Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

403 results found

apheresis

(Encyclopedia)apheresis hēˌməfĕrˈəsĭs [key], any procedure in which blood is drawn from a donor or patient and a component (platelets, plasma, or white blood cells) is separated out, the remaining blood comp...

inflammation

(Encyclopedia)inflammation, reaction of the body to injury or to infectious, allergic, or chemical irritation. The symptoms are redness, swelling, heat, and pain resulting from dilation of the blood vessels in the ...

gamma globulin

(Encyclopedia)gamma globulin, a group of globulin proteins in human blood plasma, including most antibodies. These antibody substances are produced as a protective reaction of the body's immune system to the invasi...

Epstein-Barr virus

(Encyclopedia)Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpesvirus that is the major cause of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with a number of cancers, particularly lymphomas in immunosuppressed persons, including pers...

equine encephalitis

(Encyclopedia)equine encephalitis ēˈkwīn ĕnsĕfˌəlīˈtĭs [key], infectious disease of horses caused by any of several viruses, three of which—the Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan viruses—can also infect...

Kaelin, William George, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Kaelin, William George, Jr., 1957–, American oncologist, b. New York City, M.D. Duke Univ., 1982. He has spent his entire career at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., and also is a pro...

John Maurice of Nassau

(Encyclopedia)John Maurice of Nassau, 1604–79, Dutch general and colonial administrator, a prince of the house of Nassau-Siegen; grandnephew of William the Silent. The Dutch West India Company appointed him (1636...

mineral water

(Encyclopedia)mineral water, spring water containing various mineral salts, especially the carbonates, chlorides, phosphates, silicates, sulfides, and sulfates of calcium, iron, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodiu...

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...

parvovirus

(Encyclopedia)parvovirus pärˌvōvīˈrəs [key], any of several small DNA viruses that cause several diseases in animals, including humans. In humans, parvoviruses cause fifth disease, or erythema infectiosum, an...

Browse by Subject