| closure | 1. The completion of a reflex pathway. 2. The place of coupling between stimuli in the establishment of conditioned learning. 3. To achieve or experience a sense of completion in a mental task. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| closure principle | In psychology, the principle that when one views fragmentary stimuli forming a nearly complete figure (e.g., an incomplete rectangle) one tends to ignore the missing parts and perceive the figure as whole. See: gestalt. (05 Mar 2000) |
| closylate | USAN-approved contraction for p-chlorobenzenesulfonate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clot | 1. To coagulate, said especially of blood. 2. A soft, nonrigid, insoluble mass formed when a liquid (e.g., blood or lymph) gels. Origin: O.E. Klott, lump (05 Mar 2000) |
| clot retraction | Retraction of a clot resulting from contraction of platelet pseudopods attached to fibrin strands that is dependent on the contractile protein thrombosthenin. Used as a measure of platelet function. (12 Dec 1998) |
| clot retraction time | The time required for a blood clot to separate from the tube wall and express serum, usually completed in 18 to 24 hours, but retarded or absent in persons with thrombocytopenic purpura. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clot-dissolving medications | Agents such as plasminogen-activator (t-PA) and streptokinase that are effective in dissolving clots and re-opening arteries. Used, for example, in the treatment of heart attacks. Also called thrombolytic agents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| clotrimazole | <drug> An antifungal drug used as a topical agent for oral and vaginal candidiasis. (11 Nov 1997) |
| clottage | Rarely used term for blocking of any canal or duct by a blood clot. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clotting factor | <haematology> A group of chemical constituents of the blood (factors I to XIII) which interact to make the blood clot. (13 Nov 1997) |
| clotting time | The time required for blood to coagulate; prolonged in haemophilia and in the presence of obstructive jaundice, some anaemias and leukaemias, and some of the infectious diseases. Synonym: clotting time. (05 Mar 2000) |
| clouding of consciousness | A state in which the patient's mental state is clouded and thus not fully in contact with the environment. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cloudman melanoma | <tumour> A transplantable melanoma that arose spontaneously in a mouse of DBA strain, and which grows and metastasizes in mice of related strains. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cloudman, Arthur | <person> U.S. Zoologist and pathologist, *1901. See: Cloudman melanoma. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cloudy swelling | Swelling of cells due to injury to the membranes affecting ionic transfer; causes an accumulation of intracellular water. Synonym: albuminous swelling, granular degeneration, hydropic degeneration, parenchymatous degeneration. (05 Mar 2000) |