| vegetative life | The simple metabolic and reproductive activity of humans or animals, apart from the exercise of conscious mental or psychic processes. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| vegetative | 1. Concerned with growth and with nutrition. 2. Functioning involuntarily or unconsciously, as the vegetative nervous system. 3. Resting, denoting the portion of a cell cycle during which the cell is not involved in replication. 4. Of, pertaining to or characteristic of plants. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| vegetative bacteriophage | The form of bacteriophage in which the bacteriophage nucleic acid (lacking its coat) multiplies freely within the host bacterium, independently of bacterial multiplication. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative endocarditis | <cardiology, pathology> Endocarditis associated with the presence of fibrinous clots (vegetations) forming on the ulcerated surfaces of the valves. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative fish cover | <ecology> Vegetation materials, such as algal mats and organic debris, capable of providing protection for fish and other aquatic organisms. (06 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative nervous system | <anatomy> Neurons that are not under conscious control, comprising two antagonistic components, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system regulates key functions including the activity of the cardiac (heart) muscle, smooth muscles (e.g., of the gut), and glands. The autonomic nervous system has two divisions: 1. The sympathetic nervous system that accelerates the heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and raises blood pressure. 2. The parasympathetic nervous system slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles. (03 Jul 1999) |
| vegetative pole | The part of a telolecithal egg where the bulk of the yolk is situated. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vegetative propagation | Propagation without pollination by way of separating vegetative parts (i.e., branches, stolons, buds) from the mother plant and planting them so they take root and grow. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetative reproduction | <biology, microbiology> Reproduction in which an organism produces one or more clones of itself, such as by fission or budding. (09 Oct 1997) |
| vegetative stage | The quiescent stage of a cell or its nucleus in which no karyokinetic changes are taking place. Synonym: vegetative stage. (05 Mar 2000) |
| persistent vegetative state | A persistent loss of upper cortical function that may follow acute (e.g., infections, toxins, trauma or vascular) events or chronic (e.g., degenerative) events. The patient is bedridden and nutritional support is completely passive, either parenteral or via nasogastric tube. The patient does not require respiratory support or circulatory assistance for survival and is in a state of chronic wakefulness without awareness which may be accompanied by spontaneous eye opening, grunts or screams, brief smiles, sporadic movement of facial muscles and limbs. While the eyes blink upon stimulation, they do not do so in response to visual threats. Some patients chew or clamp their teeth. Urinary and faecal incontinence is universal. (12 Dec 1998) |
| advanced life support | Definitive emergency medical care that includes defibrillation, airway management, and use of drugs and medications. Compare: basic life support. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial life | Artificial life (AL, alife) is a scientific discipline in whichresearchers study life by creating computer programs that recreatebiological systems from scratch. (09 Oct 1997) |
| basic life support | Emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation, control of bleeding, treatment of shock, acidosis, and poisoning, stabilization of injuries and wounds, and basic first aid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| biological half-life | <biochemistry, biology> This is the time required for one-half of the total amount of a particular substance in a biological system to be consumed or broken down by biological processes when the rate of removal is approximately exponential. Toxic chemicals with a long biological half-life (such as some pesticides) will tend to accumulate in the body and are, therefore, more likely to be harmful. A substance with a short biological half-life may still accumulate if a portion of it it becomes tightly bound to bone or other tissues, even if most of it is quickly cleared from the body. (21 Mar 1998) |
| germ-free life | Animals not contaminated by or associated with any foreign organisms. (12 Dec 1998) |