Human health and medicine

Caldwell Esselstyn

Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., American surgeon and 1956 Olympic rowing gold medalist at Cleveland Clinic, known for the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease plant-based, oil-free diet program and its coronary artery disease studies.

Calendar-based contraceptive methods

Calendar-based contraceptive methods, including the calendar rhythm method and Standard Days Method, predict fertile days from menstrual cycle dates; typical-use failure is about 24% per year, and regular 26-32 day cycles are required.

Calf (leg)

Calf (leg): posterior lower-leg muscle group of gastrocnemius, soleus, and plantaris (triceps surae) forming the Achilles tendon; plantarflexion, venous pump, strains, tennis leg.

CalFresh

CalFresh is California's version of SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), providing monthly EBT food benefits to low-income residents; 5.5 million Californians participate, with income limits by household size and 2025-26 H.R. 1 federal changes.

California encephalitis

California encephalitis: rare mosquito-borne viral encephalitis from California encephalitis virus, prototype of the California serogroup orthobunyaviruses, isolated 1943 in Kern County; La Crosse virus dominates pediatric cases.

California Sober

California sober, or Cali sober, is an informal recovery approach of abstaining from alcohol and hard drugs while using cannabis, sometimes psychedelics; inspired by harm reduction, popularized by Demi Lovato's song, and contested by 12-step programs and clinicians.

Calisthenics

Calisthenics: bodyweight resistance training (Greek kalos + sthenos, beauty and strength) using push-ups, squats, planks, and pull-ups with little or no equipment; distinct from the Australian artistic team sport and street workout competition.

Calley Means

Calley Means, American health entrepreneur, TrueMed co-founder, and senior HHS adviser under RFK Jr.; ex-food/pharma consultant, Good Energy co-author with sister Casey Means, key MAHA architect.

CALLIOPE study

CALLIOPE (NCT07099456) is a prospective, multicenter observational study from Sapienza University of Rome assessing fertility and sexual function in adults with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, including semen analysis, TART ultrasound, and modified-release hydrocortisone effects.

Callus

Callus (tyloma, callosity): diffuse thickened, hardened skin from repeated friction or pressure, usually on soles or palms; painless, unlike the focal painful corn (heloma), and a preulcerous sign in diabetes and PAD.

Caloric reflex test

Caloric reflex test (caloric test, bithermal caloric testing): vestibular test irrigating the ear canal with warm and cool water or air to evoke nystagmus from each lateral semicircular canal separately; gold standard for unilateral vestibular hypofunction, introduced by Barany in 1906.

Calorie restriction

Calorie restriction (CR): reducing daily calorie intake below habitual levels without malnutrition. Discovered by McCay in 1935; extends lifespan in rodents, shows mixed survival results in rhesus monkeys, and is tested in humans by the CALERIE trial.

Calu-1

Calu-1 (CVCL_0608, ATCC HTB-54) is a human lung squamous carcinoma cell line established in 1971 from a pleural metastasis; KRAS G12C homozygous, TP53-deleted, erlotinib-resistant NSCLC model.

Cambodian cuisine

Cambodian (Khmer) cuisine, the food tradition of Cambodia, based on rice, freshwater fish, prahok fermented fish paste, and kroeung spice paste; signature dishes include fish amok, kuy teav, and lok lak.

CAMDS trial

CAMDS trial: a Dutch randomized simulation trial (NCT03812861, Koers et al., JAMA Surgery 2020) testing paper-based cognitive aids for deteriorating surgical ward patients; aids cut omitted critical management steps from 33% to 10%.

Cameron Health

Cameron Health, Inc., a San Clemente, California medical device company founded in 2001, developed the first commercially available subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD System) and was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2012 for $150 million plus milestones.

Camicinal

Camicinal (GSK962040) is GlaxoSmithKline's investigational small-molecule, selective motilin receptor agonist for gastroparesis. It accelerated gastric emptying in healthy volunteers and critically ill patients but failed its Phase 2 diabetic gastroparesis symptom endpoint and was not advanced to approval.

CaMKII in synaptic plasticity

CaMKII in synaptic plasticity: calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, main postsynaptic density kinase. Autophosphorylation at Thr286 sustains activity after calcium entry through NMDA receptors, making it necessary and sufficient for LTP induction and a candidate molecular memory switch.

Camlipixant

Camlipixant (BLU-5937, GSK5464714) is GSK's investigational selective P2X3 receptor antagonist for refractory chronic cough, developed by BELLUS Health; SOOTHE phase 2b cut cough frequency ~34%, but CALM-2 phase 3 missed its endpoint.

CAMOS syndrome

CAMOS syndrome, also known as SCAR5, is a rare autosomal recessive disorder causing congenital ataxia, severe intellectual disability, optic atrophy, and skin vessel abnormalities, described in five children from a Lebanese family.

Camostat

Camostat (camostat mesilate, also FOY-305, sold as Foipan) is a synthetic serine protease inhibitor approved in Japan and South Korea for chronic pancreatitis and postoperative reflux esophagitis.

CAMP trial

The Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) trial was an NHLBI-sponsored multicenter randomized trial in 1,041 children aged 5-12 with mild-to-moderate asthma, testing budesonide, nedocromil, or placebo plus albuterol; neither drug improved lung growth, budesonide improved control, and a small persistent height reduction occurred.

Campomelia, Cumming type

Campomelia, Cumming type (Cumming syndrome, OMIM 211890, ORPHA1318) is an autosomal recessive lethal congenital disorder with bowed long bones in all four limbs plus polycystic kidneys, polysplenia, cervical lymphocele, and other multivisceral anomalies.

Campomelic dysplasia

Campomelic dysplasia (CD), also called campomelic dwarfism, is a rare autosomal dominant SOX9-related skeletal dysplasia with bowed long bones, Pierre Robin sequence, 11 rib pairs, and frequent 46,XY sex reversal; about 10% survive the neonatal period.

Camptodactyly of fingers

Camptodactyly of fingers is a rare genetic condition in which a finger, usually the little finger, is permanently bent at the middle joint and cannot fully straighten.

Camptodactyly-tall stature-scoliosis-hearing loss syndrome

CATSHL syndrome (camptodactyly-tall stature-scoliosis-hearing loss syndrome, OMIM 610474) is a rare FGFR3 loss-of-function disorder causing finger contractures, overgrowth, scoliosis, and sensorineural hearing loss.

Campylobacteriosis

Gastroenteritis due to Campylobacter (campylobacteriosis), mainly C. jejuni, is the world's most common bacterial gastroenteritis: foodborne, usually from poultry, with bloody diarrhea, fever, and rare Guillain-Barré complications.

Camrelizumab

Camrelizumab (AiRuiKa, SHR-1210), Jiangsu Hengrui's humanized anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody; first approved in China 2019 for relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma, later nine NMPA indications; not FDA approved.

Camurati-Engelmann disease

Camurati-Engelmann disease, also called progressive diaphyseal dysplasia, is a rare autosomal dominant bone disorder causing limb pain, waddling gait, and muscle weakness, usually caused by TGFB1 mutations.