Glossary of terms

That medical terms are complicated? Yes, we agree. But they can be explained. That's why we've put together an easy-to-understand medical glossary, where you'll find all sorts of terms from the world of medicine, diagnostics and related fields. So that you don't have to get confused anymore.

A

Anticipation

Anticipation – the increasing frequency and severity of a disease in subsequent generations.

C

Centimorgan

Centimorgan – a unit of measurement for the frequency of genetic recombination.
Central dogma

Central dogma – the idea that the transfer of genetic information in a cell proceeds in the direction DNA → RNA → protein.
Chromatid

Chromatid – one of the two strands formed by the duplication of a chromosome.
Codominance

Codominance – the expression of both alleles in a heterozygote.

D

Deletion

Deletion – loss of part or all of a gene, or loss of a chromosome segment.

E

Empirical risk

Empirical risk – the recorded frequency of occurrence of a disease in a given situation.

G

Genetic association

Genetic association – the occurrence of a specific allele with a specific phenotype more often than would be expected by chance.
Genetic code

Genetic code – the way hereditary information is written in the form of nucleic acids.
Germline mutation

Germline mutation – a mutation that can be passed on to an offspring.

H

Haplotype

Haplotype – a set of alleles of linked genes that tend to be inherited together.
Heritability

Heritability – the proportion of phenotypic variability attributable to genotypic variability.

I

Inbreeding

Inbreeding – the crossing of individuals that share one or more common ancestors.

L

Liabilita

Liabilita (susceptibility) – a limiting set of predisposing traits.
Linkage disequilibrium

Linkage disequilibrium – the occurrence of closely linked alleles more frequently than would be expected by chance.

M

Mendel’s laws

Mendel’s laws – a set of rules governing the inheritance of monogenic traits discovered by Mendel, often presented as the “law of segregation of genetic factors (traits)”.
Mutagen

Mutagen – an external or internal environmental factor capable of damaging DNA.

N

Neoplasia

Neoplasia – the ability of malignant cells to proliferate independently of normal control.
Nucleus

Nucleus (lat. nucleus) – the control center of every cell in the human body.

O

Oncogene

Oncogene – a modified proto-oncogene that contributes to uncontrolled and rapid cell division.