| autophagic vacuole | <cell biology> Membrane bounded region of cytoplasm that is subsequently digested. Origin: Gr. Soma = body (18 Nov 1997) |
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| vacuole | <cell biology> Membrane bounded vesicle of eukaryotic cells. Secretory, endocytotic and phagocytotic vesicles can be termed vacuoles. Botanists tend to confine the term to the large vesicles found in plant cells that provide both storage and space filling functions. (18 Nov 1997) |
| gas vacuole | A prokaryotic cellular organelle consisting of cylindrical vesicles around 75 x 300nm, often in clusters. The wall of the gas vacuole, which is permeable to gases but not to water, is formed from a monolayer of a single protein. Gas vacuoles are found mainly in planktonic cyanobacteria and their prime function is to make the bacterium buoyant. (18 Nov 1997) |
| parasitophorous vacuole | A vacuole formed by layers of endoplasmic reticulum around an intracellular parasite which may serve to isolate the parasite and enclose it for lysozymal attack. (05 Mar 2000) |
| condensing vacuole | <cell biology> Vacuole formed from the cis face of the Golgi by the fusion of smaller vacuoles. Within the condensing vacuole the contents are concentrated and may become semi crystalline (zymogen granules or secretory vesicles). (05 Jan 1998) |
| contractile vacuole | A specialised vacuole of eukaryote cells, especially Protozoa, that fills with water from the cytoplasm and then discharges this externally by the opening of a permanent narrow neck. Function is probably osmoregulatory. (18 Nov 1997) |
| digestive vacuole | Intracellular vacuole into which lysosomal enzymes are discharged and digestion of the contents occurs. More commonly referred to as a secondary lysosome. (18 Nov 1997) |
| bacterial food poisoning | A term commonly used to refer to conditions limited to enteritis or gastroenteritis (excluding the enteric fevers and the dysenteries) caused by bacterial multiplication per se or by a soluble bacterial exotoxin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| health food | A non-medical term defined by the lay public as a food that has little or no preservatives, which has not undergone major processing, enrichment or refinement and which may be grown without pesticides. Health foods have been attributed with the ability to prevent the development of diseases, slow the aging process, and prolong life. (12 Dec 1998) |
| salmonella food poisoning | Poisoning caused by ingestion of food harboring species of salmonella. Conditions of raising, shipping, slaughtering, and marketing of domestic animals contribute to the spread of this bacterium in the food supply. (12 Dec 1998) |
| staphylococcal food poisoning | Poisoning by staphylococcal toxins present in contaminated food. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Staphylococcus food poisoning | Outbreaks commonly caused by staphylococcal enterotoxin and characterised by an abrupt onset of gastroenteritis within several hours after ingestion of the food contaminated with the preformed exotoxin; vomiting is usually more severe and diarrhoea less severe than in infectious forms of bacterial food poisoning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| infant food | Food processed and manufactured for the nutritional health of children in their first year of life. (12 Dec 1998) |
| essential food factors | Those substances required in the diet: certain amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, essential minerals, etc. (05 Mar 2000) |
| united states food and drug administration | An agency of the public health service concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |