person

has

both

depressed

and

happy,

energetic(materic)episodes. This is a newer term for

manicdepressive disorder.

Blackhead: a dark-topped plug of fatty material in the opening of a hair follicle. The color is the result of period of time. Blackout: 1. short-term loss of vision and consciousness.2. in an alcoholic person, loss of memory for a bldder, which holds urine until it’s eliminated.

Blindness: loss of vision. Legally, visual acuity less than 20/200 with glasses.

Blister: buildup of watery or bloody fluid under the skin. Blood poisoning: infection within the circulatory system. A potentially life-threatening condition that requires prompt treatment.

Blood pressure: the pressure exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels.

Boil: a skin infection characterized by a localized buildup of pus.

Bone marrow: the tissue within the cavity of the bones where new blood cells are made.

Botulism: an extremely dangerous form of food poisoning caused by the toxin of clostridium botulinum. Bowel: intestine.

Brace: a device used to support a body part, correct or prevent

deformities, or control movement.

Bradycardia: slow heart rate and pulse, usually slower than 60 beats are per minute.

Braxton hicks contractions: contractions of the uterus during pregnancy that are sometimes mistaken for labor. Also called false labor.

Breasts: milk-secreting glands protruding from the upper front part of a woman’s body.

Breech birth: a birth in which the feet or buttocks of the body appear first through the birth canal.

Bronchi: the tubular passages, also called bronchial tubes, that carry air into the lungs.

Bronchiectasis: a chronic enlargement of the bronchi accompanied by coughing and production of large amounts of phlem-containing pus.

Bronchitis: an infection of the bronchioles, the tiny air tubes in the lungs.

Bronchitis: inflammation of the bronchi.

Bronchospasm: contraction of the muscle in the walls of the bronchi.

Bruise: discoloration of the skin due to a buildup of blood in the underlying soft tissue. Also called a contusion.