| vital signs | Manifestation of breathing, heartbeat, and sustained blood pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| conventional signs | Sign's that acquire their function through social (linguistic) custom; e.g., words, mathematical symbols. See: symbol. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| signs and symptoms | Objective evidence of disease perceptible to the examining physician (sign) and subjective evidence of disease perceived by the patient (symptom). (12 Dec 1998) |
| signs and symptoms, digestive | Digestive system manifestations of diseases of the gastrointestinal system or of other organs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| signs and symptoms, respiratory | Respiratory system manifestations of diseases of the respiratory tract or of other organs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| iconic signs | Sign's that acquire their function through similarity to what they signify; e.g., a photograph as a sign of the person in the picture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| indexical signs | Sign's that acquire their function through a causal connection with what they signify; e.g., smoke as a sign of fire. (05 Mar 2000) |
| location directories and signs | Directory signs or listings of designated areas within or without a facility. (12 Dec 1998) |
| brilliant vital red | Trisodium salt of a sulfonated diazo dye (a ditolyl group diazotised to sulfonated aminonaphthalene residues), used as a vital stain. Synonym: brilliant vital red. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vital | 1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions. 2. Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood. "Do the heavens afford him vital food?" (Spenser) "And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth." (Milton) 3. Containing life; living. "Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part." 4. Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal. "The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part." (Pope) 5. Very necessary; highly important; essential. "A competence is vital to content." (Young) 6. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. "Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . Affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital." (Sir T. Browne) Vital air, oxygen gas; so called because essential to animal life. <physiology> Vital capacity, the breathing capacity of the lungs; expressed by the number of cubic inches of air which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration. Vital force. <biology> See Tripod. <botany> Vital vessels, a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex. Origin: F, fr. L. Vitalis, fr. Vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| vital capacity | <chest medicine, physiology> The volume of gas that can be expelled from the lungs from a position of full inspiration, with no limit to the duration of expiration, it is equal to the inspiratory capacity plus the expiratory reserve volume. (11 Nov 1997) |
| vital centre | Centre essential to life; usually refers to the centres located in the medulla oblongata which are necessary for the maintenance of respiration and circulation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vital index | The ratio of births to deaths within a population during a given time. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vital knot | A circumscript region in the lower part of the medulla oblongata, near the apex of the calamus scriptorius, interpreted by M. Flourens (1858) as a nerve centre controlling respiration. Synonym: vital knot, vital node. Origin: Fr. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vital node | A circumscript region in the lower part of the medulla oblongata, near the apex of the calamus scriptorius, interpreted by M. Flourens (1858) as a nerve centre controlling respiration. Synonym: vital knot, vital node. Origin: Fr. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vital pulp | A pulp composed of viable tissue, either normal or diseased, that responds to electric stimuli and to heat and cold. (05 Mar 2000) |