A sex chromosome in certain animals, such as chickens, turkeys, and moths. In humans, males are XY and females XX, but in animals with a Z chromosome, males are ZZ and females are WZ.

Zeta-chain-associated protein kinase 70. A member of the protein tyrosine kinase family, ZAP-70 is normally expressed in T cells and natural killer cells and has a critical role in the initiation of T-cell signaling. ZAP-70 is expressed in T cells and tumors of T-cell lineage. A high level of ZAP-70 expression appears restricted to T-cell […]

‘When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras.’ For example, when someone develops a mild transient cough, a virus infection is the most logical and likely cause, and tuberculosis is a zebra.

A gene that is lethal (fatal) for the zygote, the cell formed by the union of a sperm (male sex cell) and an ovum (female sex cell). The zygote would normally develop into an embryo, as instructed by the genetic material within the unified cell. However, a zygotic lethal gene scotches prenatal development at its […]

A technique in which a woman’s egg is fertilized outside the body, then implanted in one of her fallopian tubes. This technique is one of the methods used to overcome infertility, the inability of couples to produce offspring on their own. First, the egg and the male sperm needed to fertilize it are harvested. Then […]

(1624-1689) Great English physician who has been called the “English Hippocrates” and the “father of English medicine.” Sydenham left Oxford to fight in the English Civil Wars during which he met Thomas Coxe, a physician serving in the army, who inspired him to enter medicine. At the age of 38 he was licensed by the […]

Binocular: 1. With both eyes, as in binocular vision. 2. With two eyepieces, as in a binocular microscope.

A physician who specializes in the care of critically ill patients, usually in an intensive care unit (ICU).

A region of the genome; it encompasses objects described as loci or probes. Genomic segments can range in size from points to regions as large as an entire chromosome. There are many types of genomic regions. On a technical level, they include genes, gene elements, amplimers (PCR markers), breakpoints in chromosomes, clones, cytogenetic markers, fragile […]

The dire disease also known as beta thalassemia. The clinical picture of this form of anemia was first described in 1925 by the pediatrician Thomas Benton Cooley. Other names for the disease are Cooley’s anemia and Mediterranean anemia. The term thalassemia was coined by the Nobel Prize winning pathologist George Whipple and the professor of […]