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APESCH8
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| health | a state of physical and emotional well-being; the absence of disease or ailment |
| disease | a deleterious change in the body's condition in response to destabilizing factors, such as nutrition, chemicals, or biological agents |
| morbidity | illness or disease |
| mortality | death rate in a population; the probability of dying |
| environmental health | the science of external factors that cause disease, including elements of the natural, social, cultural, and technological worlds in which we live |
| disability adjusted life years (DALYs) | a measure of premature deaths and losses due to illnesses and disabilities in a population |
| pathogens | an organism that produces disease in a host organism, disease being an alterationof one or more metabolic functions in response to the presence of the organism |
| emergent diseases | a new disease or one that has been absent for at least 20 years |
| ecological diseases | emergent diseases (new or rarely seen diseases) that cause devastating epidemics among wildlife and domestic animals |
| conservation medicine | a medical filed that attemtps to understand how environmental changes threaten our own helath as well as that of the natural communities on which we depend for ecological services |
| toxins | poisonous chemicals that react with specific cellular components to kill cells or to alter growth or development in undesirable ways; often harmful, even in dilute concentrations |
| allergens | substances that activate the immune system |
| antigens | chemical compounds to which antibodies bind |
| sick building syndrome | headaches, allergies, chronic fatigue and other symptoms caused by poorly vented indoor air contaminated by pathogens or toxins |
| endocrine disrupters | chemicals that disrupt normal hormone functions |
| neurotoxins | toxic substances, such as lead or mercury, that specifically poison nerve cells |
| mutagens | agents, such as chemicals or radiation, that damage or alter genetic material (DNA) in cells |
| teratogens | chemicals or other factors that specifically cause abnormalities during embryonic growth and development |
| fetal alcohol syndrome | a tragic set of permanent physical and mental and behavioral birth defects that result when mothers drink alcohol during pregnancy |
| carcinognes | substances that cause cancer |
| cancer | invasive, out-of-control cell growth that results in malignant tumors |
| bioaccumulation | the selective absorption and concentration of molecules by cells |
| biomagnification | increase in concentration of certain stable chemicals (for example, heavy metals or fat-soluble pesticides) in successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web |
| persistent organic pollutants (POPs) | chemical compounds that persist in the environment and retain biological acticity for long times |
| body burden | the sum total of all persistent toxins in our body that we accumulate from our air, water, diet, and surroundings |
| synergism | an interaction in which one substance exacerbates the effects of another. the sum of the interaction is greater than the parts |
| LD50 | a chemical dose lethal to 50% of its test population |
| acute effects | sudden, severe effects |
| chronic effects | long-lasting results of exposure to a toxin; can be a permanent change caused by a single, acute exposure, or a continuous, low-level exposure |
| risk | probability that something undesirable will happen as a consequence of exposure to a hazard |
Created by:
AlanaR
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