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Shingles Glossary
Terms used to explain Shingles can sometimes be confusing. To help you fully understand the articles and features related to this very important health topic, we have compiled a glossary of terms that can help.
Acute
Function: adjective1: sensing or perceiving accurately, clearly, effectively, or sensitively <acute vision>
2 a: characterized by sharpness or severity <acute pain> <an acute infection>
b (1): having a sudden onset, sharp rise, and short course <an acute disease> <an acute inflammation> compare chronic 2a
(2): see: acute care<an acute hospital>
c: lasting a short time <acute experiments>
Allodynia
Function: noun: pain resulting from a stimulus (as a light touch of the skin) which would not normally provoke pain; also: a condition marked by allodynia
Blister
Function: noun1: a fluid-filled elevation of the epidermis compare water blister
2: an agent that causes blistering
Dermatome
Function: noun1: an instrument for cutting skin for use in grafting
2: the lateral wall of a somite from which the dermis is produced
Kidney Stone
kidney stone
Function: noun
: a calculus in the kidney —called also renal calculus
Nervous System
nervous system
Function: noun
: the bodily system that in vertebrates is made up of the brain and spinal cord, nerves, ganglia, and parts of the receptor organs and that receives and interprets stimuli and transmits impulses to the effector organs see autonomic nervous system central nervous system peripheral nervous system
Outbreak
Function: noun1: a sudden rise in the incidence of a disease <an outbreak of measles>
2: a sudden increase in numbers of a harmful organism and esp. an insect within a particular area <an outbreak of locusts>
Pain
2pain
Function: transitive verb
: to make suffer or cause distress tointransitive verb: to give or have a sensation of pain
Sensation
Function: noun1 a: a mental process (as seeing, hearing, or smelling) due to immediate bodily stimulation often as distinguished from awareness of the process compare perception
b: awareness (as of heat or pain) due to stimulation of a sense organ
c: a state of consciousness of a kind usu. due to physical objects or internal bodily changes <a burning sensation in his chest>
2: something (as a physical object, sense-datum, pain, or afterimage) that causes or is the object of sensation
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