KEY TERMS
And for a wide variety of excellent references, go to refdesk.com "On the Internet since 1995, refdesk indexes and reviews quality, credible, and timely reference resources that are free and family-friendly."
ALLOPATHIC: (as defined at Brainy Dictionary) “of or pertaining to allopathy- (n.) That system of medical practice which aims to combat disease by the use of remedies which produce effects different from those produced by the special disease treated; -- a term invented by Hahnemann to designate the ordinary practice, as opposed to homeopathy”.
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: (as defined by the U. S. National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) “is used in place of conventional medicine. An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a conventional doctor”.
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE: (as defined by the U. S. National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) “is used together with conventional medicine. An example of a complementary therapy is using aromatherapy to help lessen a patient's discomfort following surgery”.
DARKFIELD: (from Charlotte K. Omoto, Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, Washington State University) “Rather than illuminating the sample with a filled cone of light, the condenser is designed to form a hollow cone of light. The light at the apex of the cone is focused at the plane of the specimen; as this light moves past the specimen plane it spreads again into a hollow cone. The objective lens sits in the dark hollow of this cone; although the light travels around and past the objective lens, no rays enter it .... The entire field appears dark when there is no sample on the microscope stage; thus the name darkfield microscopy.” (See also Stuart Grace for its specific application to live blood analysis.)
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE: (as defined by the U. S. National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) “combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness”.
ISOPATHY: (as defined by Endo Health Limited) “is based on the same principle except that instead of using a similar remedy, the Isopathic practitioner will use a homeopathically potentised preparation of the substance or organism that is causing the symptoms displayed by the patient. Thus the remedy could be derived from bacteria, viruses, gases, and chemical substances, which includes radio-active materials.”
PLEOMORPHISM: (from Dr. Peter Schneider) “certain microorganisms can be present in different forms and development stages, from lowest grades up to the large, highly developed stages of bacteria and fungi.” (See Stuart Grace for a more detailed description.)
PROBIOTICS (medical): (as defined by The International Study Group on New Antimicrobial Strategies) “a microbial preparation which contains live and/or dead bacteria including their components and products”.
RESOURCES:
DentalReference:: the best free on-line dental dictionary we have found; from “abcess” to “xerostomia”.
MT Desk: the most extensive on-line resource and reference we have located for virtually any medical term.
The Alternative Medicine Homepage: an excellent resource by Charles B. Wessel, M.L.S., cbw@pitt.edu - Falk Library of the Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261; covering AIDS & HIV -- Databases -- Internet Resources -- Mailing Lists and Newsgroups --Government Resources -- Pennsylvania Resources -- Practitioners' Directories --Related Resources.
ABBREVIATIONS:
- ANS: autonomic nervous system
- DAc: doctor of acupuncture
- DC: doctor of chiropractic
- DDS: doctor of dental science
- DO: doctor of osteopathy
- LAc: licensed acupuncturist
- LMT: licensed massage therapist
- MD: medical doctor
- MS: master of science
- MT: massage therapist
- ND: naturopathic doctor
- PhD: non-medical doctor
- RN: registered nurse
- RNP: registered nurse practitioner
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