Life and health

Difenoxin

Difenoxin, also called difenoxin hydrochloride, brand Motofen, is a phenylpiperidine antidiarrheal, active metabolite of diphenoxylate, chemically related to meperidine, marketed with atropine sulfate as a Schedule IV prescription tablet.

Difenoxuron

Difenoxuron (CAS 14214-32-5), also sold as Lironion or Pinoran, is an obsolete phenylurea post-emergence herbicide for broadleaved weeds in alliums; a photosystem II inhibitor, not approved in the EU since 2002.

Difenzoquat

Difenzoquat (Avenge) is a quaternary ammonium, postemergent herbicide for wild oat control in barley and wheat; first registered 1975, persistent and soil-bound, U.S. products cancelled 2010 and not EU-approved.

Difethialone

Difethialone (LM-2219) is a second-generation, single-dose anticoagulant rodenticide introduced in 1986, a benzothiopyranone derivative inhibiting vitamin K epoxide reductase, restricted to professional use in the US and highly toxic to raptors.

Diff-Quik stain

Diff-Quik stain is a rapid Romanowsky stain for blood smears and cytology, completing in seconds to minutes what Wright-Giemsa staining takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Difference gel electrophoresis

Difference gel electrophoresis, also called two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE), is a proteomics method that labels protein samples with fluorescent dyes and runs them on one gel.

Differential centrifugation

Differential centrifugation is a cell fractionation method that separates cell components by spinning a homogenate at stepwise increasing speeds, pelleting nuclei, mitochondria, and microsomes in sequence.

Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis: the systematic comparison of candidate conditions to determine which a patient has. Covers hypothesis generation, Bayesian ranking, diagnostic error rates (5.08% outpatient), checklists, and LLM tools like AMIE.

Differential display

Differential display, also called DD-PCR or DDRT-PCR, is a PCR-based method for comparing mRNA populations between samples and isolating differentially expressed genes, introduced in 1992.

Differential gene expression analysis

Differential gene expression analysis, also called differential expression analysis, is a bioinformatics method comparing gene expression between conditions, typically RNA-seq, to identify significantly up- or down-regulated genes.

Differential methylation analysis

Differential methylation analysis is a bioinformatics method that compares DNA methylation levels between sample groups, identifying differentially methylated CpG sites and regions in EWAS and cancer studies.

Differential network analysis

Differential network analysis is a bioinformatics method that compares gene or protein interaction networks between conditions, finding rewired interactions rather than changes in single molecules.

Differential scanning fluorimetry

Differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), also called the thermal shift assay or ThermoFluor, heats a protein while monitoring fluorescence to measure its melting temperature and ligand binding.

Differentiated service delivery (HIV care)

Differentiated service delivery (DSD) is a person-centered approach that adapts HIV services across the care cascade; by 2023, 76% of ART patients in 21 sub-Saharan African countries used it.

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), also called differentiated thyroid cancer, is the common, usually curable thyroid cancer group of papillary, follicular, and oncocytic types, over 90% of thyroid cancers, managed by risk-stratified surgery, radioiodine, and thyroglobulin-based follow-up.

Differentiation of T cells

Differentiation of T cells: the process by which thymic progenitors become naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and then Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, Th22, Tfh, Treg, and memory subsets, defined by master transcription factors and effector cytokines.

Differentiation therapy

Differentiation therapy is a cancer treatment using agents such as retinoic acid to force immature cancer cells to mature instead of killing them, best proven in acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Difflugia

Difflugia (Leclerc, 1815) is the largest genus of arcellinid testate amoebae, freshwater shelled amoebas building agglutinated tests of mineral particles and diatoms in organic cement; molecular phylogeny shows it is not monophyletic and has been split into Netzelia, Cylindrifflugia, and other genera.

Diffuse alveolar damage

Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), the histologic hallmark of ARDS and the pathology behind acute interstitial pneumonia, is a lung injury pattern with exudative, proliferative, and fibrotic phases, hyaline membranes, and higher mortality when present in ARDS.

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH), bleeding from pulmonary microcirculation into alveolar spaces, presents with hemoptysis, anemia, infiltrates, hypoxemic respiratory failure; mostly autoimmune causes, over 20% in-hospital mortality.

Diffuse axonal injury

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI), also called traumatic axonal injury (TAI), is widespread white-matter axon rupture from acceleration-deceleration forces in TBI; graded by Adams system, best seen on MRI/SWI, diagnosed in 40-50% of hospitalized TBI.

Diffuse brain injury

Diffuse brain injury (ICD-11 NA07.3), chiefly diffuse axonal injury (DAI), is widespread traumatic white-matter damage from rapid rotational acceleration-deceleration, graded Adams 1-3, common in severe TBI and worsening prognosis.

Diffuse capillary malformation with overgrowth

Diffuse capillary malformation with overgrowth (DCMO), ORPHA:714737, is a rare congenital vascular anomaly syndrome with extensive pink reticulated capillary malformations, proportionate overgrowth, and foot anomalies, linked to somatic PIK3CA, GNAQ, or GNA11 variants.

Diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis

Diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis (DCM), the rarest and most severe cutaneous mastocytosis subtype, causes generalized erythroderma, peau d'orange thickened skin, and infantile blistering, with anaphylaxis risk and symptomatic antihistamine treatment.

Diffuse hemispheric glioma-H3 G34-mutant

Diffuse hemispheric glioma, H3 G34-mutant, is a rare malignant brain tumor of the cerebral hemispheres, defined by H3 G34R/V histone mutations, affecting mainly adolescents and young adults.

Diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia

DIPNECH (diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia) is a rare WHO pre-invasive lung lesion of proliferating neuroendocrine cells, mainly in nonsmoking women over 60, causing cough, dyspnea, nodules, and mosaic CT attenuation, sometimes progressing to carcinoid tumors.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, about 30% of cases, marked by rapidly growing tumors in lymph nodes or organs.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated with chronic inflammation

DLBCL associated with chronic inflammation (CI-DLBCL, pyothorax-associated lymphoma): EBV-positive aggressive large B-cell lymphoma arising after 10–35+ years in chronically inflamed body cavities or around implants; 5-year survival 20–35%.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the central nervous system

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the CNS, also called secondary CNS lymphoma (SCNSL), is DLBCL spreading to brain, meninges, or spinal cord; rare (about 3% of DLBCL), mostly within two years, with median survival of months unless ASCT consolidation succeeds.