| AHSP | AIDS Health Services Program [of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation] |
|---|---|
| AMFAR | American Foundation for AIDS Research |
| ERF | Education and Research Foundation; external rotation in flexion; Eye Research Foundation |
| IHF | Industrial Health Foundation; integration host factor; International Hospital Foundation |
| NAF | nafcillin; National Amputation Foundation; National Ataxia Foundation; net acid flux |
| AIDS test | <investigation> A test which is performed on a standard venipuncture blood specimen which detects the presence of antibodies to HIV (virus). This test may not be positive for 3 to 6 months after infection with HIV. (27 Sep 1997) |
|---|---|
| aids vaccines | Vaccines or candidate vaccines containing inactivated HIV or some of its component antigens and designed to prevent aids. Some vaccines containing antigens are recombinantly produced. (12 Dec 1998) |
| audiovisual aids | Auditory and visual instructional materials. (12 Dec 1998) |
| communication aids for disabled | Equipment that provides mentally or physically disabled persons, who cannot speak effectively, with a means of communication. The aids include display boards, typewriters, cathode ray tubes, computers, and speech synthesisers. The output of such aids includes written words, artificial speech, language signs, morse code, and pictures. (12 Dec 1998) |
| hearing aids | Devices which amplify sound to help persons with hearing loss. (12 Dec 1998) |
| lymphoma, aids-related | B-cell lymphoid tumours that occur in association with aids. Patients often present with an advanced stage of disease and highly malignant subtypes including burkitt lymphoma, immunoblastic large-cell lymphoma, small non-cleaved-cell lymphoma and diffuse large-cell lymphoma. The tumours are often disseminated in unusual extranodal sites and chromosomal abnormalities are frequently present. It is likely that polyclonal B-cell lymphoproliferation in aids is a complex result of ebv infection, HIV antigenic stimulation, and T-cell-dependent HIV activation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| action | 1. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action. "One wise in council, one in action brave." (Pope) 2. An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. "The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." (1 Sam. Ii. 3) 3. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events. 4. Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action. 5. <mechanics> Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun. 6. <physiology> Any one of the active processes going on in an organism; the performance of a function; as, the action of the heart, the muscles, or the gastric juice. 7. Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings. 8. The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted. 9. A suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right in a court of justice; in a broad sense, a judicial proceeding for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense. A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim. 10. A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks. "The Euripus of funds and actions." (Burke) 11. An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action. 12. The mechanical contrivance by means of which the impulse of the player's finger is transmitted to the strings of a pianoforte or to the valve of an organ pipe. Chose in action the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity. Synonym: Action, act. In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction is observable. Action involves the mode or process of acting, and is usually viewed as occupying some time in doing. Act has more reference to the effect, or the operation as complete. "To poke the fire is an act, to reconcile friends who have quarreled is a praiseworthy action." (C. J. Smith) Origin: OF. Action, L. Actio, fr. Agere to do. See Act. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| action current | An electrical current induced in muscle fibres when they are effectively stimulated; normally it is followed by contraction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| action potential | <physiology> The sequential, electrochemical polarization and depolarisation that travels across the membrane of a nerve cell (neuron) in response to stimulation (touch, pain, cold, etc.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| action tremor | <neurology> A tremor which arises or which is intensified when a voluntary, coordinated movement is attempted. (18 Nov 1997) |
| back-action plugger | An instrument for condensing gold foil or amalgam in areas that cannot be reached directly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ball valve action | The intermittent blockage of a tube or outlet of a cavity by some object or material that permits passage in one direction but not in the other. (05 Mar 2000) |
| calorigenic action | Increase of heat production of the body, as by the thyroid hormone. Synonym: thermogenic action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| capillary action | The phenomenon of a liquid such as water spontaneously creeping up thin tubes and fibres, this is caused by adhesive and cohesive forces and surface tension. (09 Oct 1997) |
| mass-action ratio | The ratio of the product of all of the product concentrations divided by the product of all of the reactant concentrations of a particular reaction; when the reaction has been completed (i.e., t = ∞), then this ratio is equal to the equilibrium constant. (05 Mar 2000) |