False negative Health Dictionary

A positive test result for a condition that is not, in fact, present.... false positive

Gram’s Method is a staining procedure that separates bacteria into those that stain (positive) and those that don’t (negative). Gram-positive bugs cause such lovely things as scarlet fever, tetanus, and anthrax, while some of the gram negs can give you cholera, plague, and the clap. This is significant to the microbiologist and the pathologist; otherwise I wouldn’t worry. Still, knowing the specifics (toss in anaerobes and aerobes as well), you can impress real medical professionals with your knowledge of the secret, arcane language of medicine.... gram-positive/negative

Ternidens deminuus, an intestinal nematode of monkeys in the Old World tropics and recorded from humans in Southern Africa and Mauritius. One of the nodular worms.... false hookworm

See REPRESSED MEMORY THERAPY.... false-memory syndrome

The probability that a person with a negative test is free of the disease and is not a false negative.... predictive value negative

See denture.... false teeth

An uncommon psychological disorder, medically known as pseudocyesis, in which a woman has physical signs of pregnancy, including morning sickness, amenorrhoea (absence of periods), enlarged breasts, and abdominal swelling, but is not pregnant. The woman is convinced that she is pregnant. Treatment for false pregnancy

may involve counselling or psychotherapy. (See also conversion disorder.)... pregnancy, false

see pseudocyesis.... false pregnancy

see rib.... false rib

a physiological loop for the control of hormone production by a gland. High levels of a circulating hormone act to reduce production of the releasing factors triggering its own production, i.e. they have a negative *feedback on these trigger factors. As circulating levels of the hormone fall, the negative feedback is reduced and the releasing factor starts to be produced again, allowing the hormone level to rise again.... negative feedback loop

(in psychiatry) symptoms of schizophrenia characterized by a deficiency in or absence of some aspect of functioning, such as social withdrawal, loss of initiative, and blunted affect. Compare positive symptoms.... negative symptoms

an arthritis in which rheumatoid factor or anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) are not present in the serum. See also spondyloarthropathy.... sero-negative arthritis