Glossary

A glossary of terms used on this wiki.

B

 * Basal is a term used by diabetics and health care professionals to describe a low, continuous dosage of insulin intended to "cover" the glucose output of the liver. This works together with a bolus of insulin, which is a dosage of insulin intended to "cover" a meal or to make a large glucose level correction.


 * Bolus is a large dose of a medication that's given (usually intravenously) to raise blood-level concentrations to a therapeutic level. Diabetics and health care professionals use "bolus" to describe a dosage of fast-acting insulin intended to "cover" a meal -- as opposed to basal, which is a dose of slow-acting insulin intended to "cover" the glucose output of the liver.

H

 * Hormone: A hormone is a chemical produced by the body that affects the function of a specific organ or tissue. Examples of hormones include insulin, glucagon and somatostatin.


 * Hyperosmolarity: See Osmolarity.

M

 * mg/dL is a term of measurement, meaning milligrams per deciliter. In the United States it is used to describe the amount of glucose in a person's bloodstream.


 * mmol/L is a term of measurement, meaning millimoles per liter. This "world standard" measurement is used to describe the amount of glucose in a person's bloodstream.

O

 * Obesity is the condition of being unusually overweight. An obese person is more prone to acquire diabetes.
 * Osmolarity is a measure of the concentration of active particles in a solution; in biochemistry an osmole is the amount of any substance that comes apart in a solution to form one mole of active particles. In the context of diabetes, osmolarity most often refers to the concentration of glucose in the blood, so hyperosmolarity is another way of referring to high blood glucose.

S

 * Saccharin is an artificial sweetener.
 * Subcutaneous means under the skin, and is used to refer to injections with a syringe.

V

 * Vein is a blood vessel that carries blood to the heart.