Author: Glossary

The osteofibrous canal in the tarsal area bounded by the flexor retinaculum and tarsal bones. The posterior tibial vessels, tibial nerve, and flexor tendons pass through this tunnel.  

The membrane lining the walls of the closed body cavities and folded over the organs in those cavities, forming the outermost layer of the wall of these organs. The body cavities are the thoracic, abdominal, and pericardial cavities.  

The smooth muscle layer in the walls of organs such as the bronchi, intestines, and blood vessels.  

The mucous membrane lining of various structures.  

A hard alloy composed of tungsten and carbon. It is used as a metallic alternative to diamond in the manufacture of histological knives and surgical instruments.  

Infestation of the skin with Tunga penetrans.  

A small flea common in tropical regions. It infests humans, cats, dogs, rats, pigs, and other animals and produces a severe local inflammation frequently liable to secondary infection.  

A rare, dominantly inherited autoinflammatory disorder marked by bouts of abdominal pain, fever, myalgia and arthralgia, pleurisy, and conjunctivitis. It is caused by a mutation in a cell receptor for tumor necrosis factor.  

A substance whose presence in blood serves as a biochemical indicator for the possible presence of a malignancy. Examples of markers and the malignancies they may indicate are carcinoembryonic antigen for cancers of the colon, lung, breast, and ovary; beta subunit of chorionic gonadotropin for trophoblastic and testicular tumors; alpha-fetoprotein for testicular teratocarcinoma and primary…

A small benign growth (e.g., in the lungs or uterus), usually made of smooth muscle cells.