Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A drug used to treat hereditary angio-oedema — a serious anaphylactic reaction of the skin and respiratory tract resulting from a deficiency in the body’s immunological defence mechanisms. H2N(CH2)5COOH; a hemostatic drug. It is a specific antidote for an overdose of a fibrinolytic agent.  

Also called adrenoceptor-blocking agents or alpha blockers, these drugs stop the stimulation of alpha-adrenergic receptors at the nerve endings of the sympathetic nervous system by hormones with adrenaline-like characteristics. The drugs dilate the arteries, causing a fall in blood pressure, so they are used to treat hypertension and also benign enlargement of the prostate gland.…

The name for a disorder of sensation in which sensations are referred to the wrong part of the body.  

A drug used under specialist supervision for the rare hereditary disorder, Gaucher’s disease. A drug prepared from human placental tissue. It is used. in treating type 1 Gaucher’s disease.  

A drug which relaxes voluntary muscles. Given by injection during anaesthesia to relax a patient undergoing surgery, the drug may delay the restart of spontaneous breathing.  

A drug adjunct to surgery in the treatment of hydatid cysts caused by Taenia echinococcus, a small tapeworm. If surgery is not possible, albendazole can be used on its own. The drug is also used to treat strongylodiasis.  

The result of a combination of natural, largely genetically programmed changes occurring in all body systems. Diseases or injuries may influence these changes, which impair the body’s homeostatic mechanisms; environment and lifestyle also affect the ageing process.  

A condition in which the blood will not clot because fibrin is absent, so bleeding may occur. There are two forms: congenital and acquired. The latter may be due to advanced liver disease, or may occur as a complication of labour. Treatment consists of the intravenous injection of fibrinogen, and blood transfusion.  

A bacterium that needs the presence of oxygen for its life and multiplication.  

The mosquito which conveys to humans (by biting) the viruses of Yellow fever and of dengue or ‘break-bone’ fever. A species of Aedes that transmits yellow fever and dengue among many other diseases.