| joint loose bodies | Fibrous, bony, cartilaginous and osteocartilaginous fragments in a synovial joint. Major causes are osteochondritis dissecans, synovial chondromatosis, osteophytes, fractured articular surfaces and damaged menisci. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| loose | 1. Unbound; untied; unsewed; not attached, fastened, fixed, or confined; as, the loose sheets of a book. "Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat." (Shak) 2. Free from constraint or obligation; not bound by duty, habit, etc.; with from or of. "Now I stand Loose of my vow; but who knows Cato's thoughts ?" (Addison) 3. Not tight or close; as, a loose garment. 4. Not dense, close, compact, or crowded; as, a cloth of loose texture. "With horse and chariots ranked in loose array." (Milton) 5. Not precise or exact; vague; indeterminate; as, a loose style, or way of reasoning. "The comparison employed . . . Must be considered rather as a loose analogy than as an exact scientific explanation." (Whewel) 6. Not strict in matters of morality; not rigid according to some standard of right. "The loose morality which he had learned." (Sir W. Scott) 7. Unconnected; rambling. "Vario spends whole mornings in running over loose and unconnected pages." (I. Watts) 8. Lax; not costive; having lax bowels. 9. Dissolute; unchaste; as, a loose man or woman. "Loose ladies in delight." (Spenser) 10. Containing or consisting of obscene or unchaste language; as, a loose epistle. at loose ends, not in order; in confusion; carelessly managed. Fast and loose. See Fast. To break loose. See Break. Loose pulley. <machinery> See Fast and loose pulleys, under Fast. To let loose, to free from restraint or confinement; to set at liberty. Origin: OE. Loos, lous, laus, Icel. Lauss; akin to OD. Loos, D. Los, AS. Leas false, deceitful, G. Los, loose, Dan. & Sw. Los, Goth. Laus, and E. Lose. See Lose, and cf. Leasing falsehood. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| loose associations | A manifestation of a thought disorder whereby the patient's responses do not relate to the interviewer's questions or one paragraph, sentence, or phrase is not logically connected to those that occur before or after. (05 Mar 2000) |
| loose body | A solid tissue fragment lying free in a body cavity, especially in a joint or the peritoneal cavity; e.g., joint mice, melon-seed body, rice body. (05 Mar 2000) |
| loose cartilage | A loose piece of cartilage within a joint cavity, detached from the articular cartilage or from a meniscus. Synonym: loose cartilage. (05 Mar 2000) |
| loose skin | A group of connective tissue diseases in which skin hangs in loose pendulous folds. It is believed to be associated with decreased elastic tissue formation as well as an abnormality in elastin formation. Cutis laxa is usually a genetic disease, but acquired cases have been reported. (12 Dec 1998) |
| viscous mechanical coupling | <cell biology> Method by which adjacent cilia are synchronised in a field. Coupling is through the transmission of mechanical forces, rather than of a synchronising signal. (18 Nov 1997) |
| chemiosmotic coupling | The linking of ATP synthesis to electrontransfer by way of an electrochemical hydrogen cation gradient across amembrane. (09 Oct 1997) |
| metabolic coupling | <cell biology, molecular biology> Transfer between tissue cells in contact of low molecular weight metabolites such as nucleotides and amino acids. Transfer is via channels constituted by the connexons of gap junctions and does not involve exchange with the extracellular medium. First observed in cultures of animal cells in which radio labelled purines were transferred from wild type cells to mutants unable to utilise exogenous purines. (27 Jun 1999) |
| constant coupling | Where several premature beats are seen, the interval between each of them and the preceding normal beat is constant. Synonym: constant coupling. Variable coupling, where several extrasystoles are seen, the interval between each of them and the preceding sinus beat varies. (05 Mar 2000) |
| coupling | <biochemistry> The linking of two independent processes by a common intermediate, for example the coupling of electron transport to oxidative phosphorylation or the ATP ADP conversion to transport processes. (18 Nov 1997) |
| coupling defect | See: familial goiter. (05 Mar 2000) |
| coupling factor | Protein responsible for coupling transmembrane potentials to ATP synthesis in chloroplasts and mitochondria. Include ATP synthesising enzymes (F1 in mitochondrion), that can also act as ATP ases. (18 Nov 1997) |
| coupling factors | Proteins that restore phosphorylating ability to mitochondria that have lost it, i.e., have become "uncoupled" so that oxidation and electron transport no longer produces ATP. Usually termed coupling factor F1, F2, etc. Synonym: C factors. (05 Mar 2000) |
| coupling interval | The interval, usually expressed in hundredths of a second, between a normal sinus beat and the ensuing premature beat. (05 Mar 2000) |