The Medicine Portal

Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury. It is both an area of knowledge — a science of body systems, their diseases and treatment — and the applied practice — an art or craft — of that knowledge. However, medicine often refers more specifically to matters dealt with by physicians and surgeons.

Medicine is both an area of knowledge (a science), and the application of that knowledge (by the medical profession and other health professionals such as nurses). The various specialized branches of the science of medicine correspond to the equally specialized medical professions dealing with particular organs or diseases. The science of medicine is the knowledge of body systems and diseases, while the profession of medicine refers to the social structure of the group of people formally trained to apply that knowledge.

Medicine comprises used amongst medical professionals as shorthand for internal medicine. Veterinary medicine is the practice of health care in animal species other than human beings.

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Selected Article

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), also known as acute myelogenous leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of white blood cells, characterized by the rapid proliferation of abnormal cells which accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells. AML is the most common acute leukemia affecting adults, and its incidence increases with age. While AML is a relatively rare disease overall, accounting for approximately 1.2% of cancer deaths in the United States, its incidence is expected to increase as the population ages.

The symptoms of AML are caused by replacement of normal bone marrow with leukemic cells, resulting in a drop in red blood cells, platelets, and normal white blood cells. While a number of risk factors for AML have been elucidated, the specific cause of AML remains unclear. As an acute leukemia, AML progresses rapidly and is typically fatal in weeks to months if untreated.

Acute myeloid leukemia is a potentially curable disease; however, only a minority of patients are cured with current therapy. AML is treated initially with chemotherapy aimed at inducing a remission; some patients may go on to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. (More...)

Selected Picture

Henipavirus structure

Photo credit: User:Rhys

Medicine WikiNews

• • November 3: Elderly man in Scotland dies after contracting H1N1 swine flu virus
  • November 3: Wife of English footballer Wayne Rooney gives birth to baby boy
  • November 1: Two people die after contracting H1N1 virus, number of swine flu deaths in Scotland rises to 28
  • October 31: Ukraine closes schools after reports of swine flu deaths

More articles about Health on WikiNews • Archive

Did you know...

• ...that the 47,XXY karyotype produces Klinefelter's syndrome, while 45,X causes Turner syndrome?

• ...that during the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780-1850), educated professional physicians aggressively practiced "heroic medicine", including bloodletting (venesection), intestinal purging (calomel), vomiting (tartar emetic), profuse sweating (diaphoretics) and blistering? These medical treatments were well-intentioned, and often well-accepted by the medical community, but were actually harmful to the patient.

• ...Thalidomide is a drug that was sold during the late 1950s and 1960s to pregnant women as an antiemetic? It was later found to be teratogenic, causing amelia and phocomelia. However, it is still used for other indications such as for leprosy and multiple myeloma, with close regulation through the System for Thalidomide Education and Prescribing Safety (STEPS) program.

Quotes

• "When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra.” Theodore Woodward, MD PhD, University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine.
• "We should not encourage the medical student to while away his time in the labyrinths of Chemistry and Physiology.” - Harvard Medical School professor, 1871.
• "If I had my way I'd make health catching instead of disease.” - Robert Ingersoll
  Quotes archive

Medicine topics

Anatomy List of anatomical topics Anatomists Animal anatomy History of anatomy Human anatomy Embryology Organs Tissues	Physicians Medical education Dentists Dermatologists Endocrinologists Pathologists Pediatricians Surgeons	Medical treatments Cancer treatments Psychiatric treatments Radiobiology Surgery Therapy	Pharmacology ATC codes Medicinal chemistry Medicinal plants Pharmacodynamics Pharmacologists
History of medicine List of epidemics Heroic medicine Prehistoric medicine History of traditional Chinese medicine History of cancer chemotherapy Islamic medicine Medical museums Medicine in ancient Greece Timeline of antibiotics Timeline of medicine and medical technology Timeline of vaccines	Diseases and disorders Autoimmune Blood disorders Cardiovascular Congenital Cutaneous Genetic Infectious Neurological Organ disorders	Medical equipment or Medical Technology Anesthetic equipment Dental equipment Drug delivery devices Implants Medical imaging Medical testing equipment Medical pumps Thermometers List of surgical instruments	First aid Cardiopulmonary resuscitation Emergency action principles Emergency medical technician First aid kit Recovery position Tourniquet Wound

WikiProjects

• Abortion
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• Alternative medicine
• Anatomy
• Deaf
• Dentistry
• Genetics
• Health and fitness
• First aid
• Medicine: our main project!
  • Cardiology
  • Dermatology
  • Emergency medicine and EMS
  • Gastroenterology
  • Hematology-oncology
  • Medical Genetics
  • Nephrology
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  • Pulmonology
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  • Reproductive medicine
• Microbiology
  • Viruses
• Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • Cell Signaling
• National Health Service
• Neuroscience
• Nursing
• Pharmacology
  • Psychedelics, Dissociatives and Deliriants
• Psychology
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• Sexology and sexuality
• Veterinary Medicine

Things you can do

Here are some things you can do:

• Wikify: British Pharmacopoeia, Doctor-patient relationship, Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, Healthy diet, Osteoblastoma, Paramedicine, Podiatry
• Expand: Ancient Roman Medicine, Bioethics, Chimera (genetics), Forensic pathology, Gynaecology, Health care system, Insanity, Medical education in the United Kingdom, Medical ethics, Medical microbiology, Medical school, Meningitis, Monounsaturated fat, Osmotherapy, Peptic ulcer, Pulmonary artery catheter, Sertoli cell, Tachycardia, Terminal illness, X chromosome
• Requests: Latin terminology in anatomy, Vascular recruitment, other Anatomy, Genetics related requested articles
• Stubs: Antidiuretic, Asymptomatic, Alkalosis, Bone density, Cervical rib, Cheek, Chyme Cushing reflex, Diuresis, Glycosuria, Merkel cell, Microalbuminuria, Nephropathy, Period prevalence, Pia mater, Renal plexus, Right bundle branch block, SOFA Score, All medical stubs...
• Participate in the Medicine Collaboration of the Week: Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Requested photographs of medical subjects

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Medline Plus

MedlinePlus is a free Web site that provides consumer health information for patients, families, and health care providers. MedlinePlus brings together quality information from the United States National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other U.S. government agencies, and health-related organizations. The U.S. National Library of Medicine produces and maintains MedlinePlus.

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