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Medical Dictionary Terms Beginning with R
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Rate, death
Rate, death: The number of deaths in the population divided by the average population (or the population at midyear) is the crude death rate. In 1994, for example, the crude death rate per 1,000 population was 8.8 in the United States, 7.1 in Australiamore detail info...
Rate, erythrocyte sedimentation
Rate, erythrocyte sedimentation: A sedimentation rate, or &sed rate&, is a blood test that detects and is used to monitor inflammation activity. It is measured by recording the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) sediment in a tube over timemore detail info...
Rate, fetal mortality
Rate, fetal mortality: The ratio of fetal deaths divided by the sum of the births (the live births + the fetal deaths) in that year. In the United States, the fetal mortality rate plummeted from 19.2 per 1,000 births in 1950 to 9.2 per 1,000 births inmore detail info...
Rate, heart
Rate, heart: Number of heart beats per minute. The normal resting adult heart beats regularly at an average rate of 60 times per minute. (Young children’s hearts beat faster). The speed of the heartbeat (heart rate) is governed by the speed of elemore detail info...
Rate, infant mortality
Rate, infant mortality: The number of children dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births that year. The infant mortality rate in the United States, which was 12.5 per 1,000 live births in 1980, fell to 9.2 per 1,000 live births inmore detail info...
Rate, maternal mortality
Rate, maternal mortality: The number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births (or by the number of live births + fetal deaths) in that year. The maternal mortality rate in the United States in 1993 (and 1994) wasmore detail info...
Rate, neonatal mortality
Rate, neonatal mortality: The number of children dying under 28 days of age divided by the number of live births that year. The neonatal mortality rate in the United States, which was 8.4 per 1,000 live births in 1980, declined to 5.8 per 1,000 live bimore detail info...
Rate, pulse
Rate, pulse: The pulse rate is most often taken at the wrist. It measures the number of pulsations in the radial artery each minute.more detail info...
Rate, respiratory
Rate, respiratory: The number of breaths per minute (or, more formally, the number of movements indicative of inspiration and expiration per unit time). In practice, the respiratory rate is usually determined by counting the number of times the chest rmore detail info...
Rate, sed
Rate, sed: A sedimentation rate, or &sed rate&, is a blood test that detects and is used to monitor inflammation activity. It is measured by recording the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) sediment in a tube over time. It increases (the RBmore detail info...
Rate, sedimentation
Rate, sedimentation: A sedimentation rate, or &sed rate&, is a blood test that detects and is used to monitor inflammation activity. It is measured by recording the rate at which red blood cells (RBCs) sediment in a tube over time. It increasmore detail info...
Rat-flea typhus
Rat-flea typhus: Murine typhus, an acute infectious disease with fever, headache, and rash, all quite similar to, but milder than, epidemic typhus, caused by a related microoganism, Rickettsia typhi (mooseri), transmitted to humans by rat fleas (Xenopsmore detail info...
Rattlesnake bite
Rattlesnake bite: A venomous (poisonous) snake bite. All rattlesnakes are venomous and secrete poisonous venom.more detail info...
RaynaudÆs phenomenon
Raynaud’s phenomenon: A condition resulting in discoloration of fingers and/or toes when a person is exposed to changes in temperature(cold or hot) or emotional events. The skin discoloration occurs because an abnormal spasm of the blood vesselmore detail info...
Raynaud's disease
Raynaud's disease: A condition resulting in skin discoloration of the fingers and/or toes when a person is exposed to changes in temperature(cold or hot) or to emotional events. This condition can occur alone or as a part of another disease (such as rheumore detail info...
Reabsorption
Reabsorption: Absorbing again. For example, the kidney selectively reabsorbs substances such as glucose, proteins, and sodium which it had already secreted into the renal tubules. These reabsorbed substances return to the blood.more detail info...
Reaction kinetics
Reaction kinetics: Kinetics (with an "s" at the end) refers to the rate of change in a biochemical (or other) reaction, the study of reaction rates. Kinetics is a noun. It is distinct from "kinetic" (an adjective) meaning with movement. The opposimore detail info...
Reaction, allergic
Reaction, allergic: A reaction that occurs when the immune system attacks a usually harmless substance (an allergen) that gains access to the body. The immune system calls upon a protective substance called immunoglobulin E (IgE) to fight these invadinmore detail info...
Reaction, chemical
Reaction, chemical: A process in which one substance is transformed into another.more detail info...
Reaction, desmoplastic
Reaction, desmoplastic: This term refers to the growth of fibrous or connective tissue. Some tumors elicit a desmoplastic reaction, the pervasive growth of dense fibrous tissue around the tumor. Scar tissue (adhesion) within the abdomen after abdominal sumore detail info...