Category: P

The study of how drugs are used in the prevention and treatment of disease.  

An amount of drug given that is much greater than the amount of a similar substance produced within the body; this increased dosage is used to exaggerate the beneficial effects normally provided by the endogenous compound.  

The legal term for the presumed biological father if a child’s parents are not married and paternity has not been acknowledged or established; sometimes called unwed father, against whom a paternity suit may be brought in some situations.  

A synonym for welfare, generally preferred by social-work agencies.  

Alternate term for menarche, the onset of the first menstruation. The beginning of puberty.    

The person who has the strongest emotional ties with the child and is closest to the child’s day- to-day activities, hopes, and fears, usually one of the child’s legal parents or guardians but sometimes a neighbor or other relative with no legal responsibility for the child, such as a stepparent or aunt. If it appears…

Alternate term for proband in constructing a family pedigree during genetic counseling; the female form is pro-posita. The first individual studied in an investigation of several related patients with an inherited or familial disorder.  

In education, the advancement of a student from one grade to another or, in an ungraded class, from one instructional level to another. Promotion implies that the student has developed the skills, learned the material, and met the academic standards of the grade and is therefore academically ready to move on to the next grade;…

An unusually talented individual, a term generally used in referring to a child prodigy.  

Passing a student to a higher grade even when academic performance has not been fully satisfactory, on the understanding that the promotion will become permanent only if the student shows ability to handle the more advanced work.