Glossary
B
- Bacteria Bacterium
- Single-celled organisms containing a simple DNA structure. Bacteria is plural; bacterium is singular.
- Barium
- An element that, when added to water, is opaque to x-rays and used for examination of the alimentary canal.
- Benign
- Not cancerous.
- Bilateral
- On both sides.
- Bile
- Thick, greenish-brown fluid that aids in digestion.
- Biofeedback
- A technique where patients are given visual or audio cues to physiological responses such as heart rate. The patients can then learn to control such responses.
- Biopsies Biopsy
- Surgical removal of a small sample of tissue for examination to detect disease or the presence of certain substances. The word is also used to describe the sample itself.
- Bipolar Bipolar disorder
- Any of several mood disorders characterised usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania or by episodes of depression alternating with mild nonpsychotic excitement.
- Blinding masking
- A procedure in which one or more parties to a clnical trial are kept unaware of the treatment assignment(s).
- Blood-brain barrier
- Referring to a property of blood vessel cells in the central nervous system that keeps certain substances from entering the brain tissue.
