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Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Medical Dictionary Terms Beginning with M
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Marasmus
Marasmus: Wasting away, as occurs with children who have kwashiorkor. Also called cachexia, is usually a result of protein and calorie deficiency.more detail info...
Marburg disease
Marburg disease: A severe form of hemorrhagic fever that can occur in people who work with African green monkeys. Marburg disease is caused by a filovirus. Ebola virus is also a filovirus.more detail info...
Marburg virus
Marburg virus: The virus that causes Marburg disease, a severe form of hemorrhagic fever that can occur in people who work with African green monkeys. The Marburg virus is a filovirus. Ebola virus is also a filovirus.more detail info...
Marfan syndrome
Marfan syndrome: Inherited disorder with long fingers and toes, dislocation of the lens, and aortic wall weakness and aneurysm. (It has been suggested that Abraham Lincoln had Marfan syndrome.)more detail info...
Marker
Marker: An identifiable heritable spot on a chromosome. A marker can be an expressed region of DNA (a gene) or a segment of DNA with no known coding function. All that matters is that the marker can be monitored.more detail info...
Marker chromosome
Marker chromosome: An abnormal chromosome that is distinctive in appearance but not fully identified. For example, the fragile X chromosome was once called the marker X.more detail info...
Marker gene
Marker gene: A detectable genetic trait or segment of DNA that can be identified and tracked. A marker gene can serve as a flag for another gene, sometimes called the target gene. A marker gene must be on the same chromosome as themore detail info...
Marriage, cousin
Marriage, cousin: A form of consanguinity. Everyone carries recessive alleles, genes that are generally innocuous in the heterozygous state but that in the company of another gene of the same type are capable of causing disease. We are all genetic resemore detail info...
Marrow
Marrow: The bone marrow.more detail info...
Marsh fever
Marsh fever: See malaria.more detail info...
MASA syndrome
MASA syndrome: MASA stands for mental retardation, aphasia, shuffling gait, and adducted thumbs. Features of the syndrome include: neurologically: mental retardation and aphasia (lack of speech); limbs: adducted (clasped) thumbs, absent extensormore detail info...
Masklike face
Masklike face: An expressionless face with little or no sense of animation, a face more like a mask than a real face. A masklike face is seen in a number of disorders including Parkinson's disease and myotonic dystrophy. Also called masklike facies.more detail info...
Masochism
Masochism: Pleasure from one's own pain. Named after the 19th-century Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (masoch-ism).more detail info...
MASS syndrome
MASS syndrome: A heritable disorder of connective tissue characterized by involvement of the mitral valve, aorta, skeleton, and skin. Hence, the acronym MASS (Mitral valve, Aorta, Skeleton, Skin). One basis for the MASS syndrome has been found tmore detail info...
Masseter
Masseter: The muscle that raises the lower jaw.more detail info...
Mast cell
Mast cell: A connective tissue cell whose normal function is unknown, the mast cell is frequently injured during allergic reactions, releasing strong chemicals including histamine into the tissues and blood that are very irritating and cause itching, smore detail info...
Mastectomy
Mastectomy: Mastectomy is a general term for removal of the breast. A modified radical mastectomy involves removal of the breast and the axillary lymph nodes. A simple mastectomy removes the breast, but not the lymph nodes.more detail info...
Masticate
Masticate: To chew.more detail info...
Mastitis
Mastitis: Inflammation of the breast.more detail info...
Mastoid
Mastoid: The rounded protrusion of bone just behind the ear once thought to look like the breast. The word comes from the Greek mastos meaning breast + -oid= breast-like.more detail info...