What makes a good definition? There are five guidelines: • A good definition describes all the essential attributes of the definiendum, the thing being defined. To define something (Latin definire) […]
Jeff Aronson’s Words
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Corticosteroids
Last week I discussed the many different compounds that have a steroid skeleton at their core. However, in clinical parlance we use the term “steroids” to refer almost exclusively to […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . A spectrum of steroids
Last week I discussed the origins of the words “sterol” and “steroid”. Today we use the term “steroids” to refer almost exclusively to endogenous compounds that are secreted in the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Sterols and steroids
One might expect that if the definition of a technical term requires the use of other technical terms, the latter should have been in existence before the former, the definiendum […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . More medical Japanese
The 2018 quadrennial meeting of IUPHAR, the International Union of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, prompted me last week to reflect on Japanese words that have entered our medical vocabulary, specifically […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Medical Japanese
A recent visit to Japan for the quadrennial meeting of IUPHAR, the International Union of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, prompted me to reflect on Japanese words that have entered the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Caves and diseases
The recent rescue of 12 Thai boys and their coach from an underground cave, two and a half miles and several hours from the surface, had the world enthralled. Having […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Saintly medical specialties
From the earliest times religion has influenced medicine and vice versa. For example, if obeying a religious law compromises one’s health, the law may sometimes be broken. Jewish law dictates […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Circle squarers and St Vitus
As I discussed last week, pi (π) is a transcendental number, 3.1415926535…, whose decimal expansion never ends. It is therefore impossible to do what ancient mathematicians were keen to do, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . The Days of Pi
Earlier this year, my statistician colleagues invited me to join them for lunch on Pi Day. As resolved by the US Congress in 2009, after informal celebrations since 1988, Pi […]