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Kawasaki, Tomisaku

(Encyclopedia)Kawasaki, Tomisaku, 1925–2020, Japanese pediatrician. He joined (1950–90) what is now the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, and became director of pediatrics there in 1973. In 1961 he enco...

radio-frequency identification

(Encyclopedia)radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology that uses radio waves to transmit data and uniquely identify an animal, person, or thing. An RFID system typically consists of a tag and a reader. T...

Montagnier, Luc Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Montagnier, Luc Antoine, 1932–, French virologist, M.D. Sorbonne, 1960. Montagnier was a researcher at the Medical Research Council at Carshalton, London (1960–63), the Institute of Virology in Gl...

mercury poisoning

(Encyclopedia)mercury poisoning, tissue damage resulting from exposure to more than trace amounts of the element mercury or its compounds. Elemental mercury (the silver liquid familiar from thermometers) is the mos...

Pol Pot

(Encyclopedia)Pol Pot, 1925–98, Cambodian political leader, originally named Saloth Sar. Paris-educated, and a Khmer Communist leader from 1960, he led Khmer Rouge guerrillas against the government of Lon Nol aft...

Samuelsson, Bengt Ingemar

(Encyclopedia)Samuelsson, Bengt Ingemar, 1934–, Swedish biochemist, grad. Karolinska Institute (Ph.D. 1960, M.D. 1961). He was a professor at the Karolinska Institute from 1962 to 1966 and again from 1973; from 1...

SARS

(Encyclopedia)SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome, communicable viral disease that can progress to a potentially fatal pneumonia. The first symptoms of SARS are usually a high fever, headache and body aches, ...

Eisenhower, Milton Stover

(Encyclopedia)Eisenhower, Milton Stover, 1899–1985, American educator and public official, b. Abilene, Kans., grad. Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (now Kansas State Univ.), 1924; brother ...

gluten

(Encyclopedia)gluten, mixture of proteins present in the cereal grains. The long molecules of gluten, insoluble in water, are strong and flexible and form many cross linkages. This gives flour its characteristic ch...

smallpox

(Encyclopedia)smallpox, acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. Occurring worldwide in epidemics, it killed up to 40% of those who contracted it and acc...