Introduction to Anatomy, Physiology, and the Origins of Biomedical Science

Vocabulary flashcards covering examination methods, anatomical subdisciplines, physiological branches, and historical figures in biomedical science.

Anatomy

The study of structure.

Physiology

The study of function.

Inspection

Simply looking at the body's appearance, as in performing a physical examination or making a clinical diagnosis from surface appearance.

Palpation

Feeling a structure with the hands, such as palpating a swollen lymph node or taking a pulse.

Auscultation

Listening to the natural sounds made by the body, such as heart and lung sounds.

Percussion

Tapping on the body, feeling for abnormal resistance, and listening to the emitted sound for signs of abnormalities such as pockets of fluid, air, or scar tissue.

Dissection

Carefully cutting and separating tissues to reveal their relationships.

Cadaver

A dead human body used for dissection and anatomical study.

Comparative anatomy

The study of multiple species in order to examine similarities and differences and analyze evolutionary trends.

Exploratory surgery

Opening the body and taking a look inside to see what was wrong and what could be done about it.

Medical imaging

Methods of viewing the inside of the body without surgery.

Radiology

The branch of medicine concerned with imaging.

Gross anatomy

Structure that can be seen with the naked eye, whether by surface observation, radiology, or dissection.

Histology

Microscopic anatomy; the study of tissue structure using sliced, stained specimens observed under a microscope.

Histopathology

The microscopic examination of tissues for signs of disease.

Cytology

The study of the structure and function of individual cells.

Ultrastructure

Fine detail of tissue or cell structure down to the molecular level, revealed by the electron microscope.

Neurophysiology

The subdiscipline of physiology that studies the nervous system.

Endocrinology

The subdiscipline of physiology that studies hormones.

Pathophysiology

The subdiscipline of physiology concerned with mechanisms of disease.

Comparative physiology

The study of how different species have solved problems of life such as water balance, respiration, and reproduction.

Hippocrates

Greek physician (c. 460–c. 375 BCE) considered the 'father of medicine' who established the Hippocratic Oath and urged physicians to seek natural causes for disease.

Aristotle

Greek philosopher (384–322 BCE) who wrote On the Parts of Animals, categorized causes as supernatural (theologi) or natural (physici), and argued complex structures are built from simple components.

Metrodora

Greek physician (c. 200 BCE) who was perhaps the first woman to publish a medical textbook, On the Diseases and Cures of Women.

Claudius Galen

Physician to Roman gladiators (129–c. 200) who wrote the most influential medical textbook of the ancient era while limited to animal dissections due to bans on human cadaver dissection.

Influenza

A word derived from Italian meaning 'influence,' originating from medieval astrological charts showing which sign of the zodiac was thought to influence each organ.