| string test | A test to locate gastrointestinal haemorrhage; a weighted string is repeatedly swallowed and removed, each time allowing the string to go further down the gut until blood is encountered; a similar procedure to obtain a specimen from the bowel lumen. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| fluorescein string test | A string test used to determine location of a bleeding intestinal lesion in which fluorescein is given intravenously to determine gastrointestinal haemorrhage; if the string fluoresces after removal, it has been contaminated by blood that has appeared since injection of the fluorescein; used to determine location of bleeding lesion. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| cysteine string protein | <protein> (CSPs) Peripheral membrane proteins that contain more than 10 palmitoylated cysteines and a DNA J homology domain. Nature 375:647 (18 Nov 1997) |
| purse-string instrument | An intestinal clamp with jaws at an angle to the handle; when closed across the bowel, large grooved interdigitating serrations allow passage of a straight needle and suture through each side to form a purse-string suture, after which the clamp is removed. (05 Mar 2000) |
| purse-string suture | A continuous suture placed in a circular manner either for inversion (as for an appendiceal stump) or closure (as for a hernia). (05 Mar 2000) |
| string | 1. To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin. "Has not wise nature strung the legs and feet With firmest nerves, designed to walk the street?" (Gay) 2. To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order to play upon it. "For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung, That not a mountain rears its head unsung." (Addison) 3. To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads. 4. To make tense; to strengthen. "Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood." (Dryden) 5. To deprive of strings; to strip the strings from; as, to string beans. See String. Origin: Strung; Strung (Stringed); Stringing. 1. A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. "Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string." (Prior) 2. A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments. "A string of islands." 3. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together. 4. The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme. "An instrument of ten strings." "Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of lute, or viol still." (Milton) 5. The line or cord of a bow. "He twangs the grieving string." (Pope) 6. A fibre, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root. "Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom." (Bacon) 7. A nerve or tendon of an animal body. "The string of his tongue was loosed." (Mark vii. 35) 8. An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it. 9. <botany> The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans. 10. <chemical> A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein. 11. Same as Stringcourse. 12. The points made in a game. String band, a band of musicians using only, or chiefly, stringed instruments. String beans. A dish prepared from the unripe pods of several kinds of beans; so called because the strings are stripped off. Any kind of beans in which the pods are used for cooking before the seeds are ripe; usually, the low bush bean. To have two strings to one's bow, to have a means or expedient in reserve in case the one employed fails. Origin: OE. String, streng, AS. Streng; akin to D. Streng, G. Strang, Icel. Strengr, Sw. Strang, Dan. Straeng; probably from the adj, E. Strong (see Strong); or perhaps originally meaning, twisted, and akin to E. Strangle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| string sign | In paediatric gastrointestinal radiology, the narrowed pyloric canal seen with congenital pyloric stenosis; also used to describe a narrowed segment in regional ileitis on small bowel series. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Abbe test plate | <equipment> A long, wedge-shaped coverslip about 0.20 mm thick at one end and 0.10 to 0.12 mm at the other end coated chemically with a silver film on which are ruled horizontal lines. at each variation in thickness of 0.01 mm there are vertical lines. By means of oblique illumination and by focusing on different portions of the plate, it is possible to determine the optimum coverslip thickness for any objective and also, for microscopes with drawtubes, the tube length for best objective performance. The approximate freedom from spherical and chromatic aberrations can also be estimated. Small isolated bits of silver near the edges of the lines form good objects for the star test (05 Aug 1998) |
| acetone test | A test for ketonuria; the suspected urine is shaken up with a few drops of sodium nitroprusside, and strong ammonia water is then gently poured over the mixture; if acetone is present, a magenta ring forms at the line of contact; tablets containing sodium nitroprusside and alkali are now more commonly used. (05 Mar 2000) |
| achievement test | A standardised test used to measure acquired learning, e.g., competence in a specific subject area such as reading or arithmetic, in contrast to an intelligence test which is a useful index of potential ability or learning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acidified serum test | Lysis of the patient's red cells in acidified fresh serum, specific for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria. Synonym: Ham's test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| 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) |
| acid perfusion test | <gastroenterology, investigation> A test used to diagnosis gastrooesophageal reflux disease. This investigation requires that the patient swallow 3 tiny tubes into the stomach. A mixture of hydrochloric acid (like stomach acid) and saline are alternatively injected into the tubes. The patient then reports any symptoms they may have. Some patients may vomit. (13 Nov 1997) |
| acid phosphatase test for semen | A screening test for semen by determining acid phosphatase content; because seminal fluid contains high concentrations of acid phosphatase, while other body fluids and extraneous foreign materials have very low concentrations, high values of acid phosphatase on vaginal aspirate or lavage, or on wash fluid from stains, render positive identification of semen, even if the male is aspermic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acid reflux test | A test to detect gastroesophageal reflux by monitoring oesophageal pH by an electrode in the distal oesophagus either basally or after acid is instilled into the stomach. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ACTH stimulation test | A test for adrenal cortical function; ACTH administered by continuous intravenous infusion, or intramuscularly, evokes an increase in plasma cortisol in normal persons; in adrenal cortical insufficiency, the expected increase in plasma cortisol is limited or nonexistent. (05 Mar 2000) |