| adaptive behaviour | Any behaviour that enables an organism to adjust to a particular situation or environment. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| adaptive behaviour scales | A behavioural assessment device to quantify the levels of skills of mentally retarded and developmentally delayed individuals in interacting with the environment; consists of three developmentally related factors: 1) personal self-sufficiency, e.g., eating, dressing; 2) community self-sufficiency, e.g., shopping, communicating; 3) personal and social responsibility, e.g., use of leisure time, job performance. See: intelligence. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive enzyme | Inducible enzyme, an enzyme that can be detected in a growing culture of a microorganism, after the addition of a particular substance (inducer) to the culture medium, but was not detectable prior to the addition and can act on the inducer. A prototype is the beta-galactosidase of Escherichia coli, synthesised upon the addition of various galactosides, whether or not these are good substrates. Compare: constitutive enzyme. Synonym: adaptive enzyme. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive hypertrophy | Thickening of the walls of a hollow organ, like the urinary bladder, when there is obstruction to outflow. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive management | A continuing process of action-based planning, monitoring, researching, evaluating, and adjusting with the objective of improving implementation and achieving the goals of the selected alternative. (05 Dec 1998) |
| adaptive management area | Landscape units designated for development and testing of technical and social approaches to achieving desired ecological, economic, and other social objectives. (05 Dec 1998) |
| adaptive radiation | <chemistry> The evolution of new speciesor sub-species to fill unoccupied ecological niches. (06 May 1997) |
| anamnestic response | <immunology> Archaic term now replaced by such terms as secondary immune response, immune memory. (18 Nov 1997) |
| audiometry, evoked response | A form of electrophysiologic audiometry in which an analog computer is included in the circuit to average out ongoing or spontaneous brain wave activity. A characteristic pattern of response to a sound stimulus may then become evident. Evoked response audiometry is known also as electric response audiometry. (12 Dec 1998) |
| auditory brainstem response audiometry | An electrophysiologic measure of auditory function utilizing responses produced by the auditory nerve and the brainstem to repetitive acoustic stimuli. (05 Mar 2000) |
| biological response modifier | <pharmacology, oncology> A substance used in adjuvant therapy that takes advantage of the bodys own natural defense mechanisms to inhibit the growth of a tumour. (16 Dec 1997) |
| biological response modifiers | Substances that stimulate the body's response to infection and disease. The body naturally produces small amounts of these substances. Scientists can produce some of them in the laboratory in large amounts and use them in cancer treatment. Also called BRMs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| biphasic response | Two separate and distinct responses that are separated in time, immediate reaction to an antigenic challenge followed by a recurrence of symptoms after an interval of quiescence. (05 Mar 2000) |
| booster response | The response of the immune system to the second or subsequent occasion on which it encounters a specific antigen. (18 Nov 1997) |
| brainstem evoked response audiometry | An electrophysiologic measure of auditory function utilizing responses produced by the auditory nerve and the brainstem to repetitive acoustic stimuli. (05 Mar 2000) |