| alcaligenes | A genus of gram-negative, aerobic, motile bacteria that occur in water and soil. Some are common inhabitants of the intestinal tract of vertebrates. These bacteria occasionally cause opportunistic infections in humans. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| alcanna | <botany> An oriental shrub (Lawsonia inermis) from which henna is obtained. Origin: Sp. Alcana, alhea, fr. Ar. Al-hinna. See Henna, and cf. Alkanet. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| alcapton | <chemical> Chemical name: Benzeneacetic acid, 2,5-dihydroxy- (12 Dec 1998) |
| alcaptonuria | <biochemistry> The excretion of homogentisic acid (alkapton) in the urine due to the congenital absence of the enzyme homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase. This enzyme mediates the breakdown of the amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine. The urine may be quite dark, particularly when allowed to stand. Origin: Gr. Ouron = urine (27 Sep 1997) |
| alcator | <radiobiology> Name given to a set of tokamaks designed and built at MIT that are distinguished by high magnetic fields with relatively small diameters. The high magnetic field helps create plasmas with relatively high current and particle densities. (09 Oct 1997) |
| alcator scaling | <radiobiology> A proposed empirical law in which the energy confinement time is proportional to the product of the average density and the square of the plasma radius. (09 Oct 1997) |