Platelet count
The calculated number of platelets in a volume of blood, usually expressed as platelets per cubic millimeter (cmm) of whole blood. Platelets are the smallest cell-like structures in the blood and are important for blood clotting and plugging damaged blood vessels. Platelet counts are usually done by laboratory machines that also count other blood elements such as the white and red cells. They can also be counted by use of a microscope. Normal platelet counts are in the range of 150,000 to 400,000 per microliter (or 150 – 400 x 109 per liter). These values many vary slightly between different laboratories.
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- plegia
Suffix meaning paralysis or a stroke. As in cardioplegia (paralysis of the heart), hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body), paraplegia (paralysis of the legs), and quadriplegia (paralysis of all four extremities). From the Greek plege meaning a blow or stroke.
- Pleiotropic
Producing or having multiple effects from a single gene. For example, the Marfan gene is pleiotropic, potentially causing such diverse effects as long fingers and toes (arachnodactyly), dislocation of the lens of the eye, and dissecting aneurysm of the aorta.
- Pleiotropic cytokine
cytokine that affects the activity of multiple cell types. A cytokine is a small protein that has a specific effect on the interactions between cells, on communications between cells, or on the behavior of cells.
- Pleomorphic
Many-formed. For example, a pleomorphic tumor would be a growth that is composed of different types of tissues. Also known as protean.
- Pleonasm
An excess in the number of parts or in the size of a growth. Pleonasm comes from a Greek word (pleonasmos) meaning exaggeration or redundancy. A pleonasm in language is also a redundancy. It is the use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense as, for example, in “a false lie.”