Word Of The Day

Dorland's Word of the Day is a great way to broaden your knowledge of medical terminology. With a new and interesting term brought to you from the 32nd edition of Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary each day, it's an easy and fun way to increase your medical vocabulary!

You can view a new word on this website each day.

Today's Word

intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT)

the use of a single high dose of radiation at the time of surgery as adjuvant therapy in tumor resection.

Word of the Day Archive

qi

one of the basic substances that according to traditional Chinese medicine pervade the body; a subtle influence or vital energy that is the cause of most physiologic processes and whose proper balance is necessary for maintaining health. Several types of qi are present in the body; disturbances, such as blockage in the flow of qi along the meridians, cause disease. Spelled also chi and ch'i.

pyrin

a 781-amino acid protein (MW 86,000) expressed primarily mainly in the cytoplasm of neutrophils and monocytes and believed to regulate neutrophil-mediated inflammation; mutations of the gene that codes for this protein cause familial Mediterranean fever. Called also marenostrin.

psychoneuroimmunology

the study of the interactions between psychological factors (such as stress or conditioned reaction), the central nervous system, and immune function as modulated by the neuroendocrine system.

pseudoainhum

the presence of annular constrictions around the digits, limbs, or trunk, occurring congenitally (the most severe manifestation being autoamputation in utero) and also seen in a wide variety of hereditary and nonhereditary disorders.

proteome

the complete set of proteins produced from the information encoded in a genome.

prion protein (PrP)

a 33-35 kD protein of uncertain function, in humans coded for by a gene on the short arm of chromosome 20. The 27-30 kD protease-resistant core is the functional, and perhaps only, component of prions; several isoforms have been identified and are responsible for prion disease. Extracellular prion protein aggregates into rod-shaped structures that resemble amyloid.

major basic protein (MBP)

a cationic 10- to 15-kD protein occurring in eosinophilic granules and having cytotoxic activity against many parasites; it can also induce tissue injury in allergic and inflammatory diseases and, because it induces injury to the bronchial epithelium, is linked to asthma.