| loading | Administration of a substance for the purpose of testing metabolic function. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| loading dose | <pharmacology> A quantity higher than the average or maintenance dose, used at the initiation of therapy to rapidly establish a desired level of the drug (18 Nov 1997) |
| acid loading test | <nephrology> This is a test used in the diagnosis of renal tubular acidosis. The patient takes ammonium chloride capsules for 3 days to acidify the blood (lower blood pH). A sample of the urine and the blood is then collected and the results are interpreted. (27 Sep 1997) |
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| carbohydrate loading | A procedure popular with long-distance runners and other athletes of filling muscles with a large glycogen pool prior to an athletic event; often, the athlete consumes very few carbohydrates for three days followed by a largely carbohydrate diet for the last three days before the event. (05 Mar 2000) |
| volume loading rate | The rate of raw materials put into a fermenter or aerobic digester, expressed in terms of material weight per unit volume per unit time. (09 Oct 1997) |
| wall loading | <radiobiology> Fusion reactor thermal output power divided by the area of the wall facing the plasma. (Neutron wall loading is 4/5 of the total for D-T fusion.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| salt loading | The administration of 2 g of sodium chloride (with a regular diet) 3 times a day for 4 days; a diagnostic test in primary aldosteronism, in which the salt loading produces the typical plasma electrolyte pattern. (05 Mar 2000) |
| soda loading | A procedure adopted by a number of athletes of ingesting sodium bicarbonate in an attempt to buffer the production of protons during exercise. (05 Mar 2000) |