| saturation | 1. The act of saturating, or the state of being saturating; complete penetration or impregnation. 2. <chemistry> The act, process, or result of saturating a substance, or of combining it to its fullest extent. 3. <optics> Freedom from mixture or dilution with white; purity; said of colours. The degree of saturation of a colour is its relative purity, or freedom from admixture with white. Origin: L. Saturatio: cf. F. Saturation. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| saturation analysis | General term for an assay in which a binder competes for labelled versus unlabelled ligand; following separation of free and bound ligand, the ligand (the analyte assayed) is quantitated by relating bound and unbound ratios to known standards. See: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, radioreceptor assay, immunoassay, enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique, radioimmunoassay. Synonym: displacement analysis, saturation analysis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| saturation index | An indication of the relative concentration of haemoglobin in the red blood cells, calculated as: grams of haemoglobin per 100 ml (expressed as percent of normal) ÷ haematocrit value (expressed as percent of normal) = saturation index The normal index for adults and infants is 0.97 to 1.02; in primary and secondary anaemia, the index is usually considerably less than 0.97. (05 Mar 2000) |
| saturation of receptors | Saturation, the state in which all receptors are effectively occupied all the time, can be said to occur in a simple binding equilibrium when the concentration of ligand is more than 5 times the Kd value, although strictly this will only be true at infinite ligand concentration. (18 Nov 1997) |
| secondary saturation | A technique of nitrous oxide anaesthesia consisting of an abrupt curtailment of the oxygen in the inhaled mixture to produce a deep plane of anaesthesia, following which oxygen is administered to correct hypoxia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| abdominal pressure | Pressure surrounding the bladder; estimated from rectal, gastric, or intraperitoneal pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absolute pressure | Pressure measured with respect to zero pressure. Compare: gauge pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acoustic pressure | In ultrasound, the instantaneous value of the total pressure minus the ambient pressure; unit is pascal (Pa). (05 Mar 2000) |
| air pressure | The force per unit area that the air exerts on any surface in contact with it. Primarily used for articles pertaining to air pressure within a closed environment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| atmospheric pressure | The pressure at any point in an atmosphere due solely to the weight of the atmospheric gases above the point concerned. (12 Dec 1998) |
| back pressure | Pressure exerted upstream in the circulation as a result of obstruction to forward flow, as when congestion in the pulmonary circulation results from stenosis of the mitral valve or failure of the left ventricle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| back-pressure renal atrophy | <radiology> Caliectasis without obstruction, due to repeated episodes of obstruction, gradual loss of renal pyramids (12 Dec 1998) |
| barometric pressure | The absolute pressure of the ambient atmosphere, varying with weather, altitude, etc.; expressed in millibars (meteorology) or mm Hg or torr (respiratory physiology); at sea level, one atmosphere (atm, 760 mm Hg or torr) is equivalent to: 14.69595 lb/sq in, 1013.25 millibars, 1013.25 × 106 dynes/cm2, and, in SI units, 101,325 pascals (Pa). Synonym: atmospheric pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bile duct pressure | <radiology> Normal: 15-20 cm H2O (12 Dec 1998) |
| biting pressure | Any force exerted upon the occlusal surfaces of teeth. Synonym: biting pressure. (05 Mar 2000) |