| FP | false positive; family physician; family planning; family practice; family practitioner; Fanconi pan... |
|---|---|
| FPA | Family Planning Association; fibrinopeptide A; filter paper activity; fluorophenylalanine |
| FPM | filter paper microscopic [test]; full passive movements |
| HEPA | high-efficiency particulate air [filter] |
| HPF | heparin-precipitable fraction; hepatic plasma flow; high-pass filter; high-power field [microscope];... |
| spatial filter | <radiobiology> Device consisting of a lens pair and a pinhole aperture stop. Intensity fluctuations over the spatial extent of a laser beam are removed by passing the focused beam through the aperture stop. The pinhole must be placed in a vacuum to prevent air breakdown by the focused beam. These filters are used to counter the effects caused by self-focusing. (09 Oct 1997) |
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| neutral-density filter | <equipment> A light-absorbing filter whose absorption spectrum is moderately flat. Depending on the type, the absorption curve is flat primarily in the visible spectral range, or may extend to varying degrees beyond the visible range. For video microscopy, this is an important point since the absorbance may or may not extend into the near-infrared region where the sensitivity of many video image pickup devices is very high. (05 Aug 1998) |
| nitinol filter | A vena cava filter made with a metal that springs into shape when warmed to body heat by the blood after catheter insertion. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Nucleopore filter | Filter of defined pore size made by etching a polycarbonate filter that has been bombarded by neutrons, the extent of etching determining the pore size. Very thin, with neat circular holes going right through the membrane, not a complex meshwork like micropore filters. (18 Nov 1997) |
| DNA filter assay | <molecular biology> A lab technique used to identify the complementary base sequences of DNA. It involves immobilising the DNA on a filter and putting it in a solution that contains radioactively-labelled probe DNA or RNA molecules. (09 Oct 1997) |
| inferior vena cava filter | <radiology> Indications: contraindication to anticoagulation, failure of anticoagulation, complication of anticoagulation: haemorrhage or thrombocytopenia, large free-floating IVC/iliac vein thrombus expanded indications: cor pulmonale and DVT/PE, patients with high risk of complications to anticoagulation, metastatic disease, syncope in elderly, prophylactic placement in high-risk trauma patients, spinal cord injury, severe head injury, complex pelvic fractures, multiple long bone fractures, prophylactic placement before hip/knee replacement in patients with prior DVT prophylactic filters remain controversial see also: types of IVC filters (12 Dec 1998) |
| titanium greenfield ivc filter | <radiology> Advantages: low profile: 14.3 Fr introducer sheath, percutaneous placement, lack of ferromagnetic properties, low recurrent PE rate (3-5%), low IVC thrombosis rate (1-9%), successful placement (97%) disadvantages: maximum caval diameter = 28mm, tilting/leg assymetry, difficult placement from left femoral approach see also: indications (12 Dec 1998) |
| filter | 1. A porous substance through which a liquid or gas is passed in order to separate it from contained particulate matter or impurities. Synonym: filtrum. 2. To use or to subject to the action of a filter. 3. In diagnostic or therapeutic radiology, a plate made of one or more metals such as aluminum and copper that, placed in the x-or gamma-ray beam, permits passage of a greater proportion of higher energy radiation and attenuation of lower and less desirable energy radiation, raising the average energy or hardening the beam. 4. A device used in spectrophotometric analysis to isolate a segment of the spectrum. 5. A mathematical algorithm applied to image data for the purpose of enhancing image quality, usually by suppression of high spatial frequency noise. Origin: Mediev. L. Filtro, pp. -atus, to strain through felt, fr. Filtrum, felt (05 Mar 2000) |
| filter fabric | A fabric used to collect sediment from water flowing through a creek or through a gully. (09 Oct 1997) |
| filter sterilisation | A lab technique to sterilise a solution by passing it through a filter fine enough to catch bacteria-sized microorganisms. (09 Oct 1997) |
| low-pass filter | A device or material with the opposite effect from a high-pass filter; most tissues act as low-pass filters of ultrasound signals. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absolute | 1. Loosed from any limitation or condition; uncontrolled; unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority, monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command; absolute power; an absolute monarch. 2. Complete in itself; perfect; consummate; faultless; as, absolute perfection; absolute beauty. "So absolute she seems, And in herself complete." (Milton) 3. Viewed apart from modifying influences or without comparison with other objects; actual; real; opposed to relative and comparative; as, absolute motion; absolute time or space. Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man in a state of nature as contradistinguished from relative rights and duties, or such as pertain to him in his social relations. 4. Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing. In this sense God is called the Absolute by the Theist. The term is also applied by the Pantheist to the universe, or the total of all existence, as only capable of relations in its parts to each other and to the whole, and as dependent for its existence and its phenomena on its mutually depending forces and their laws. 5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned; non-relative. It is in dispute among philosopher whether the term, in this sense, is not applied to a mere logical fiction or abstraction, or whether the absolute, as thus defined, can be known, as a reality, by the human intellect. "To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute." (Sir W. Hamilton) 6. Positive; clear; certain; not doubtful. "I am absolute 't was very Cloten." (Shak) 7. Authoritative; peremptory. "The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head, With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed." (Mrs. Browning) 8. <chemistry> Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol. 9. Not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence in government; as, the case absolute. See Ablative absolute, under Ablative. <geometry> Absolute curvature, the sum of the optic and eccentric equations. <physics> Absolute space, space considered without relation to material limits or objects. Absolute terms. <mathematics> The be ginning, or zero point, in the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to -273 deg centigrade or -459.4 deg Fahrenheit. Synonym: Positive, peremptory, certain, unconditional, unlimited, unrestricted, unqualified, arbitrary, despotic, autocratic. Origin: L. Absolutus, p. P. Of absolvere: cf. F. Absolu. See Absolve. <geometry> In a plane, the two imaginary circular points at infinity; in space of three dimensions, the imaginary circle at infinity. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| absolute agraphia | Agraphia in which not even unconnected letters can be written. Synonym: atactic agraphia, literal agraphia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absolute alcohol | Water having been removed. Synonym: anhydrous alcohol. (05 Mar 2000) |
| absolute CD4 count | The number of helper T-lymphocytes in a cubic millimeter of blood. With HIV, the absolute CD4 count declines as the infection progresses. The absolute CD4 count is frequently used to monitor the extent of immune suppression in persons with HIV. Also called a T4 count. (12 Dec 1998) |