Pulmonary Terms A
Top(absolute humidity thru Aureobasidium)
- absolute humidity
- accessory ventilatory muscles
- acidity
- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- acute alveolar injury
- adenoids
- adhesion
- adiabatic
- adiabatic expansion
- aerosol
- affect
- afferent
- airway resistance
- air trapping
- albumin
- allergy
- alveolar
- alveolar deadspace
- alveolarized
- ambient
- amniotic fluid
- amplitude
- Amyotrophic lateral scelrosis
- anaerobe
- anaerobe (facultative)
- anaerobe (obligate)
- anaerobic
- anerobic respiration
- anaerobiosis
- analgesia
- anatomic deadspace
- aneroid
- anesthesia
- anhydrous
- aortic body
- apex
- apneustic breathing
- arteriole
- asbestos
- asbestosis
- Aspergillus fumigatus
- Aspergillus clavatus
- aspirate
- Asthma
- ataxic breathing
- atelectasis
- Aureobasidium pallulans
- absolute humidity
- the weight of water vapor in a gas in milligrams per liter (mg/L)
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acidity
- is the degree of sourness or acid condition; the degree of acid quality;
- Increased CO2 means increased acidity. In body solutions such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid, and other fluids, increased CO2 means increased acidity. Acidity increases with the release of hydrogen ions. CO2 combines with water in blood and body fluids to form carbonic acid, increasing the hydrogen ion [H+] concentrations.
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- accessory ventilatory muscles
- the abdominals, the intercostals, the scalenes, the sternocleidomastoids and others; the external (accessory inspiratory)and internal (accessory expiratory) intercostal muscles supporting muscles in the thoracic (chest) region of the body. In a healthy person, they remain inactive until the ammount of bulk gas moved in and out of the lungs increases from about 10 liters per minute (normal) to between 50 and 100 liters per minute, as during physical exertion.
- During inspiration, in severe pulmonary disease, the work of breathing may increase so much that these muscles are active at rest.
- accessory - supporting
- ventilatory - refers to bulk gas exchange between atmospheric and alveolar gases
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- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- a disease caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in which the cellular immune system is disabled
- The HIV virus destroys the helper T-lymphocyte or T-cell. Without this a specific white blood cell, T-cell, the cellular immune system is completely disabled. Pneumocystitis carinii and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonias and Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare skin cancer usually affecting the legs of the elderly. People infected with the HIV virus eventually develop rare diseases and are considred to have AIDS once they have developed one of these diseases rare in individuals with normal immune systems.
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- acute alveolar injury
- lung injury due to trauma aqnd a wide range of nontraumatic diseases and conditions, including smoke inhalation and septicemia
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adenoids
- unusually enlarged lymphoid nodules in the posterior wall of the nasopharynx
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adiabatic
- (physics) gas compression or expansion in which outside heat energy is not added to or taken away from the gas
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adiabatic expansion
- the principle that is an essential feature of bulk liquid oxygen supply system; the breaking of van der Waals forces (physics-the forces of mutual attraction among gas molecules) in rapidly expanding gas expansion in which outside heat energy is not added to or taken away from the gas, rather gas temperature is allowed to increase anturally
- Gas cylinders have a pressure relief valve so that if the temperature of compressed gas increases, its pressure will also increase. If the liquid oxygen container's pressure at the top rises to 250 p.s.i., the relief valve opens to vent gas. The combination of pressure and temperature-below-critical (below -118.4°C or-181.9°F and above -182.96°C or -297.4°F) keeps most of the gas in a liquid state. Adiabatic gas expansion inside the container produces sufficient cooling to maintain the temperature well below critical.
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- aerosol
- liquid or solid particles suspended in a gas
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- afferent
- bringing to
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- air trapping
- natural increasing and decreasing of the airway diameter during inspiration and expiration
- An airway that is obstructed, damaged, or distorted may open during inspiration and collapse during expiration, trapping gas behind it and producing lung overinflation.
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- airway resistance
- opposition to gas flow through the airway; airway resistance increases as airway diameter decreases or as airways become distorted or partially obstructed
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alveolar
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relating to the alveolus (singular) or alveoli (plural), the terminal, saclike structures in the lung
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- alveolar deadspace
- alveolar space or volume that is ventilated but not supplied with pulmonary capillary blood, resulting in no respiratory gas exchange
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alveolarized
- incorporated with alveoli
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amplitude
- (electronics) the size of an electrical current waveform
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Amyotrophic lateral scelrosis (ALS)
- an idiopathic, degenerative disease of the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord
- The cause of ALS is unknown and usually occurs in people over age 50. Motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord die as the disease progresses.
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anaerobe
-
a microorganism that does not require oxygen or cannot live in the presence of oyxgen
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- anaerobe (facultative)
- facultative anaerobe -
a microorganism that can survive without oxygen (is an anaerobe) and is not harmed if oxygen is present
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- anaerobe (obligate)
- obligate anaerobe -
a microorganism that lives without using oxygen (is an anaerobe) and finds the presence of oxygen harmful; viruses, amoeba, parasites, fungus or bacterium that cause all disease; these same hostile organisms that cannot live in an environment with high concentrations of oxygen (Also see Oxygen)
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anaerobic
- caused by anaerobes or by the absence of free oxygen;
relating to a process occurring with little or no oxygen present; living or growing where there is no free oxygen
- Anaerobic bacteria get their oxygen by decomposing compounds containing oxygen.
- "One important reason for the common practice of keeping wounds open and of using cotton or other loose materials for dressing is that air is admitted, thus suppressing the growth of anaerobic bacteria such as those that cause tetanus." (Fred W. Emerson)
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anaerobic respiration
-
respiration under anaerobic conditions
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The terminal electron acceptor can be CO2, Fe2+, fumarate, nitrate, nitrite, nitrous oxide, sulphur, sulphate, etc., instead of oxygen, in the case of regular respiration.
- Anaerobic respiration still uses the electron transport chain to dump the electron while fermentation does not.
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anaerobiosis
-
life in the absence of air or free oxygen;
anaerobic respiration; respiration occurring in the absence of oxygen; the ability of an organism to live and reproduce in the absence of free oxygen
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- extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
- a method to provide oxygenation of a patient's red blood cells outside of the patient's body by means of a mechanical device
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- anatomic deadspace
- the space or volume made up of the upper and lower airways in which respiratory gas exchange does not occur
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aneroid
- not using fluid
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anhydrous
- without water; completely dry
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apex
- the superior aspect, cone-shaped tip, of each lung; the tip of the upper lobes of the lungs
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- apneuistic breathing
- very slow respirations with prolonged inspiratory pauses
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arteriole
- a small artery
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- asbestos
- a mineral used in manufacturing; inorganic dust usually occurring as long, thin fibers that causes a physical tissue irritation, which may gradually lead to a difuse interstitial fibrosis involving the terminal airways, alveoli, and pleurae
- Asbestos are an important cause of occupational pulmonary disease.
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- Asbestosis
- caused by inhaling asbestos; symptoms of asbestos are dyspnea and a dry cough
- The patient may complain of a fatigue, anorexia, and weight loss, also from significant hypoxemia, cor pulmonale, and reductions in total lung capacity, vital capacity, and residual volume in the advanced stages.
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- Aspergillus fumigatus or Aspergillus clavatus
- agents the source of malt worker's lung disease caused by moldy barley
- Both are examples of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis.
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aspirate
- to draw by suction; to draw foreign matter into the respiratory tract by inspiration
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- Asthma
- a disorder, usually allergic, in which excessive muscus secretions block the air passages
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- ataxic breathing
- an unpredictable, irregular breathing pattern with both deep and shallow breaths
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atelectasis
- partial or complete collapse of a lung part
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- Aureobasidium pallulans
- the agent from contaminated water in humidification and air conditioning systems that causes humidifier or air-conditioner lung
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a href="mailto:susan.pattishall@americanaction.org">susan.pattishall@americanaction.org
