-ology
The branch of knowledge, not the person: one ending names the field and a slightly longer one names its practitioner.
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The branch of knowledge, not the person: one ending names the field and a slightly longer one names its practitioner.
Read definitionAny device or technology that helps a disabled person.
Read definitionCytology is the microscopic examination of individual cells, commonly used to screen for abnormal or cancerous changes such as in a Pap test.
Read definitionCounting cases, comparing exposed and unexposed groups, and testing whether an intervention changes the numbers are the core tasks of the discipline.
Read definitionDiagnosis names what a condition is; etiology names what produced it, and the two answers can be separated by decades of research.
Read definitionArchitecture is the point: how cells sit relative to one another often says more than how any single cell looks.
Read definitionThe study of diseased cells and tissues using a microscope.
Read definitionImmunology is the scientific study of the immune system, including how it defends against infection and contributes to allergic and autoimmune disease.
Read definitionThe section readers skip is the one that decides whether the result at the end of the paper means anything at all.
Read definitionShape treated as evidence: what a cell, an organ or a whole organism looks like, before asking what it does or is made of.
Read definitionNanotechnology engineers materials at the scale of individual atoms and molecules, with applications spanning electronics, materials science, and medicine.
Read definitionA scan shows structure, while neuropsychological testing shows what a person can actually do, and the two often disagree.
Read definitionOne word covering hundreds of separate diseases, oncology holds together because the questions asked of every cancer are broadly the same.
Read definitionA nurse whose specialty covers the whole arc of cancer care, from giving hazardous drugs safely to managing what they leave behind.
Read definitionA licensed pharmacist with special training in how to design, give, monitor, and change chemotherapy for cancer patients.
Read definitionThe document that turns a piece of removed tissue into a diagnosis, and the basis on which most cancer treatment is planned.
Read definitionPharmacology is the scientific study of how drugs interact with the body, covering their origin, chemistry, mechanisms of action, and effects.
Read definitionThe name says radiation, yet several of the field's most used methods, ultrasound and magnetic resonance among them, involve none at all.
Read definitionExamination under a microscope of cells found in sputum (mucus and other matter brought up from the lungs by coughing).
Read definitionToxicology examines how chemicals and other substances harm the body, guiding the diagnosis and management of poisoning cases.
Read definitionFor learning, not diagnosis. This glossary provides general educational information and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified healthcare professional. If you may be experiencing a medical emergency, contact local emergency services.