| Mariotte's blind spot | The portion of the optic nerve seen in the fundus with the ophthalmoscope. It is formed by the meeting of all the retinal ganglion cell axons as they enter the optic nerve. Because the retina at the optic disk has no photoreceptors there is a corresponding blind spot in the visual field. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| vestibular blind sac | <anatomy> The lower extremity of the cochlear duct, occupying the cochlear recess in the vestibule. Synonym: caecum vestibulare, vestibular blind sac. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cupular blind sac | The upper blind extremity of the cochlear duct. Synonym: caecum cupulare, cupular blind sac, lagena. (05 Mar 2000) |
| prospective, randomised, double-blind clinical trial | <statistics> A clinical trial in which the method for analysing data has been specified in the protocol before the study has begun (prospective), the patients have been randomly assigned to receive either the study drug or alternative treatment, and in which neither the patient nor the physician conducting the study know which treatment is being given to the patient. (13 Nov 1997) |
| single-blind method | A method in which either the observer(s) or the subject(s) is kept ignorant of the group to which the subjects are assigned. (12 Dec 1998) |
| double-blind | <statistics> A kind of clinical study in which neither the participants nor the person administering treatment know which treatment any particular subject is receiving. Usually the comparison is between an experimental drug and a placebo or standard comparison treatment. This method is believed to achieve the most accuracy because neither the doctor nor the patient can affect the observed results with their psychological bias. (10 Oct 1997) |
| double-blind experiment | <statistics> An experiment conducted with neither experimenter nor subjects knowing which experiment is the control; prevents bias in recording results. See: double-masked experiment. (05 Mar 2000) |
| double-blind method | <statistics> A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| analytic study | In epidemiology, a study designed to examine associations, commonly putative or hypothesised causal relationships; usually concerned with identifying or measuring the effects of risk factors or with the health effects of specific exposures. (05 Mar 2000) |
| blinded study | Clinical trials of drugs are often done blinded so that the patient does not know (is blinded as to) whether they are receiving the product being tested or the control/placebo to ensure that the results of a study are not affected by a possible placebo effect (by the power of suggestion). (12 Dec 1998) |
| case-control study | <epidemiology> A study in which the risk factors of people with a disease are compared with those without a disease. It is an epidemiological method that begins by identifying persons with the disease or condition of interest (the cases) and compares their past history of exposure to identified or suspected risk factors with the past history of similar exposures among persons who resemble the cases but do not have the disease or condition of interest (the controls). The relationship of an attribute to the disease can therefore be examined by comparing affected and non-affected individuals with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group. (05 May 2002) |
| retrospective study | <epidemiology> A study in which people are enrolled and then have their history of risks, infections or disease measured. (05 Dec 1998) |
| rosenzweig picture-frustration study | A projective test depicting cartoon-like characters in frustrating situations. The scoring of the subject's responses indicates the direction of hostility or aggression, that is, whether he blames himself, the other person, or the set of circumstances. (12 Dec 1998) |
| cohort study | A study using epidemiological methods, such as a clinical trial, in which a cohort with a particular attribute (e.g., smokers, recipients of a drug) is followed prospectively and compared for some outcome (e.g., disease, cure) with another cohort not possessing the attribute. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pioped study | <radiology> 251 patients with documented PE on pulmonary angiograms were given V/Q scans: 102 high probability, 105 intermediate probability, 39 low probability, 5 normal or near-normal (12 Dec 1998) |