Life and health

Microneurography

Microneurography is an electrophysiological method recording action potentials from sensory and sympathetic nerve fibers in conscious humans, introduced by Karl-Erik Hagbarth and Åke Vallbo in Uppsala in 1966.

Microneutralization assay

The microneutralization assay is a serological test measuring whether serum antibodies, primarily against hemagglutinin, neutralize live virus in cultured cells, used chiefly for influenza and pandemic virology.

Micronucleus assay

The micronucleus assay is a cytogenetic test that detects small extranuclear bodies containing chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes in divided cells, identifying substances that break chromosomes or cause their loss.

Micronutrient

Micronutrient: vitamins and minerals (about 30, including 13 vitamins and 16 minerals) needed in tiny amounts for enzymes, hormones, and growth. Key facts: iron, vitamin A, iodine deficiencies most common; 42% of under-fives anaemic; prevented by fortification, supplementation, diverse diets.

Oct 20, 2026

Micronycteris

Micronycteris (big-eared bats), genus of Neotropical phyllostomid bats from Mexico to Paraguay; 13 recognized species in four subgenera, with molecular studies indicating at least 27 lineages.

Microorganism

Microorganism (microbe): organism too small to see without a microscope; includes bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, algae, and viruses. Distinguished by acellular viruses, polyphasic prokaryotic species taxonomy, and roles in nutrient cycling and fermentation.

Micropatterning

Micropatterning is a set of microfabrication techniques that arrange biomolecules, usually extracellular-matrix proteins, on a culture surface in defined geometries, fixing where and how cells attach.

Micropenis

Micropenis: a structurally normal penis with stretched penile length over 2.5 SD below the age-matched mean; under 2 cm at birth, under 4 cm after age 5. Causes include hypogonadism; treated with early testosterone or DHT.

Micropeptide inhibiting actin cytoskeleton

MIAC (micropeptide inhibiting actin cytoskeleton) is a 51-aa micropeptide encoded by lncRNA AC025154.2/RP11-469H8.6; it binds AQP2, suppresses SEPT2/ITGB4 and EREG/EGFR signaling, acting as a tumor suppressor in HNSCC and renal cell carcinoma.

Microperimetry

Microperimetry is a psychophysical eye test measuring retinal light sensitivity at defined points while infrared fundus tracking assigns each stimulus to a known retinal location.

Micropezidae

Micropezidae, the stilt-legged flies, is a family of about 700 slender, long-legged Diptera in Nerioidea, in five subfamilies, worldwide except Antarctica and New Zealand, known for ant and ichneumon wasp mimicry and waving white fore tarsi.

Microphthalmia with limb anomalies

Microphthalmia with limb anomalies (ophthalmo-acromelic syndrome, Waardenburg anophthalmia syndrome, OMIM 206920) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of absent or small eyes with hand and foot malformations, mostly caused by biallelic SMOC1 mutations.

Microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome

Microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome (MLS, MIDAS, Gazali-Temple syndrome) is a rare X-linked dominant, male-lethal disorder of HCCS, COX7B, or NDUFB11 causing microphthalmia and linear facial skin defects in females.

Microphthalmia-retinitis pigmentosa-foveoschisis-optic disc drusen syndrome

Microphthalmia-retinitis pigmentosa-foveoschisis-optic disc drusen syndrome, also called nanophthalmos-RP-foveoschisis-optic disc drusen syndrome or MCOP5, is a rare autosomal recessive MFRP-related eye disorder with posterior microphthalmia, retinal dystrophy, foveal schisis, and optic disc drusen.

Microphthalmia, Lenz type

Microphthalmia, Lenz type (Lenz microphthalmia syndrome, OMIM 309800) is a rare X-linked recessive syndromic microphthalmia affecting males, with small or absent eyes, coloboma, ear, dental, skeletal, and urogenital anomalies, and intellectual disability, linked to BCOR and NAA10.

Microphthalmos

Microphthalmos (microphthalmia), abnormally small eye with axial length 2 SD below age mean, part of the MAC spectrum with anophthalmia and coloboma; about 1 in 7,000, often bilateral, SOX2-related, poor vision with corneal diameter under 6 mm.

Microplasma

Microplasma is an extinct genus of cystiphyllid rugose coral established by Dybowski in 1874, with M. gotlandicum from Silurian Gotland, Sweden, as its type species.

Microplastics and human health

Microplastics and human health concerns the effects of microscopic plastic particles, which humans ingest and inhale and which have been detected in blood, lungs, placenta, and arterial plaque.

Micropogonias furnieri

Micropogonias furnieri, the whitemouth croaker (corvina), is a Sciaenidae fish from Yucatan to Argentina, key to southwestern Atlantic fisheries, with multiple Brazilian stocks and a 46,000-tonne TAC.

Micropogonias undulatus

Micropogonias undulatus, the Atlantic croaker, a demersal sciaenid fish from the Gulf of Maine to Argentina, named for spawning croaks; estuarine nursery, fast growth, major US Atlantic recreational and commercial fishery.

Micropore Filters

Micropore filters (microporous membrane filters) are 0.01-to-several-micrometer pore membranes of MCE, PVDF, PES, or PTFE that retain bacteria by sieve retention and adsorption; sterilizing grades retain 10^7 Pseudomonas diminuta per cm², though Acholeplasma and Leptospira can penetrate.

Microprocessor complex

Microprocessor complex: the nuclear DROSHA-DGCR8 (Pasha) heterotrimer of animals that cleaves pri-miRNA hairpins into 60-70 nt pre-miRNAs, the first step of canonical microRNA biogenesis; plants use DCL1 instead.

Microprocessor complex subunit DGCR8

DGCR8 (Pasha), DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 8, is the RNA- and heme-binding subunit of the Drosha Microprocessor complex that cleaves pri-miRNAs; its haploinsufficiency underlies 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Micropropagation

Micropropagation is large-scale clonal plant production via aseptic tissue culture from a small explant, in four stages (establishment, multiplication, rooting, acclimatization); commercial since about 1965 with orchids, labor is roughly 60% of cost, and somaclonal variation is the main genetic risk.