Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

325 results found

Bard, John

(Encyclopedia)Bard, John, 1716–99, American physician, persuaded New York to establish on Bedloe Island its first quarantine station and was himself the first health officer. He wrote on yellow fever, malignant p...

sun grebe

(Encyclopedia)sun grebe, common name for a tropical, mainly aquatic bird of the family Heliornithidae. Sun grebes, also called finfoots, are remarkable for their colorful, puffy-toed, webbed feet, which may serve a...

columbine, in botany

(Encyclopedia)columbine kŏlˈəmbīn [key], any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. Columbines...

enteritis

(Encyclopedia)enteritis ĕnˌtərīˈtĭs [key], inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Acute enteritis is not usually serious except in infants and older people, in whom the accompanying diarrhea can cause de...

ibuprofen

(Encyclopedia)ibuprofen īˈbyo͞oprōˌfən [key], nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that reduces pain, fever, and inflammation. Along with naproxen and ketoprofen, ibuprofen belongs to the propionic aci...

hemorrhage

(Encyclopedia)hemorrhage hĕmˈərĭj [key], escape of blood from the circulation (arteries, veins, capillaries) to the internal or external tissues. The term is usually applied to a loss of blood that is copious e...

mumps

(Encyclopedia)mumps (epidemic parotitis), acute contagious viral disease, manifesting itself chiefly in pain and swelling of the salivary glands, especially those at the angle of the jaw. Other symptoms are fever, ...

Legionnaire's disease

(Encyclopedia)Legionnaire's disease lēˌjənârzˈ [key], infectious, sometimes fatal, disease characterized by high fever, dry cough, lung congestion, and subsequent pneumonia. Major organs, such as the heart, ma...

toxic shock syndrome

(Encyclopedia)toxic shock syndrome (TSS). acute, sometimes fatal, disease characterized by high fever, nausea, diarrhea, lethargy, blotchy rash, and sudden drop in blood pressure. It is caused by Staphylococcus aur...

Robbins, John Bennet

(Encyclopedia)Robbins, John Bennet, 1932–2019, American physician and microbiologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., M.D. New York Univ., 1959. He did research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and taught at the...