Materia medica
includes pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, and the history and physical and chemical properties of drugs. 2. The drugs used in the treatment of disease. A synonym for pharmacology.
From the Medieval Latin meaning medical material.
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- Maternal
1. Pertaining to the mother as, for example, the maternal mortality rate. 2. Related through the mother as, for example, the maternal grandparents. 3. Inherited from the mother as, for example, the maternal X chromosome.
- Maternal age
The age of the mother at the time of delivery. Advanced maternal age is usually defined as age 35 or more at delivery. Advanced maternal age predisposes to Down syndrome (trisomy 21). The risk of having a Down syndrome baby rises with maternal age. It essentially doubles from 1 in 725 at maternal age 32 […]
- Maternal mortality rate
The number of registered maternal deaths due to birth- or pregnancy-related complications per 100,000 registered live births.
- Maternal phenylketonuria
A mother with the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU) whose high blood levels of phenylalanine (phe) are dangerous to a developing fetus. High phe is a teratogen. It can damage a baby before birth. Women with PKU who are off the special PKU diet should restart back it, ideally prior to conception. During pregnancy they must […]
- Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP)
High with open neural tube defects such as anencephaly and spina bifida (meningomyelocele); and Low with Down syndrome (trisomy 21, an extra chromosome number 21). Alpha-fetoprotein production is essentially zero after a year of age. However, it increases again under the stimulus of some liver diseases. It may, for example, be produced by viral hepatitis […]