"Interesting post. As a pathologist, I must interject that I have never used the term "rubriform" and don't know of any pathologists in the US that use it either. Perhaps it is an old term from the literature? Many of the terms for skin diseases, used by both dermatologists and dermatopathologists, are famously baroque - I can imagine a "rubriform" in that arena somewhere..."
Anonymous is correct. Most pathologists would never use "rubriform."
To satisfy my own curiosity, I extracted all of the English "iform" words found in UMLS.
Here they are:
acneiform
ansiform
apoplectiform
bacilliform
canaliform
cerebriform
chancriform
choreiform
chyliform
coliform
coralliform
cribiform
cribriform
cruciform
cuneiform
disciform
emboliform
epileptiform
falciform
filariform
filiform
flagelliform
fundiform
fungiform
fusiform
gigantiform
herpetiform
hydatidiform
hydatiform
ichthyosiform
intercuneiform
juxtarestiform
lentiform
morbilliform
multiform
neuralgiform
nonhydatidiform
pampiniform
piriform
pisiform
plexiform
prepyriform
proteiform
psoriasiform
punctiform
pyriform
reniform
restiform
retiform
retrolentiform
rubelliform
sacciform
scarlatiniform
schizophreniform
spongiform
storiform
subcuneiform
sublentiform
unciform
uniform (unintended)
varicelliform
varioliform
vermiform
verruciform
vitelliform
zosteriform
The UMLS seems to be missing a few that I have seen:
morpheiform
moniliform
In June, 2014, my book, entitled Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs: Keys to Understanding and Treating the Common Diseases was published by Elsevier. The book builds the argument that our best chance of curing the common diseases will come from studying and curing the rare diseases.
I urge you to read more about my book. There's a generous preview of the book at the Google Books site. If you like the book, please request your librarian to purchase a copy of this book for your library or reading room.
- Jules J. Berman, Ph.D., M.D. tags: common disease, orphan disease, orphan drugs, rare disease, disease genetics, nomenclature, terminology
