| community-institutional relations | The interactions between members of a community and representatives of the institutions within that community. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| multi-institutional systems | Institutional systems consisting of more than one health facility which have cooperative administrative arrangements through merger, affiliation, shared services, or other collective ventures. (12 Dec 1998) |
| institutional management teams | Administrator-selected management groups who are responsible for making decisions pertaining to the provision of integrated direction for various institutional functions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| institutional practice | Professional practice as an employee or contractee of a health care institution. (12 Dec 1998) |
| ethics, institutional | The moral and ethical obligations or responsibilities of institutions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| barrier | An obstruction. (18 Nov 1997) |
| barrier contraceptive | A mechanical device designed to prevent spermatozoa from penetrating the cervical os; usually used in combination with a spermicidal agent, i.e., vaginal diaphragm. (05 Mar 2000) |
| blood-air barrier | The barrier between capillary blood and alveolar air comprising the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium with their adherent basement membranes and epithelial cell cytoplasm. Gaseous exchange occurs across this membrane. (12 Dec 1998) |
| blood-aqueous barrier | The anatomical mechanism that prevents exchange of materials between the chambers of the eye and the blood. The tight junctions of the nonpigmented epithelium of the ciliary body, the junctions of the iris tissues, and iris blood vessels constitute the blood-aqueous barrier. Lipid-soluble substances such as oxygen and carbon dioxide penetrate the barrier at a high rate. Sodium, larger water-soluble ions, proteins, and other large and medium-sized molecules are restricted. (12 Dec 1998) |
| blood-brain barrier | <pharmacology, physiology> A protective barrier formed by the blood vessels and glia of the brain. It prevents some substances in the blood from entering brain tissue. The blood vessels of the brain (and the retina) are much more impermeable to large molecules (like antibodies) than blood vessels elsewhere in the body. This has important implications for the ability of the organism to mount an immune response in these tissues, although the basis for the difference in endothelial permeability is not well understood. (16 Dec 1997) |
| blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier | A barrier located at the tight junctions which surround and connect the cuboidal epithelial cells on the surface of the choroid plexus; capillaries and connective tissue stroma of the choroid do not represent a barrier to protein tracers or dyes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| blood-retinal barrier | Specialised nonfenestrated tightly-joined endothelial cells that form a transport barrier for certain substances between the retinal capillaries and the retinal tissue. (12 Dec 1998) |
| blood-testis barrier | The membrane in the testis that separates sperm from the bloodstream. (09 Oct 1997) |
| placental barrier | The semipermeable layer of foetal tissue separating the maternal from the foetal blood in the placenta; composed of: 1) endothelium of the foetal vessels in the chorionic villi, 2) stromata of the villi, 3) cytotrophoblast (negligible after the fifth month of gestation), and 4) syncytial trophoblast covering the villi; the placental membrane acts as a selective membrane regulating passage of substances from the maternal to the foetal blood. Synonym: placental barrier. (05 Mar 2000) |
| incest barrier | In psychoanalysis, the learning or internalization of parental and social prohibitions against incest. (05 Mar 2000) |