| persistence | 1. The tendency of a cell to continue moving in one direction: an internal bias on the random walk behaviour that cells exhibit in isotropic environments. 2. Of viruses that persist in a cell population, animal, plant or population for long periods often in a nonreplicating form, by such strategies as integration into host DNA, immunological suppression or mutation into forms with slow replication. (18 Nov 1997) |
|---|
| hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin | <haematology> Hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin is a genetic condition where adult types of haemoglobin fail to develop and the types of haemoglobin the individual had as a foetus remains present well past the point when they would normally have stopped being produced. (09 Oct 1997) |
|---|