Persius/hicric huggingface dataset:
Veratrum viride
Veratrum viride (Indian Poke,  False Hellebore, Green False Hellebore) is a species of Veratrum native to eastern and western (but not central) North America. It is extremely toxic, and is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of common names within its native range, including American False Hellebore, American White Hellebore, Bear Corn, Big Hellebore, Corn Lily, Devils Bite, Duck Retten, Indian Hellebore, Itch-weed, Itchweed, Poor Annie, and Tickleweed.
It is a herbaceous perennial plant reaching 0.7-2 m tall, with a solid green stem. The leaves are spirally arranged, 1035 cm long and 520 cm broad, elliptic to broad lanceolate ending in a short point, heavily ribbed and hairy on the underside. The flowers are numerous, produced in a large branched inflorescence 3070 cm tall; each flower is 512 mm long, with six green to yellow-green tepals. The fruit is a capsule 1.53 cm long, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the numerous flat 810 mm diameter seeds. The plant reproduces through rhizome growth as well as seeds.
There are two varieties:
- Veratrum viride var. viride. Eastern North America. Side branches of inflorescence erect or spreading.
- Veratrum viride var. eschscholzianum (Roemer & Schultes) Breitung. Western North America. Side branches of inflorescence drooping.
The related western North American Veratrum californicum (White False Hellebore) can be distinguished from sympatric var. eschscholzianum by its whiter flowers, with erect side branches of the inflorescence.

# Distribution and habitat
In eastern North America, var. viride occurs from southwestern Labrador and southern Quebec south to northern Georgia. In the west, var. eschscholzianum occurs from Alaska and Northwest Territory south through Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon to northern California.
It is found in wet soils in meadows and open forests, from sea level in the north of the range, up to 1,600 m in the southeast and 2,500 m in the southwest.

# Medicine
The plant is highly toxic, causing nausaea and vomiting. If the poison is not evacuated, cold sweat and vertigo appears. Respiration slows, cardiac rhythm and blood pressure falls, eventually leading to death.
It is used externally by several Native American nations for external treatment. Although is rarely ever used modern herbalism due to its concentration of various alkaloids, it has been used in the past against high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat. The root contains even higher concentrations than the aerial parts.
The plant was used by some tribes to elect a new leader. All the candidates would eat the root, and the last to start vomiting would become the new leader.
Viburnum opulus
Viburnum opulus (Guelder-rose) is a species of Viburnum, native to Europe and Asia. Some botanists also treat the closely related North American species Viburnum trilobum as a variety of it (as Viburnum opulus var. americanum Ait.), or a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen. The name appears to have originated because a popular cultivar, the Snowball tree (see Cultivation and uses) supposedly first originated in the Dutch province of Guelderland.
It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4-5 m tall. The leaves are opposite, three-lobed, 5-10 cm long and broad, with a rounded base and coarsely serrated margins; they are superficially similar to the leaves of some maples, most easily distinguished by their somewhat wrinkled surface with impressed leaf venation. The leaf buds are green, with are valvate bud scales.
The hermaphrodite flowers are white, produced in corymbs 4-11 cm diameter at the top of the stems; each corymb comprises a ring of outer sterile flowers 1.5-2 cm diameter with conspicuous petals, surrounding a center of small (5 mm), fertile flowers; the flowers are produced in early summer, and pollinated by insects. The fruit is a globose bright red drupe 7-10 mm diameter, containing a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the fruit, then deposit the seeds in another location in their droppings.

# Cultivation and uses
It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant for its flowers and berries, growing best on moist, moderately alkaline soils, though tolerating most soil types well. Several cultivars have been selected, including 'Snowball' ("Snowball Tree"), in which all the flowers are only of the larger sterile type, making it more conspicuous, but it does not produce any fruit.
Snowball bush is a name often given to Viburnum opulus for its white clusters of flowers that appear in spring. There is some confusion, as there are a few other bushes, including other members of the Viburnum genus, also referred to as "snowball bush".  It is naturalised in North America, where it has been misleadingly re-named as "European Cranberrybush" (it is not a cranberry).
The fruit is edible in small quantities, with a very acidic taste; it can be used to make jelly. It is however very mildly toxic, and may cause vomiting or diarrhea if eaten in large amounts (Plants for a Future).
The dried bark is used in a tincture, known as "Cramp Bark," to alleviate painful menstrual cramps.
This herb is mainly used for treating feminine problems like menstrual cramps, postpartum discomfort, preventing miscarriages and internal hemorrhages and is used as a uterine sedative also.
Virchow's triad

# Overview
Virchow's triad  describes the three broad categories of factors that are thought to contribute to thrombosis.
- Hypercoagulability
- Hemodynamic changes (stasis, turbulence)
- Endothelial injury/dysfunction
It is named after the eminent German physician Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902). However, the elements comprising Virchow's triad were neither proposed by Virchow, nor did he ever suggest a triad to describe the pathogenesis of venous thrombosis. In fact, it was decades following Virchow's death before a consensus was reached proposing that thrombosis is the result of alterations in blood flow, vascular endothelial injury, or alterations in the constitution of the blood. Still, the modern understanding of the factors leading to embolism are similar to the description provided by Virchow. Its nebulous origins notwithstanding, Virchow's triad remains a useful concept for clinicians and pathologists alike in understanding the contributors to thrombosis.

# The triad
The triad consists of three components:

# Historical Perspective
The origin of the term "Virchow's Triad" is of historical interest, and has been subject to reinterpretation in recent years. While both Virchow's and the modern triads describe thrombosis, the previous triad has been characterized as "the consequences of thrombosis", and the modern triad as "the causes of thrombosis".
Rudolf Virchow elucidated the etiology of pulmonary embolism, whereby thrombi occurring within the veins, particularly those of the extremities, become dislodged and migrate to the pulmonary vasculature. He published his description in 1856   In detailing the pathophysiology surrounding pulmonary embolism, he alluded to many of the factors known to contribute to venous thrombosis.  While these factors had already been previously established in the medical literature by others, for unclear reasons they ultimately became known as Virchow's triad.  This eponym did not emerge in the literature until long after Virchow's death. One estimate of the first use of the phrase dates it to the early 1950s.
Although the concept of the triad is usually attributed to Virchow, he did not include endothelial injury in his description. This has been attributed to a dispute Virchow had with Jean Cruveilhier, who considered local trauma of primary importance in the development of pulmonary artery thrombosis.

# Pathophysiology
This video explains the process of thrombosis:
Virola sebifera
Virola sebifera,  common names Ucuuba-do-Cerrado and red ucuuba,  is a type of tree from the family Myristicaceae, from Central America and South America.

# Description
Virola sebifera is a tall, thin tree, which grows up to 30 m tall. The leaves are simple and grow up to 30 centimeters long. The small flowers are single-sexed and are found in panicles. The fruit is reddish and oval-shaped. The idividual Virola trees, which include 40 to 60 species, are difficult to differentiate from one another.

# Contents und uses
The bark of the tree is rich in tannins and also the hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine (DMT), as well as 5-MeO-DMT and it is used by idigenous people to treat skin conditions. The ripe seeds contain fatty acid glycerides, especially laurodimyristin and trimyristin. 

# Uses

## Industrial uses
Seeds from Virola sebifera are processed to obtain the fats, which are yellow and aromatic.  They smell like nutmeg.  The fats also become rancid quickly.  They are used industrially in the production of fats, candles and soaps.  This virola fat possesses properties similar to cocoa butter,  or also shea butter.

## Homeopathy
The homeopathic product Myristica sebifera, (Abbreviation: Myris) is derived from the fresh, red juice from the injured bark of the tree.  It is especially used for such ailments as abscesses,  phlegmon, paronychia, furuncle, anal fissures, infections of the parotid gland, bacterially infected tonsilitis, etc.

# Traditional medicine
The smoke of the inner bark of the tree is used by shamans of the indigenous people of Venezuela for healing fever conditions, or also cooked for driving out evil ghosts.
Vitreous humour

# Overview
The vitreous humour (British spelling) or vitreous humor (U.S. spelling) is the clear gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina of the eyeball of humans and other vertebrates. It is often referred to as the vitreous body or simply "the vitreous".

# Composition
The vitreous is 99% water, but has a viscosity two to four times that of pure water, giving it a gelatinous consistency.  Other components include salts, sugars, phagocytes, and a network of collagen fibres. Thus, unlike water, it has a refractive index of 1.336.  The phagocytic cells in the vitreous serve to remove unwanted debris in the visual field.
Hyaluronic acid was first isolated from vitreous humour.

# Function
The primary purpose of the vitreous humour is to provide structural support to the eyeball while offering a clear unobstructed path for light to reach the retina.
The vitreous is also believed to function as a barrier to the forward diffusion of oxygen from the retinal blood supply to the anterior segment of the eye, where it can cause oxidation damage to the lens.  Since the vitreous does not regenerate after being removed from the eye (a procedure known as vitrectomy, which is usually performed to allow surgical access to the posterior segment of the eye), early cataract is a frequent complication of retinal surgery.

# Pathology
The collagen fibres of the vitreous are held apart by electrical charges. With aging, these charges tend to reduce, and the fibres may clump together. Similarly, the gel may liquefy, a condition known as syneresis, leading to cells and other organic clusters to float freely within the vitreous humour. These commonly lead to floaters which are perceived in the visual field as spots or fibrous strands. Floaters are generally harmless, but the sudden onset of recurring floaters may signify a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) or other diseases of the eye.

# Clinical significance
The metabolic exchange and equilibration between systemic circulation and vitreous humour is so slow that vitreous humour is sometimes the fluid of choice for postmortem analysis of glucose levels or substances which would be more rapidly diffused, degraded, excreted, or metabolised from the general circulation.
Volney Mathison
Dr. Volney G. Mathison was an American experimenter/hobbyist in early biofeedback, galvanic skin response technology, and psychogalvanometer (lie-detector machine) research in the 1940s and 1950s. He was also allegedly a chiropractor and an author of paranormal and science fiction books.

# E-meter
Mathison discovered through experiments with early lie-detectors during the 1940s that when the subject was reminded of certain past events, the lie detector needle would fluctuate.  He further determined that the degree of fluctuation was in direct proportion to the strength of the subject's reaction.
It was Mathison's idea, by way of his study of Carl Jung's theories, to create a special lie-detector for examining unconscious and subconscious reactions rather than conscious ones. This notion, however pseudoscientific, was directly appropriated by fellow science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, who enlisted Mathison to build similar devices for use in his still-developing concepts of Dianetics and Scientology. The devices were called Mathison E-meters, short for "electro-psychometer" or sometimes "electroencephaloneuromentimograph".
Mathison and Hubbard's business relationship ended in the mid-1950s, when Hubbard, who already had coerced Mathison into giving him exclusive rights to the device, now urged Mathison to transfer complete ownership of the patent. He refused.  Hubbard discontinued use of the E-meter and issued a statement that read in part:
Four years later, in 1958, the E-Meter returned, but it was now called the Hubbard E-Meter, with only slight modifications to the design having been made by Don Breeding and Joe Wallis. E-meters once again became an essential part of Scientology's Auditing (Scientology) process, and no further mention was made of the four-year period in which Hubbard had disavowed it.

# Bibliography
Mathison authored a Science Fiction novel called Radiobuster, and also published many non-fiction books over the years on various topics, some less scientific than others:
- How to Achieve Past Life Recalls
- The Secret Power of the Crystal Pendulum
- Practical Self-Hypnosis
- Space-Age Self-Hypnosis
- The Secret of Lourdes Revealed
- Creative Image Therapy
- Electropsychometry
- The Power and Glory of Sex

# Notes
-  Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 trans4mind.com: "The Biofeedback Monitor"
-  Paulette Cooper on the E-meter's history
-  Mark Pilkington, Clear Thinking, The Guardian, February 17, 2005
-  Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 The True Inventor of the E-Meter, quotes from Messiah or Madman (1992) pages 332-333:
-  Robert Todd Carroll. "e-meter", The Skeptic's Dictionary. (2005)
Waddell's signs
Waddell's signs are a group of physical signs, first described by Waddell et al in 1980, that may indicate non-organic or psychological component to chronic low back pain. Historically they have been used to detect "malingering" patients with back pain.

# Use of Waddell's Signs
One or two Waddell's signs can often be found even when there is not a strong non-organic component to pain. Three or more are positively correlated with high scores for depression, hysteria and hypochondriasis on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

## Waddell's signs are:
- Superficial tenderness  skin discomfort on light palpation.
- Nonanatomic tenderness  tenderness crossing multiple anatomic boundaries.
- Axial loading  eliciting pain when pressing down on the top of the patients head.
- Pain on simulated rotation - rotating the shoulders and pelvis together should not be painful as it does not stretch the structures of the back.
- Distracted straight leg raise - if a patient complains of pain on straight leg raise, but not if the examiner extends the knee with the patient seated (e.g. when checking the Babinski's reflex).
- Regional sensory change - Stocking sensory loss, or sensory loss in an entire extremity or side of the body.
- Regional weakness - Weakness that is jerky, with intermittent resistance (such as cogwheeling, or catching).  Organic weakness can be overpowered smoothly.
- Overreaction - Exaggerated painful response to a stimulus, that is not reproduced when the same stimulus is given later.
Although Waddell's signs can detect a non-organic component to pain, they do not exclude an organic cause. A high Waddell score (>3) is indicative only of symptom magnification or possible illness behavior. Often the test has been misused. It does not signify malingering.
According to an original article the actual numbers of Waddell's signs are 5: 
- 1. Superficial and Widespread tenderness or Nonanatomic tenderness. (It's "one" sign)
- 2. Stimulation tests: Axial loading and Pain on simulated rotation. (It's another "one" sign)
- 3. Distracted straight leg raise.
- 4. Non-anatomic sensory changes: Regional sensory changes and Regional weakness.(It's another "one" sign)
- 5. Overreaction.
If there are more than 3 of 5 present then there is high probability that patient has non-organic pain.
Wassermann test
The Wassermann test is a complement-fixation (Complement system) antibody test for syphilis, named after the bacteriologist August von Wassermann.

# Method
A sample of blood or cerebrospinal fluid is taken and introduced to the antigen - cardiolipin extracted from bovine muscle or heart. Syphilis-specific antibodies (reagines) react with the lipid - the Wassermann reaction of antiphospholipid antibodies (APAs). The intensity of the reaction (1, 2, 3, or 4) indicates the severity of the condition.

# Uncertainty
The reaction is not actually specific to syphilis and will produce a positive reaction to other diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, and numerous other diseases. It is possible for an infected individual to produce no reaction and for a successfully treated individual to continue to produce a reaction (called Wassermann fast or fixed).

# Development and refinement
The antibody test was developed by Wassermann and Albert Neisser at the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases in 1906. The test was a growth from the work of Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet and Octave Gengou on complementing-fixation reaction, published in 1901, and the positive reaction is sometimes called the Bordet-Gengou-Wassermann reaction or Bordet-Wassermann reaction.
The Wassermann test has been refined - Kahn test, Kolmer test - and it is rarely used today. Replacement tests (VDRL test, Rapid plasma reagent (RPR test), initially based on flocculation techniques (Hinton), have been shown to produce far fewer false positive results. Indeed the "biologic false positives" of modern tests usually indicate a serious alternate condition, often an autoimmune disease.
Westermark sign

# Overview
In chest radiography, the Westermark Sign, is a sign that represents a focus of oligemia (vasoconstriction) seen distal to a pulmonary embolus (PE). While the chest x-ray is abnormal in the majority of PE cases, the Westermark sign is seen in only 2% of patients.
The sign results from a combination of:
- the dilation of the pulmonary arteries proximal to the embolus and
- the collapse of the distal vasculature creating the appearance of a sharp cut off on chest radiography.

# Sensitivity and specificity
The Westermark sign, like Hampton's hump (a wedge shaped, pleural based consolidation associated with pulmonary infarction), has a low sensitivity (11%) and high specificity (92%) for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolus.
Westphal's sign

# Overview
Westphal's sign is the clinical correlate of the absence or decrease of patellar reflex or knee jerk. Patellar reflex or knee jerk is a kind of deep or stretch reflex where an application of a stimulus to the patellar tendon such as strike by a solid object or hammer caused the leg to extend due to such stimulus causes the quadriceps femoris muscle to stretch.

# Associated conditions
Westphal's sign has a clinical significance used in determining neurodisorders or diseases such as:
- neuro-syphilis tabes dorsalis
- receptor damage, peripheral nerve disease, involving the dorsal(sensory) columns of the spinal cord  and cerebellar lesions
- lesions present within the motor cortex of the brain or the pyramidal tracts which it combined with muscular spasms
- complete interruption of sensory and/or motor impulse transmission in the femoral nerve
However, Westphal's sign is often known as a characteristic finding in tabes dorsalis, a type of neuro-syphilis.
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Whipple's triad
Synonyms and keywords: Whipple's criteria;

# Overview
Whipple's triad is a medical term which refers to three conditions that are considered by physicians necessary for proving hypoglycemia as the cause of a person's symptoms. They are stated in various versions, but the essential conditions are:
- Symptoms known or likely to be caused by hypoglycemia
- A low glucose measured at the time of the symptoms
- Relief of symptoms when the glucose is raised to normal

# History
The criteria date back to the 1930s, when it had been discovered that a few patients with hypoglycemic symptoms (such as shakiness, syncope or sweating) due to hypoglycemia could be cured by surgery to remove an insulinoma. However, it had also become apparent that a large proportion of people with symptoms suggestive of hypoglycemia had no need of surgery. Diagnostic testing was rudimentary: beyond a crude assay for reducing substances as an indirect measure of blood glucose, there was no way to measure hormones and metabolites such as insulin, and no imaging procedures for internal organs such as the pancreas.
Allen O. Whipple was a well-known surgeon who had pioneered pancreatic surgery.  In an article entitled "The surgical therapy of hyperinsulinism", in J Internat Chir 3:237-276 (1938), he proposed that no pancreatic surgery to look for an insulinoma be performed unless these criteria were met.

# Current use of the triad
The use and significance of the criteria have evolved over the last century as our understanding of the many forms of hypoglycemia has increased and our diagnostic tests and imaging procedures have improved. Whipple's criteria are no longer used to justify surgical exploration for an insulinoma, but to separate "true hypoglycemia" in which a low glucose can be demonstrated from a variety of other conditions (e.g., idiopathic postprandial syndrome) in which symptoms suggestive of hypoglycemia occur but low glucose levels cannot be demonstrated. The criteria are now invoked far more often by endocrinologists than by surgeons. The reliability of the criteria for this purpose has been a subject of contention among physicians.

# In Popular Culture
Elliot in the tv series Scrubs was unable to name Whipple's Triad in the episode "My Balancing Act".
Wiener equation
A simple mathematical representation of Brownian motion, the Wiener equation, named after Norbert Wiener, assumes the current velocity of a fluid particle fluctuates randomly:
where v is velocity, x is position, d/dt is the time derivative, and g(t) may for instance be white noise.
Since velocity changes instantly in this formalism, the Wiener equation is not suitable for short time scales.  In that case, the Langevin equation, which looks at particle acceleration, must be used.
eo:Ekvacio de Wiener