Careof2kids  +  50709 Sat, 16 Oct 04 06:49 PM Hello, I am new to this site and hope you can help me. I am a new medical transcriptionist and came across two problems. The first is this one: my doctor dictated "There are certainly other conditions, such as catecholamine and aldosterone secreting tumors...". So you will understand my question better, in case you don't know medical terminology, aldosterone and catecholamine are hormones that glands and some tumors secrete in the body. Q1: If it were one hormone 'such as catecholamine-secreting tumor', I would use a hyphen, such as, catecholamine-secreting tumor', but if since there are two hormone-secreting tumors, do I use a hyphen to link them, such as 'catecholamine- and aldosterone-secreting hormones'? also Q2: If you were to write 'I prescribed a 3-week trial of antibiotics', you would use a hyphen, right?, but if you were to write 'We tried 3 weeks of antibiotics with no effect', there would be no hyphen, correct? Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to your response. Careof2kids Joined on Sat, Oct 16 2004 New Member 01 Hyphens, Grammar

	CalifJim  +  50724 Sat, 16 Oct 04 09:55 PM I would write them as 'catecholamine- and aldosterone-secreting hormones', 'three-week trial', and 'tried three weeks of antibiotics', writing out the small number three. But hyphens aren't my forte, so let's wait for a second opinion. CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,454 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Hyphens, Grammar

	Destination_AGP  +  50750 Sun, 17 Oct 04 02:39 AM Hello. I agree with Califjim's opinion. In the first case, it would be "catecholamine- and aldosterone-secreting hormones" because it is multiple modification. As to the second case, "three-week trial" is also correct because it is a plural attributive noun. Hope this helps Destination_AGP Joined on Thu, Sep 23 2004 Málaga (Spain) New Member 10 Grammar, Nouns, Plurals

	Melodie  +  70750 Sat, 29 Jan 05 07:36 AM catecholamine- and aldosterone-secreting hormones and the abbreviated ending would be........... x 3 wks trial Melodie (just in case anyone was interested) Melodie Joined on Fri, Nov 28 2003 New Member 35 Grammar

	mjcbrown  +  73049 Wed, 09 Feb 05 12:47 PM There is no conjunction! The expression "with an upgoing toe on the left" is 'in apposition' - though a comma after 'intact' might help. If you are desparate for a conjunction "but with an upgoing toe on the left" would catch the contrast which the author seeks. Dr M JC Brown mjcbrown Joined on Sat, Dec 11 2004 New Member 07 Grammar, Commas

	The17pointscale  +  316161 Wed, 17 Jan 07 01:20 AM Hi, I'm a science editor at the VA hospital in Washington state. A few weeks ago I was editing a manuscript that varied its use of tissue and tissues. I searched through dictionaries and grammar books but couldn't find much info on the distinction between tissue/tissues. However, I decided that the plural tissue is a collective noun that describes closely related tissue whereas tissues emphasizes the differences between the tissues. Your example is tricky, but I think I would keep tissue rather than changing the term to tissues. Also, CalifJim, I would recommend not spelling out three weeks. Although many style guides recommend spelling digits under ten, several science-related style guides, including the AMA (American Medical Association), require numbers to be in numeric form when used with time periods (i.e., hours, days, weeks, etc). -Andrew The17pointscale Joined on Thu, Jan 26 2006 Seattle Junior Member 84 Grammar, Spelling, Nouns, Plurals