| additive | 1. <chemistry> Characterised by addition. 2. A substance, as a flavouring agent, preservative or vitamin, added to another substance to improve its appearance, increase its nutritional value, etc. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| additive effect | <biochemistry, chemistry> An additive effect is the overall biological effect two chemicals acting together and which is the simple sum of the effects of the chemicals acting independently. Compare: antagonism. (15 Jan 1998) |
| additive model | A model in which the combined effect of several factors is the sum of the effects that would be produced by each of the factors in the absence of the others. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cumulative effects | Effects on the environment resulting from actions that are individually minor but that add up to a greater total effect as they take place over a period of time. (05 Dec 1998) |
| prenatal exposure delayed effects | Delayed effects on offspring of maternal or foetal prenatal exposure to drugs, radiation and other physical agents, manipulation, nutrition, stress, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| side effects | Problems that occur when treatment affects healthy cells. Common side effects of cancer treatment are fatigue, nausea, vomiting, decreased blood cell counts, hair loss, and mouth sores. (12 Dec 1998) |
| diamagnetic effects | <radiobiology> Application of a magnetic field to a plasma will tend to create circulating current within the plasma that will reduce the strength of the magnetic field. (09 Oct 1997) |
| experimenter effects | The influence of the experimenter's behaviour, personality traits, or expectancies on the results of that person's own research. See: double blind study. (05 Mar 2000) |
| foetal alcohol effects | A softer diagnosis than foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The diagnosis of possible FAE is considered when: 1. The person has some signs of FAS; 2. The person does not meet all of the necessary criteria for FAS; and 3. There is a history of alcohol exposure before birth. (12 Dec 1998) |
| genetic | <biology> Pertaining to reproduction or to birth or origin. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic amplification | A process for producing an increase in pertinent genetic material, particularly for increasing the proportion of plasmid DNA to that of bacterial DNA. Includes the production of extrachromosomal copies of the genes for RNA. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic assimilation | <genetics> A situation in which a characteristic that is normally expressed only in certain environmental situations becomes fixed in a population so that it no longer requires environmental factors to be expressed. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic association | The occurrence together in a population, more often than can be readily explained by chance, of two or more traits of which at least one is known to be genetic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic block | <biochemistry, molecular biology> An obstruction in a biochemical pathway caused by a mutation that has crippled production of an enzyme critical to the pathway. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic burden | The genetic debt due to harmful mutation but as yet undischarged. (In a large population of fixed size every mutation with diminished genetic fitness will eventually become extinct and depending on the details of inheritance and phenotype must be paid for by a fixed number of genetic deaths per mutation, the genetic debt.) (05 Mar 2000) |