Aug 31

Written by:
31/08/2011 12:18 

Studying Biomedical Science at university means I learn a lot of long scientific names. However it kind of annoys me, that there are so many names for the same thing. For example, Heart attack is also known as a myocardial infarction, the Heimlich manoeuvre is abdominal thrusts, a platelet is also called a thrombocyte. The Krebs Cycle has three names it is also known as the citric acid cycle or TCA (tricarboxylic acid) cycle. Surely just Krebs cycle is fine.

In certain cases I understand as one term is the medical term, which generally describes the condition, cell, disease, bacteria or virus in Latin. The other term is then the common name that is not too long, and easier to say and understand, if you not in the medical profession.

However surely it is better to have the one name for a condition, and use that one, so everyone is on the same page. It is the same in chemistry, Methylbenzene used to be called Toluene, some people still call it Toluene, and so we had to learn all the old and the new names. I suppose people are used to the names they learnt; I will just have to make sure I remember them all.