| cleaning | In dentistry, a procedure whereby accretions are removed from the teeth or from a dental prosthesis. See: dental prophylaxis. Ultrasonic cleaning, in dentistry, the use of a high-frequency vibrating point to remove deposits from tooth structure; also the process of cleaning dentures by placing them in a special liquid in a container that generates high-frequency vibrations. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| cleaning-in-place | <procedure> Cleaning and sterilising a bioreactor system without dismantling it. (14 Nov 1997) |
| ear canal, self-cleaning | most of the time the ear canals are self-cleaning, that is, there is a slow and orderly migration of ear canal skin from the eardrum to the outer opening. Old earwax is constantly being transported from the deeper areas of the ear canal to the opening where it usually dries, flakes, and falls out. (12 Dec 1998) |
| ear cleaning | When so much wax accumulates that it blocks the ear canal (and hearing), your physician may have to wash it out, vacuum it, or remove it with special instruments. Alternatively, your physician may prescribe ear drops what are designed to soften the wax (such as Cerumenex). Never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear! Wax is not formed in the deep part of the ear canal near the eardrum, but only in the outer part of the canal. So when a patient has wax pushed up against the eardrum, it is often because he has been probing his ear with such things as cotton-tipped swabs (such as Q-Tips), bobby pins, or twisted napkin corners. Such objects only serve as ramrods to push the wax in deeper. Also, the skin of the ear canal and the eardrum is very thin, fragile and easily injured. The ear canal is more prone to infection after it has been whipped clean of the good coating type wax. In addition, we have seen many perforated eardrums as a result of these efforts. (12 Dec 1998) |
| electron cyclotron discharge cleaning | Using relatively low power microwaves (at the electron cyclotron frequency) to create a weakly ionised, essentially unconfined hydrogen plasma in the vacuum chamber. The ions react with impurities on the walls of the tokamak and help remove them from the chamber. For instance, Alcator C-mod typically applies electron cyclotron discharge cleaning for a few days prior to beginning a campaign, and a few hours before each day's run. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Ayre brush | A device, consisting of a long flexible tube with a brush at the distal end, for collecting gastric mucosal cells in cancer detection studies; after positioning in the stomach the brush is rotated and "sweeps" cells from the mucosa. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bronchoscopic brush | A small brush for insertion through a bronchoscope to wipe off cells for microscopic identification in suspected bronchial carcinoma. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brush | 1. An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colours, etc. Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush, paint brush, tooth brush, etc. 2. The bushy tail of a fox. 3. <zoology> A tuft of hair on the mandibles. 4. Branches of trees lopped off; brushwood. 5. A thicket of shrubs or small trees; the shrubs and small trees in a wood; underbrush. 6. <physics> A bundle of flexible wires or thin plates of metal, used to conduct an electrical current to or from the commutator of a dynamo, electric motor, or similar apparatus. 7. The act of brushing; as, to give one's clothes a brush; a rubbing or grazing with a quick motion; a light touch; as, we got a brush from the wheel as it passed. "[As leaves] have with one winter's brush Fell from their boughts." (Shak) 8. A skirmish; a slight encounter; a shock or collision; as, to have a brush with an enemy. "Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong, And tempt not yet the brushes of the war." (Shak) 9. A short contest, or trial, of speed. "Let us enjoy a brush across the country." (Cornhill Mag) Electrical brush, a form of the electric discharge characterised by a brushlike appearance of luminous rays diverging from an electrified body. Origin: OE. Brusche, OF. Broche, broce, brosse, brushwood, F. Brosse brush, LL. Brustia, bruscia, fr. OHG. Brusta, brust, bristle, G. Borste bristle, burste brush. See Bristle, and cf. Browse. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| brush biopsy | Biopsy obtained by passing a bristled catheter into the ureter or pyelocalyceal system to remove cells from suspected areas of disease by entrapping them in the bristles. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brush border | <pathology> The densely packed microvilli on the apical surface of, for example: intestinal epithelial cells. (18 Nov 1997) |
| brush burn | A burn caused by friction of a rapidly moving object against the skin or ground into the skin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brush catheter | A ureteral catheter with a finely bristled brush tip that is endoscopically passed into the ureter or renal pelvis and by gentle to-and-fro movement brushes cells from the surface of suspected tumours. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brush habitat | <ecology> Includes a wide variety of plant and animal life dominated by and associated with coastal scrub and chaparral. (09 Oct 1997) |
| brush heap structure | Haphazard interlocking of fibrils in a gel or hydrocolloid impression material. (05 Mar 2000) |
| brush layering | <ecology> Placing horizontal layers of tree branches or twigs in a gully or along a slope and then partially covering the branches with soil, the branches act to hold the soil in place and to absorb momentum from water flowing over the area. (09 Oct 1997) |