T

Tantrums

A tantrum is an episode of extreme anger and frustration characterized by crying, screaming, and violent body motions, including throwing things, falling to the floor, and banging one's head, hands, and feet against the floor.

Tay-Sachs Disease

Tay-Sachs disease is a genetic disorder caused by a missing enzyme that results in the accumulation of a fatty substance in the nervous system. This disease causes disability and death.

Television Habits

Television habits consist of patterns of behavior determined by the amount of time and importance individuals give to watching television broadcasts and recorded videos and DVDs.

Temperament

Individual differences in human motivation and emotion that appear early in life, usually thought to be biological in origin. Temperament is sometimes considered the biological or physiological component of personality, which refers to the sum total of the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and social dimensions of an individual.

Testicular Torsion

Testicular torsion is the twisting of a testis (testicle) such that the spermatic cord becomes twisted, cutting off blood flow to the testis.

Tetanus

Tetanus occurs when the body is infected with spores of the bacterium C. tetani.

Tetracyclines

Tetracyclines are a group of antibiotics that are useful in treatment of many bacterial infections.

Tetralogy of Fallot

Tetralogy of Fallot is a common syndrome of congenital heart defects.

Thalassemia

Thalassemia describes a group of inherited disorders characterized by reduced or absent amounts of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.

Thematic Apperception Test

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is widely used to research certain topics in psychology, such as dreams and fantasies, mate selection, the factors that motivate people's choice of occupations, and similar subjects. It is sometimes used in psychiatric evaluations to assess disordered thinking and in forensic examinations to evaluate crime suspects, even though it is not a diagnostic test.

Therapeutic Baths

Bathing the skin in a variety of preparations in order to remove crusts, scales, and old medications or to relieve inflammation and itching is called taking a therapeutic bath. The term therapeutic bath is also used to refer to various types of warm-water soaks used to speed wound healing, to apply gentle heat to sore muscles or joints, to relieve emotional stress, or to treat a variety of physical disorders ranging from sports injuries, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic sinusitis to painful menstruation and vascular disorders.

Throat Culture

A throat culture is a microbiological procedure for identifying disease-causing bacterial organisms in material taken from the throat. A throat swab will capture the causative organism in most cases and the culture will allow the specific organism to be grown in the microbiology laboratory under certain conditions.

Thumb Sucking

Thumb sucking is the childhood habit of putting the thumb in the mouth for comfort or to relieve stress.

Tics

A tic is a nonvoluntary body movement or vocal sound that is made repeatedly, rapidly, and suddenly. It has a stereotyped but nonrhythmic character.

Time-Out Procedure

Time out is a technique in which a child is removed from activity and forced to sit alone for a few minutes in order to calm down.

Toilet Training

Toilet training is the process of teaching a young child to control the bowel and bladder and use the bathroom for elimination. A child is considered to be toilet trained when he or she initiates going to the bathroom and can adjust clothing necessary to urinate or have a bowel movement.

Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is an infection and swelling of the tonsils, which are oval-shaped masses of lymph gland tissue located on both sides of the back of the throat.

Tooth Decay

Tooth decay, which is also called dental cavities or dental caries, is the destruction of the outer surface (enamel) of a tooth.

Toothache

A toothache is any pain or soreness within or around a tooth, indicating inflammation and possible infection.

TORCH Test

The TORCH test, sometimes called the TORCH panel, belongs to a category of blood tests called infectious-disease antibody titers. A titer is the serial dilution of antibodies (protein molecules or immunoglobulins produced by the immune system in response to specific disease agents) found in blood serum that determines their level of concentration.

Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is an inherited disorder of the nervous system, characterized by a variable expression of unwanted movements and noises (tics).

Toxic Shock Syndrome

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is an uncommon, but potentially serious, illness that occurs when poisonous substances (toxins) produced by bacteria enter the bloodstream. The toxins cause a type of blood poisoning that results in high fever, symptoms of shock, and potentially organ failure.

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by the one-celled parasitic organism Toxoplasma gondii. Although most individuals do not experience any symptoms, the disease can be very serious and even fatal in fetuses, newborns, and individuals with weakened immune systems.

Toys

An estimated 2.6 billion toys, including electronic toys and video games, are sold in the United States each year, according to the Toy Industry Association, Inc. Toys can support cognitive growth, development of fine motor and gross motor skills, and improve problem solving and attention.

Tracheoesophageal Fistula

Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is a birth defect in which the trachea is connected to the esophagus. In most cases, the esophagus is discontinuous (an esophageal atresia), causing immediate feeding difficulties.

Trachoma

Trachoma, also called granular conjunctivitis or Egyptian ophthalmia, is a contagious, chronic inflammation of the mucous membranes of the eyes, caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It is characterized by swelling of the eyelids, sensitivity to light, and eventual scarring of the conjunctiva and cornea of the eye.

Transposition of the Great Arteries

Transposition of the great arteries (TGA) is a birth defect causing a fatal condition in which there is a reversal, or switch, in the primary connections of the two main (great) blood vessels to the heart, the aorta and pulmonary artery.

Traumatic Amputations

Traumatic amputation is the accidental severing of some or all of a body part.

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a psychiatric condition in which an individual has an uncontrollable desire to pull out his own body hair. It is generally considered to be an impulse control disorder but is sometimes classified as either a subtype or variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).