| PAN | periarteritis nodosa; periodic alternating nystagmus; peroxyacylnitrate; polyarteritis nodosa; posit... |
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| PEA | pelvic examination under anesthesia; phenylethyl alcohol; phenylethylamine; polysaccharide egg antig... |
| PVA | Paralyzed Veterans of America; peripheral venous alimentation; polyvinyl acetate; polyvinyl alcohol;... |
| SAAST | self-administered alcohol screening test |
| SADD | Short-Alcohol Dependence Data [questionnaire]; standardized assessment of depressive disorders; Stud... |
| whitegraft reaction | An immune reaction to a tissue graft that results in failure of graft vascularization and ensuing rejection. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| white reaction | The response seen in many individuals after the skin is lightly stroked with a blunt instrument; it is attributed to capillary action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Widal's reaction | Agglutination reaction as applied to the diagnosis of typhoid. Synonym: Gruber's reaction, Gruber-Widal reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| complement-fixation reaction | <immunology> Binding of complement as a result of its interaction with immune complexes (the classical pathway) or particular surfaces (alternative pathway). (18 Nov 1997) |
| plasmal reaction | <chemistry> Long chain aliphatic aldehydes occurring in plasmalogens react with Schiff's reagent in the so called plasmal reaction, to form for example palmitaldehyde, stearaldehyde. (31 Dec 1997) |
| plasmocytic leukemoid reaction | The presence of unusual numbers of plasma cells, i.e., plasmocytosis, in the bone marrow; may be observed in association with sarcoidosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cirrhosis, Hodgkin's disease, and certain of the so-called collagen diseases. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pleural reaction | Thickening of the pleural stripe on chest radiographs, representing pleuritis, pleural effusion, or pleural fibrosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| consensual reaction | Contraction of the pupil of the fellow eye in consensus with the pupil of the illuminated eye. Synonym: consensual light reflex, indirect pupillary reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| constitutional reaction | A generalised reaction in contrast to a focal or local reaction; in allergy the immediate or delayed response, following the introduction of an allergen, occurring at sites remote from that of injection. (05 Mar 2000) |
| conversion reaction | A conversion of emotional stress or mental disturbance into a physical symptom. Examples include paralysis, blindness, inability to speak or another sudden debilitating problem for no reason evident through testing. (27 Sep 1997) |
| coombs' reaction | An immunological lab test to detect antibodies which attack the red blood cells of its own body (called autoantibodies). The test is important to the diagnosis of certain blood disorders. The test first reacts red blood cells with serum from the test individual, then with antibodies to the autoantibodies. If the autoantibodies exist, they will bind to the red blood cells. When the antibodies to the autoantibodies are added, they will bind the autoantibodies (still attached to the red blood cells) and cause the red blood cells to clump together. Large clumps of red blood cells indicate that the autoantibodies exist, absence of the clumps indicates that they don't. (09 Oct 1997) |
| myasthenic reaction | Rapid loss of response to faradic stimulation of a muscle with the galvanic response and the power of voluntary contraction retained. Synonym: myasthenic reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cortical reaction | The reaction of an egg cell to fertilization which changes its surface cell membrane and prevents additional sperm cells from entering (among other things). (09 Oct 1997) |
| polymerase chain reaction | <molecular biology, technique> The first practical system for in vitro amplification of DNA and as such one of the most important recent developments in molecular biology. Two synthetic oligonucleotide primers, which are complementary to two regions of the target DNA (one for each strand) to be amplified, are added to the target DNA (that need not be pure), in the presence of excess deoxynucleotides and Taq polymerase, a heat stable DNA polymerase. In a series (typically 30) of temperature cycles, the target DNA is repeatedly denatured (around 90_C), annealed to the primers (typically at 50-60_C) and a daughter strand extended from the primers (72_C). As the daughter strands themselves act as templates for subsequent cycles, DNA fragments matching both primers are amplified exponentially, rather than linearly. The original DNA need thus be neither pure nor abundant and the polymerase chain reaction has accordingly become widely used not only in research, but in clinical diagnostics and forensic science. Acronym: PCR (14 Oct 1997) |
| myelocytic leukemoid reaction | Leukocytosis of at least moderate degree, e.g., 50,000 or more per cu mm, with a few immature forms, e.g., 1 or 2% myelocytes, but chiefly mature polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the circulating blood; may be observed in association with tuberculosis, chronic osteomyelitis, various types of empyema, malaria, pneumococcal pneumonia, meningococcal meningitis, Hodgkin's disease, and metastases of carcinoma in the bone marrow. (05 Mar 2000) |