Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Prismoptometer
A device for estimating abnormal refraction of the eye by using prisms.
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Risley’s rotary prism
A prism mounted in a device that allows it to be rotated. This is used in testing eye muscle imbalance.
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Nicol prism
A prism made by splitting a prism of Icelandic spar and rejoining the cut surfaces. This causes the light passing through to be split. Ordinary light rays are reflected by the joined surfaces, and polarized light is transmitted.
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Maddox prism
Two base-together prisms used in testing for cyclophoria or torsion of the eyeball.
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Prism
A transparent solid, three sides of which are parallelograms. The bases, perpendicular to the three sides, are triangles, and a transverse section of the solid is a triangle. Light rays going through a prism are deflected toward the base of the triangle and at the same time are split into the primary colors.
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Prion disease
Any transmissible neurodegenerative disease believed to be caused by a proteinaceous infectious particle (also known as prion proteins, or PrPs). PrPs change other cellular proteins, producing intracellular vacuoles (“spongiform change”) that disrupt the functioning of neurons. Included in this group are Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, Gerstmann-Strussler-Scheinker syndrome, kuru, and fatal familial insomnia in humans, mad cow disease…
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Gastrointestinal principle
An archaic term used to denote hormones, such as cholecystokinin, gastrin, and secretin, which are secreted by mucosal cells of the gastrointestinal tract and absorbed into the blood.
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Primum non nocere
“First do no harm,” the goal in health care, of avoiding actions that may worsen a patient’s disease or suffering.
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Elderly primigravida
A woman who is 35 years of age or older and pregnant for the first time. In the past, women were informed that delaying childbearing until age 35 or more would greatly increase the chance of an adverse outcome of pregnancy. A well-controlled study of the outcome of first pregnancy in this age group indicates…
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Primary teeth
The deciduous teeth, colloquially known as “baby teeth.” The initial collection of teeth in a child’s mouth, commonly referred to as primary teeth or baby teeth. The initial set of teeth to emerge, also referred to as baby teeth, typically begin appearing around the age of six months. These primary teeth are subsequently replaced by…
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