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Medical Dictionary Terms Beginning with B
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Banding of chromosomes
Banding of chromosomes: Treatment of chromosomes to reveal characteristic patterns of horizontal bands. Thanks to these banding patterns that resemble bar codes, each human chromosome is distinctive and can be identified without ambiguity.more detail info...
Barium enema
Barium enema: A series of x-rays of the lower intestine. The x-rays are taken after the patient is given an enema with a white, chalky solution that contains barium. The barium outlines the intestines on the x-rays.more detail info...
Barium solution
Barium solution: A liquid containing barium sulfate, which shows up on x-rays. It outlines organs of the body so they can be seen on x-ray film.more detail info...
Barium swallow
Barium swallow: An upper gastrointestinal series (barium swallow) is an X-ray test used to define the anatomy of the upper digestive tract. Women who are or may be pregnant should notify the doctor requesting the procedure and the radiology staff. Themore detail info...
Barlow syndrome
Barlow syndrome: Barlow syndrome is mitral valve prolapse (also known as &click murmur syndrome&), the most common heart valve abnormality, affecting 5-10% of the world population. Most patients have no symptoms and require no treatment.more detail info...
Barosinusitis
Barosinusitis: Sinus troubles, particulaqrly with pain, due to changing atmospheric pressures, as when going up or down in a plane. Also called aerosinusitis or sinus barotrauma.more detail info...
Barotitis
Barotitis: Middle ear problems due to changing atmospheric pressures, as when a plane descends to land. The problems include ear pain, ringing, diminished hearing and, sometimes, dizziness. The word barotitis (pronounced bar-o-tit-is) is compounded fromore detail info...
Barotitis media
Barotitis media: See: Barotitis.more detail info...
Barotrauma, otic
Barotrauma, otic: See: Barotitis.more detail info...
Barotrauma, sinus
Barotrauma, sinus: See: Barosinusitis.more detail info...
Barr body
Barr body: A microscopic feature of female cells due to the presence of two X chromosomes in the female. One of these X chromosomes is inactive and is crumpled up to form the Barr body.more detail info...
Barrett's esophagus
Barrett's esophagus: A change in the cells of the tissue that lines the bottom of the esophagus. The esophagus may become irritated when the contents of the stomach back up (reflux). Reflux that happens often over a period of time can lead to Barrett'smore detail info...
Bartonella quintana
Bartonella quintana: Also called Rochalimaea quintana, this microorganism is an unusual rickettsia that can multiply within the gut of the body louse and then can be transmitted to humans. Transmission to people can occur by rubbing infected louse fecesmore detail info...
Basal cell carcinoma
Basal cell carcinoma: A type of skin cancer in which the cancer cells resemble the basal cells of the epidermis.more detail info...
Basal cells
Basal cells: Small, round cells found in the lower part, or base, of the epidermis, the outer layer of the skin.more detail info...
Basal metabolic rate
Basal metabolic rate: A measure of the rate of metabolism. For example, someone with an overly active thyroid will have an elevated basal metabolic rate.more detail info...
Base in DNA
Base in DNA: A unit of the DNA. There are 4 bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T), and cytosine (C). The sequence of bases (for example, CAG) is the genetic code.more detail info...
Base pair
Base pair: Two DNA bases complementary to one another (A and T or G and C) that join the complementary strands of DNA to form the double helix characteristic of DNA.more detail info...
Base sequence
Base sequence: The order of nucleotide bases (A,T, G, C) in a DNA molecule.more detail info...
Base sequence analysis
Base sequence analysis: A method for determining the order of nucleotide bases in DNA.more detail info...