The term pathology may be broadly used to refer to the study of diseases in general, encompassing a wide range of medical practices (including plant and veterinary pathology) and bioscience research fields, or more narrowly to describe work within the contemporary medical field of "general pathology," which comprises a number of distinct, but inter-related medical specialties which diagnose diseases mainly through the analysis of cell, tissue and body fluid samples. Used as a count noun, "a pathology" (plural, "pathologies") also describes the predicted or actual progression of particular diseases (e.g. in the statement "the different forms of cancer have diverse pathologies"), and the affix path is sometimes used to indicate a state of disease in cases of both physical ailment (as in cardiomyopathy) and psychological conditions (for example psychopathy). Similarly, a pathological condition is one caused by disease, rather than occurring physiologically. The physicians practicing pathology are called pathologists.