Your lungs > Children's Lung Diseases > Definitions of important words
Definitions of important words
- Abdomen - the part of the body between the chest and the groin containing stomach, bowel, liver and other organs, often called the “belly”
- Acute - sudden onset and short-lived
- Alveoli - the air sacs at the ends of the airways. These are the gas-exchanging parts of the lung, where oxygen passes from the breathing tubes (airways) to the blood stream and where the waste gas, carbon dioxide, passes from the blood stream into the airways to be breathed out.
- Apnoea - pauses in breathing, when breathing stops for more than 10 seconds
- Auto-immune diseases - also known as Connective Tissue Disorders – see later
- Bronchi or airways - this is the system of breathing tubes which starts at the windpipe and branches into smaller and smaller tubes until it ends in the alveoli. This system of airways looks like the branches or the root system of a tree
- Carbon dioxide - the waste gas produced by the body’s metabolism, is breathed out through the lungs
- Chronic - means long-term and does not imply any particular severity of a disease
- Congenital Diseases - these are abnormalities with which you are born. They are caused by abnormal development before birth.
- Connective tissues - are tissues which connect and support the structures of the body
- Diffuse - means widespread
- Expiration - breathing out
- Failure to thrive - means that the child is not growing and gaining weight at the expected rate
- Fibrosis - means scarred
- Foetus (or fetus) - means unborn baby
- Genes - are units of heredity found in all living organisms. They hold the information to build and maintain an organism's cells and them pass on to offspring
- Heredity - heredity is a process whereby a condition is passed from parents to children. In human cells there are 46 chromosomes of which one pair (XX or XY) determines sex and 22 pairs determine other functions, autosomal. You inherit one of each pair of chromosomes from each parent. If a disease is dominant, you only need one of the pair to inherit the disease and the disease will be seen in all generations. If it is recessive, you need both parts of the pair to inherit the disease. If you only have one of the pair you are a carrier and may still pass on the disease to the next generation.
- Idiopathic - means that the cause is unknown
- Immune - means the body’s defensive reaction to foreign material. The immune system is the body’s defence against invasion by foreign substances, such as bacteria and viruses. Immunity is the system with which you are able to fight a disease, particularly an infection. An immune response or allergy may also refer to the response when contact with a foreign protein (such as grass pollen) leads to the formation of antibodies and sensitized white blood cells called lymphocytes. You then become allergic to the grass pollen.
- Immunisation - is using a vaccine to protect people from getting a disease. Vaccines contain either small parts of the viruses or bacteria which cause the disease, or very small amounts of the chemicals these viruses produce. The vaccine ingredients have been treated so that they do not cause disease. When a vaccine is given, either by injection or by mouth, our bodies are stimulated to make substances called antibodies which defend us against future infections.
- Immunosuppressants - are medicines given to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ. They act by suppressing the activities of the white blood cells by reducing their numbers.
- Inborn errors of metabolism - these are rare inherited disorders caused by a defect in a single gene. While some produce relatively minor effects, others result in serious disease and even death. Metabolic disorders result from the absence or abnormality of an enzyme, leading either to an abnormal accumulation or to a deficiency of a particular substance produced in the body. To ensure a successful outcome, these conditions must be diagnosed as early as possible to avoid permanent damage.
- Inhalation - or inspiration means breathing in
- Inflammation - this is a response to injury or infection with an increase in blood flow and collection of cells and body fluids to neutralise the insult. Pain, swelling, redness and heat may be produced at the site of inflammation.
- Infant - means a baby of less than one year of age
- Lobe - the lung is divided into lobes (or sections). The right lung has 3 lobes and the left 2 lobes.
- Lymph - is a fluid containing plasma and white blood cells (lymphocytes) that bathe the tissue cells. It is collected from tissues around the body and returned to the blood by the lymphatic system
- Neonate - means newborn
- Obstructive - means narrowed or blocked
- Pulmonary - or Respiratory means concerned with the lungs and with breathing
- Respiratory distress - means great difficulty in breathing, enough to result in low blood oxygen levels
- Sputum - is coughed up (mucus, phlegm or spit)
- Stridor - is a harsh noise on breathing in, made when the upper airways are narrowed or obstructed. It is often heard in croup.
- Upper airways - refers to the air passages from either the nose or the mouth down to the windpipe
