Webster's New World Medical Dictionary

conjunctivitis, allergic
Inflammation of the
whites of the eyes (the conjunctivae), with itching,
redness, and tearing, that is caused by an allergic
reaction and frequently accompanied by hay fever.
conjunctivitis arida
See 
xerophthalmia.
Conn syndrome
Overproduction of the hor-
mone aldosterone by a tumor in the outer portion
(cortex) of the adrenal gland. The excessive aldos-
terone results in low potassium levels
(hypokalemia), underacidity of the body (alkalo-
sis), muscle weakness, excessive thirst, excessive
urination, and high blood pressure. Also known as
aldosteronism and hyperaldosteronism.
connectionism
A theory of information process-
ing that is based on the neurophysiology of the
brain. The basic tenets of connectionism are that
signals are processed by elementary units (in this
case, neurons), processing units are connected in
parallel to other processing units, and connections
between processing units are weighted. The weights
may be hard-wired, learned, or both, and they rep-
resent the strengths of connection (either excitatory
or inhibitory) between two units.
connective tissue
A material consisting of pro-
tein fibers that form a framework that provides a
support structure for body tissues. See also 
colla-
gen.
connective tissue disease
A disease (autoim-
mune or otherwise) that attacks the collagen or
other core components of connective tissue. Lupus
is a connective tissue disease.
connective tissue disease, mixed
See 
mixed
connective tissue disease.
Conor and Bruch disease
See 
typhus, African
tick.
consanguinity
Close blood relationship, some-
times used to denote human inbreeding. Mating of
closely related persons can cause significant genetic
disease in offspring. Everyone carries rare recessive
genes that, in the company of other genes of the
same type, are capable of causing autosomal reces-
sive diseases. First cousins share a set of grandpar-
ents, so for any particular gene in one of them, the
chance that the other inherited the same allele from
the same source is one in eight. For this reason,
marriage between first cousins (not to mention
closer relatives) is generally discouraged, and in
many areas of the world is illegal. Mating between