The destroying of all forms of life, especially microorganisms, by heat, chemical, or other means.

Procedures that render the female sterile by interrupting the flow in the FALLOPIAN TUBE. These procedures generally are surgical, and may also use chemicals or physical means.

Procedures to block or remove all or part of the genital tract for the purpose of rendering individuals sterile, incapable of reproduction. Surgical sterilization procedures are the most commonly used. There are also sterilization procedures involving chemical or physical means.

Procedures to reverse the effect of REPRODUCTIVE STERILIZATION and to regain fertility. Reversal procedures include those used to restore the flow in the FALLOPIAN TUBE or the VAS DEFERENS.

A colorless and flammable gas at room temperature and pressure. Ethylene oxide is a bactericidal, fungicidal, and sporicidal disinfectant. It is effective against most micro-organisms, including viruses. It is used as a fumigant for foodstuffs and textiles and as an agent for the gaseous sterilization of heat-labile pharmaceutical and surgical materials. (From Reynolds, Martindale The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 30th ed, p794)

Reproductive sterilization without the consent of the patient.

Water in its gaseous state. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

The attempt to improve the PHENOTYPES of future generations of the human population by fostering the reproduction of those with favorable phenotypes and GENOTYPES and hampering or preventing BREEDING by those with "undesirable" phenotypes and genotypes. The concept is largely discredited. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

Further or repeated use of equipment, instruments, devices, or materials. It includes additional use regardless of the original intent of the producer as to disposability or durability. It does not include the repeated use of fluids or solutions.

Surgical removal of the ductus deferens, or a portion of it. It is done in association with prostatectomy, or to induce infertility. (Dorland, 28th ed)

Chemicals especially for use on instruments to destroy pathogenic organisms. (Boucher, Clinical Dental Terminology, 4th ed)

Rendering pathogens harmless through the use of heat, antiseptics, antibacterial agents, etc.

The presence of an infectious agent on instruments, prostheses, or other inanimate articles.

Hand-held tools or implements especially used by dental professionals for the performance of clinical tasks.

Substances used on inanimate objects that destroy harmful microorganisms or inhibit their activity. Disinfectants are classed as complete, destroying SPORES as well as vegetative forms of microorganisms, or incomplete, destroying only vegetative forms of the organisms. They are distinguished from ANTISEPTICS, which are local anti-infective agents used on humans and other animals. (From Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 11th ed)

A liquid that functions as a strong oxidizing agent. It has an acrid odor and is used as a disinfectant.

Prevention of CONCEPTION by blocking fertility temporarily, or permanently (STERILIZATION, REPRODUCTIVE). Common means of reversible contraception include NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING METHODS; CONTRACEPTIVE AGENTS; or CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES.

Endoscopic examination, therapy or surgery of the interior of the uterus.

Ionized gases, consisting of free electrons and ionized atoms or molecules which collectively behave differently than gas, solid, or liquid. Plasma gases are used in biomedical fields in surface modification; biological decontamination; dentistry (e.g., PLASMA ARC DENTAL CURING LIGHTS); and in other treatments (e.g., ARGON PLASMA COAGULATION).

Efforts to prevent and control the spread of infections within dental health facilities or those involving provision of dental care.

The kind of action or activity proper to the judiciary, particularly its responsibility for decision making.

The doctrines and policies of the Nazis or the National Social German Workers party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933-1945. These doctrines and policies included racist nationalism, expansionism, and state control of the economy. (from Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. and American Heritage College Dictionary, 3d ed.)

Health care programs or services designed to assist individuals in the planning of family size. Various methods of CONTRACEPTION can be used to control the number and timing of childbirths.

Variations of menstruation which may be indicative of disease.

The application of a caustic substance, a hot instrument, an electric current, or other agent to control bleeding while removing or destroying tissue.

The reproductive elements of lower organisms, such as BACTERIA; FUNGI; and cryptogamic plants.

A massive slaughter, especially the systematic mass extermination of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps prior to and during World War II.

Includes mechanisms or programs which control the numbers of individuals in a population of humans or animals.

The induction of local hyperthermia by either short radio waves or high-frequency sound waves.

A procedure in which a laparoscope (LAPAROSCOPES) is inserted through a small incision near the navel to examine the abdominal and pelvic organs in the PERITONEAL CAVITY. If appropriate, biopsy or surgery can be performed during laparoscopy.

A potentially life-threatening condition in which EMBRYO IMPLANTATION occurs outside the cavity of the UTERUS. Most ectopic pregnancies (>96%) occur in the FALLOPIAN TUBES, known as TUBAL PREGNANCY. They can be in other locations, such as UTERINE CERVIX; OVARY; and abdominal cavity (PREGNANCY, ABDOMINAL).

Penetrating, high-energy electromagnetic radiation emitted from atomic nuclei during NUCLEAR DECAY. The range of wavelengths of emitted radiation is between 0.1 - 100 pm which overlaps the shorter, more energetic hard X-RAYS wavelengths. The distinction between gamma rays and X-rays is based on their radiation source.

A pair of highly specialized muscular canals extending from the UTERUS to its corresponding OVARY. They provide the means for OVUM collection, and the site for the final maturation of gametes and FERTILIZATION. The fallopian tube consists of an interstitium, an isthmus, an ampulla, an infundibulum, and fimbriae. Its wall consists of three histologic layers: serous, muscular, and an internal mucosal layer lined with both ciliated and secretory cells.

Compounds that cause reproductive sterility in organisms. They are sometimes used to control pest populations by sterilizing males within the population.

Treatment of food with RADIATION.

Synthetic thermoplastics that are tough, flexible, inert, and resistant to chemicals and electrical current. They are often used as biocompatible materials for prostheses and implants.

The social institution involving legal and/or religious sanction whereby individuals are joined together.

Hand-held tools or implements used by health professionals for the performance of surgical tasks.

Solution that is usually 10 percent glucose but may be higher. An isotonic solution of glucose is 5 percent.

Chemical substances or agents with contraceptive activity in females. Use for female contraceptive agents in general or for which there is no specific heading.

Endoscopes used for viewing the interior of blood vessels.

Devices that diminish the likelihood of or prevent conception. (From Dorland, 28th ed)

Apparatus, devices, or supplies intended for one-time or temporary use.

Presence of warmth or heat or a temperature notably higher than an accustomed norm.

Facilities in which WARFARE or political prisoners are confined.

Heat and stain resistant, metabolically inactive bodies formed within the vegetative cells of bacteria of the genera Bacillus and Clostridium.

One of the protein CROSS-LINKING REAGENTS that is used as a disinfectant for sterilization of heat-sensitive equipment and as a laboratory reagent, especially as a fixative.

ENDOSCOPES for examining the abdominal and pelvic organs in the peritoneal cavity.

In females, the period that is shortly after giving birth (PARTURITION).

Surgery performed on an outpatient basis. It may be hospital-based or performed in an office or surgicenter.

Stainless steel. A steel containing Ni, Cr, or both. It does not tarnish on exposure and is used in corrosive environments. (Grant & Hack's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)

Expendable and nonexpendable equipment, supplies, apparatus, and instruments that are used in diagnostic, surgical, therapeutic, scientific, and experimental procedures.

Behavior patterns of those practicing CONTRACEPTION.

Abortion induced to save the life or health of a pregnant woman. (From Dorland, 28th ed)

The testing of materials and devices, especially those used for PROSTHESES AND IMPLANTS; SUTURES; TISSUE ADHESIVES; etc., for hardness, strength, durability, safety, efficacy, and biocompatibility.

Unintended accidental pregnancy, including pregnancy resulting from failed contraceptive measures.

Destruction by passage of a galvanic electric current, as in disintegration of a chemical compound in solution.

Centers for acquiring, characterizing, and storing bones or bone tissue for future use.

Emission or propagation of acoustic waves (SOUND), ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY waves (such as LIGHT; RADIO WAVES; GAMMA RAYS; or X-RAYS), or a stream of subatomic particles (such as ELECTRONS; NEUTRONS; PROTONS; or ALPHA PARTICLES).

Laws and regulations, pertaining to the field of medicine, proposed for enactment or enacted by a legislative body.

A state in which the environs of hospitals, laboratories, domestic and animal housing, work places, spacecraft, and other surroundings are under technological control with regard to air conditioning, heating, lighting, humidity, ventilation, and other ambient features. The concept includes control of atmospheric composition. (From Jane's Aerospace Dictionary, 3d ed)

Solutions prepared for exchange across a semipermeable membrane of solutes below a molecular size determined by the cutoff threshold of the membrane material.

A reagent that forms fluorescent conjugation products with primary amines. It is used for the detection of many biogenic amines, peptides, and proteins in nanogram quantities in body fluids.

The vapor state of matter; nonelastic fluids in which the molecules are in free movement and their mean positions far apart. Gases tend to expand indefinitely, to diffuse and mix readily with other gases, to have definite relations of volume, temperature, and pressure, and to condense or liquefy at low temperatures or under sufficient pressure. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)

The process of keeping pharmaceutical products in an appropriate location.

A measure of the amount of WATER VAPOR in the air.

The occupation concerned with the cutting and dressing of the hair of customers and, of men, the shaving and trimming of the beard and mustache. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

Instruments for the visual examination of interior structures of the body. There are rigid endoscopes and flexible fiberoptic endoscopes for various types of viewing in ENDOSCOPY.

A complex body of social, cultural, and religious beliefs and practices evolved in and largely confined to the Indian subcontinent and marked by a caste system, an outlook tending to view all forms and theories as aspects of one eternal being and truth, and the practice of the way of works, the way of knowledge, or the way of devotion as a means of release from the round of rebirths. (From Webster, 3d ed)

The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.

A medical-surgical specialty concerned with the physiology and disorders primarily of the female genital tract, as well as female endocrinology and reproductive physiology.

Linear furanocoumarins which are found in many PLANTS, especially UMBELLIFERAE and RUTACEAE, as well as PSORALEA from which they were originally discovered. They can intercalate DNA and, in an UV-initiated reaction of the furan portion, alkylate PYRIMIDINES, resulting in PHOTOSENSITIVITY DISORDERS.

A serine-rich sticky protein secreted by MOTHS. Generally, the term refers to silkworm silk gum protein secreted in the middle section of silk gland cells of SILKWORMS, Bombyx mori. Sericin acts as a cement and coating for the two fibroin filaments in a silk strand and is readily soluble in mild alkaline solution.

Stable cobalt atoms that have the same atomic number as the element cobalt, but differ in atomic weight. Co-59 is a stable cobalt isotope.

A course or method of action selected, usually by a government, to guide and determine present and future decisions on population control by limiting the number of children or controlling fertility, notably through family planning and contraception within the nuclear family.

Radiography of the uterus and fallopian tubes after the injection of a contrast medium.

Compounds that increase urine volume by increasing the amount of osmotically active solute in the urine. Osmotic diuretics also increase the osmolarity of plasma.

Nonexpendable apparatus used during surgical procedures. They are differentiated from SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS, usually hand-held and used in the immediate operative field.

Infection of the spleen with species of MYCOBACTERIUM.

That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from the UHF (ultrahigh frequency) radio waves and extending into the INFRARED RAYS frequencies.

Intrauterine contraceptive devices that depend on the release of metallic copper.

Contraceptive devices placed high in the uterine fundus.

A species of GRAM-POSITIVE ENDOSPORE-FORMING BACTERIA in the family BACILLACEAE, found in soil, hot springs, Arctic waters, ocean sediments, and spoiled food products.

The maximum stress a material subjected to a stretching load can withstand without tearing. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed, p2001)

The science or philosophy of law. Also, the application of the principles of law and justice to health and medicine.

It is used as an oxidizing and bleaching agent and as a disinfectant. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)

A territory of northwest Canada, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the south by British Columbia, and on the west by Alaska. Its capital is Whitehorse. It takes its name from the Yukon River, the Indian yu-kun-ah, meaning big river. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p1367 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p608)

The destruction of germs causing disease.

Management, removal, and elimination of biologic, infectious, pathologic, and dental waste. The concept includes blood, mucus, tissue removed at surgery or autopsy, soiled surgical dressings, and other materials requiring special control and handling. Disposal may take place where the waste is generated or elsewhere.

Loss or destruction of the epithelial lining of the UTERINE CERVIX.

A plant of the family APIACEAE which is the source of asiatic acid and asiaticoside. Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. = Hydrocotyle asiatica L. is known for effect on peripheral circulation.

A person who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.