Hump, dowager
An outward curvature of the vertebrae of neck, creating a hump at the back of the neck, once thought to be a characteristic deformity of older women.
A dowager was a woman of high social rank whose husband was dead but who had a title (such as duchess) and property because of her marriage to him.
Dowager hump, or dowager’s hump, is formally known in medicine as postmenopausal cervical kyphosis. It is due to osteoporotic changes in the cervical spine. It may affect men or women. Like most osteoporotic changes, it is often preventable.
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a severe form that causes progressive mental retardation, physical disability, and death before age 20 in most cases; and a mild form in which patients survive to adulthood, are able to reproduce, and have intellect that is impaired minimally, if at all. The gene for the enzyme iduronate sulfatase (deficient in Hunter’s syndrome) is on […]
- huntingtin
The name of the gene responsible for Huntington disease (HD) and of the protein encoded by that gene. The molecular basis of HD is an increase in the length of a CAG triplet repeat (or ‘polyglutamine’) within the huntingtin gene. The gene is on chromosome 4p16.3. The huntingtin mutation (gene change) is fully dominant; homozygotes […]
- Huntington disease
An hereditary disorder with mental and physical deterioration leading to death. Although characterized as an “adult-onset” disease, it can affect children as well. Huntington disease describes an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance with high penetrance (a high proportion of persons with the gene develop the disease). The characteristic findings of Huntington disease are caused by […]
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Hurler syndrome and Scheie syndrome. Hurler syndrome patients have progressive mental degeneration, a broad forehead with heavy eyebrows, enlarged and deformed skull, small stature, corneal opacities, hepatosplenomegaly (enlargement of the liver and spleen), valvular heart defects, thick skin, joint contractures, and hernias. Hurler syndrome is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. The gene that codes […]
- Hurricane
A regionally specific name for a strong tropical cyclone. The term hurricane applies in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E. Other terms for the same type of storm, a strong tropical cyclone, include typhoon (in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of […]