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Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient and managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment or palliation of their injury or disease. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.

Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, during most of which it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge) frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). While stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.

Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as traditional medicine or folk medicine, which remains commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine, and are thus called alternative medicine. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine having safety and efficacy concerns are termed quackery. (Full article...)

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Influenza, commonly known as flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). The name influenza comes from the Italian: influenza, meaning "influence", (Latin: influentia). In humans, common symptoms of the disease are fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly. Although it is sometimes confused with the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus. Influenza can produce nausea and vomiting, especially in children, but these symptoms are more characteristic of the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu."

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Strabismus surgery

Photo credit: Bticho

A photo of strabismus surgery, surgery on the extraocular muscles to correct misalignment of the eyes, being performed. In this image, the face appears upside down, and the surgeon is disinserting the medial rectus muscle. A Castroviejo locking forceps is grasping the superior pole of the muscle, while a Manson-Aebli scissors does the cutting. The eyelids are being held by a Cook speculum.

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Snoezelen or "controlled multisensory stimulation" might be beneficial to people with autism and other developmental disabilities, dementia, and brain injury?
The therapeutic index of a medication is a comparison of the amount that causes the therapeutic effect to the amount that causes toxic effects. Quantitatively, it is the ratio of the dose required to produce the desired therapeutic effect and the toxic dose. A commonly used measure of therapeutic index is the effective dose of a drug for 50% of the population (ED₅₀) divided by the lethal dose for 50% of the population (LD₅₀).
...that a toddler with a syndrome of rash (pictured), arthralgia/arthritis, abdominal pain and renal disease, preceded by a viral upper respiratory tract infection, is likely to have Henoch-Schönlein purpura?

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The following are images from various Medicine-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Ayurvedic herbal medicines (from History of medicine)
Image 2The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, United Kingdom is a specialist neurological hospital. (from Health care)
Image 3Andreas Vesalius's 1543 De humani corporis fabrica contained intricately detailed drawings of human dissections, often in allegorical poses. (from History of medicine)
Image 4Traditional medicine in a market in Antananarivo, Madagascar (from Traditional medicine)
Image 5Florence Nightingale triggered the professionalization of nursing. Photograph c. 1860 (from History of medicine)
Image 6The oldest Polish Collegium Medicum at Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 (from History of medicine)
Image 7AMA Code of Medical Ethics (from Medical ethics)
Image 8Monumental stone relief of a fish-garbed figure from the Temple of Ninurta in the Assyrian city of Kalhu, believed by some experts to be a representation of an āšipu, or exorcist-priest, who functioned as a kind of healer and primitive doctor (from History of medicine)
Image 9The plinthios brochos as described by Greek physician Heraklas, a sling for binding a fractured jaw. These writings were preserved in one of Oribasius' collections. (from History of medicine)
Image 10Hospital train "Therapist Matvei Mudrov" in Khabarovsk, Russia (from Health care)
Image 11The numbers of Americans lacking health insurance and the uninsured rate from 1987 to 2008 (from Health insurance)
Image 1218th-century medical remedies collected by a British Gentry family (from History of medicine)
Image 13"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East" by Florence Nightingale. (from History of medicine)
Image 14Primary care may be provided in community health centers. (from Health care)
Image 15The Quaker-run York Retreat, founded in 1796, gained international prominence as a centre for moral treatment and a model of asylum reform following the publication of Samuel Tuke's Description of the Retreat (1813). (from History of medicine)
Image 16American Civil War hospital at Gettysburg, 1863 (from History of medicine)
Image 17Smallpox vaccination in Niger, 1969. A decade later, this was the first infectious disease to be eradicated. (from History of medicine)
Image 18A 12th-century Byzantine manuscript of the Hippocratic Oath (from Medical ethics)
Image 19Mexico City epidemic of 1737, with elites calling on the Virgin of Guadalupe (from History of medicine)
Image 20Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang (from Medical ethics)
Image 21healthcare expenditure in Japan by age group (from Health insurance)
Image 22Patient, Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, c. 1850–58. The asylum population in England and Wales rose from 1,027 in 1827 to 74,004 in 1900. (from History of medicine)
Image 23Health Expenditure per capita (in PPP-adjusted US$) among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 24Guy's Hospital in 1820 (from History of medicine)
Image 25The Hippocratic Corpus
A collection of early medical works may be associated with Hippocrates (from History of medicine)
Image 26Global concentrations of healthcare resources, as depicted by the number of physicians per 10,000 individuals, by country. (from Health care)
Image 27The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written in the 17th century BCE, contains the earliest recorded reference to the brain. New York Academy of Medicine. (from History of medicine)
Image 28World map of universal healthcare.

Countries with free and universal health care
(from Health insurance)
Image 29Assorted dried plant and animal parts used in traditional Chinese medicines, clockwise from top left corner: dried Lingzhi (lit. "spirit mushrooms"), ginseng, Luo Han Guo, turtle shell underbelly (plastron), and dried curled snakes (from History of medicine)
Image 30Most countries have seen a tremendous increase in life expectancy since 1945. However, in southern Africa, the HIV epidemic beginning around 1990 has eroded national health. (from History of medicine)
Image 31Depiction of smallpox in Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún's history of the conquest of Mexico, Book XII of the Florentine Codex, from the defeated Aztecs' point of view (from History of medicine)
Image 32Botánicas such as this one in Jamaica Plain, Boston, cater to the Latino community and sell folk medicine alongside statues of saints, candles decorated with prayers, lucky bamboo, and other items. (from Traditional medicine)
Image 33Life Expectancy of the total population at birth from 2000 until 2011 among several OECD member nations. Data source: OECD's iLibrary (from Health insurance)
Image 34The emergency room is often a frontline venue for the delivery of primary medical care. (from Health care)
Image 35Replica of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's microscope of the 1670s (from History of medicine)
Image 36Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq, 18th century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul (from History of medicine)
Image 37Louis Pasteur experimenting on bacteria, c. 1870 (from History of medicine)
Image 38A cochlear implant is a common kind of neural prosthesis, a device replacing part of the human nervous system. (from History of medicine)
Image 39American combat surgery during the Pacific War, 1943. Major wars showed the need for effective hygiene and medical treatment. (from History of medicine)
Image 40Curandera performing a limpieza in Cuenca, Ecuador (from Traditional medicine)
Image 41Infographic showing how healthcare data flows within the billing process (from Medical billing)
Image 42Mandrake (written 'ΜΑΝΔΡΑΓΟΡΑ' in Greek capitals). Naples Dioscurides, 7th century (from History of medicine)
Image 43Sometimes traditional medicines include parts of endangered species, such as the slow loris in Southeast Asia. (from Traditional medicine)

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