Acute – a short sharp illness that may be severe but from which most people will recover in a few weeks without lasting effects.
Benign – a mild condition or disease that is not life-threatening.
Bile – a yellow/green fluid made by the liver containing chemicals to help digest foods containing fat and cholesterol, as well as waste products for removal (excretion) via the bowel.
Carbohydrate – a substance that provide energy or fuel for your body. ‘Simple’ carbohydrates are sugars, as found in fruit, honey and jam. ‘Complex’ carbohydrates arestarches, as found in bread, rice and potatoes.
Chromosome – a single, long molecule of DNA that holds our genes, contained within the nucleus of a cell.
Chronic – an illness that lasts a long time (more than six months), possibly for the rest of a person’s life.
DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid, the chemical compound of which chromosomes are made and which contains the genetic instructions for the making of proteins in your body.
Enzyme – a substance, usually a protein, produced by the body to help speed up a chemical reaction (which can be measured with liver function tests).
Expression – the process where information encoded in a gene is converted into the structures and functions of a cell.
Haemoglobin – an iron-containing protein (metalloprotein) contained in the red blood cells. Haemoglobin is responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of your body. It is also the pigment that provides the colour of red blood cells.
Hepatic – anything relating to the liver.
Jaundice – a condition in which the whites of the eyes go yellow and in more severe cases the skin also turns yellow. This is caused by a rise ofbilirubin (containing yellow pigment), a waste product which is normally disposed of by the liver.
Metabolism – the physical and chemical processes by which food is transformed into energy. This occurs by absorbing substances and using them in the body or by removing toxins and disposing them from the body as waste product.
Mutation – an occurrence where a gene undergoes a change or variation in the base sequence of its DNA. Some mutations result in the gene no longer coding for the correct protein, or producing a reduced amount of the protein.
Protein – the active molecule in cells that determines the physical structure of the organs and tissue that make up your body. Proteins also control the biological and chemical reactions within your body.
Serum – more than half of your blood is made of plasma which carries the circulating blood cells and platelets. Normally clear or yellowish, serum is the liquid that separates from blood when clotting occurs. Many chemical tests are carried out using serum.
Syndrome – a group of symptoms occurring together to describe a specific disease or condition.
Variant – as in gene variant, a term that may be used in place of ‘mutation’ as many gene changes do not cause any disorder.