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Ulcer
Sore on the skin surface or on the stomach lining.
Ultrasonography
An exam in which sound waves are bounced off tissues and the echoes are converted into a picture (sonogram).
Ultraviolet radiation
Invisible rays that are part of the energy that comes from the sun. Ultraviolet radiation can burn the skin and cause skin cancer. It is made up of two types of rays, UVA and UVB. Skin specialists recommend that people use sunscreens that block both kinds of radiation.
Ultraviolet radiation
Invisible rays that come from the sun. UV radiation can damage the skin and cause melanoma and other types of skin cancer.
UNESCO
United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
Upper GI endoscopy
Examining into the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum with an endoscope. (See also endoscopy.)
Upper limb tension test (ULTT)
Test to assess pain.
Urea
The chief product of nitrogen metabolism in mammals, excreted in the urine. Carbonyl diamide.
Urea breath test
Test used to detect Helicobacter pylori infection. The test measures breath samples for urease, an enzyme H. pylori produces.
Ureters
Two tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder.
Urethra
Narrow channel through which urine passes from the bladder out of the body.
Urge incontinence
The inability to hold urine long enough to reach a restroom.
Urgent surgery
An operation performed immediately as a result of an urgent medical condition. (See also emergency surgery.)
Urinary retention
The inability to empty the bladder.
Uterus (THE WOMB)
The uterus is a hollow, pear-shaped organ located in a woman's lower abdomen, between the bladder and the rectum, that sheds its lining each month during menstruation and in which a fertilized egg implants and grows into a fetus.
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