| automatic | 1. Having an inherent power of action or motion. "Nothing can be said to be automatic." (Sir H. Davy) 2. Pertaining to, or produced by, an automaton; of the nature of an automaton; self-acting or self-regulating under fixed conditions; especially. Applied to machinery or devices in which certain things formerly or usually done by hand are done by the machine or device itself; as, the automatic feed of a lathe; automatic gas lighting; an automatic engine or switch; an automatic mouse. 3. Not voluntary; not depending on the will; mechanical; as, automatic movements or functions. "Unconscious or automatic reasoning." (H. Spenser) Automatic arts, such economic arts or manufacture as are carried on by self-acting machinery. Origin: Cf. F. Automatique. See Automaton. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| automatic audiometer | An audiometer that is operated by the patient, enabling him to control the intensity of the tone presented to him and thus track his own hearing thresholds. (05 Mar 2000) |
| automatic audiometry | An audiometric technique using an automatic audiometer, which enables the patient to track his own hearing thresholds by controlling the intensity of the signal being presented to him, while the audiometer sweeps through the audible frequency range. (05 Mar 2000) |
| automatic beat | In contrast to forced beat, an ectopic beat that arises de novo and is not precipitated by the preceding beat; thus escaped and parasystolic beat's are automatic. Synonym: automatic contraction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| automatic condenser | A mechanically or electrically activated device used to provide condensing pressure in the placement of amalgam or gold foil in a cavity preparation. Synonym: automatic condenser. (05 Mar 2000) |
| automatic contraction | In contrast to forced beat, an ectopic beat that arises de novo and is not precipitated by the preceding beat; thus escaped and parasystolic beat's are automatic. Synonym: automatic contraction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| automatic data processing | Data processing largely performed by automatic means. (12 Dec 1998) |
| automatic epilepsy | <neurology> Seizures with elaborate and multiple sensory, motor, and/or psychic components. A common feature is the clouding of consciousness and amnesia for the event. Some clinical manifestations may include more complex behaviours like burst of anger, emotional outbursts, fear or automatisms. The EEG often reveals spike discharges in the temporal lobe during sleep. (02 Jan 1998) |
| automatic plugger | A mechanically or electrically activated device used to provide condensing pressure in the placement of amalgam or gold foil in a cavity preparation. Synonym: automatic condenser. (05 Mar 2000) |
| food dispensers, automatic | Mechanical food dispensing machines. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Asiatic cholera | <gastroenterology, microbiology> A form of infectious gastroenteritis (intestinal infection) that results in frequent watery stools, cramping abdominal pain and eventual collapse (from dehydration). Epidemic infections are seasonal in most third world countries, particularly Africa. (15 Jan 1998) |
| pancreatic cholera | Diarrhoea characterised by severe, watery, secretory diarrhoea and hyperkalaemia; most patients have hypercalcaemia, many have hyperglycaemia; results from excessive secretion of VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide) by an islet cell tumour of the pancreas. Sometimes called WDHA syndrome. See: Verner-Morrison syndrome, WDHA syndrome. Synonym: pancreatic cholera, pancreatic diarrhoea. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cholera | <gastroenterology, microbiology> A form of infectious gastroenteritis (intestinal infection) that results in frequent watery stools, cramping abdominal pain and eventual collapse (from dehydration). Epidemic infections are seasonal in most third world countries, particularly Africa. (15 Jan 1998) |
| cholera agar | An alkaline agar medium for cultivating Vibrio cholerae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cholera bacillus | <bacteria> Bacterium that causes cholera, the life threatening aspects of which are caused by the exotoxin (see cholera toxin). Short, slightly curved rods, highly motile (single polar flagellum), gram-negative. Adhere to intestinal epithelium (adhesion mechanism unknown) and produce enzymes (neuraminidase, proteases) that facilitate access of the bacterium to the epithelial surface. (18 Nov 1997) |