Basic Medical Terminology - M (Part 2) Quiz

Answer: upper jaw

Maxilla is Latin for "jaw" and is the correct anatomical term for the upper jaw. Ancient physicians used the term maxilla for both the upper and the lower jaw but later on the lower jaw became known as the mandible.

Answer: type of vaccine

MMR is the abbreviation for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

In 1998, an article by Andrew Wakefield (with a number of co-authors) was published in the British medical journal "Lancet" claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and the disorders of autism and enterocolitis (inflammation of the small intestine and colon). Wakefield's "research" was subsequently investigated and found to be completely fraudulent. "Lancet" retracted the article in 2010. Wakefield was de-registered as a doctor by the General Medical Council (U.K.) in 2010 for "serious professional misconduct" including dishonesty, abuse of children and failure to disclose conflict of (financial) interests.

However, in the meantime, immunisation rates dropped considerably leading to significant increases in the number of cases of those diseases, particularly measles, and in the number of deaths. In 1710, Jonathan Swift (author of "Gulliver's Travels") wrote "Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it". This has certainly proved true for the "vaccines-cause-autism" myth. Over twenty years later, the myth persists, vaccination rates have not fully recovered, and disease and mortality rates remain higher than they should be.

Answer: softening

The suffix -malacia means softening and is derived from the Greek "malakia" (softness, delicacy) and "malakos" (soft). In medical terminology, it is used to indicate an abnormal softening of body tissues, typically cartilage (chrondromalacia) and bone (osteomalacia). Osteomalacia is also known as rickets and is usually caused by vitamin D deficiency.

Answer: breast

The Latin for breast is "mamma" which gives us the word parts mamm- and mamm/o. The sound "ma-ma" is a natural and universal sound made by babies and is believed to have given rise to a number of similar words for "mother" in other languages; for example, mamme (Greek), mamma (Latin, Italian), mama (Persian, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak) muhme (German), maman (French) and mam (Welsh).

It isn't difficult to see the relationship between mothers, babies, breastfeeding and the name "mamma" being given to the mammary glands which supply milk.

Answer: many

The prefix multi- means many and is derived from the Latin "multus", meaning much or many. This is a very common prefix in both common language and medical terminology. Some examples of words which utilise multi- include multiple, multiply, multitude, multicultural, and multitasking.

In medical terminology, the words multigravida and multipara are used to describe women who have had two or more pregnancies (multigravida), or two or more live births (multipara).

Answer: spinal cord or bone marrow

The word parts myel- and myel/o are derived from the Greek "myelos" meaning "the marrow or innermost core". In medical terminology, they can refer to either the bone marrow or the spinal cord. It is unusual for one set of word parts to refer to two distinctly different body organs or tissues.

The reason lies in the way in which early anatomists viewed the body parts. Bone marrow is found in the centre of bone and is the innermost part. The spinal cord is found in the centre of the spine and is the innermost part.

Hence they viewed the spinal cord as the marrow of the spine. A word like "myelitis", therefore, could mean either infection/inflammation of the spinal cord or infection/inflammation of the bone marrow. In order to distinguish between them, other word parts are used to clarify which one is meant. Osteomyelitis refers to infection/inflammation of the bone marrow, whereas poliomyelitis refers to infection/inflammation of the spinal cord.

Answer: one

The prefix mono- means one, from the Greek word "monos" meaning one, single, or alone. Some examples of medical terms which utilise mono- include monocular (one eye), monorchism (having only one testicle), and monozygotic twins (arising from one egg). Sometimes one hears "mono" as a shortened version for the name of the disease mononucleosis, also known as glandular fever.

This disease is a condition in which the blood contains an abnormally high number of monocytes, or mononuclear (one nucleus) leukocytes (white blood cells).

Answer: large, enlargement

These word parts mean large or enlargement and are all derived from the Greek "megas" meaning "great, large, vast, big, high, tall, mighty, important". Typically in medical terminology, they refer to enlargement of body parts. For example, cardiomegaly means enlarged heart. Megacardia and megalocardia mean the same thing but are less commonly used.

However, those examples illustrate the point that it does not matter where you find the word parts - whether at the beginning of the word, in the middle or at the end - they still mean the same thing.

The suffix -megaly is commonly used to denote enlarged body parts and the word part in front will indicate which part of the body is enlarged; for example, prostatomegaly (enlarged prostate), hepatomegaly (enlarged liver), splenomegaly (enlarged spleen).

Answer: lower jaw

Mandible is the correct anatomical term for the lower jaw. It is derived from the Latin "mandibula" meaning jaw which in turn was derived from the Latin "mandere" meaning to chew.

Answer: type of imaging

MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. It refers to an image obtained by subjecting the body to high frequency radio waves in a strong magnetic field. MRIs are particularly useful for examining the brain and spinal cord, detecting tumours, and for examining soft tissues such as muscles.