Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A group of generalised inflammatory diseases that affect connective tissue in almost any system in the body. The term does not include those disorders of genetic origin. Rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis were traditionally classified in this group, as were those diseases classed under the outdated heading collagen diseases.  

The term for describing the persistent and involuntary turning of both eyes in any one direction, and is a sign of a lesion in the brain. Constant turning of the head and eyes to one side, indicative of a neurological condition.  

Also known as ‘expert systems’, these are computer software systems intended to help doctors make clinical decisions. Primary care medicine is especially noted for its uncertainty by virtue of being most patients’ first point of contact with health care, confronting the clinician with many ‘undifferentiated’ health problems. So far, these systems have not been as…

This is part of the body’s defence mechanism that comprises a series of 20 serum PEPTIDES. These are sequentially activated to produce three significant effects: firstly, the release of small peptides which provoke inflammation and attract phagocytes; secondly, the deposition of a substance (component C3b) on the membranes of invading bacteria or viruses, attracting phagocytes…

A doctor who works in the specialty that encompasses preventing medicine, epidemiology and public health.  

Formerly entitled consultant paediatrician (community child health), these are specialists dealing with children with chronic problems not involving acute or hospital care. For example, they have a primary role in dealing with disabled children, children with special educational needs and abused children.  

A term that includes district nurses, health visitors, practice nurses and school nurses. While customarily based in a general practice or a health centre, they are independent health professionals contracted to the NHS.  

Intended as a key part of the NHS’s local comprehensive mental health services serving populations of around 50,000, these multidisciplinary, multi-agency teams have been less effective than expected, in part due to varying modes of operation in different districts. Some experts argue that the services they provide for example, crisis intervention, liaison with primary care…

Community care is intended to enable people to lead independent lives at home or in local residential units for as long as they are able to do so. For many years there has been a trend in Britain for care for elderly people and those with mental or physical problems to be shifted from hospitals…

The control of disease caused by infectious agents or their toxic products. Successes in the 19th and 20th centuries in the treatment and control of communicable diseases such as smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, poliomyelitis and sexually transmitted diseases resulted in an erroneous conception that they no longer posed a serious threat to public health,…