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civil commitment

(Encyclopedia)civil commitment or involuntary commitment, process by which a court determines whether or not to order an individual to receive treatment or care or be confined. A person may be committed after a hea...

first aid

(Encyclopedia)first aid, immediate and temporary treatment of a victim of sudden illness or injury while awaiting the arrival of medical aid. Proper early measures may be instrumental in saving life and ensuring a ...

rifampin

(Encyclopedia)rifampin rĭfămˈpĭn [key], antibiotic used in the treatment of tuberculosis. It is also used to eliminate the meningococcus microorganism from carriers and to treat leprosy, or Hansen's disease. Ri...

Koch, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Koch, Robert rōˈbĕrt kôkh [key], 1843–1910, German bacteriologist. He studied at Göttingen under Jacob Henle. As a country practitioner in Wollstein, Posen (now Wolsztyn, Poland), he devoted mu...

drug addiction and drug abuse

(Encyclopedia)drug addiction and drug abuse, chronic or habitual use of any chemical substance to alter states of body or mind for other than medically warranted purposes. Traditional definitions of addiction, with...

strabismus

(Encyclopedia)strabismus strəbĭzˈməs [key], inability of the eyes to focus together because of an imbalance in the muscles that control eye movement; also called squint. It is a consequence of weakness or uneve...

Mutis, José Celestino

(Encyclopedia)Mutis, José Celestino hōsāˈ thālĕstēˈnō mo͞oˈtēs [key], 1732–1808, Spanish naturalist and plant explorer. One of Linnaeus' first disciples in Spain, he went to South America and settled ...

leprosy

(Encyclopedia)leprosy or Hansen's disease hănˈsənz [key], chronic, mildly infectious malady capable of producing, when untreated, various deformities and disfigurements. It is caused by the rod-shaped bacterium ...

papaverine

(Encyclopedia)papaverine pəpăvˈərēn [key], alkaloid found in opium that acts as a muscle relaxant and vasodilator. The drug relaxes the smooth muscle of the larger blood vessels and is used to increase the blo...

Peters, Vera

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Vera (Mildred Vera Peters), 1911–93, Canadian radiation oncologist and clinical investigator, b. Rexdale, Ont., M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1934. Beginning in 1935, she studied the treatment of H...