At the beginning of 1998, Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. was formed as an Ohio Corporation. Our mission is to deliver industry relevant, cutting-edge Training, Marketing, and R&D services that will enable our clients to gain a competitive advantage. Over the past two decades, Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. has become the go-to R&D resource for feasibility studies that require cadaver studies and anatomical research. We are also a preferred training solution for Sales Representatives, Distributors, Engineers, Clinicians, and Marketing Managers in the areas of Medical Terminology, Clinical Anatomy, and Surgical Procedures. Our expertise allows us to deliver training in a variety of medical and anatomical topics.

In 2012 Dr. Efrain A. Miranda, CEO of Clinical Anatomy Associates started "Medical Terminology Daily" (MTD), a website/blog as a service to the medical community, medical students, and the medical industry. MTD posts medical or surgical terms, its meaning and usage, as well as biographical notes on anatomists, surgeons, and researchers through the ages. These posts are also shared on Facebook to a group of followers.

20 year anniversary for Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. and 6 years for Medical Terminology Daily! Help us congratulate our staff and specially the contributors and friends of Medical Terminology Daily.

Our thanks to all our customers, friends, and contributors for an amazing 20 years!!! Looking forward to more!!

The staff at Clinical Anatomy Associates, Inc. wishes a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2018 to the readers, subscribers, contributors, and friends of Medical Terminology Daily.

This year we are looking at bringing in new contributors, new articles, and updating our website to help our visitors even more

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!!

The “snowman sign” is a particular image on a chest X-Ray image, which is seen in anomalous pulmonary venous drainage and coarctation of the aorta which causes a Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR).

This abnormality occurs when the pulmonary veins fail to drain into the left atrium and instead form an aberrant connection with some others cardiovascular structures. Such abnormalities account for approximately 2% of cardiac malformations.

There are four types of TAPVR; type 1 is the most common (and the one that creates the snowman sign). In this case the pulmonary veins terminate at the supracardiac level, emptying into the right atrium by way of an anomalous pulmonary venous drainage into the superior vena cava (SVC), and the left brachiocephalic vein (by way of a vertical vein). The confluence of these veins dilates the right brachiocephalic vein, which appears as a dilated vessel on the right of the upper mediastinal edge. When seen in an AP Chest X-Ray, the TAPVAR type 1, resembles a snowman; the dilated vertical vein on the left, the right brachiocephalic vein superiorly, and the SVC on the right form the head of the snowman, the body is formed by the enlarged right atrium.

Article written by: Prof. Claudio R. Molina, MsC. 

Snowman sign.
Click on the image for a larger depiction

Kabourophobia is the fear of crabs and lobsters.

The etymology of the word [kabourophobia] comes from the Greek word [καβουρης] (pronounced “kavouris”), meaning [crab], and the suffix [-phobia], also from the Greek, arises from the word [φοβία] (pronounced “fovía”)

Kabourophobia is an extremely rare phobia, but it was brought to the public’s attention when a modern pop singer stated that she was afraid of crabs. Also, a prank (maybe acted) was shown on video on the internet with a man surrounded by lobsters.

Kabourophobia is very specific, and it can also be a part of a wider phobia called ostraconophobia, which is the fear of crustaceans, adding shrimp, oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, etc.

Click on the image for a larger version. 

We thank Jackie Miranda-Klein for her contribution suggesting this word.

The word sympathetic is the adjectival form of sympathy. This word arises from the Greek [συμπάθεια]and is composed of [syn/sym] meaning “together” and [pathos], a word which has been used to mean “disease”. In reality “pathos” has to do more with the “feeling of self”. Based on this, the word sympathy means “together in feeling”, which is what we use today.

How the term got to be used to denote a component of the so-called autonomic nervous system is part of the history of Medicine and Anatomy.

Galen of Pergamon (129AD-200AD), whose teachings on Medicine and Anatomy lasted as indisputable for almost 1,500 years, postulated that nerves were hollow and allowed for “animal spirits” to travel between organs and allowed the coordinated action of one with the other, in “sympathy” with one another. As the knowledge of the components of the nervous system grew, this concept of “sympathy” stayed, becoming a staple of early physiological theories on the action of the nervous system.

Jacobus Benignus Winslow (1669-1760) named three “sympathetic nerves” one of them was the facial nerve (the small sympathetic), the other the vagus nerve, which he called the “middle sympathetic”, and the last was what was known then as the “intercostalis nerve of Willis” or “large sympathetic", today’s sympathetic chain. Other nerves that worked coordinated with this “sympathetics” were considered to work in parallel with it. It is from this concept that the term “parasympathetic” arises.

Galen of Pergamon 
(129AD - 200AD)

Today we know that there is only one brain and only one nervous system with an autonomic component which has a “sympathetic” component that is mostly in charge of the “fight or flight” reaction and a “parasympathetic” component that has a “slow down” or “depressor” function. Both work coordinated, so I guess Galen was not "off the mark" after all.

So, we still use the terms “sympathetic” and “parasympathetic”, but the origin of these terms has been blurred by history.

Sources:
1. "Claudius Galenus of Pergamum: Surgeon of Gladiators. Father of Experimental Physiology" Toledo-Pereyra, LH; Journal of Investigative Surgery, 15:299-301, 2002
2. "The Origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, HA 1970 Hafner Publishing Co.
3. "Medical Meanings:A Glossary of Word Origins" Haubrish, WS American College of Physicians Philadelphia, 1997
4. "The History of the Discovery of the Vegetative (Autonomic) Nervous System" Ackerknecht, EH Medical History, 1974 Vol 18. 
Original image courtesy of Images from the History of Medicine at nih.gov

Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the pronunciation of the word.

The medical term [epistaxis] refers to a “nose bleed”.

It is considered to be a Modern Latin term that originates from the Greek word [επίσταξη] (epístaxí). The word is composed of [επί] [epi-] meaning "on", "upon", or "above", and [στάζει] (stázei), meaning "in drops", "dripping".

The term was first used by Hippocrates, but only as [στάζει] , to denote dripping of the nose, and was later changed to [επίσταξη] to denote “dripping upon”. The term itself does not include or denote that the blood loss is from the nose, but its meaning has been implied and accepted for centuries. The plural form for epistaxis is epistaxes.

Skinner (1970) says that the term was first used in English in a letter by Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808) in a letter to Robert W. Darwin (1766-1848) in 1793. Robert Darwin was an English physician, father or Charles Darwin (1809-1882) author of “The Origin of the Species”.

Sources:
1. "The Origin of Medical Terms" Skinner, HA 1970 Hafner Publishing Co.
2. "Medical Meanings - A Glossary of Word Origins" Haubrich, WD. ACP Philadelphia 

Note: The links to Google Translate include an icon that will allow you to hear the pronunciation of the word.