| genetic load | <genetics> In general terms the decrease in fitness of a population (as a result of selection acting on phenotypes) due to deleterious mutations in the population gene pool. More specifically, the average number of recessive lethal mutations, in the heterozygous state, estimated to be present in the genome of an individual in a population. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| viral load | The number of viral particles (usually HIV) in a sample of blood plasma. HIV viral load is increasingly employed as a surrogate marker for disease progression. It is measured by PCR and bDNA tests and is expressed in number of HIV copies or equivalents per millilitre. (09 Oct 1997) |
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| hydraulic load | Amount of liquid going into a system. (05 Dec 1998) |
| interruptible load | Loads that can be curtailed at the supplier's discretion or in accordance with a contractual agreement. (05 Dec 1998) |
| electronic pacemaker load | The impedance to the output, the standard load being 500 ohms resistance ± 1%. (05 Mar 2000) |
| load | 1. To lay a load or burden on or in, as on a horse or in a cart; to charge with a load, as a gun; to furnish with a lading or cargo, as a ship; hence, to add weight to, so as to oppress or embarrass; to heap upon. "I strive all in vain to load the cart." (Gascoigne) "I have loaden me with many spoils." (Shak) "Those honors deep and broad, wherewith Your majesty loads our house." (Shak) 2. To adulterate or drug; as, to load wine. 3. To magnetize. Loaded dice, dice with one side made heavier than the others, so that the number on the opposite side will come up oftenest. Origin: Loaded; Loading. Loaden is obsolete, and laden belongs to lade. 1. A burden; that which is laid on or put in anything for conveyance; that which is borne or sustained; a weight; as, a heavy load. "He might such a load To town with his ass carry." (Gower) 2. The quantity which can be carried or drawn in some specified way; the contents of a cart, barrow, or vessel; that which will constitute a cargo; lading. 3. That which burdens, oppresses, or grieves the mind or spirits; as, a load of care. " A . . . Load of guilt." . " Our life's a load." 4. A particular measure for certain articles, being as much as may be carried at one time by the conveyance commonly used for the article measured; as, a load of wood; a load of hay; specifically, five quarters. 5. The charge of a firearm; as, a load of powder. 6. Weight or violence of blows. 7. <machinery> The work done by a steam engine or other prime mover when working. Load line, or Load water line, the line on the outside of a vessel indicating the depth to which it sinks in the water when loaded. Synonym: Burden, lading, weight, cargo. See Burden. Origin: OE. Lode load, way; properly the same word as lode, but confused with lade, load, v. See Lade, Lead, Lode. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| load factor | Load factor is the ratio of average demand to maximum demand or to capacity. (05 Dec 1998) |
| load management | Any method or device that evens out electric power demand by eliminating uses during peak periods or shifting usage from peak time to off-peak time. (05 Dec 1998) |
| genetic | <biology> Pertaining to reproduction or to birth or origin. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic amplification | A process for producing an increase in pertinent genetic material, particularly for increasing the proportion of plasmid DNA to that of bacterial DNA. Includes the production of extrachromosomal copies of the genes for RNA. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic assimilation | <genetics> A situation in which a characteristic that is normally expressed only in certain environmental situations becomes fixed in a population so that it no longer requires environmental factors to be expressed. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic association | The occurrence together in a population, more often than can be readily explained by chance, of two or more traits of which at least one is known to be genetic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic block | <biochemistry, molecular biology> An obstruction in a biochemical pathway caused by a mutation that has crippled production of an enzyme critical to the pathway. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic burden | The genetic debt due to harmful mutation but as yet undischarged. (In a large population of fixed size every mutation with diminished genetic fitness will eventually become extinct and depending on the details of inheritance and phenotype must be paid for by a fixed number of genetic deaths per mutation, the genetic debt.) (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic carrier | An unaffected heterozygote bearing a usually harmful recessive gene, a cancer that bears a dominant but latent age-dependent trait to have offspring with unbalanced karyotypes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic code | <molecular biology> Relationship between the sequence of bases in nucleic acid and the order of amino acids in the polypeptide synthesised from it. A sequence of three nucleic acid bases (a triplet) acts as a codeword (codon) for one amino acid. (18 Nov 1997) |