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Nabothian cyst
A mucus-filled cyst of the cervix.
Natural childbirth
Labor and childbirth with minimal or no medical intervention including drugs
to relieve pain.
Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU, newborn intensive care unit)
An intensive
care unit that cares for high risk newborn babies
Neonate
A newborn infant until 28 days of age.
Neonatologist
A physician who has completed specialty training in pediatrics and
additional subspecialty training in the care of newborns that are ill or require special medical care
Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)
An inflammatory disease of the bowel (enterocolitis) usually seen in premature
infants. Injured bowel may die (necrosis) and allow the intestinal
contents to leak into the abdominal cavity causing severe infection which can be
fatal.
Symptoms include lethargy (sluggishness) and feeding intolerance. The
abdomen may appear swollen, and the infant will often pass bloody stools.
Although the cause of NEC is unclear an infectious agent is suspected.
Neural-tube defect (NTD)
A general term for birth defects caused by incomplete closure of the
cylinder shaped structure, the neural tube, which gives rise to both the
brain and spinal cord.
Closure of the neural tube occurs from the middle of the neural groove and
progresses toward the ends of the tube. Closure of the end towards the head
(cranial) occurs around day 24 and closure of end towards the lower end of
the body (caudal) occurs about day 26.
Failure of the cranial end to close results in lack of a complete brain (anencephaly) . Failure of the caudal end to close results in
an open spinal cord (spina bifida).
Neural tube defects usually cause elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein levels
detectable in
the mother's blood and may be seen using sonogram.
Nevus
A general term that refers to a pigmented lesion of the skin for example a
mole or birthmark.
Nonstress Test (NST)
A method of testing fetal well-being. The study is performed by making a graphical recording of the fetal heart rate
using an electronic monitor. The test is considered normal (reactive) if there are two or more fetal
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heart rate accelerations that peak (but do not necessarily remain) at least 15 beats per minute above the baseline
and last 15 seconds from baseline to baseline within a 20-minute period with or
without fetal movement discernible by the woman.
The nonstress test applies no stress to the mother
or fetus. In contrast, the contraction stress test (CST) records the fetal heart rate in response to induced mild
contractions of the uterus. The CST tests uteroplacental function whereas the
NST tests the fetal condition. |
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