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.

Content of this portal: Selected article | Selected picture | Medicine WikiNews | Did you know... | Quotes | Medicine topics | Wikiprojects | Things you can do | Categories | Related portals | Associated Wikimedia

Selected Article

Keratoconus (from Greek: kerato- horn, cornea; and konos cone), is a degenerative non-inflammatory disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal, gradual curve. Keratoconus can cause substantial distortion of vision, with multiple images, streaking and sensitivity to light all often reported by the patient. Though frequently thought of as a rare condition, keratoconus is the most common dystrophy of the cornea, affecting around one person in a thousand, and it seems to occur equally in all ethnic groups worldwide. It is typically diagnosed in the patient's adolescent years and attains its most severe state in the twenties and thirties. (More...)

Selected Picture

Cartoon of the alpha intercalated cell, showing the apical proton pump and the basolateral band 3 (kAE1)

Photo credit: public domain (by Felix-felix)

Medicine WikiNews

• • November 22: Saudi Arabia fears Hajj swine flu outbreak as four pilgrims die
  • November 22: Canadian loses health benefits after company finds joyful Facebook pictures
  • November 21: 40th H1N1 swine flu death recorded in Scotland
  • November 20: UK family wins asbestos payout in death of railway worker

More articles about Health on WikiNews • Archive

Did you know...

• ...the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease as a distinct entity were first identified by Emil Kraepelin, and the characteristic neuropathology was first observed by Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, in 1906? In this sense, the disease was co-discovered by Kraepelin and Alzheimer, who worked in Kraepelin's laboratory. Because of the overwhelming importance Kraepelin attached to finding the neuropathological basis of psychiatric disorders, Kraepelin made the generous decision that the disease would bear Alzheimer's name.

• ...bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity?

• In 2006, according to the World Health Organization, at least 171 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes?

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
• Aids
• 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
  • Neurology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Pathology
  • Psychiatry
  • Pulmonology
  • Radiology
  • Reproductive medicine
• Microbiology
  • Viruses
• Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • Cell Signaling
• National Health Service
• Neuroscience
• Nursing
• Pharmacology
  • Psychedelics, Dissociatives and Deliriants
• Psychology
  • Psychopathology
• 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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Categories

Medicine

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Health

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Biology

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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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Associated Wikimedia

Health portal on Wikinews	Medicine on Wikiquote	Health science bookshelf on Wikibooks	Hippocrates on Wikisource	Medicine category on Wikicommons	Wikiversity School of Medicine
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