Glossary

 

A

Acrodynia: a children's disease, almost exclusively caused by mercury poisoning, also known as erythredema, acrodynic erythema, pink disease, Swift's disease or dermatopolyneuritis. It is manifested through limb, thorax and nose erythema, polyneuritis and gastrointestinal conditions. According to Ferreira (1999), acrodynia also presents circulatory (arterial hypertension, tachycardia) and neurological (hypomotility, pains in the hands and feet, apathy, photophobia) phenomena. In 1926 it was defined as a disease characterized by a painful "tingling" caused by deteriorated cereals and other foods (D'Elia).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Ferreira, 1999; Stedman, 1979.

Adenitis: the swelling of a gland or of the lymphatic ganglia (a small organ disposed in chains or masses, especially in the neck, armpits and groins, where lymphocytes concentrate and which accompanies the path of a lymphatic vase). According to D'Elia (1926), this swelling caused discontinuity of the skin, allowing the invasion of infectious germs which, penetrating the lymphatic vases, ended up by occupying a gland, thus determining its suppuration.

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Houaiss, 2001.

Agar: mucilagenous polysaccharide, also known as agar-agar or gelosis, used to give a gelatinous consistency to culture media for microorganisms and to foods, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, dry-cell batteries, etc. It is derived from a red alga found in tropical Asian and Australian coasts, especially Java and Sri Lanka. By the end of the 1880's, agar began to be imported by Europeans to supply the needs of bacteriologists, who were starting to use it as a medium for microbial cultures. In the 1920's, it was also employed as excipient of several pharmaceutical formulae.

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Anasarca: Pathologically, it is a generalized edema due to the infiltration of serous liquid into the subcutaneous cellular tissue of the entire body. According to D'Elia (1926), this state may originate from a cold, without constituting an organic disease, frequently appearing in the course of erysipelas, in the period of desquamation of measles and scarlet fever. It constantly occurs in albuminuria or Bright's disease and in the last stage of heart diseases. Anasarca is also defined as the result of diseases ending up in cachexia, rendering the blood poor and debilitating the body. The skin becomes shiny, almost always cold and with a milky aspect. Treatment consists of the use of diuretics, sudoriferous, purgatives and a milk diet. In the field of veterinary, anasarca is a disease of horses, generally caused by infection and characterized by edemas which are reabsorbed in the sub-acute form and progressive in the hyper-acute form. The disease also occurs in dogs, pigs, oxen and sheep.

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Houaiss, 2001.

Anastomosis: name originally given to the communication between two nerves, when it was believed that they were channels through which a nervous fluid ran. In general anatomy, the term is employed to designate the natural, direct or indirect, communication between two blood vessels, between two channels of the same nature, two nerves, or two muscular fibers. In pathology, it names the morbid junction or joining of two normally separated spaces or organs.

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Littré & Gilbert,

Anhydrosis: absence or diminution of perspiration.

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Landouzy & Jayle, 1902; Littré & Gilbert, 1908.

Arning, Edward Christian: the son of a German merchant established in England, Arning was born in Manchester on June 9, 1855. Sent to Hamburg at the age of twelve, he entered Gymnasium Johanneum, where he remained until 1874. In the two following years, he attended the University of Heidelberg as student of medicine, obtaining his MD at the University of Strasburg in 1879. He began his career as a gynecologist in Berlin, but soon dedicated himself to dermatology and venereology, becoming a member of the Dermatological Institute of Breslau in 1881. Two years later, Humboldt Institute, linked to the Prussian Royal Academy of Sciences, commissioned him to make studies on leprosy in Hawaii and carry out ethnographic investigations that might bring new materials for the collections of that Prussian institution. Arning arrived in Honolulu on November 8, 1883 and organized a laboratory within the Branch Leper Hospital, in Kakaako. Two episodes of great repercussion have marked his stay in that archipelago. The first was the experiment made with Keanu, a Hawaiian who had his death sentence commuted to perpetual prison under the condition of authorizing the inoculation of leprous material in his organism. Twenty five months after the experiment, in October 1885, he showed characteristic spots of nodular leprosy over the entire body. His nerves and lymphatic glands near the place of inoculation were also affected. The second episode regarding Arning was the examination and diagnosis of leprosy in the Belgian catholic priest Joseph Damien de Veuster, who, however, did not want to be treated by the English doctor of the Kakaako Hospital. Divergences with Walter M. Gibson, Minister of Foreign Relations and president of the Board of Health of the Hawaiian Kingdom, led Arning to abandon the archipelago in the middle of 1887. In Hamburg he continued his activities of dermatologist, becoming professor of that specialty in the local university. Edward Christian Arning died in Munich on August 21, 1936.

Sources: Tronca, 2000; www.204.

Aspidosperma: A genus of tropical trees and (rarely) bushes, of the family Apocynaceae, native of the tropical regions of the Americas, with 80 species, mostly from South America, some are used for timber, many for their alkaloid and antimicrobian. With alternate leaves, small flowers, follicular fruit and peltate seeds with paper-like wings, they produce wood for industry, such as the trees called in Brazil perobarosa and pau-cetim. The dried bark of Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco contains the active principle of quebracho, employed to stimulate respiration, in the treatment of asthma and cardiac dyspnea. (See Aspidospermine; Quebracho).

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Ferreira, 1999; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Aspidospermine [C H N O ]: pentacyclic indolic alkaloid found in 22 30 2 2 plants of the genus Aspidosperma, having antithermal, irritating and vomitive action.

(See Aspidosperma).

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Ferreira, 1999; Stedman, 1979.

Asthma: According to Stedman (1979), the term was originally used to designate " difficult respiration", but nowadays it designates bronchial asthma. Other meanings such as cardiac asthma, renal asthma etc. have been rejected. It thus refers to a condition of the lungs in which there is the narrowing of the air passages due to different degrees of contraction (spasm) of the smooth musculature, edema of the mucous membranes and mucus in the light of bronchi and bronchioles, those alterations provoked by the liberation, in the course of the allergic process, of spasmogenics and vasoactive substances (histamine or a substance of slow anaphylactic reaction, for instance). Crises of hissing paroxystic dyspnea occur, accompanied by edemas and hyper-secretion of the mucous membranes of air passages, due to the sudden contraction of the muscles commanding the opening and closing of bronchi. Those spells are followed by coughing and sensation of constriction, generally occurring by night and persisting for hours, sometimes for days and weeks. The commonest type of asthma is the allergic bronchial one, caused by a specific reaction to common substances as dust, pollen, mites etc. Asthmatic attacks often occur after periods on intensive exercise or emotional tension, or associated to nose and throat infections, or yet to a climatic change. Most asthmatics have periodical attacks all year round. Severe asthma is the most obnoxious of respiratory asthmas and the one that may incapacitate the patient, rendering difficult the assiduity at work. Treatment of the disease involves the isolated or simultaneous use of adrenaline, aminophylline and ephedrine, and of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) and cortisone, during severer attacks. In the chronic phase, physicians try to identify the infectious and allergic factors to render the patient less sensible to them.

(See Syptomatic asthma).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Ferreira, 1999; Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Stedman, 1979.

Atheroma: a very common lesion in the advanced phase of arteriosclerosis, formed by a fibrous and fatty plaque situated in the intima (tissue serving as cover to an anatomical structure). A source from Lutz's times (D'Elia, 1926) defined it as "retention tumor", characterized by the obstruction of an evacuation channel of a hair follicle, "with the participation of sebaceous glands" that pour into the follicle. Excessive food and endocrine disturbances may favor the appearance of atheroma.

Sources: Cardenal, 1947; D'Elia, 1926; Encyclopædia Britannica, 2001; Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979; Wilson & Reeder, 1993; www.86; www.104; www.106; www.142.

Atropin [C H NO ]: a crystalline alkaloid medicine extracted from 17 23 3

plants of the family Solanaceae (Atropa) as, for instance, belladonna, employed as obstructive agent of the physiological action of acetylcholine (neurotransmitter molecule acting over the passage of a nervous impulse from the cells of the nervous system to those of the muscles), as anti-spasthic and dilator of the pupil. As it is extremely toxic, it can only be ingested in minimal doses of 0.001 to 0.003g, mostly as atropin sulphate. Higher quantities may provoke an excited state known as "atropinic delirium", whose symptoms are the blockade of the vegetative nervous system, agitation of the central nervous systems accompanied by hallucinations, depression, difficulty of ingestion, dessication of the mucous membranes, tachycardia, etc. It may even evolve to death.

Sources: Cardenal, 1947; Cardenal, 1960; Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001.

Azevedo Lima, José Jerônimo de: Brazilian doctor born in Campos (RJ) in 1840, died in 1912. In 1879 he entered Hospital dos Lázaros, in Rio de Janeiro, where he headed the clinical service for many years. By his suggestion, a laboratory for anatomic, pathological and bacteriological studies related to leprosy was created in that institution in 1893. Upon his retirement he was substituted by João Pizarro Gabizo, chairman of dermatology at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Medicine. In "A lepra no Brasil" (Leprosy in Brazil) - a work sent to the First International Conference on Leprology, held in Berlin in October 1897, but not printed in its annals - Azevedo Lima manifested himself favorably to the theory of contagiousness of that disease in healthy persons in a "state of morbid receptivity".

Sources: Lello, 1942; Souza Araújo, 1956.

 

B

Bacilli: common designation for cylinder- or rod-shaped bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus. Its species, generally motile, are Gram-positive, aerobic or, under certain conditions, anaerobic. Generally found in earth and water, they do not produce their own food and feed upon other organisms. Bacilli have as one of their main characteristics the formation of dormant spores under adverse environmental conditions. Such endospores remain viable in nature, especially in the soil, for long time periods, as they are resistant to heat, chemical substances and sunlight. The typical species of the genus Bacillus is Bacillus subtilis. Described in 1872 by Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898), it is the commonest agent of contamination of laboratory cultures, being frequently found in human skin. Among the few pathogenic species is to be mentioned Bacillus anthracis, causative of anthrax in man and domestic animals. Other species, such as Bacillus cereus, are often responsible for damages to preserved food. Some antibiotics used in medicine are produced from those microorganisms, such as bacitracin (Bacillus subtilis) and polymyxin (Bacillus polymyxa). (See Bacteria).

Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2001; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979. See Bacteria.

Bacteria: bacteria are a part of the Kingdom Monera, together with blue algae or Cyanophyceae, a group including unicellular and procariont (a single cell devoid of nucleus) beings. In Adolpho Lutz's time, bacteria were generally divided into four groups, according to morphological criteria: the rod-shaped ones were called bacilli; those in the shape of bent rods, vibrio; the spiral-shaped ones, spirilli; a special type of spirilli were the spirochetes. The rounded bacteria won the name of cocci, which could be grouped into colonies: two cocci formed a diplococcus; four, a tetrad; cocci in a chain were called streptococci; two cocci in the shape of the flame of a candle, united by the base and in opposite directions, were named pneumococci. Nowadays bacteria are classified according to new criteria: biochemical reactions, chemical composition, cellular structure, and, under the light of molecular biology, according to their genetic and immunological characteristics. Many bacteria cause diseases in plants, in men and in other animals. Certain bacteria cause severe poisoning: botulism, when badly canned food or ill-preserved food is ingested; and salmonellosis, caused by the ingestion of contaminated food. Free-living or parasitic microorganisms, bacteria are also essential to the process of decomposition of organic matter in the body, in the soil or other media. Up to the beginning of the 20th century, bacteria were practically synonyms of microorganisms, the former word being therefore frequently applied to designate any living organisms of microscopic dimensions. The so-called "bacteriological era" began with Luis Pasteur (1822-1895) and Robert Koch (1843-1920), but sources from the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century indicate that there were many controversies regarding the taxonomic position of bacteria; in the 20th century they were qualified as a group of lower plants or as belonging to the algal family, as a part of the Schizomycetes group. (See Schizomycetes; Fungi).

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Landouzy & Jayle, 1902; Littré & Gilbert, 1908; Murray, 1910; www.31; www.32.

Bary, Heinrich Anton de: German botanist born in Frankfurt on January 26, 1831 and died in Strasburg on January 19, 1888. He received his doctorate in medicine at the Berlin University in 1853, and became known by his studies on algae, myxomycetes and, above all, fungi which granted him the epithet of founder of modern mycology. Principally interested in the reproduction, sexuality, morphology and physiology of fungi, he affirmed in his first and prestigious book, Untersuchungen über Die Brandpilze und die durch sie verursachten Krankheiten der Pflanzen mit Rücksicht auf das Getreide und andere Nutzpflanzen (1853), that those organisms were the causative agent of many diseases of plants, and not mere excrescences of them, as it was thought. With his deep knowledge of the cycle and parasitic characteristics of fungi, de Bary was one of the first to study the parasite-host interactions, having effected valuable researches on potato late blight, corn stalk rust, barley and oat rusts. The creator of many terms utilized in studies about fungi and lichens - heteroic, sporidium, saprophytes, facultative parasites, symbiosis, etc. - a sizable part of the classification he developed remain valid in the researches of modern mycologists. From his scarce studies on bacteria resulted the discovery of the spores of Bacilus magaterrium and the proof that cyanobacteria were not algae, a contribution resulting into the removal of bacteria from the Kingdom Fungi. Dedicated to teaching, de Bary lectured botany at the Universities of Tübingen (1854), Freiburg (1855-1869), Halle (1867-1872) and Strasburg (18721888), having been the first Dean of the latter (1872).

Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2001; Moura, 2002.

Baunscheidtism: therapeutic method developed by Karl Baunscheidt, mechanic and carriages builder born in Endenich, near Bonn (1809-1874). His therapy consisted of the superficial introduction of a small bundle of needles into the skin, followed by the rubbing of pierced areas with croton oil or other irritative substance. The objective was to make the diagnosis and cure diseases through the purulent cutaneous eruption, which rapidly got better. Baunscheidtism is a bastard version of acupuncture, therapeutic technique originally practiced by the Chinese and Japanese, based on the correspondence of certain organs to determined cutaneous areas. These points are united by imaginary lines, called meridians. Acupuncture is mostly indicated for functional disturbances and several painful manifestations.

Sources: Der Grosse, 1952-1960; Larousse, 1971; Stedman, 1979.

Beurmann, Charles Lucien de: French doctor (1851-1923) who described Beurmann's disease, the disseminated gummy form of sporotrichosis, Beurmann obtained his MD in Paris. In 1889, he became head of service of Lourcine Hospital, going afterwards to Saint-Louis Hospital, where he remained until 1916. The numerous trips he undertook to other countries, notably to Persia, India and Japan, gave him the opportunity to study the so-called exotic diseases, in particular leprosy and tropical syphilis. Beurmann distinguished himself, in a special way, by his contributions to the knowledge of sporotrichosis, made in collaboration with his disciples Louis Ramond and Henri Gougerot. With the latter he published, in 1912, Les sporotrichoses (Paris, F. Alcan), and, with Gougerot and Vaucher, papers on Mycoderma cutaneum. (See Sporotrichosis).

Sources: Stedman, 1979; www.55.

Biermer, Michael Anton: German doctor (1827-1892), after whom Addison-Biermer's disease was named. It is also known as Addison-Biermer's anemia, Biermer-Ehrlich's anemia, Hunter-Addison's anemia, Lebert's essential anemia, progressive pernicious anemia, Biermer's disease, Biermer's anemia and yet macrocytic achylic anemia. Its evolution, formerly fatal, gave place to a benign prognostic after the advent of vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamina), used as intramuscular injections. The cause of the disease is the insufficient absorption of that vitamin due to the lack of a factor produced by the normal gastric mucous membrane. It is thus believed that it results from a defect in the stomach, with atrophy or lack of this "intrinsic" factor. The disease is a kind of progressive chronic anemia occurring in higher frequency in patients 50 years old or more, in adults and old people of both genders. It is manifested through numbness and tingling, weakness, a sensible and smooth tongue, dizziness, skin and mucous membranes pallor, anorexia, diarrhea, loss of weight, digestive, and often neurological disturbances. Laboratory studies in general have revealed a great decrease of hematimetry, low levels of hemoglobin, numerous macrocytic erythrocytes, associated to a preponderant number of megaloblasts and relatively few normoblasts in the bone marrow; blood leucometry in peripheral blood may be lower than normal, with relatively multisegmented lymphocytes and neutrophiles. James Scarth Combe (1796-1883) related a case of pernicious anemia in 1822. Other descriptions of isolated cases were made by Sir Thomas Addison and Hermann Lebert in 1849, but Michael Anton Biermer was the author of its classical description, in 1868-1872. Afterwards, Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) distinguished the aplastic type of anemia.

Sources: Larousse, 1971; Stedman, 1979; www.70.

Bizzozero, Giulio: member of the Viennese Institute for the History of Medicine. Giulio Bizzozero (Varese, 1846 - Turin, 1901) was professor of general medicine at Turin University, transforming it into one of the most important medical centers of Europe. Edoardo Bassini, a surgeon who perfected the operation of inguinal hernia (Bassini's operation), Carlo Forlanini who introduced pneumothorax as a treatment procedure for pulmonary tuberculosis, and Antonio Carle and Giorgio Rattone, who demonstrated the transmissibility of tetanus, studied or worked in his laboratory. Bizzozero also produced papers in the areas of histology and public health, malaria and tuberculosis control. His most important papers dwealt with the discovery of blood platelets and their role in haemostasy, as well as with the identification of the bone marrow as a center of cellular production.

Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2001; Larousse, 1971; www.6; www.14.

Blastomycetes: a group of pathogenic fungi developed, like yeasts, through budding. In artificial media they sometimes produce mycelia and conidia. In the past, Blastomycetes and Saccharomycetes were considered synonymous, but nowadays the former are classified among the Moniliares. Blastomyces dermatidis, agent of the North American blastomycosis, and Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, causative agent of the South American blastomycosis, belong to the Moniliares. (See North American blastomycosis; South American blastomycosis).

Sources: Larousse, 1971; Stedman, 1979.

Blastomycosis: term designating several infectious diseases attacking men and other animals. They are produced by the development of fungi of diverse species, like Blastomyces dermatidis and Paracoccidiodes brasiliensis. (See European blastomycosis; North American blastomycosis; South American blastomycosis; Mycosis).

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Boeck, Carl Wilhelm: Norwegian doctor, born in Königsberg on December 15, 1808. After attending Christiania Kathedralskole and Mollers Institut, he studied medicine at the University of Christiania, graduating on October 12, 1831. Among his medical activities, are to be mentioned his studies about skin diseases and syphilis. Boeck inaugurated his dermatological clinic in 1850. There, two years later, he began treating lues by means of syphilization. This method, developed by Joseph Alexandre Auzias-Turenne (1812-1870) from experiments with animals, found in the Norwegian doctor an ardent defender. It basically consisted in repeated inoculations with material extracted from initial cutaneous lesions provoked by syphilis, up to the point when the procedure would not produce any reaction. As regards leprosy, are to be mentioned the researches undertaken by Boeck together with Daniel Cornelius Danielssen (1815-1894), resulting in the eponym Danielssen-Boecks's disease, a form of leprosy characterized by hyperesthesia followed by anesthesia, ulceration, gangrene and mutilation. In the end of the 1860's, Boeck traveled to America to study the prevalence of that disease among Norwegian immigrants. Professor of surgery, skin diseases and syphilis in the Kongelige Frederiks Universitet from 1846 on, he was named Full Professor of medicine in the same institution in 1851. He died in Christiania (now Oslo) on December 10, 1875, one year after joining the skin department of Rikshospitalet, the Norwegian national research hospital. (See Danielssen, Daniel Cornelius; Leprosy).

Sources: www.230.

Breda, Achille: Italian dermatologist (1850-1947), who was a student of Ferdinand von Hebra, member of the Viennese Institute for the History of Medicine, and president of Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in the period from 1926 to 1928. He studied yaws, which, for this reason, are also known as Breda's disease. (See Yaws).

Sources: Cardenal, 1947; www.14; www.15.

Brocq, Louis-Anne-Jean: French dermatologist born in the city of Laroque-Timbaut on the first day of February, 1856. He finished his medical course in 1878, receiving his MD degree in 1892, in Paris. He continued his studies under Jean Alfred Fournier (1832-1915), Jean Baptiste Emile Vidal (1825-1893) and Ernest Henri Besnier (1831-1909). In 1891, he became the doctor of Hospice La Rochefoucauld and, five years afterwards, of Broca Hospital, where, with a lot of effort, he established a department of dermatological research. From 1906 up to his retirement in 1921 he worked at Saint-Louis Hospital, the institution in which he developed intense teaching activities. A leader of the French dermatological school of his time, Brocq was member of the Medical Academy and author of the first treaty of dermatology in the French language, Pratique dermatologique. He lent his name to a large number of infirmities, among them Brocq-Duhring (or Duhring-Brocq) disease and Brocq-Pautrier syndrome. He died in Paris, on December 18, 1928. (See Duhring, Louis Adolphus, Duhring's disease).

Sources: www.123.

Buschke, Abraham: German dermatologist (1868-1943) who studied at Breslau, Greifswald and Berlin, obtaining his MD in Berlin in 1891. He became Full Professor at Friedrich-Wilhelm University, in Berlin, in 1908, and Extraordinary (Ausserördentlich) Professor in 1920, and retired in 1933. He was assistant professor at the surgical clinic headed by Heinrich Helferich (1851-1945) in Greifswald, at the dermatological clinic of Albert Neisser (1855-1916) in Breslau and also in that of Edmund Lesser (1852-1918) in Berlin. In 1904 he was named head of the Department of Dermatology at the Urban-Krankenhaus and, from 1906 on, was head of dermatology of Rudolf-Virchow Hospital, with 400 beds destined to patients with dermatological diseases. That vast clinical experience was the basis for the publication of numerous articles. Venereal diseases were one of Buschke's main areas of interest, notably syphilis and gonorrhea. A victim of the nazis, he and his wife were incarcerated at the concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezin), in northern Bohemia (Czechoslovakia), where he died of inanition in 1943. (See European blastomycosis; Cryptococcosis; Cryptococcus neoformans).

Sources: www.16; www.18.

Busse, Otto: German doctor that was born in Gühlitz in 1867 and died in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1922. He obtained his MD in Greifswald (Germany) in 1892. Ten years later, in that same city, he became assistant professor at the Pathological Institute, under the orientation of Paul Otto Grawitz. In 1904, Busse became head of the Department of Pathologic Anatomy of the Institute of Hygiene in Posen. Afterwards, in 1911, he became professor of pathologic anatomy in Zurich. Busse is especially known for his investigations on pathogenic fungi, having published Die Hefen als Krankheitserreger (Yeasts as pathogenic fungi) in Berlin, 1897. He studied European blastomycosis, also known, for this reason, as Busse-Buschke's disease. (See European blastomycosis; Cryptococcosis; Cryptococcus neoformans).

Sources: www.25; www.55.

 

C

Cachexy: nowadays, it has the meaning of extreme degree of frailness or general lack of nutrition and wearing, occurring during a chronic disease or emotional disturbance. In Cardenal (1947) it is defined as a state of deep and progressive constitutional distress originating from various causes; according to Murray (1910), the term was used to characterize patients suffering from malignant tumors or unwholesome states caused by syphilis, dysentery and other chronic diseases (malaria, for instance, in the so-called swamp cachexy). Individuals in that condition become anemic and debilitated, the skin wrinkled, loosing its elasticity and showing a yellowish taint; and there is loss or alteration of appetite. The Encyclopædia Britannica (2001) indicates that, in the 1990's, the efficacy of the treatment of cachexy with thalidomide was discovered in patients with diseases such as Aids, tuberculosis and leprosy, and that cachexy would apparently be caused by the overproduction of TNF (tumor necrosis factor) by the body. TNF is a protein naturally produced by the phagocytary cells of human organism, which may encircle and destroy bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances.

Sources: Cardenal, 1947; Cardenal, 1960; Dorland, 1947; Encyclopædia Britannica, 2001; Littré & Gilbert, 1908; Murray, 1910.

Carbolic Acid [C H OH]: acid generally known as phenol, and also 6 5

as phenilic alcohol or phenic acid. It occurs in the shape of colourless crystals that become liquefied with the addition of water. It functions as local caustic in concentrated form and as anesthetic in 3-4% solutions. If swallowed, it is powerfully corrosive (olive oil is recommended as antidote). It is used as antiseptic and disinfectant for sanitary and surgical purposes.

Sources: Hawley, 1950; Houaiss, 2001; Murray, 1910; Stedman, 1979.

Carcinoma: any of the several types of malignant neoplasias related to the epithelial tissue, thus opposed to sarcomas, conjunctive cankerous tumors. In both genders it occurs mainly in the skin and the large intestine; in men, in the bronchi, stomach or prostate; in women, in the breast and cervix. Carcinomas are histologically identified by their invasive capacity and by alterations indicating anaplasia, i. e., loss of nuclei polarity, loss of the ordered maturation of cells, variation in the latter's size and form, accumulation of chromatin in the nuclei and increase in nucleocytoplasmic reactions. Carcinomas may be differentiated or be similar to one of the types of normal epithelium. They tend to invade neighboring tissues, originating metastases.

Sources: Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Cardol: a vesicant, irritating, yellow, oily liquid extracted from the pericarp of the cashew-nut, a fruit found in trees and shrubs of the species th Anacardium occidentale . By the end of the 19century, some physicians recommended its external use in cases of leprosy and severe cutaneous ulcers. Taken internally, it was employed as vermifuge, not showing vesicant action upon the digestive tube. Cardol is still used to designate a substance obtained by the chemical combination of a solution of brome or sodium hypobromide with a solution of salol. Also known as tribromsalol - an insipid, colorless, crystalline powder, insoluble in water, difficultly soluble in alcohol, acetic acid or chloroform - it was indicated, in the past, as an intestinal antiseptic, hypnotic, analgesic and haemostatic drug.

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Dorland, 1947; Littré & Gilbert, 1908. Caustic potash, KOH: the same as potassium hydroxide. A white salt, soluble in water, that melts at 360 º C. A very caustic, strong base, it corrodes organic tissues. It is prepared by electrolysis of dissolved potassium, being employed to absorb carbonic acid in the fabrication of soap and in the removal of ink from paintings and as analytic reagent. It was a part of the composition of Viennese powder, being externally used for the cauterization of chancres and cysts.

Sources: Cardenal, 1954; Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Chaulmoogric acid [C H O ]: nonsaturated fat acid, with 18 32 2 colorless and crystalline appearance, soluble in alcohol, found among the products resulting from the hydrolysis of the chaulmoogra oil glycerids. In 1904, the chemist and pharmacologist Frederick B. Power, at the head of the Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, undertook experiments with chaulmoogra seeds coming from the species Taraktogenos kurzii (afterwards called Hydnocarpus kurzii). Power and his collaborators removed the seeds' skin, pressed the nuts and extracted a type of oil that was submitted to chemical procedures, as well as the mass resulting from the pressing of the seeds. They were able to isolate several compounds, among them chaulmoogric acid. They also performed experiments with seeds from the species Hydnocarpus wightiana, Hydnocarpus anthelminthica and Gynocardia odorata belonging to the same order as Taraktogenos kurzii. From the first two species they obtained an inferior homologous acid, called hydnocarpic acid, whose formula is C H O . From Gynocardia odorata they were not 16 28 2

able to extract the so-called chalmoogra oil, nor the chaulmoogric and hydnocarpic acids.

(See Chaulmoogric oil).

Sources: Grant, 1944; Parascandola, 2003; Stedman, 1979. Chalmoogra oil: a yellow oil extracted from seeds of Taraktogenos kurzii (family Bixaceae). It contains chalmugric, gynocardic and hidnocarpic acids. For many centuries used in the East for treating leprosy and other skin diseases, chalmoogra oil was incorporated into western medicine only in the 1800's, when the British doctor Frederic John Mouat, from the Medical College Hospital of Calcutta, started employing it. Originally, the oil was ingested or topically applied over the leprous areas of the body. Although oral administration was more efficient, it caused intense nausea in patients. To diminish the adverse reactions, Isadore Dyer, from the Louisiana Leper Home, in Carville, in 1901, began to use chalmoogra oil pills. Later on, other physicians tried to encapsulate the substance or even to add water to diminish nausea, but without success. A little before, in the middle of the 1890's, the oil started to be administered by means of intramuscular and subcutaneous injections. This method attenuated nausea but it was painful and produced strong local reaction and fever. Around 1913, Victor Heiser and Elidoro Mercado, from the San Lazaro Hospital in Manilla, tried hypodermic injections containing chalmoogra and a solution of camphor and resorcin, to facilitate absorption of the substance. Still in the 1910's, some derivates from chalmoogra oil began to be used, as gynocardic acid and ethyl esters. In the 1940's, they were gradually substituted, not without resistance, by sulphone and its derivates in the treatment of Saint Lazarus' disease. However, the toxicity of those antibiotics, allied to the high cost of their utilization en masse, sustained the use of chalmoogra oil, as the main therapy and as a complement of the new therapies for a few more years still. In 1953, a committee of specialists from the World Health Organization uniformly sanctioned the superiority of sulphones in the treatment of hanseniasis, sanction corroborated by the Sixth International Leprosy Congress, held in Madrid in the same year. During the 19 th century it was believed that chalmoogra oil was extracted from seeds of Gynocardia odorata. Such a mistake was probably due to the studies of William Roxburgh, surgeon and naturalist, the first (or one of the first ones) to describe, in the Western World, the medicament and its use against leprosy. In his plant catalogue published in 1815, Roxburgh erroneously identified as seeds of Gynocardia odorata the seeds coming from the kalaw, a tree indicated in Birmanian and Indian folklore as capable of curing leprosy. It was only in 1901 that David Prain related chalmoogra seeds sold in Calcutta with the true species, Taraktogenos kurzii. Experiments made by Frederick B. Power, in 1904, showed that Gynocardia odorata did not produce chalmoogra oil. The first Ayurvedic texts written in southern India also associated the chalmoogra to the species afterwards called Hydnocarpus wightiana (family Flacourtiaceae).

(See Chaulmoogric acid; Leprosy).

Sources: Grant, 1944; Obregón, 2002; Parascandola, 2003; Stedman, 1979.

Chancroid: similar to chancre, but possessing a lesser degree of malignancy. A term also used to characterize an epithelioma (tumor of epithelial nature) with tendency to harden, also referent to a malignant neoplasy (for instance, basal cell carcinoma and others). The term chancroid is also used as synonym of the disease known as soft chancre. (See Soft chancre).

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Charcot, Jean-Martin: French doctor born in Paris on November 29, 1825, in a family originated from Champagne. Considered the forerunner of modern nervous pathology, it was the first professor of this subject, assuming in 1872 the chair of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris. He was also one the founders of the famous neurological clinic, La Salpêtrière (saltpetre quarry), a hospital thus called because it was inaugurated in a building that used to be Louis XIII's armament and gunpowder warehouse. Charcot's name is linked to a great number of discoveries, notably in the area of studies of the nervous system. His experiments with hypnosis for the investigation of hysteria attracted an enormous quantity of students to his classes. Among those of his disciples who became famous were Desiré-Magloire Bourneville, Joseph Jules Babinski, Pierre Marie and Sigmund Freud, who used the technique of hypnosis to investigate the psychological origins of neurosis. Charcot became interested in Parkinson's disease, the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -known as "Charcot's disease" -, poliomyelitis and the tabes; he established the difference between hysterical and epileptic convulsions and the motor role of the ascendant frontal circumvolution of the brain. Jean-Martin Charcot was also vice-president of the Society of Biology (1860), member of the Academy of Medicine (1872), of the Academy of Sciences (1883) and of various other scientific societies. From 1890 on, his health began to fail and he suffered several attacks of angina. He died suddenly, during an attack of pulmonary aedema, on August 16, 1893, at Lac des Settons, Nièvre.

(See Charcot's Crystals).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Larousse, 1971; Larousse, 1998; www.87; www.118.

Charcot's crystals: collections of octaedric crystals formed by the protein of the membrane of an eosinophile, a granulocyte which stabilizes and preserves acid dyes and is associated to defensive and inflammatory processes of the organism. They are found in the spittle of individuals with asthmatic bronchitis, in the feces of patients with ulcerative colitis and in the blood of leukaemics. Friedrich Albert von Zenker (1825-1898) was the first to observe those crystals in 1851; two years afterwards they were concomitantly described by Jean-Martin Charcot and Charles-Philippe Robin (1821-1885). In 1872, Ernst Viktor von Leyden (18321910) studied them, and for this reason they are also called Charcot-Leyden crystals. Other denominations are Charcot-Robin crystals, asthma crystals and Arthus (Nicolas Maurice Arthus, 1862-1945) crystals. (See Charcot, Jean-Martin).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Larousse, 1971; www.87; www.118.

Charcot's crystals: collections of octaedric crystals formed by the protein of the membrane of an eosinophile, a granulocyte which stabilizes and preserves acid dyes and is associated to defensive and inflammatory processes of the organism. They are found in the spittle of individuals with asthmatic bronchitis, in the feces of patients with ulcerative colitis and in the blood of leukaemics. Friedrich Albert von Zenker (1825-1898) was the first to observe those crystals in 1851; two years afterwards they were concomitantly described by Jean-Martin Charcot and Charles-Philippe Robin (1821-1885). In 1872, Ernst Viktor von Leyden (18321910) studied them, and for this reason they are also called Charcot-Leyden crystals. Other denominations are Charcot-Robin crystals, asthma crystals and Arthus (Nicolas Maurice Arthus, 1862-1945) crystals. (See Charcot, Jean-Martin).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Larousse, 1971; www.87; www.118.

Chlorosis: anaemic affection that seems commoner among young women, evidenced by greenish-yellow tainted skin and associated to disturbances of menstruation or generalized discouragement. It was called Morbus virginum in the Middle Ages (a concept inherited from Hippocrates), later Morbus amatorium and Febris alba virginica. Also known as chlorotic anaemia, chloranaemia and chloremia.

Sources: Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001; Murray, 1910.

Chondrome: a benign tumor or growth, similar to the tumor of mesodermic cells that form cartilage.

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Chrysarobin: a mixture of substances found in "angelim-araroba" (Vataireopsis araroba), a native tree of Brazil, which produces pink flowers and ovoid pods; by grinding the bark, which envelops its high quality wood, the araroba-powder is produced. Also known as Goa-powder extract, chrysarobin is a complex mixture of products resulting from the reduction of chrysophanic acid, emodin and monomethylic ether of emodin. It was used as antiseptic and purgative, being also efficacious in the treatment of psoriasis, eczemas, skin diseases, especially those of parasitic character, as pityriasis versicolor, tinea tonsurans and eczema margunatum. Sources: Dorland, 1947; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979; www.64.

Cocainum muriaticum [C H NO HCl]: or cocaine hydrochloryde. 17 21 4 Chemical compound obtained from a treatment of coca paste, extracted from the leaves of the plant Erythroxylum coca, with chlorydric acid. It presents itself in the shape of colorless crystals or white crystalline powder. Soluble in water and alcohol, insoluble in ether, it may constitute a poisonous drug and cause dependence. The alkaloid cocaine was isolated for the first time in 1859 by the German doctor Albert Niemann (18341861), from Göttingen University. Only in 1880, the anesthetic properties were recognized by the Russian Vassili von Anrep, from the University of Würzburg. Initially utilized as local anesthetics during ophthalmic surgeries, cocaine chlorohydrate gained the support of medical doctors by the end of the 19 th th and beginning of the 20 centuries. Enthusiastic with the studies of Theodor Aschenbrandt, who had described the increase of physical resistance in Bavarian soldiers, during military manoeuvres, caused by that substance, the young neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1930) affirmed that regular small doses could be very successful in the treatment of depression and indigestion. In that time, cocaine was freely commercialized for medicinal use, being also administered as tonic, under the form of suppositories and expectorating pills.

Sources: Turner, 1950; www.7; www.201; www.232.

Coccidioidomycosis: a disease caused by fungi of the species Coccidioides immitis, also known as Posadas' disease, Posadas-Wernicke's disease, Posadas' mycosis, Posadas-Rixford's disease, Wernicke-Posadas' disease, coccidioidal granulome, California disease or yet desert rheumatism, San Joaquin fever, San Joaquin Valley fever or valley fever. It is caused by dust particles containing the arthroconidium of Coccidioides immitis, a fungus thriving in certain regions of the United States and Mexico (Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas and the San Joaquin Valley in California), in the lower part of the Sonoran Desert (covering the areas of southwestern Arizona, southeast California, and most of Baja California and western Sonora), in parts of Central America and Argentina. Natural disasters such as wind storms and earthquakes contribute to the appearance of the disease. Endemic areas are restricted to desert or semi-desert areas similar to those of northeastern Brazil, where some cases have also been reported. Farmers and soil laborers are more susceptible to the disease, for they have a greater probability of inhaling spores of Coccidioides immitis. A large part of individuals with the primary acute form do not show symptoms. When these occur, they begin to appear from one to three weeks after infection. Some individuals present the so-called desert rheumatism, a condition characterized by conjunctivitis, arthritis and nodular erythema. The disease occurs under the primary acute form, that is, as a slight pulmonary infection that disappears without treatment, or under the progressive form, as a severe infection that is disseminated through the entire body (bones, liver, spleen, kidneys, brain and meninges). In this case it is frequently fatal. Individuals with the progressive form are treated with antimycotic substances (amphothericin B intravenously or fluconazol orally). Up to now, the transmission from animals to men nor from men to men has not been recorded. The disease was initially diagnosed in Argentina by Robert Johann Wernicke and Alejandro Posadas in 1892. These physicians published independent papers describing the initial cadre of a fungoid mycosis with psorosperms. Surgeon Emmet Rixford observed another case of the disease in 1893; new cases were registered in California in 1894 and 1896, when the fungus was isolated from desert soil in San Joaquin Valley. The organism that causes the disease was named Coccidioides immitis and definitely characterized by William Ophüls and H. C. Moffit (1871-1933) in "A new pathogenic mould formerly described as a protozoan: Coccidioides immitis pyogenes: preliminary report", Philadelphia Medical Journal, 1900, n.5, p.1471-2. (See Psorospermosis; South America blastomycosis).

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; www.19; www.29; www.34; www.38.

Coccidium: a genus of protozoans that parasite vertebrates and invertebrates. An unicellular being devoid of special organelles of locomotion, it attacks the intestinal epithelium, blood cells and other cells of the host. It forms a part of the Phylum Apicomplexa, one of the subdivisions of the Kingdom Protista, which includes other parasitic species to animals, whose life cycles include spore-or-cyst-forming stages. (See Psorosperms; Psorospermosis).

Sources: Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004.

Collodium: a heavy, colorless liquid obtained from the dissolution of pyroxilline, or gun-cotton, in ether and alcohol. When spread over a surface, this viscid liquid forms a protective film after the evaporation of the solvent, explaining the expression "sublimated collodium" employed by Adolpho Lutz. It is used as a vehicle for local application of medicinal substances, to dress wounds, burns and ulcers, to avoid the occurrence of infection, and as a protector of slides, in the fabrication of covers impervious to air and special filters for the study of viruses.

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Larousse, 1971; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Stedman, 1979.

Condurango [Eagle vine]: designation common to certain species of climbing trees native of Central and South America. The bark of the species Gonolobus condurango, also known as Marsdenia condurango (family Asclepiadaceae), was used, in the past, in the treatment of cancer. The species of condurango native of Brazil, belonging to the family Vitaceae, Vitis sulcicaulis - popularly known as chupão, cipó-d'água, cipó-mãe-boa, mãe-boa - has a sarmentose stem, potable sap, astringent leaves, greenish flowers and edible fruit in the shape of an ovoid and black pod, with seeds.

Sources: Cardenal, 1960; Ferreira, 1999; Grant, 1944; Houaiss, 2001; Stedman, 1979.

Condyloma: designation of several types of sexually transmissible, cutaneous or mucous membranes' lesions caused by viruses or bacteria, among which are to be mentioned the flat and humid papule of secondary syphilis, also known as condyloma latum. It assumes the shape of a rounded benign tumor, of a mollusciform wart, or of a papilliform excrescence, generally occurring in the anus, the vulva, or the glans of the penis. According to Murray (1910), condylomas were commonly found in connection with humidity and irritation due to corrosive secretions, especially those resulting from venereal infections. D'Elia (1916) differentiated between flat and acuminated condylomas.

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Larousse, 1971; Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Murray, 1910; Stedman, 1979.

Cornil, André Victor: French doctor and politician, born in Cusset in 1837, died in 1908, in Menton (France). Representative, professor of the Parisian Faculty of Medicine, he was the author of papers on histology and bacteriology. In 1875, he wrote a report about the use of aniline dyes to recognize the amyloids, glicoproteic substances occurring as extra-cellular pathological deposits below the endothelium of capillaries or sinusoids, on the walls of small arteries and in several organs. With a metachromatic staining method based upon methyl-violet, Cornil was able to recognize the extra-cellular nature of these abnormal formations. In collaboration with Victor Babes (18541926), he published, in 1885, Les bactéries et leur rôle dans l'anatomie et l'histologie pathologiques des maladies infectieuses (Bacteria and their relation to the pathological anatomy and histology of infectious diseases), a handbook of histopathology considered one of the landmarks of medicine in the 1800's.

Sources: Larousse, 1971; www.26; www.27; www.28.

Corrosive sublimate: the same as mercury chloride, mercury bichloride, mercury perchloride, corrosive mercury chloride. It is a caustic, toxic, inodorous, crystalline, white salt that was still used in the 1940's as anti-syphilitic drug, in doses of 0.005 to 0.02 grams, per day, in solution, pills or subcutaneous injections. For external use, as antiseptic and parasiticide, it was prepared in solutions of one-quarter to 1 per 1000. Another source from the same time qualified corrosive sublimate as a component of Van Gieson's method of staining and of Zenker's liquid, a chemical compound used in the fixation of histological pieces. Murray (1910) related cases of poisoning by corrosive sublimate; although different opinions existed then as to the obnoxious or inoffensive qualities of the metal mercury when ingested, this author considered poisonous its soluble and volatile compounds, including the vapors of metallic mercury. In cases of acute poisoning by corrosive sublimate, the recommended antidote was albumin or albuminoids in any soluble form and the ingestion of milk and egg white the fastest possible. Due to the powerful local action of the poison in the stomach, stomach lavage was useless, but if vomit occurred naturally an emetic could be administered. The rest of the treatment consisted in alleviating pain through opiates, and thirst through demulcent drinks. (See Syphilis; Van Gieson's staining).

Sources: Cardenal, 1947; Fernandes, 1943; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Murray, 1910; www.11; www.137; www.95.

Creosote: an oily, volatile, pyrogenic liquid with a pungent odor, obtained from the distillation of pitch from the wood of certain plant species. Constituted by a mixture of several phenols (principally methylguayacol, guayacol and creosol), it is soluble in water, alcohol, ether or chloroform. It was used in medicine as antiseptic, local anesthetic and caustic. It was also used as an expectorant and against dental caries.

(See Guayacol).

Sources: Grant, 1944; Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Stedman, 1979.

Croococaceae: a designation common to the Cyanophyceae ("blue algae") of the Order Chroococcales. They are constituted by simple, independent cells not differentiated at the base or apex. They multiply by simple cellular division and may, afterwards, remain united in colonies with a characteristic blade-like spherical shape. They include benthonic or planctonic species, some of them aerophytic, others forming part of lichens.

Source: Joly, 1977; Quer, 1965.

Croupous pneumonia: acute infectious disease caused by pneumococci. Characterized by fever, pains at inspirations, cough and ferrugineous or bloody spittle. It generally lasts for nine days, ending by a crisis with abundant perspiration. It affects one or more pulmonary lobes, for that reason also being called lobular pneumonia. The same as acute pneumonia, pneumococcic pneumonia, pleural pneumonia, pleuritic pneumonia and fibrinous pneumonia. (See Pneumonia).

Sources: D'Elia, 1926; Ferreira, 1999; Houaiss, 2001; Koogan-Houaiss, 2004; Stedman, 1979.

Crudeli, Corrado Tommasi: Italian doctor born in Tuscany in 1834, died in 1900. Disciple of Rudolph Virchow (1891-1902), Tommasi Crudeli is mostly known as one of the first cytologists of the 19 th century, founder of two faculties of medicine in Italy, of the National Institute of Hygiene in Rome and a hospital in Sicily. He was also the author of the first sanitary reform of unified Italy. Professor of pathological anatomy in Rome, he described, in 1879, with the German bacteriologist Edwin Klebs, Bacillus malariae, a microorganism found by them in the soil of the Roman countryside, which they considered the causative agent of malaria. Found in moist soil and in the air of low heights, it could be cultivated in fish gelatin. According to the two researchers, the injection of soil infected with such a microorganisms in rabbits produced malarial fever and spleen dilatation, reactions distinct from those noted in experiments with soil from malaria-free regions. It is also said that they would have verified that humans submitted to an injection of pure culture of Bacillus malariae developed the characteristic symptoms of the disease. (See Klebs, Edwin).