Human health and medicine

Nursing process

The nursing process is a systematic five-step framework, assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation (ADPIE), that nurses use to organize patient-centered care; an extended ADOPIE version adds outcome identification.

Nursing research

Nursing research: systematic inquiry building nursing's knowledge base, from Florence Nightingale's 1850s Crimean War work through the 1952 journal Nursing Research, grand nursing theories, and NIH's NINR.

Nursing Services

Nursing Services: the organization and administration of nursing activities (MeSH D009739, 1978). Covers staffing models, care delivery, workforce planning; 29.8 million nurses globally in 2023.

Nursing simulation

Nursing simulation is an education method that reproduces clinical situations with manikins, standardized patients, or virtual scenarios so nursing students can learn and be assessed on skills.

Nuss procedure

The Nuss procedure, or MIRPE, is a minimally invasive surgery for pectus excavatum that pushes the sunken chest outward with a bar placed under the sternum.

NUT midline carcinoma

NUT midline carcinoma, now called NUT carcinoma, is a rare aggressive squamous cell cancer driven by NUTM1 gene fusions, usually BRD4-NUT, arising along the body midline with median survival under one year.

Nutcracker syndrome

Nutcracker syndrome: symptomatic compression of the left renal vein between the aorta and superior mesenteric artery, causing hematuria, flank pain, and proteinuria; treated conservatively or by LRV transposition, stenting, or autotransplantation.

Nutraceutical

Nutraceutical: term coined 1989 by Stephen DeFelice for foods or food-derived compounds, such as omega-3 supplements, claimed to prevent or treat disease; no agreed definition, no US regulatory category, marketed as dietary supplements.

Nutrition

Nutrition: the science of nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, water) needed for health, plus WHO dietary guidance, global malnutrition figures, dietary guidelines, and history from Lind's 1747 scurvy trial onward.

Nutrition facts label

Nutrition Facts label, the FDA-mandated per-serving nutrition panel on U.S. packaged foods, created by the 1990 NLEA, debuted 1994, updated 2016 with added sugars and vitamin D; front-of-package Nutrition Info box proposed 2025.

Nutrition Policy

Nutrition policy comprises government guidelines, laws, and programs for food supply and healthy diets, from the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (10th edition, 2025-2030) to WHO global reviews and food-based dietary guidelines in over 100 countries.

Nutrition research

Nutrition research studies how diet, foods, and nutrients affect health, using cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, and mechanistic work; RCT and cohort estimates agree on average (ratio of risk ratios 1.09) but differ when exposures mismatch.

Nutrition screening

Nutrition screening is a rapid clinical process that identifies malnourished or at-risk patients and decides who needs full assessment, required within 24 hours of hospital admission.

Nutrition Therapy

Nutrition therapy, or medical nutrition therapy (MNT), is a personalized nutrition-based treatment plan, typically delivered by a registered dietitian nutritionist, for conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, malnutrition, obesity, and cancer; Medicare Part B covers it for diabetes and renal disease.

Nutritional Requirements

Nutritional requirements: amounts of food substances an organism needs for healthy life, quantified via reference values such as the US-Canada RDA/DRI, WHO/FAO RNI, and EFSA PRI, set at roughly two standard deviations above the average requirement.

Nutritional Status

Nutritional status, also called nutrition status (MeSH D009752), is the body's state relative to nutrient consumption and utilization, assessed through anthropometric, biochemical, clinical, and dietary methods and monitored by WHO, FAO, and UNICEF surveillance systems.

Nutritional Support

Nutritional support (artificial feeding) is providing nutrients by enteral tube feeding or intravenous parenteral nutrition to patients who cannot eat enough; MeSH D018529, introduced 1995, excludes fluid therapy.

Nutritionist

Nutritionist: a professional applying food and nutrition science to promote health and treat disease; distinct from the legally protected title dietitian in the US, UK, and Australia, but regulated in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

NUZ-001 (monepantel)

NUZ-001 is the clinical code for (S)-monepantel, a veterinary anthelmintic repurposed by Neurizon Therapeutics as an investigational amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug, now in Phase 2/3 testing.

Oct 20, 2026

Nyagrodhadi curna

Nyagrodhadi curna (Nyagrodhādi cūrṇa), also spelled Nyagrodhadi churna, is an Ayurvedic polyherbal powder of Ficus benghalensis bark plus 27 equal-quantity ingredients, listed in the Ayurvedic Formulary of India (AFI000141, 1–3 g) for prameha and madhumeha (type 2 diabetes).

Nyagrodhadi kvatha curna (nyagrodhadi kvatha cirna)

Nyagrodhādi kvātha cūrṇa (Nyagrodhadi Kvatha Curna), AFI 4:16, is an Ayurvedic decoction powder of 19 astringent bark ingredients led by Ficus benghalensis, dosed at 48 g, used for bleeding, ulcers, thirst, obesity, and bone fracture.

Nyctalopia

Nyctalopia (night blindness) is impaired dim-light vision from subnormal rod function, classically the earliest sign of vitamin A deficiency via rhodopsin loss; other causes include retinitis pigmentosa and congenital stationary night blindness.

NyQuil

NyQuil is Vicks' (Procter & Gamble) over-the-counter nighttime cold and flu medicine, introduced in the mid-1960s as the first multi-symptom nighttime cold syrup, combining acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, and doxylamine succinate.

Nystagmus

Nystagmus: involuntary rhythmic eye movement with slow and fast phases, classified as infantile (congenital) or acquired. Causes include albinism, FRMD7 mutation, retinal disease, and brainstem or cerebellar lesions.

Nystatin

Nystatin, sold under brand names including Nystop and Nilstat, is a polyene antifungal antibiotic discovered in 1950, used topically and orally to treat Candida infections of the skin, mouth, and intestinal tract.

Oct 20, 2026

O'nyong-nyong fever

O'nyong-nyong fever, also o'nyong-nyong virus disease (ONNV), is a mosquito-borne alphavirus illness of sub-Saharan Africa transmitted by Anopheles gambiae and funestus, causing fever, rash, and crippling arthritis; the 1959-1962 epidemic affected about 2 million people.