| AAPC | antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis |
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| AAPMC | antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis |
| AB | abdominal; abnormal; abortion; Ace bandage; active bilaterally; aid to the blind; alcian blue; alert... |
| Ab | abortion; antibiotic; antibody |
| AC | abdominal circumference; abdominal compression; absorption coefficient; abuse case; acetate; acetylc... |
| diarrhoea, antibiotic-induced | A bacterium called Clostridium difficile (C.difficile), one of the most common causes of infection of the large bowel (colon). Patients taking antibiotics are at particular risk of becoming infected with C. Difficile. Antibiotics disrupt the normal bacteria of the bowel, allowing C. Difficile bacteria (and other bacteria) to become established and overgrow the colon. Many persons infected with C. Difficile bacteria have no symptoms but can become carriers of the bacteria and infect others. In other people, a toxin produced by C. Difficile causes diarrhoea, abdominal pain, severe inflammation of the colon (colitis), fever, an elevated white blood count, vomiting and dehydration. In severely affected patients, the inner lining of the colon becomes severely inflamed (a condition called pseudomembranous colitis). Rarely, the walls of the colon wear away and holes develop (colon perforation), which can lead to a life-threatening infection of the abdomen. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| transport antibiotic | A substance that makes biomembranes permeable to certain ions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acetyl reduction assay | <investigation> A technique for measuring the nitrogen fixation activity in photosynthetic organisms. It uses a flame ionisation detector and a gas chromatography apparatus to determine the reduction of acetylene to ethylene by the enzyme nitrogenase. (06 May 1997) |
| Ames assay | <procedure> One of a number of procedures used to test substances for likely ability to cause cancer that combines the use of animal tissue to generate active metabolites of the substance with a test for mutagenicity in bacteria. (18 Nov 1997) |
| assay | <procedure> The determination of the amount of a particular constituent of a mixture or of the biological or pharmacological potency of a drug. (10 May 1997) |
| bandshift assay | <investigation> An assay for proteins, such as transcription factors, that bind specific DNA sequences. A labelled oligonucleotide corresponding to the recognition sequence is incubated with an appropriate nuclear protein extract and run on a nondenaturing acrylamide gel. Oligonucleotides that have been bound by proteins are retarded relative to those that are unbound. (18 Nov 1997) |
| biological assay | <technique> Once a pharmaceutical protein is isolated from the cells in which it was grown, researchers perform tests to measure the protein's biological activity. It must maintain a certain minimal level of biological activity to be used for animal or clinical testing or, later, for market. Researchers also test to confirm that the isolated protein is identical to the desired protein. (21 Mar 1998) |
| radioimmunoprecipitation assay | Sensitive assay using radiolabelled antigens to detect specific antibodies in serum. The antigens are allowed to react with the serum and then precipitated using a special reagent such as protein a sepharose beads. The bound radiolabelled immunoprecipitate is then commonly analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Radioimmunoprecipitation assay (ripa) is often used as a confirmatory test for diagnosing the presence of HIV antibodies. (12 Dec 1998) |
| radioligand assay | <radiobiology> Quantitative determination of receptor (binding) proteins in body fluids or tissue using radioactively labelled binding reagents (e.g., antibodies, intracellular receptors, plasma binders). (12 Dec 1998) |
| radioreceptor assay | A competitive binding assay in which the binder is a membrane or tissue receptor rather than an antibody. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Raji cell radioimmune assay | For immune complexes; a procedure by which immune complexes adsorbed from a test serum by a standard preparation of lymphoblastoid (Raji) cells are assayed by the capacity to bind 125I-labelled antibody to immunoglobulin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| gel retardation assay | A lab technique used to find out if there are proteins binding a fragment of DNA (in a DNA-protein complex) by watching how fast the DNA fragment moves through an electric field and seeing whether it moves slower when a particular protein is also present. (09 Oct 1997) |
| checkerboard assay | <procedure> Variant of the Boyden chamber assay for leucocyte chemotaxis introduced by Zigmond. By testing different concentrations of putative chemotactic factor in nongradient conditions, it is possible to calculate the enhancement of movement expected due simply to chemokinesis and to compare this with the distances moved in positive and negative gradients. Good experimental design thus allows chemotaxis to be distinguished from chemokinesis. (21 May 1997) |
| chloramphenicol acetyltransferase assay | <investigation> A lab technique used to determine whether a given fragment of DNA has a promoter on it to encourage transcription to occur, by attaching the gene (called the CAT gene) which codes for the CAT enzyme to it, and observing whether the CAT enzyme is produced. (05 Jan 1998) |
| Grunstein-Hogness assay | A procedure for identifying plasmid clones by colony hybridization. (05 Mar 2000) |