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convulsion

(Encyclopedia)convulsion, sudden, violent, involuntary contraction of the muscles of the body, often accompanied by loss of consciousness. It is not known what causes the abnormal impulses from the brain that resul...

National Institutes of Health

(Encyclopedia)National Institutes of Health (NIH), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, with headquarters in Bethesda, Md. It was established initially in 1887 as a laboratory in the U.S. Marine Hospital on St...

Lefkowitz, Robert Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Lefkowitz, Robert Joseph, 1943–, American physician, b. New York City, M.D. Columbia, 1966. Since 1973 Lefkowitz has been a professor at Duke Univ.; he was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institut...

Tiselius, Arne

(Encyclopedia)Tiselius, Arne ärˈnə tēsāˈlyəs [key], 1902–71, Swedish biochemist. He received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing new methods of separating and detecting colloids. One system (e...

stem cells

(Encyclopedia)stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastu...

body temperature

(Encyclopedia)body temperature, internal temperature of a living organism. Mammals and birds are termed warm-blooded, or homeothermic, i.e., they are able to maintain a relatively constant inner body temperature, w...

Cohnheim, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Cohnheim, Julius yo͞oˈlyo͝os kōnˈhīm [key], 1839–84, German experimental histologist and pathologist. In a relatively brief life Cohnheim made a series of remarkable contributions to the rapid...

Henle, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Henle, Jacob (Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle) frēˈdrĭkh go͝osˈtäf yäˈkôp hĕnˈlə [key], 1809–85, German anatomist and histologist. A pupil of J. P. Müller, he taught at Zürich, Heidelberg...

emetic

(Encyclopedia)emetic əmĕtˈĭk [key], substance that produces vomiting. Direct, or gastric, emetics, which act directly on the stomach, include syrup of ipecac, sulfate of zinc or copper, alum, ammonium carbonate...

Judas Iscariot

(Encyclopedia)Judas Iscariot ĭskârˈēət [key], Jesus' betrayer, possibly from the village of Kerioth, the only Judaean disciple among the Twelve, and, according to the Gospel of St. John, their treasurer. Judas...