| acceleration | The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as, a falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity; opposed to retardation. "A period of social improvement, or of intellectual advancement, contains within itself a principle of acceleration." (I. <astronomy> Taylor) Acceleration of the moon, the increase of the moon's mean motion in its orbit, in consequence of which its period of revolution is now shorter than in ancient times. Acceleration and retardation of the tides. See Priming of the tides, under Priming. Diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars, the amount by which their apparent diurnal motion exceeds that of the sun, in consequence of which they daily come to the meridian of any place about three minutes fifty-six seconds of solar time earlier than on the day preceding. Acceleration of the planets, the increasing velocity of their motion, in proceeding from the apogee to the perigee of their orbits. Origin: L. Acceleratio: cf. F. Acceleration. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| acceleration phase | <cell biology, cell culture> A period of increasing growth before the log phase in a culture of microbes. After the culture is started on a medium, at first there is no growth (the lag phase) and then the microbes start to gradually grow (acceleration phase) until they reach a constant maximum rate of growth (log phase). (15 Jan 1998) |
| angular acceleration | The rate of change of angular velocity; e.g., when a centrifuge rotor is speeding up, or when there is a simultaneous change in velocity and direction, as in an aircraft in a tight spin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| radial acceleration | The centripetal acceleration of a particle or vehicle moving along a curved path at a constant velocity; e.g., turning a curve in an automobile, pulling out of a dive, or performing a loop manoeuvre in an aircraft. In aviation, acceleration varies directly with the square of the air speed and inversely with the radius of the turn (a = V2/r, where V is air speed and r is radius of turn). (05 Mar 2000) |
| linear acceleration | The rate of change of velocity without a change in direction; e.g., when the speed of an aircraft increases while flying a straight pathway. (05 Mar 2000) |
| CD4-positive T-lymphocytes | A critical subpopulation of regulatory T-lymphocytes involved in the induction of most immunological functions. The HIV virus has selective tropism for the t4 cell which expresses the CD4 phenotypic marker, a receptor for HIV. In fact, the key element in the profound immunosuppression seen in HIV infection is the depletion of this subset of T-lymphocytes, which includes both the helper-inducer (T-lymphocytes, helper-inducer) and suppressor-inducer (T-lymphocytes, suppressor-inducer) T-cells. (12 Dec 1998) |
| CD8-positive T-lymphocytes | A critical subpopulation of regulatory T-lymphocytes involved in MHC class I-restricted interactions. They include both cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (T-lymphocytes, cytotoxic) and suppressor T-lymphocytes (T-lymphocytes, suppressor-effector). (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive | <microbiology> Bacteria that retain the stain or that are resistant to decolourisation by alcohol during Gram's method of staining. This is a primary characteristic of bacteria whose cell wall is composed of a thick layer of peptidologlycan containing teichoic and lipoteichoic acid complexed to the peptidoglycan. See: gram-negative (06 Oct 1997) |
| gram-positive asporogenous rods | <microbiology> A gram-positive, non-spore-forming group of bacteria comprising organisms that have morphological and physiological characteristics in common. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive asporogenous rods, irregular | <microbiology> A group of irregular rod-shaped bacteria that stain gram-positive and do not produce endospores. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive asporogenous rods, regular | <microbiology> A group of regular rod-shaped bacteria that stain gram-positive and do not produce endospores. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive bacteria | <microbiology> Bacteria which retain the crystal violet stain when treated by gram's method. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive bacterial infections | <microbiology> Infections caused by bacteria that retain the crystal violet stain (positive) when treated by the gram-staining method. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive cocci | <microbiology> Coccus-shaped bacteria that retain the crystal violet stain when treated by gram's method. (12 Dec 1998) |
| gram-positive endospore-forming bacteria | <microbiology> Bacteria that form endospores and are gram-positive. Representative genera include bacillus, clostridium, micromonospora, saccharopolyspora, and streptomyces. (12 Dec 1998) |