Letter: v

Measurement of the amount of weight necessary to propagate a tear after a V has been cut.

Tidal Volume (approximately 0.5 L in an average young adult man)

The bowel twists upon itself occluding the flow; bowel obstruction.

Electromotive force, pressure, or potential expressed in volts.

A strong band of elastic tissue lying within the vocal fold. Vocal ligaments form the medial edge of the rima glottides.

A measure of the total amount of usable air available in the lungs following a maximal inspiratory effort (approximately 4.8 L); VC equals the sum of the inspiratory reserve volume, tidal volume, and the expiratory reserve volume. SEE lung volumes.

[pl. vertebrae]. One of the 33 bones of the spinal column. The spinal column is made up of 7 cervical (neck), 12 thoracic (chest), 5 lumbar (lower back), five sacral (base of the vertebral column), and 4 coccygeal (or vestigial caudal) vertebrae. The five sacral vertebrae are fused to form the sacrum, and the four coccygeal vertebrae are fused to form the coccyx, or tail bone.

Passes laterally and anteriorly to the sides of the torso, innervating associated muscles and skin , and gives origin to the nerve plexuses.

The spine or backbone.

The opening in a vertebra, between the neural arch and the vertebral body, within which the spinal cord lies. The vertebral foramena of the consecutive vertebrae form the spinal canal.