Life and health

Hamish N. Munro

Hamish N. Munro (H.N. Munro) was a Scottish-born nutritional biochemist who studied protein metabolism at MIT and Tufts, founding the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

Hammatoceras

Hammatoceras is an extinct genus of ammonoid cephalopods in the family Hammatoceratidae, named by Alpheus Hyatt in 1867, whose species lived from the Toarcian into the Bajocian.

Hammer toe

Hammer toe (hammertoe): flexion deformity of a lesser toe at the PIP joint, up to 20% of foot and ankle issues; treated first with footwear and orthotics, surgery for rigid cases.

Hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus), also called hammer-headed fruit bat or big-lipped bat, Africa's largest bat, a West and Central African pteropodid fruit bat with lek mating, honking males, and suspected Ebola reservoir status.

Hammerhead ribozyme

Hammerhead ribozyme (HHR), a small self-cleaving catalytic RNA with a conserved core and three helices, first found in plant viroid and satellite RNAs, later across all life kingdoms; full-length forms with a stem I-II tertiary contact are up to 1000-fold more active than minimal constructs.

Hammerhead shark

Hammerhead sharks (family Sphyrnidae, genera Sphyrna and Eusphyra) are sharks with a hammer-shaped cephalofoil bearing eyes and electroreceptors; eight to nine species, including scalloped, great, smooth, and bonnethead; threatened by fin fisheries, CITES Appendix II since 2013.

HAMP domain

HAMP domain: ~50-residue prokaryotic signal relay module (histidine kinases, adenylyl cyclases, methyl-accepting proteins, phosphatases), a parallel four-helix coiled coil with AS1/AS2 helices; signaling via gearbox rotation or dynamic bundle models, distinct from other helical linker domains.

Hampton Carson

Hampton Lawrence Carson (1914–2004) was an American population geneticist who led the Hawaiian Drosophila project, showing that about 1,000 fly species evolved on the islands through founder events.

Hamster

Hamster, subfamily Cricetinae: 18 species of stocky, burrowing Palearctic rodents with cheek pouches. Includes the pet Syrian hamster, domesticated from one 1931 litter, and the Critically Endangered European hamster.

Hamstring

Hamstrings: biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus, the posterior thigh muscles that flex the knee and extend the hip. Commonly strained during sprinting late swing; Nordic hamstring exercise cuts injury rates about 51%.

Hamycin

Hamycin, a heptaene polyene antifungal antibiotic from Streptomyces pimprina, marketed in India from 1963 for Candida infections; ergosterol-binding, toxic, later liposomized, now discontinued.

Han G. Brunner

Han G. Brunner (Henri Gerrit Brunner, born 1956) is a Dutch clinical geneticist at Radboud University known for identifying Brunner syndrome, a genetic cause of impulsive aggression.

Han Liang

Han Liang is a computational biologist and cancer researcher who is Interim Chair of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Han Remaut

Han Remaut is a Belgian structural biologist known for work on bacterial pili and curli, and a VIB group leader and VUB professor in Brussels since 2009.

Hana Golding

Hana Golding is an American immunologist and virologist who has led the FDA's Laboratory of Retrovirus Research since 1993, developing assays to evaluate vaccines against emerging viruses.

HANAC syndrome

HANAC syndrome (hereditary angiopathy with nephropathy, aneurysms, and muscle cramps; OMIM 611773) is a rare autosomal dominant COL4A1 disorder with retinal arteriolar tortuosity, small-vessel brain disease, carotid siphon aneurysms, renal cysts, hematuria, and muscle cramps.

Hanatoxin

Hanatoxin (HaTx1, HaTx2), 35-residue peptides from the Chilean tarantula Grammostola spatulata, are gating-modifier toxins that bind Kv2.1 voltage-sensor paddles at nanomolar concentrations, shifting activation to more positive voltages.

Hanbin Mao

Hanbin Mao is a chemist and single-molecule biophysicist at Kent State University in Ohio, known for optical-tweezers and DNA-origami methods to study G-quadruplex DNA structures linked to cancer.

Hand

Hand: terminal organ of the human upper limb with 27 bones (8 carpals, 5 metacarpals, 14 phalanges), an opposable thumb via the saddle trapeziometacarpal joint, power and precision grips, and dense tactile innervation.

Sep 29, 2026

Hand Function Test

The Hand Function Test, known as the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test, times seven simulated daily tasks per hand to measure hand function in stroke, arthritis, and hand injury.

Hand sanitizer

Hand sanitizer (alcohol-based hand rub, ABHR) is a liquid, gel, or foam applied to hands to kill germs; CDC recommends at least 60% alcohol, formulation matters more than alcohol concentration, and it cannot remove C. difficile spores or chemicals.

Hand Strength

Hand strength (grip strength, handgrip strength) is the force exerted when gripping or grasping, measured with a dynamometer. Used to diagnose sarcopenia and frailty and to predict mortality; reliability ICC about 0.92 to 0.96.

Hand surgery & rehabilitation

Hand surgery & rehabilitation (Hand Surg Rehabil), ISSN 2468-1229 print, 2468-1210 online, is a bimonthly Elsevier Masson journal from France, official organ of the French, Swiss, and Belgian hand surgery societies, renamed from Chirurgie de la main in 2016 and indexed in MEDLINE.

Hand transplantation

Hand transplantation: vascularized composite allotransplantation of a donor hand to an amputee. First attempted Ecuador 1964; first success Lyon 1998 (Dubernard); requires lifelong immunosuppression; distinct from replantation and prosthetics.

Hand washing

Hand washing: cleaning hands with soap and water (hand hygiene, alongside alcohol-based hand rubs) to remove germs. CDC technique: 20 seconds scrubbing; reduces diarrhea 23-40%, respiratory illness 16-21%; only 19% globally wash with soap after toilet.

Hand-Assisted Laparoscopy

Hand-assisted laparoscopy (HALS), also called hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery, is a hybrid of open and laparoscopic surgery in which the surgeon's gloved hand is inserted through a hand-port device while pneumoperitoneum is maintained, restoring tactile feedback; used in colectomy, splenectomy, and nephrectomy.

Hand-foot-genital syndrome

Hand-foot-genital syndrome (HFGS, hand-foot-uterus syndrome, OMIM 140000) is a rare autosomal dominant HOXA13 disorder with short thumbs and great toes plus urogenital defects; fertility is normal.

Sep 29, 2026

Hand-held dynamometry

Hand-held dynamometry is a clinical method in which a portable force gauge held against a limb measures peak isometric muscle strength, widely used in rehabilitation and neuromuscular assessment.

Sep 29, 2026

Hand-pollination

Hand-pollination is the manual transfer of pollen to a receptive stigma, used worldwide on 20 crops including vanilla, date palm, cocoa, and apple, and practiced for over 4000 years.