World Health Organization
The subagency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international health. Abbreviated WHO. Also known as Organisation Mondiale de la Sant’ (OMS).
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- Whole-arm translocation
A type of chromosome rearrangement, also called a Robertsonian translocation, in which there is fusion of an entire long arm of one acrocentric chromosome with a similarly intact long arm of another acrocentric chromosome. The short arms of the chromosomes participating in the translocation are usually lost. Acrocentric chromosomes have their centromere near but not […]
- Whooping cough
Whooping cough, also known as “pertussis,” is a highly contagious, acute respiratory illness characterized by fits of coughing and caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. Whooping cough, a communicable, potentially deadly illness characterized by fits of coughing followed by a noisy, “whooping” indrawn breath. It is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. The illness is […]
- Wiedemann-Beckwith syndrome
Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.
- Wildervanck syndrome
A syndrome characterized by the combination of congenital deafness, Duane syndrome (eye retraction), and fusion of the neck vertebrae (Klippel-Feil anomaly). Wildervanck syndrome is limited, or almost completely limited, to females. The syndrome is probably due to polygenic inheritance with limitation to females and lethality for males.
- Wilkins, Lawson
American physician (1894-1963) who founded pediatric endocrinology. At Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Dr Wilkins started a clinic devoted to pediatric endocrinology and focused particularly on problems of growth and genetics.