diabetes insipidus

a metabolic disorder marked by a deficiency of vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone), which promotes the reabsorption of water from the kidney tubules. The patient experiences excessive thirst and excretes large amounts of urine but without the high level of sugar found in the urine of people with diabetes mellitus. See also nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

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Psychology term of the day

November 18th 2024

recessive allele

the version of a gene (see allele) whose effects are manifest only if it is carried on both members of a homologous pair of chromosomes. Hence, the trait determined by a recessive allele (the recessive trait) is apparent only in the absence of another version of that same gene (the dominant allele). The term autosomal recessive is used to describe patterns of inheritance in which characteristics are conveyed by recessive alleles. For example, Tay–Sachs disease is an autosomal recessive disorder.