Medical Detectives Glossary

Healthcare Professionals and Clinical Roles

• Advanced Practice Provider: A clinical provider who is not a physician but who has undergone specialized education, training, certification, and licensure that allows them to provide some health care-related services, perform certain procedures, and prescribe some medications.

• Epidemiologist: A medical professional who studies and investigates the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases.

• Microbiologist: An expert in microbiology, the study of microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.

• Patient Educator: A professional who provides information to patients and their caregivers that will help them understand their diagnosis or treatment, improve their health behaviors, or improve their health.

• Pediatrician: A medical practitioner specializing in children and their diseases.

• Radiologic Technologist: Health care professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses.

• Radiologist: A medical doctor who interprets medical images to diagnose and treat diseases or injuries.

Microbiology and Pathogenic Agents

• Agar: A gelatinous substance that provides the proper nutritional environment to promote the growth of microorganisms.

• Agent: In disease, a factor, such as a microorganism or a chemical substance, that can impact the development of a disease or illness.

• Antibiotic: A medicine that limits the growth of or destroys microorganisms.

• Aseptic Technique: The use of practices and procedures to prevent contamination from pathogens.

• Bacteria: Single-celled organisms that do not rely on a host.

• Fungi: Organisms, such as yeasts or molds, that reproduce quickly in moist, humid environments.

• Microorganisms: A microscopic organism such as a bacterium, virus, or fungus. Although viruses are not considered living organisms, they are sometimes classified as microorganisms.

• Neurotoxin: A poison that affects the nervous system.

• Virus: Tiny infectious agents that can only multiply when they are inside a host: the living cells of plants, animals, or bacteria.

Epidemiology and Health Metrics

• Attack Rate: The measure of frequency and speed of spread in a population at risk of becoming ill.

• Food-specific Attack Rate: An attack rate focused on contaminated food causing a foodborne illness.

• Incubation Period: The time between contact and onset of illness.

• Vital Signs: Measurements that indicate the state of a patient’s essential body functions, specifically:

  • Pulse rate

  • Temperature

  • Respiration rate

  • Blood pressure

Anatomy of the Nervous System

• Central Nervous System (CNS): The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.

• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): The part of the nervous system that includes nerves and is not part of the brain and spinal cord.

• Brain Stem: The center trunk of the brain that continues downward to form the spinal cord.

• Cerebellum: The part of the brain at the back of the skull in vertebrates. Its function is to coordinate and regulate muscular activity.

• Cerebrum: The most anterior part of the brain, located in the front area of the skull and consisting of two hemispheres, left and right. It is responsible for the integration of complex sensory and neural functions and the initiation and coordination of voluntary activity in the body. (Pronounced: suh-REE-brum).

• Cerebral Hemispheres: The two halves of the cerebrum part of the brain. (Pronounced: suh-REE-bral hem-i-spheres).

• Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF): A clear, colorless liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

• Corpus Callosum: A broad band of nerves that connects the left and right hemispheres of the cerebrum. (Pronounced: corp-us cal-lo-sum).

• Hypothalamus: A region of the brain below the thalamus that coordinates both the autonomic nervous system and the activity of the pituitary, controlling body temperature, thirst, hunger, and other homeostatic systems, and involved in sleep and emotional activity.

• Lobes: The four main parts of each cerebral hemisphere of the brain.

• Occipital Lobes: Part of the brain primarily responsible for visual perception and involved in some forms of visual, short-term memory. (Pronounced: OX-SIP-it-al).

• Parietal Lobes: Part of the brain responsible for sensing touch, spatial processing (being able to tell where objects are in space), language, and memory. (Pronounced: par-EYE-it-al).

• Olfactory Bulbs: The structure in the front of the brain responsible for receiving and processing smells.

• Olfactory Tracts: The nerve fibers that connect the olfactory bulbs to the temporal lobes.

• Optic Chiasm: The X-shaped structure formed at the point below the brain where the two optic nerves cross over each other.

• Optic Nerves: A pair of nerves transmitting input signals to the brain from the retina at the back of the eye.

• Peroneal Nerve: The nerve that runs down the back of the leg and branches out to the muscles of the foot.

• Pituitary Gland: A tiny organ that serves as the primary gland for the body, producing several hormones and activating other glands to produce hormones.

• Thalamus: Either of two masses of gray matter lying between the cerebral hemispheres, relaying sensory information and acting as a center for pain perception.

Neurobiology and Cortical Function

• Auditory Cortex: The part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory input signals.

• Motor Cortex: The part of the brain where nerve impulses initiate voluntary muscular activity.

• Sensory Cortex: Where all received sensory input signals, such as touch and taste, are sent, through neurons, to be processed.

• Visual Cortex: The part of the cerebral cortex that receives and processes sensory nerve input from the eyes.

• Axon: The long extension from a nerve cell along which signals travel.

• Dendrite: A branch extending from a neuron that receives signals from another neuron through a synapse.

• Myelin: A fatty substance that surrounds the axon and increases the speed at which signals travel.

• Nerves: A bundle of neurons.

• Neuron: A nerve cell that sends signals or transmits nerve impulses.

• Neurotransmitter: A chemical substance that assists in passing nerve impulses or signals across a synapse.

• Synapse: The gap between the branches extending from a neuron’s axon that sends a signal to the next neuron.

• Motor Neurons: Nerve cells that pass signals from the brain or spinal cord to a muscle or gland.

• Sensory Neurons: Nerve cells responsible for receiving external stimuli from the body’s environment and passing that signal through nerves to the central nervous system.

Diagnostics, Imaging, and Clinical Findings

• Agglutination: A reaction in which particles suspended in a liquid collect into clumps.

• Conjunctivitis: An illness that causes the eye to become red and sore.

• Diagnosis: The identification of an illness or other problem by examination of the medical evidence.

• Diagnostic Imaging: Technologies used to look inside your body for clues about a medical condition, including X-rays, CT scans, nuclear medicine scans, MRI scans, and ultrasound.

• Electromyography (EMG): A test that identifies nerve damage by measuring the electrical activity in muscles.

• Encephalitis: Swelling of the brain.

• Fatigue: Tiredness.

• Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome: Results in destruction of cells involved in clotting, low red blood cell count, and kidney failure.

• Lesion: An area of an organ or tissue that suffered damage through injury or disease.

• Nerve Conduction Velocity Test: A test that identifies nerve damage by measuring how fast electrical signals move through your nerve.

• Neurological Disorders: Disorders of the brain, spine, and nerves. They are also called nervous system diseases.

• Precipitate: A solid substance that forms in a solution.

• Symptoms: Signs of disease or injury.

• Tumor: An abnormal growth of tissue, whether cancerous or noncancerous.

Experimental Design and Methodology

• Collaboration: Working together on a common purpose.

• Conscious: Having knowledge and being aware.

• Control: A group or individual used as a standard of comparison for checking the results of a survey or experiment.

• Dependent Variable: A variable that depends on the state of another variable.

• Experiment: A scientific procedure to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.

• Experimental Design: A way to carefully plan experiments to investigate scientific questions or problems.

• Hypothesis: A proposed explanation based on some evidence and used as a starting point to investigate further.

• Independent Variable: A variable that does not depend on the state of another variable.

• Negative Control: The group or sample expected to produce a negative result.

• Positive Control: The group or sample expected to produce a positive result.

• Team Norms: Guidelines that are developed by a team regarding how they are to interact, communicate, and conduct themselves as part of the team.

• Trial: A test of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something.

• Valid: Something that has truth, strong logic, or fact.

• Variable (Experimental Design): An element, feature, or factor that is likely to change.

Workplace Safety

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Specialized clothing or equipment that someone wears for protection. This includes:

  • Safety glasses

  • Goggles

  • Gloves

  • Hard hats

  • Steel-toed shoes

  • Laboratory aprons