Spare Me Your Medical Mumbo Jumbo! Quiz

Answer: The heel

The calcaneus (pronounced kal-can-ay-us) is the largest bone in the foot. An interesting side fact: Breakages or fractures of the calcaneus occur most often from falls from a height and from motor vehicle accidents. (Reference: http://www.emedicine.com/orthoped/topic33.htm)

Answer: Night blindness

Nyctalopia, pronounced nick-tal-o-pee-uh, can result from cataracts which are opacities of the lens of the eye; glaucoma : increased pressures within the eye; retinitis pigmentosa: the degeneration of photoreceptor cells in the retina; optic nerve atrophy: the degeneration of the nerve which carries information from the eye to the brain; and vitamin A deficiency, as well as several other causes. Daytime vision is most often normal.

References: http://www.blindness.org/content.asp?id=45 ;
http://www.drkoop.com/ency/93/001622.html
Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Answer: Absence of the sense of smell

Anosmia is pronounced an-oz-mee-uh. Causes of loss of the sense of smell include: diabetes, polyps, rhinitis, radiotherapy, surgery, nasal or sinus tumors, pernicious anemia, and lead poisoning. Anosmia can be congenital or acquired. The following link provides interesting information.
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/Anosmia/anosmia.html

Answer: Kidneys

Glomerulonephritis (pronounced glow-mer-you-low-neff-write-us) is an infective, inflammatory disorder of the glomeruli of the kidneys. It is usually caused by beta-hemolytic streptococci. Reference: Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Answer: A ligament

Pronounced dez-might-us, it is also common in horses. Ligaments become inflamed from overuse or strain. According to Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, the name originates from the Greek word "desmos" meaning band, suggesting a fibrous connection.

Answer: Stress-related hair loss

Pronounced tell-o-jen eff-loo-vee-umm, it has many causes - stress being one of them. It has been documented that up to 70% of the hair can be lost in as little as 2 months following a traumatic event, with hair coming out in handfuls. Causes include childbirth, high fevers, major surgery, hyper- or hypothyroidism, crash diets, severe psychological stress, and some medications.

More information can be found at http://www.emedicine.com/DERM/topic416.htm

Answer: A partial dislocation of a joint

A subluxation is the partial dislocation of a joint. An example of this is radial head subluxation or "nursemaid's elbow" which can result from small children being lifted up or tugged by their outstretched arms. Arthritis and trauma are also common causes.

It is pronounced sub-lucks-ay-shun. Reference: Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Answer: Palpebrae

Canthus pertains to the acute angles of the eyes: the inner corner and outer corner. Ungues relates to fingernail beds. Xanthis relates to yellow coloring, for example, xanthoderma is the yellow skin coloring associated with jaundice. Reference: Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; http://www.thefreedictionary.com/palpebrae

Answer: Lack of thirst

Adipsia (pronounced ay-dip-see-uh) is the absence of thirst, even when clinically dehydrated. It occurs commonly in injury or tumors of the hypothalamus, head injury, cirrhosis of the liver, or bronchial tumors. References: http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic40.htm ;Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing (2005) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Answer: Sphenopalatineganglioneuralgia

It is pronounced sfee-noh-pal-uh-teen-gan-glee-oh-new-ral-juh or sfen-noh-pal-uh-teen-gan-glee-oh-new-ral-juh. It occurs because when the cold ice cream hits the roof of the mouth, nerves are stimulated which control blood flow to the head, prompting certain blood vessels to rapidly dilate, resulting in a sudden headache.

The good news is that it rarely lasts more than 5 minutes. Prevention? Eat your ice cream more slowly! Reference: http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/ice_cream_headache.html