Glossary 1. -fold volte (4-fold = 4 volte) 2. access accesso 3. according to secondo, in base a 4. account for rappresentare 5. accuracy accuratezza, precisione 6. achieve compiere, conseguire, raggiungere uno scopo 7. achy dolente 8. acknowledgement riconoscimento ( ringraziamenti ) 9. actual reale, vero 10. actually veramente 11. add aggiungere; sommare 12. addiction dipendenza 13. address porre l attenzione, rivolgere l attenzione 14. adherence conformità; aderenza, adesione 15. administer somministrare 16. admission ricovero ospedaliero 17. admit ricoverare; ammettere 18. adulthood età adulta 19. advances progressi 20. advocacy patrocinio, appoggio 21. affect colpire, interessare, influire 22. affluence ricchezza 23. against contro 24. age età 25. aging che invecchia; invecchiamento 26. agreement accordo; concordanza 27. aim mirare, avere come obiettivo 28. allow permettere 29. alumni laureati in una data facoltà e/o università 30. among tra (più di 2 elementi) 31. another un altro 32. answer risposta 33. anticipate prevedere, aspettarsi 34. any qualsiasi 35. appear apparire; sembrare; comparire 36. apply to riguardare 37. arm braccio 38. as poiché; come; man mano che 39. as did così come (ha fatto ) 40. as distinct from a differenza di 41. as yet finora 42. ascertain stabilire; accertare 43. assess valutare 44. assessment valutazione 45. assign assegnare 46. associate associare 47. assume supporre; dare per scontato 48. assumption assunzione 49. at home a casa 50. at least almeno 51. at rest a riposo 52. at times a volte 53. attend frequentare; partecipare 54. attitude atteggiamento; opinione 55. authority autorità, potere, responsabilità 56. available disponibile 57. avenue strada, via 58. award premio, riconoscimento 59. aware consapevole 60. background sfondo, premessa 61. bad cattivo 62. baseline inizio, valore iniziale 63. be lacking mancare, essere assente 64. because of a causa di 65. behavior comportamento 66. beneficial benefico 67. between tra (2 elementi) 68. beverage bevanda 69. beyond oltre 70. bias pregiudizio; errore sistematico, difetto 71. blinded in cieco 72. blood sangue 73. both entrambi 74. breast mammella 75. broad ampio, largo, vasto 76. build costruire 77. burden carico, peso, fardello 161
T H E D O C T O R I S I N 78. by da; per mezzo di 79. call into question mettere in discussione 80. carer chi si occupa di un malato, (es. parente o badante) 81. causal causale 82. caution cautela 83. challenge sfida; impresa 84. chance possibilità, caso fortuito 85. change cambiamento 86. charge costo (al paziente/sistema/consumatore) 87. check controllare, verificare 88. chest torace 89. child bambino; figlio 90. childhood infanzia 91. children bambini 92. choice scelta 93. cleaning pulizia 94. closely attentamente 95. cluster grappolo 96. collect raccogliere 97. co-management co-gestione, gestione condivisa 98. common comune, frequente 99. community-dwelling popolazione (non ospedaliera) 100. compare confrontare, paragonare 101. compared with rispetto a 102. comparison confronto 103. competency competenza 104. comprise consistere; rappresentare 105. concern preoccupazione 106. condition condizione; disturbo, patologia 107. confirmation conferma 108. confounding/confounders che creano confusione o distorsione (termine statistico) 109. confusing che crea confusione 110. consistency coerenza, conformità; omogeneità 111. consistently costantemente, regolarmente; coerentemente 112. consumption consumo; assunzione 113. control controllare, regolare 114. cough tosse 115. crash scontro, incidente 116. crutch stampella 117. cure guarigione 118. customized personalizzato, su misura 119. cut or pierced tagliato o perforato/trafitto 120. dairy products latticini 121. data coding codifica dei dati 122. date data 123. day giorno 124. death morte 125. decade decennio 126. decline calo, declino, decadimento 127. deep profondo 128. deepen approfondire 129. deficiency carenza 130. delay ritardo 131. delegate delegare, deputare 132. delivery consegna, erogazione; parto 133. demand domanda, pretesa 134. deprived privato; povero 135. depth profondità 136. design disegno, progetto 137. detect rilevare, riscontrare 138. detection rilevamento, riscontro 139. determine identificare, stabilire 140. develop sviluppare 141. development sviluppo 142. developmental dello sviluppo 143. diagnose diagnosticare 144. diagnosis diagnosi 145. discharge dimettere; dimissione ospedaliera; scarico, emissione, spurgo 146. disclose rivelare, dichiarare pubblicamente 147. discomfort fastidio; disagio 148. disease malattia, patologia 149. dizzy avere le vertigini (agg.) 150. double raddoppiare 151. doubt dubbio 152. doubtful dubbioso; incerto 153. draft redigere, abbozzare; bozza 154. drippy gocciolante 155. drops gocce 156. dual duplice 162
G l o s s a r y 157. due to dovuto a; a causa di 158. duration durata 159. e.g. ad esempio (exempli gratia) 160. ear orecchio 161. earache mal d orecchio 162. earlier prima 163. early presto, precoce 164. education istruzione 165. effective efficace 166. effectiveness efficacia reale 167. efficacy efficacia teorica 168. effort sforzo 169. elderly anziano 170. elective facoltativo; programmato 171. elicit suscitare, far emergere 172. eligible idoneo, adatto 173. employer datore di lavoro 174. empty vuoto 175. enable (v) - rendere capace, mettere nelle condizioni di poter fare 176. enforce fare rispettare 177. engage ingaggiare, coinvolgersi 178. engage in partecipare 179. engineer progettare, costruire 180. enhance accrescere, potenziare 181. enough abbastanza, sufficiente 182. enroll arruolare 183. establish stabilire 184. estimate stimare; stima 185. evaluate valutare 186. evaluation valutazione 187. except eccetto, tranne 188. expected atteso, previsto 189. expenditure dispendio 190. expenses spese sostenute 191. expertise competenze esperte 192. explain spiegare 193. explanation spiegazione 194. exposure esposizione 195. eye occhio 196. eyewear occhiali (generico) 197. face trovarsi davanti, affrontare 198. failure fallimento, non riuscita 199. faint sentir mancare; svenire 200. fasting a digiuno 201. fate destino 202. feasible fattibile 203. feature caratteristica 204. feeling sentimento; sensazione; stato 205. female femmina 206. fever febbre 207. findings dati preliminari/risultati 208. fitness forma fisica 209. focus on focalizzare, porre l attenzione 210. food cibo 211. framework schema, quadro 212. full pieno 213. funding finanziamento 214. further ulteriore 215. gain guadagnare; aumento; guadagno 216. gender sesso 217. general practitioner (GP) medico di base 218. get hard diventare difficile 219. goal traguardo 220. good buono 221. grains cereali 222. grant sovvenzione 223. grant concedere 224. guidelines linee guida 225. hazardous pericoloso 226. headache emicrania 227. healing guarigione 228. health salute 229. healthy sano, salutare 230. hearing udito 231. heart rate battito cardiaco 232. heavy pesante 233. height altezza 234. helpful di aiuto 235. heritage popolo d origine 236. high alto 237. hip anca 238. HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 regarding the privacy of medical records 239. homeless people senza tetto 240. household nucleo familiare; ambito domestico 241. husband marito 242. i.e. cioè (id est) 163
T H E D O C T O R I S I N 243. identification identificazione, individuazione 244. identify identificare, individuare 245. ill malato 246. illness malattia, patologia 247. impaired compromesso 248. impairment compromissione 249. implement attuare 250. implementation attuazione 251. improve migliorare 252. improvement miglioramento 253. in light of alla luce di 254. in order to per, con lo scopo di 255. in that in quanto, nel senso che 256. inception inizio 257. including compreso 258. increase aumentare; aumento 259. increasing crescente 260. increasingly sempre più 261. incubation incubazione 262. inequality disuguaglianza 263. infection infezione 264. injury lesione, infortunio 265. inpatient paziente ospedaliero, ricoverato 266. instrument strumento 267. intensivist (n) medico specialista di cure intensive 268. involve coinvolgere; riguardare 269. issue numero di una pubblicazione; questione, problema 270. itchiness prurito 271. judge giudicare, valutare 272. key chiave 273. kidney rene 274. labor travaglio; lavoro 275. large grande 276. last durare 277. late tardi, tardivo 278. lay per non-addetti al settore 279. lead to portare a, avere come risultato 280. length lunghezza 281. lengthen allungare 282. less meno 283. life vita 284. lifespan arco della vita 285. light leggero; luce 286. likelihood probabilità 287. likely probabile 288. linked associato a 289. little piccolo; poco 290. long lungo 291. low basso 292. lung polmone 293. main principale 294. major maggiore; importante 295. make a diagnosis fare una diagnosi 296. make a house call fare una visita a domicilio 297. make a mistake commettere un errore 298. make rounds fare la visita di reparto 299. male maschio 300. man/men uomo/uomini 301. manage gestire 302. management gestione 303. manager dirigente 304. masked celato, nascosto; bendato 305. match abbinare 306. may potrebbe, è possibile 307. meal pasto 308. mean media aritmetica 309. mean significare 310. meaning significato 311. meaningful significativo 312. measure misurare 313. measure parametro 314. measurement misura 315. median mediana 316. medical record cartella clinica 317. medication farmaco 318. meet criteria soddisfare criteri 319. mild lieve 320. monitor monitorare 321. month mese 322. most la maggior parte 323. much more molto più 324. narrow stretto 325. nearly quasi 326. need esigenza, bisogno 327. needed necessario 328. negligible insignificante 329. network rete 330. next prossimo; successivo 164
G l o s s a r y 331. non-compliant non conforme 332. none nessuno, niente 333. nose naso 334. notable degno di nota; importante 335. nurse infermiere 336. observation osservazione 337. observe osservare 338. occur avvenire 339. occurrence avvenimento, evento 340. odds probabilità 341. off-site location in un luogo esterno all ospedale, in un altro luogo 342. old vecchio 343. only solo, soltanto 344. onset inizio, comparsa, insorgenza, esordio 345. otherwise altrimenti; per il resto 346. outcome esito, prognosi 347. outside al di fuori 348. over più di; sopra 349. overall complessivo 350. overview panoramica 351. overweight sovrappeso 352. pain dolore 353. painful doloroso 354. panel commissione 355. paucity pochezza, scarsezza, insufficienza 356. payer colui che paga 357. perceived percepito; soggettivo 358. perform eseguire 359. performance esecuzione; prestazione 360. physician medico clinico 361. plan pianificare, programmare 362. policy politica, linea di condotta 363. pooled raggruppato 364. poor povero, scarso 365. poorly scarsamente 366. port of entry punto d ingresso (es. medico di famiglia, pronto soccorso, o altro) 367. poultry pollame 368. practice attività di libera professione; esercitazione, pratica 369. pratice esercitare, esercitarsi 370. prediction previsione 371. predispose predisporre 372. pregnancy gravidanza 373. prevention prevenzione 374. previously in precedenza 375. print stampare 376. prior prima, in precedenza 377. private practice attività di libera professione 378. produce ortaggi 379. produce produrre 380. promote promuovere, favorire 381. prove dimostrare 382. provide fornire, erogare 383. provider fornitore 384. provision erogazione, fornitura 385. purpose scopo 386. question domanda 387. random casuale 388. randomly in modo casuale 389. range gamma, estensione, intervallo 390. rate valutare, dare un punteggio; tasso, percentuale 391. rater valutatore 392. rating valutazione (graduatoria) 393. readmission rientro ospedaliero 394. reason ragione, motivo 395. recommend consigliare 396. record registrare; registrazione, documentazione (clinica) 397. reduce ridurre 398. reduction riduzione 399. relationship rapporto 400. reliable affidabile, attendibile 401. relief sollievo 402. rely on fare affidamento; dipendere, contare su 403. remainder il restante 404. remarkable notevole 405. reminder promemoria, sollecitazione 406. reply risposta, replica 407. report riportare, riferire; referto 408. reservations riserva; restrizione 409. resource risorsa 410. response risposta; reazione 411. result in comportare, avere come conseguenza 165
T H E D O C T O R I S I N 412. retrieve reperire 413. reviewer revisore, valutatore 414. revised rivisto, revisionato 415. rising in aumento, crescente 416. safety incolumità, sicurezza 417. sample campione 418. scale scala 419. schedule orario; tabella di marcia 420. scope portata, sfera, ambito, ampiezza 421. score punteggio 422. seafood pesce e frutti di mare 423. second-hand di seconda mano 424. self-identified auto-identificato, auto-valutato, soggettivo 425. self-selection autoselezione 426. sensitivity sensibilità 427. setting contesto, quadro 428. several parecchi 429. shallow poco profondo 430. shellfish crostacei 431. shift spostamento, movimento laterale 432. short corto; breve 433. shortcoming limite; difetto 434. shorten accorciare; rendere più breve 435. should dovrebbe 436. show mostrare, dimostrare; illustrare 437. sick malato 438. sickness malattia, patologia 439. size dimensione; numero 440. skill competenza (pratica) 441. skin cute 442. sleep dormire 443. slow rallentare 444. smoker fumatore 445. smoking tabagismo 446. sore throat mal di gola 447. source fonte 448. south meridione 449. southern meridionale 450. sparing che riduce il bisogno (es. di un farmaco) 451. speed velocità 452. stage stadio 453. stakeholder chi ha investito e/o ha interessi in un progetto 454. start iniziare 455. stay rimanere; alloggiare 456. stop arrestare, fermare 457. strain affaticamento 458. strength forza 459. stressfulness stato di stress 460. stroke ictus 461. strongly fortemente 462. struck colpito 463. submit sottoporre 464. subsequently successivamente, in seguito 465. substantially in modo significativo 466. successful di successo, riuscito 467. summarize riassumere 468. summary riassunto 469. sunlight luce solare 470. supplementation integrazione 471. supply fornire 472. surgery chirurgia 473. surgical chirurgico 474. surveillance sorveglianza 475. survey indagine, inchiesta 476. survival sopravvivenza 477. survive sopravvivere 478. sustain mantenere; sostenere 479. sweaty sudato 480. swimmer s ear orecchio del nuotatore 481. take prendere; assumere (un farmaco) 482. test verifica, esame 483. textbook libro di testo 484. thank ringraziare 485. therefore perciò 486. thickness spessore 487. thorough completo, esauriente 488. threatened minacciato 489. threatening minaccioso 490. throat gola 491. through attraverso 492. timing tempistica 493. to what extent fino a che punto 494. toward verso 495. towards verso; nei confronti di 496. track seguire le tracce 166
G l o s s a r y 497. training allenamento, esercitazione; formazione 498. treat curare, trattare 499. treatment cura, trattamento 500. trend andamento, tendenza 501. twice daily due volte al giorno 502. unclear non chiaro 503. under sotto 504. underlying sottostante 505. underweight sottopeso 506. unlikely improbabile, difficilmente 507. up to fino a 508. useful utile 509. view vedere, visionare; veduta; opinione 510. waiver rinuncia a un diritto 511. walking frame deambulatore 512. warrant giustificare 513. weak debole, fiacco 514. weigh pesare 515. weight peso 516. weighted pesato (termine statistico) 517. well bene 518. what ciò che 519. whether se 520. whole intero 521. wholly interamente, completamente 522. wide ampio, largo 523. widely diffusamente, comunemente 524. with time nel tempo 525. within entro 526. without senza 527. woman/women donna/donne 528. workforce forza lavoro; personale 529. workshop corso pratico, laboratorio 530. workup programma di esami strumentali e di laboratorio per definire una diagnosi 531. worse peggio 532. wound ferita 533. x-ray radiografia 534. yield produrre, fruttare 535. young giovane 167
Irregular Verbs Medical English Infinitive Past Simple Past Participle Translation 1. be was/were been essere 2. beat beat beaten battere 3. become became become diventare 4. begin began begun incominciare 5. bend bent bent piegare 6. bite bit bitten mordere 7. bleed bled bled sanguinare 8. bring brought brought portare 9. build built built costruire 10. burn burnt burnt bruciare 11. buy bought bought comprare 12. catch caught caught prendere, afferrare 13. choose chose chosen scegliere 14. come came come venire 15. cost cost cost costare 16. cut cut cut tagliare 17. do did done fare 18. draw drew drawn trarre; disegnare 19. drink drank drunk bere 20. drive drove driven guidare 21. eat ate eaten mangiare 22. fall fell fallen cadere 23. feed fed fed nutrire, alimentare 24. feel felt felt sentirsi 25. find found found trovare 26. forget forgot forgotten dimenticare 27. freeze froze frozen gelare, congelare 28. get got got (gotten) ottenere; diventare 29. give gave given dare 30. go went gone andare 31. grow grew grown crescere, coltivare 32. hear heard heard udire 33. hide hid hidden nascondere 34. hit hit hit colpire 35. hold held held tenere, contenere 36. hurt hurt hurt ferire, dolere 37. keep kept kept tenere, conservare 169
T H E D O C T O R I S I N Infinitive Past Simple Past Participle Translation 38. know knew known sapere, conoscere 39. lay laid laid porre, posare 40. lead led led condurre 41. leave left left lasciare, partire 42. let let let permettere 43. lie lay lain giacere 44. lose lost lost perdere 45. make made made fare 46. mean meant meant significare, intendere 47. meet met met incontrare, conoscere 48. pay paid paid pagare 49. put put put mettere 50. read read read leggere 51. rise rose risen sorgere; aumentare 52. run ran run correre 53. say said said dire, pronunciare 54. see saw seen vedere 55. seek sought sought cercare 56. sell sold sold vendere 57. send sent sent inviare 58. set set set impostare, fissare 59. shake shook shaken scuotere; tremare 60. shoot shot shot sparare 61. undergo underwent undergone sottoporsi 62. undertake undertook undertaken intraprendere 170
Some definitions of study designs and statistical terms Bias Systematic error or deviation in results or inferences. Case study (synonyms: anecdote, case history, single case report) An uncontrolled observational study involving an intervention and outcome for a single person. Case-control study (synonyms: case referent study, retrospective study) A study that starts with the identification of people with the disease or outcome of interest (cases) and a suitable control group without the disease or outcome. The relationship of an attribute (intervention, exposure or risk factor) to the outcome of interest is examined by comparing the frequency or level of the attribute in the cases and controls. Case-control studies are sometimes described as being retrospective studies as they are always performed looking back in time. Clinical trial (synonyms: therapeutic trial, intervention study) A trial that tests out a drug or other intervention to assess its effectiveness and safety. This general term encompasses randomized-controlled trials and controlled clinical trials. Cohort study (synonyms: follow-up, incidence, longitudinal, prospective study) An observational study in which a defined group of people (the cohort) is followed over time and outcomes are compared in subsets of the cohort who were exposed or not exposed, or exposed at different levels, to an intervention or other factor of interest. Cohorts can be assembled in the present and followed into the future (a concurrent cohort study ), or identified from past records and followed forward from that time up to the present (a historical cohort study ). Because random allocation is not used, matching or statistical adjustment must be used to ensure that the comparison groups are as similar as possible. Confidence interval (CI) The range within which the true values (e.g., size of effect of an intervention) is expected to lie with a given degree of certainty (e.g. 95% or 99%). Note: Confidence intervals represent the probability of random errors, but not systematic errors (bias). Critical appraisal The process of assessing and interpreting evidence by systematically considering its validity, results and relevance. Cross-sectional study (synonym: prevalence study) A study that examines the relationship between diseases (or other health related characteristics) and other variables of interest as they exist in a defined population at one particular time. The temporal sequence of cause and effect cannot necessarily be determined in a cross-sectional study. Gold standard The method, procedure or measurement that is widely accepted as being the best available against which new interventions should be compared. It is particularly important in studies of the accuracy of diagnostic tests. Incidence The number of new cases in a specific period of time, for example, the number of new cases of prostate cancer in one year in Italy. 171
T H E D O C T O R I S I N Likelihood ratio for a negative test result/ negative predictive value The likelihood that a negative test comes from a person with the condition of interest rather than someone without the disorder. ( 2010 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. All rights reserved.) Likelihood ratio for a positive test result/ positive predictive value The likelihood that a positive test comes from a person with the condition of interest rather than one without the disorder. Observational study (synonym: non-experimental study) A study in which nature is allowed to take its course. Changes or differences in one characteristic (e.g., whether or not people received the intervention of interest) are studied in relation to changes or differences in other(s) (e.g., whether or not they died), without the intervention of the investigator. Odds ratio (OR) The ratio of the odds of an event in the experimental (intervention) group to the odds of an event in the control group; odds ratio of one indicates no difference between comparison groups. For undesirable outcomes an OR that is less than one indicates that the intervention was effective in reducing the risk of that outcome (protective). Prevalence The percentage of a population that is affected with a particular disease at a given time, for example, on 31 December 2009, how many cases of Alzheimer s Disease were there in Italy. Relative Case series An uncontrolled observational study involving an intervention and outcome for more than one person. Relative risk In statistics and mathematical epidemiology, relative risk (RR) is the risk of an event (or of developing a disease) relative to exposure. Relative risk is a ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the exposed group versus a non-exposed group. In a simple comparison between an experimental group and a control group, a relative risk of 1 means there is no difference in risk between the two groups. An RR of < 1 means the event is less likely to occur in the experimental group than in the control group. An RR of > 1 means the event is more likely to occur in the experimental group than in the control group. (From Wikipedia) Retrospective study A study in which the outcomes have occurred to the participants before the study commenced. Case control studies are always retrospective, cohort studies sometimes are, randomized controlled trials never are. Risk ratio (RR) The ratio of risk in the intervention group to the risk in the control group. The risk (proportion, probability or rate) is the ratio of people with an event in a group to the total in the group. A relative risk of one indicates no difference between comparison groups. For undesirable outcomes a RR that is less than one indicates that the intervention was effective in reducing the risk of that outcome. Sensitivity The sensitivity of a test is the proportion of people with the condition of interest who test positive (according to the diagnostic gold standard). Specificity The proportion of people who do not have the condition of interest who test negative (according to the diagnostic gold standard). 172
S o m e d e f i n i t i o n s o f s t u d y d e s i g n s a n d s t a t i s t i c a l t e r m s Statistical significance (P-value) An estimate of the probability of an association (effect) observed in a study occurring by chance, usually expressed as a P-value. The cut-off for statistical significance is usually taken at 0.05, but sometimes at 0.01 or 0.10. Systematic review A review article in the medical literature, which summarizes a number of different studies and may draw conclusions about a particular intervention. [From SA Healthinfo, http://www.sahealthinfo.org/sahealthinfo.htm.sa HealthInfo is a research knowledge translation tool and service to support innovation and improved decision-making in southern African health sectors. It is hosted by the South African Medical Research Council (MRC)] For more detailed information about study designs and statistics (in Italian!), consult Epidemiologia facile, by Pier Luigi Lopalco and Alberto Eugenio Tozzi (Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore) and Statistica medica facile Alice nel paese del p-value, by Andrea Ripoli (Il Pensiero Scientifico Editore). 173