| familial Mediterranean fever |
| An inherited disease whose chief symptoms are recurrent fevers and severe abdominal pain due to inflammation of the abdominal cavity. Other symptoms include arthritis, chest pain from inflammation of the lung cavity, and skin rashes.
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| families |
| 1. In taxonomy, term applied to subcategories within orders. 2. Term applied to a group of similar things, such as languages, chromosomes, etc. |
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| fats |
| 1. Triglycerides that are solid at room temperature. 2. A legendary pool player from Minnesota? |
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| feces |
| Semisolid material containing undigested foods, bacteria, bilirubin, and water that is produced in the large intestine and eliminated from the body. Frequently noted as "hitting the fan". |
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| femur |
| The upper leg bone. |
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| fermentation |
| The synthesis of ATP in the absence of oxygen through glycolysis. |
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| fertilization |
| The fusion of two gametes (sperm and ovum) to produce a zygote that develops into a new individual with a genetic heritage derived from both parents. Strictly speaking, fertilization can be divided into the fusion of the cells (plasmogamy) and the fusion of nuclei (karyogamy). |
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| fibrous root |
| A root system found in monocots in which branches develop from the adventitious roots, forming a system in which all roots are about the same size and length. |
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| filaments |
| Slender, thread-like stalks that make up the stamens of a þower; topped by the anthers. |
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| filter feeders |
| Organisms such as sponges that feed by removing food from water that Þlters through their body. |
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| filtration |
| The removal of water and solutes from the blood; occurs in the glomerulus of the nephron. |
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| first law of thermodynamics (conservation) |
| Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it changes from one form to another. |
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| fitness |
| A measure of an individual's ability to survive and reproduce; the chance that an individual will leave more offspring in the next generation than other individuals. |
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| flagella |
| long, whip-like locomotion organelles found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells; sing.: flagellum. Eukaryotic flagella have an internal arrangement of microtubules in a 9 + 2 array. |
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| flame cell |
| A specialized cell at the blind end of a nephridium that Þlters body þuids. |
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| flowers |
| The reproductive structures in angiosperm sporophytes where gametophytes are generated. |
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| fluid feeders |
| Animals such as aphids, ticks, and mosquitoes that pierce the body of a host plant or animal and obtain food from ingesting its þuids. |
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| fluid-mosaic |
| Widely accepted model of the plasma membrane in which proteins (the mosaic) are embedded in lipids (the þuid). |
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| fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) |
| A process which vividly paints chromosomes or portions of chromosomes with fluorescent molecules. This technique is useful for identifying chromosomal abnormalities and gene mapping.
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| follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) |
| A hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary that promotes gamete formation in both males and females. |
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| follicles (ovary) |
| Structures in the ovary consisting of a developing egg surrounded by a layer of follicle cells. |
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| follicles (thyroid) |
| Spherical structures that make up the thyroid gland; contain a gel-like colloid surrounded by a single layer of cells, which secrete thyroglobulin into the colloid. |
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| fontanels |
| Membranous areas in the human cranial bones that do not form bony structures until the child is 14 to 18 months old; know as "soft spots." |
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| food chain |
| The simplest representation of energy þow in a community. At the base is energy stored in plants, which are eaten by small organisms, which in turn are eaten by progressively larger organisms; the food chain is an oversimpliÞcation in that most animals do not eat only one type of organism. |
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| food pyramid |
| A way of depicting energy þow in an ecosystem; shows producers (mostly plants or other phototrophs) on the Þrst level and consumers on the higher levels. |
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| food web |
| A complex network of feeding interrelations among species in a natural ecosystem; more accurate and more complex depiction of energy þow than a food chain. |
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| foraminifera |
| Single-celled protists that secrete a shell or test. Accumulations of the shells of dead foraminifera and other microscopic sea creatures form chalk deposits. |
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| forebrain |
| The part of the brain that consists of the diencephalon and cerebrum. |
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| fossil |
| 1. The remains or traces of prehistoric life preserved in rocks of the Earth's crust. 2. Any evidence of past life. |
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| fossil fuels |
| Fuels that are formed in the Earth from plant or animal remains; e.g., coal, petroleum, and natural gas. |
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| fossil record |
| 1. The observed remains of once-living organisms taken as a whole. 2. the album Meet the Beatles. |
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| founder effect |
| The difference in gene pools between an original population and a new population founded by one or a few individuals randomly separated from the original population, as when an island population is founded by one or a few individuals; often accentuates genetic drift. |
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| fovea |
| The area of the eye in which the cones are concentrated. |
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| Fragile X syndrome |
| After Down syndrome, the second most frequent genetic cause of mental retardation. The disorder is one of a group of diseases that results from an unusual kind of mutation: a repeating sequence of three letters of the DNA code, called a triplet repeat or trinucleotide repeat. In Fragile X, the repeating triplet is CGG, cytosine-guanine-guanine, in a gene on the X chromosome. The larger the number of repeats they possess, the more likely patients are to be seriously impaired. People who possess just a few repeats are carriers but often not affected.
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| freshwater biome |
| The aquatic biome consisting of water containing fewer salts than the waters in the marine biome; divided into two zones: running waters (rivers, streams) and standing waters (lakes, ponds). |
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| frontal lobe |
| The lobe of the cerebral cortex that is responsible for motor activity, speech, and thought processes. |
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| fruit |
| A ripened ovary wall produced from a flower. |
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| fucoxanthin |
| Brown accessory pigment found in and characteristic of the brown algae. |
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| Fungi |
| Nonmobile, heterotrophic, mostly multicellular eukaryotes, including yeasts and mushrooms. |
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