(medical extract) 

~ DYSMORPHOLOGY  id+ | U.S. expression for the 
                       STUDY OF CONGENITAL ANOMALIES 
  WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SHAPE or MORPHOLOGY | 
  note DYSMORPHOLOGY as a discipline was promoted by 
       David W  SMITH M.D. [#] and his FOLLOWERS 
  the stress is on the VISUAL RECOGNITION of 
  MAJOR and MINOR STRUCTURAL ANOMALIES as well as 
  what statistically can be called "variations"
  defined as morphologic features "normal" thus 
  5% or more frequent in q particular population 
  one alternative to avoid labels MAJOR MINOR or 
  VARIANT is to IGNORE SUCH NUANCES AND INSTEAD 
  FOCUS IF SUCH FEATURES HAVE INFORMATIVE VALUE 
  med> DISTORTIONS OF SHAPE or MORPHOLOGY 
       SYMMETRY and other features can suggest 
  CAUSES or ETIOLOGY  
  MECHANISMS of EXPRESSION or PATHOGENESIS 
  and DIAGNOSIS thus PROGNOSIS and PREVENTION of RECURRENCE 
  cont> see> SYNDROME 

  20170128 ww