Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury. It is both an area of knowledge – a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment – and the applied practice of that knowledge.

Overview

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Medical care is shared between the medical profession (physicians or doctors) and other professionals such as nurses and pharmacists, sometimes known as allied health professionals. Historically, only those with a medical doctorate have been considered to practice medicine. Clinicians (licensed professionals who deal with patients) can be physicians, nurses, therapists or others. The medical profession is the social and occupational structure of the group of people formally trained and authorized to apply medical knowledge. Many countries and legal jurisdictions have legal limitations on who may practice medicine.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

zeugma
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 03, 2009 is: zeugma • \ZOOG-muh\  • noun : the use of a word to modify two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one Example sentence: "Torpedoes hit their mark! Ship and many hopes sink!" said the headline, employing vivid zeugma. Did you know? "Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . . it links unrelated terms -- mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low -- and thus generates surprise." (Walter Redfern, Puns) "Zeugma," which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means "joining." The Greek word has another connection to English as well. In the early 1970s, a chemistry professor named Paul Lauterbur developed a technique for producing images of internal organs. He called it "zeugmatography," because it involved the joining of magnetic fields. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize, but the name he chose didn’t stick. The technique is known today as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
abject
Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 02, 2009 is: abject • \AB-jekt\  • adjective 1 : sunk to or existing in a low state or condition *2 : very low in spirit or hope : wretched 3 : expressing or offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit Example sentence: Morris was in an abject and lonely state after Olivia left him -- but then he met Penny and his world brightened again. Did you know? "Abject" comes from "abjectus," the past participle of the Latin verb "abicere," meaning "to cast off." Its original meaning in English was "cast off" or "rejected," but it is now used to refer more broadly to things in a low state or condition. "Abject" shares with "mean," "ignoble," and "sordid" the sense of being below the normal standards of human decency and dignity. "Abject" may imply degradation, debasement, or servility ("abject poverty"). "Mean" suggests having such repellent characteristics as small-mindedness, ill temper, or cupidity ("mean and petty satire"). "Ignoble" suggests a loss or lack of some essential high quality of mind or spirit ("an ignoble scramble after material possessions"). "Sordid" is stronger than all of these in stressing physical or spiritual degradation and lowness ("a sordid story of murder and revenge"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
periphrasis
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 01, 2009 is: periphrasis • \puh-RIFF-ruh-sis\  • noun 1 : use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression *2 : an instance of periphrasis Example sentence: The college English teacher warned her students against padding their essays with periphrases solely to reach the required length. Did you know? It's easy enough to point out the origins of "periphrasis": the word was borrowed into English in the early 16th century via Latin from Greek "periphrazein," which in turn comes from the prefix "peri-," meaning "all around," and the verb "phrazein," "to point out." Two common descendants of "phrazein" in English are "phrase" and "paraphrase," the latter of which combines "phrazein" with the prefix "para-," meaning "closely resembling." Another "phrazein" descendant is the less familiar word "holophrasis," meaning "the expression of a complex of ideas in a single word or in a fixed phrase." (The prefix "holo-" can mean "completely.") *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
oenophile
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 30, 2009 is: oenophile • \EE-nuh-fyle\  • noun : a lover or connoisseur of wine Example sentence: Only an astute oenophile like Simon would know that 2002 was not the best year for that particular Barolo. Did you know? "It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth," wrote the 1st-century A.D. Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder. The truth about the word "wine" is that it goes back to Latin "vinum," but it is also a distant relative of the Greek word for wine, which is "oinos." Indeed, Latin borrowed from the Greek to create a combining form that means "wine," "oeno-." Modern French speakers combined "oeno-" with "-phile" (Greek for "lover of") to create "oenophile" before we adopted it from them around 1930. Etymologically-inclined oenophiles are sure to know that "oenology," for the science of wine making, and "oenologist," for one versed in oenology (more often spelled "enology" and "enologist") also trace back to the Greek root.
skimble-skamble
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2009 is: skimble-skamble • \skim-bul-SKAM-bul\  • adjective : rambling and confused : senseless Example sentence: "What a lark it is to tag along after constantly astonished Alice as she meets up with all those skimble-skamble Lewis Carroll creations," raved one theater critic of an adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Did you know? One of the best examples of "skimble-skamble" used in context is also its first known use. It occurs in Shakespeare's Henry IV when Hotspur speaks of Mortimer's father: "Sometimes he angers me / With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, / Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies, / And of a dragon and a finless fish… / And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff…." After reading Hotspur's rambling, we can clearly understand the word's meaning, but from whence did the Bard come up with the word? More than likely, he coined the word as a reduplication of "scamble," a word meaning "to stumble along" that was widely used during his time but is now only heard in some English dialects.
founder
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:15:01 -0500
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2009 is: founder • \FOUN-der\  • verb 1 : to make or become disabled or lame 2 : to give way : collapse *3 : to become submerged : sink 4 : to come to grief : fail Example sentence: As the vessel began to founder, the captain ordered everyone on board to prepare to abandon ship. Did you know? "Founder" comes from Middle English "foundren," meaning "to send to the bottom" or "collapse." That word came from the Middle French verb "fondrer," and ultimately from the Latin noun "fundus," meaning "bottom." When something "founders," it usually hits the bottom in one sense or another. A foundering horse -- that is, a disabled one -- is likely to collapse to the ground. When a ship founders, it sinks to the bottom of the sea. "Founder" has a broader, figurative sense, too -- if your marriage or your career is foundering it isn't doing well and is therefore headed downward. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

MedTerms Word of the Day

Trench mouth
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700
Trench mouth: A progressive painful infection of the mouth and throat with ulceration, swelling and sloughing off of dead tissue from the mouth and throat due to the spread of infection from the gums. Certain germs (including fusiform bacteria and spirochetes) have been thought to be involved, but the full story behind this long-known disease is still not clear. This condition is also called Vincent's angina after the French physician Henri Vincent (1862-1950). The word "angina" comes from the Latin "angere" meaning "to choke or throttle." As with most long-known but poorly understood diseases, trench mouth (alias Vincent's angina) goes by many other names including acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG), acute membranous gingivitis, fusospirochetal gingivitis, fusospirillosis, fusospirochetal gingivitis, fusospirochetal gingivitis, phagedenic gingivitis, ulcerative gingivitis, Vincent's gingivitis, Vincent's infection, and Vincent's stomatitis. MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You

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