Ballard Maturational Assessment
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Ballard Maturational Assessment
The Ballard Maturational Assessment, Ballard Score, or Ballard Scale is a commonly used technique of gestational age assessment. It was devised by Dr Jeanne L Ballard, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The assessment assigns a score to various criteria, the sum of all of which is then extrapolated to the gestational age of the fetus. These criteria are divided into physical and neurological criteria. This scoring allows for the estimation of age in the range of 26 weeks-44 weeks. The New Ballard Score is an extension of the above to include extremely pre-term babies i.e. up to 20 weeks. The scoring relies on the intra-uterine changes that the fetus undergoes during its maturation. Whereas the neurological criteria depend mainly upon muscle tone, the physical ones rely on anatomical changes. The neonate (less than 37 weeks of age) is in a state of physiological hypotonia. This tone increases throughout ...
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Embryonic Age
Human fertilization is the union of a human egg and sperm, occurring primarily in the ampulla of the fallopian tube. The result of this union leads to the production of a fertilized egg called a zygote, initiating embryonic development. Scientists discovered the dynamics of human fertilization in the nineteenth century. The process of fertilization involves a sperm fusing with an ovum. The most common sequence begins with ejaculation during copulation, follows with ovulation, and finishes with fertilization. Various exceptions to this sequence are possible, including artificial insemination, ''in vitro'' fertilization, external ejaculation without copulation, or copulation shortly after ovulation. Upon encountering the secondary oocyte, the acrosome of the sperm produces enzymes which allow it to burrow through the outer shell called the zona pellucida of the egg. The sperm plasma then fuses with the egg's plasma membrane, triggering the sperm head to disconnect from its flagell ...
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Scarf Sign
A scarf, plural ''scarves'', is a piece of fabric worn around the neck or head for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, religious reasons, or used to show the support for a sports club or team. They can be made in a variety of different materials such as wool, linen, silk or cotton. It is a common type of neckwear. History Scarves have been worn since ancient times. In 1350BC Ancient Egypt, Queen Nefertiti is said to have worn a tightly-woven headscarf, and the Statue of Ashurnasirpal II from the 9th century BC features the emperor wearing a shawl. In Ancient Rome, the garment was used to keep clean rather than warm. It was called a focale or ''sudarium'' (sudarium from the Latin for "sweat cloth"), and was used to wipe the sweat from the neck and face in hot weather. They were originally worn by men around their neck or tied to their belt. Historians believe that during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Cheng, scarves made of cloth were used to identify officers or ...
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Medical Scales
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others. Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, and for most of this time it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge), frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancie ...
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Neonatology
Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants, especially the ill or premature newborn. It is a hospital-based specialty, and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The principal patients of neonatologists are newborn infants who are ill or require special medical care due to prematurity, low birth weight, intrauterine growth restriction, congenital malformations (birth defects), sepsis, pulmonary hypoplasia or birth asphyxia. Historical developments Though high infant mortality rates were recognized by the medical community at least as early as the 1860s, advances in modern neonatal intensive care have led to a significant decline in infant mortality in the modern era. This has been achieved through a combination of technological advances, enhanced understanding of newborn physiology, improved sanitation practices, and development of specialized units for neonatal intensive care. Around the mid-19th ce ...
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Apgar Score
The Apgar score is a quick way for doctors to evaluate the health of all newborns at 1 and 5 minutes after birth and in response to Neonatal resuscitation, resuscitation. It was originally developed in 1952 by an anesthesiologist at Columbia University, Virginia Apgar, as way to address the need for a standardized way to evaluate infants shortly after birth. Today, the categories developed by Apgar used to assess the health of a newborn remain largely the same as in 1952, though the way they are implemented and used has evolved over the years. The score is determined through the evaluation of the newborn in five criteria: activity (tone), pulse, grimace, appearance, and respiration. For each criterion, newborns can receive a score from 0 to 2. The list of criteria is a backronym of Apgar's surname. History and development of the Apgar score Apgar originally thought up the criteria as way to address the lack of a standardized way to assess the need for assistive breathing proced ...
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Genitals
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, are called the ''primary sex organs''. All others are called ''secondary sex organs'', divided between the external sex organs—the genitals or external genitalia, visible at birth in both sexes—and the internal sex organs. Mosses, ferns, and some similar plants have gametangia for reproductive organs, which are part of the gametophyte. The flowers of flowering plants produce pollen and egg cells, but the sex organs themselves are inside the gametophytes within the pollen and the ovule. Coniferous plants likewise produce their sexually reproductive structures within the gametophytes contained within the cones and pollen. The cones and pollen are not themselves sexual organs. Terminology The ''primary sex organs'' are the gonads, a p ...
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Breast Bud
Thelarche, also known as breast budding, is the onset of secondary breast development, often representing the beginning of pubertal development. It is the stage at which male and female breasts differentiate due to variance in hormone levels; however, some males have a condition in which they develop breasts, termed gynecomastia. Thelarche typically occurs between the ages of 8 and 13 years with significant variation between individuals. However, the initial growth of breast tissue occurs during fetal development regardless of sex. Usually, females experience menarche about two years after thelarche has begun, with complete breast development from thelarche to adult breasts, taking between 2 and 4 years. Moreover, puberty is considered delayed if breast development does not start before age 13 or if a female has not had her first period (menarche) within three years of thelarche. Additionally, secondary breast development occurring before the age of 7 or 8 years could be a sign of ...
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Lanugo
Lanugo is very thin, soft, usually unpigmented, downy hair that is sometimes found on the body of a fetus or newborn. It is the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles, and it usually appears around sixteen weeks of gestation and is abundant by week twenty. It is normally shed before birth, around seven or eight months of gestation, but is sometimes present at birth. It disappears on its own within a few weeks. It is replaced by hair covering the same surfaces, which is called vellus hair. This hair is thinner and more difficult to see. The more visible hair that persists into adulthood is called terminal hair. It forms in specific areas and is hormone-dependent. The term is from the Latin ''lana'', meaning "wool." Humans Fetal development During human development, the lanugo grows on fetuses as a normal part of gestation, but it is usually shed and replaced by vellus hair at about thirty-three to thirty-six weeks of gestational age. As the lanugo is shed from the ...
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Skin
Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other cuticle, animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different cellular differentiation, developmental origin, structure and chemical composition. The adjective cutaneous means "of the skin" (from Latin ''cutis'' 'skin'). In mammals, the skin is an organ (anatomy), organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of ectodermal tissue (biology), tissue and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments, and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Skin (including cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues) plays crucial roles in formation, structure, and function of extraskeletal apparatus such as horns of bovids (e.g., cattle) and rhinos, cervids' antlers, giraffids' ossicones, armadillos' osteoderm, and os penis/os clitoris. All mammals have som ...
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Heel To Ear
The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted on the heel during gait, and especially the stance phase when the heel contacts the ground, the sole of the foot is covered by a layer of subcutaneous connective tissue up to 2 cm thick (under the heel). This tissue has a system of pressure chambers that both acts as a shock absorber and stabilises the sole. Each of these chambers contains fibrofatty tissue covered by a layer of tough connective tissue made of collagen fibers. These septa ("walls") are firmly attached both to the plantar aponeurosis above and the sole's skin below. The sole of the foot is one of the most highly vascularized regions of the body surface, and the dense system of blood vessels further stabilize the septa. The Achilles tendon is the muscle tendon of t ...
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Popliteal Angle
Popliteal refers to anatomical structures located in the back of the knee: * Popliteal artery *Popliteal vein * Popliteal fossa *Popliteal lymph nodes *Popliteus muscle The popliteus muscle in the leg is used for unlocking the knees when walking, by laterally rotating the femur on the tibia during the closed chain portion of the bipedal gait cycle, gait cycle (one with the foot in contact with the ground). In op ... *Popliteal nerves * Popliteal pterygium syndrome {{disambig Lower limb anatomy ...
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Fetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal development begins from the ninth week after fertilization (or eleventh week gestational age) and continues until birth. Prenatal development is a continuum, with no clear defining feature distinguishing an embryo from a fetus. However, a fetus is characterized by the presence of all the major body organs, though they will not yet be fully developed and functional and some not yet situated in their final anatomical location. Etymology The word ''fetus'' (plural ''fetuses'' or '' feti'') is related to the Latin '' fētus'' ("offspring", "bringing forth", "hatching of young") and the Greek "φυτώ" to plant. The word "fetus" was used by Ovid in Metamorphoses, book 1, line 104. The predominant British, Irish, and Commonwealth spelling is '' ...
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