| anaesthesia, closed-circuit | Inhalation anaesthesia where the gases exhaled by the patient are rebreathed as some carbon dioxide is simultaneously removed and anaesthetic gas and oxygen are added so that no anaesthetic escapes into the room. Closed-circuit anaesthesia is used especially with explosive anaesthetics to prevent fires where electrical sparking from instruments is possible. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| anaesthetic circuit | Equipment used during inhalation anaesthesia to regulate concentrations of inhaled gases; includes a reservoir bag and usually directional valves, breathing tubes, and a carbon dioxide absorber. (05 Mar 2000) |
| break-circuit | <physics> A key or other device for breaking an electrical circuit. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Papez circuit | A long circuitous conduction chain in the mammalian forebrain, leading from the hippocampus by way of the fornix to the mammillary body and thence returning to the hippocampus by way of, sequentially, the anterior thalamic nuclei, cingulate gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| reverberating circuit | A theory of periodic conduction through the cerebral cortex of trains of impulses traveling in circuit's of neurons. (05 Mar 2000) |
| circuit | The path or course of flow of cases or electric or other currents. Origin: L. Circuitus, a going round, fr. Circum, around, + eo, pp. Itus, to go (05 Mar 2000) |
| closed circuit method | A method for measuring oxygen consumption in which the subject rebreathes an initial quantity of oxygen through a carbon dioxide absorber and the decrease in the volume of oxygen being rebreathed is noted. (05 Mar 2000) |
| short-circuit | <physics> A circuit formed or closed by a conductor of relatively low resistance because shorter or of relatively great conductivity. <physics> To join, as the electrodes of a battery or dynamo or any two points of a circuit, by a conductor of low resistance. Origin: Short-circuited; Short-circuiting. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| open circuit method | A method for measuring oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production by collecting the expired gas over a known period of time and measuring its volume and composition. (05 Mar 2000) |
| local circuit theory | <physiology> A generally accepted model for neuronal conduction, by which depolarisation of a small region of a neuronal plasma membrane produces transmembrane currents in the neighbouring regions, tending to depolarise them. As the sodium channels are voltage gated, the depolarisation causes further channels to open, thus propagating the action potential. (18 Nov 1997) |
| absolute system of units | A system based on absolute units accepted as being fundamental (length, mass, time) and from which other units (force, energy or work, power) are derived; such system's in common use are the foot-pound-second, centimeter-gram-second, and meter-kilogram-second system's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absorbent system | <anatomy> The tissues and organs (including the bone marrow, spleen, thymus and lymph nodes) that produce and store cells that fight infection and the network of vessels that carry lymph. (12 May 1997) |
| alimentary system | The organs that are responsible for getting food into and out of the body and for making use of food to keep the body healthy. These include the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, small intestine, colon, and rectum. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anterolateral system | A composite bundle of fibres, located in the ventrolateral part of the lateral funiculus, containing spinothalamic, spinohypothalamic, spinoreticular, and spinomesencephalic (spinotectal, spinal to periaqueductal grey, etc.) fibres; occupies the combined areas of the spinal white matter historically divided into anterior and lateral spinothalamic tracts; located in white matter ventral to the denticulate ligament, hence the anatomical basis for the anterolateral cordotomy; concerned with the transmission of nociceptive and thermal information and with crude (nondiscriminative) touch. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anti-allergic and respiratory system agents | A collective term for drugs used to treat allergic reactions as well as those drugs that produce an effect on the respiratory system. (12 Dec 1998) |