<unk>  is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word<unk>  also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatment, the term is often used in a narrower fashion to refer to processes and tests which fall within the contemporary medical field of "general<unk> ", an area which includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties that diagnose disease, mostly through analysis of tissue, cell, and body fluid samples. Idiomatically, "a<unk> " may also refer to the predicted or actual progression of<unk> rticular diseases (as in the statement "the many different forms of cancer have diverse<unk> es", in which case a more proper choice of word would be "pathophysiologies"), and the affix<unk> thy is sometimes used to indicate a state of disease in cases of both physical ailment (as in cardiomyopathy) and psychological conditions (such as psychopathy). A physician practicing<unk>  is called a<unk> st. As a field of general inquiry and research,<unk>  addresses components of disease: cause, mechanisms of development <unk> thogenesis), structural alterations of cells (morphologic changes), and the consequences of changes (clinical manifestations). In common medical practice, general<unk>  is mostly concerned with analyzing known clinical abnormalities that are markers or precursors for both infectious and non-infectious disease, and is conducted by experts in one of two major specialties, anatomical<unk>  and clinical<unk> . Further divisions in specialty exist on the basis of the involved sample types (comparing, for example, cytopathology, hematopathology, and histopathology), organs (as in renal<unk> , and physiological systems (oral<unk> , as well as on the basis of the focus of the examination (as with forensic<unk> .<unk>  is a significant field in modern medical diagnosis and medical research.
Pathology
Histopathology
Histology
Hematopathology
Surgical pathology
Cytopathology
Tissue typing
Mycology