| alternative hypothesis | In Neyman-Pearson testing of a hypothesis, the hypothesis or family of hypotheses about the numerical value of a parameter if and only if the null hypothesis is rejected as untenable. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| autocrine hypothesis | That tumour cells containing viral oncogenes may have encoded a growth factor, normally produced by other cell types, and thereby produce the factor autonomously, leading to uncontrolled proliferation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Avogadro's hypothesis | <physics> The hypothesis that equal volumes of two different gases at the same temperature and pressure contain the same number of molecules. (02 Jan 1998) |
| Bayesian hypothesis | An array of surmised values of a parameter to be severally explored in the light of a current set of data, with logical symmetry being preserved among all. The merits of each hypothesis entertained are based on quantity, the prior probability. The probability of the data conditional on the hypothesis is computed as the conditional probability for each; the product of the two for each hypothesis is the joint probability, and the ratio of each joint probability to the sum of all the joint probabilities is the posterior probability for that hypothesis. Unlike the Neyman-Pearson test of hypotheses, the answer is a statement about the hypothesis, not about the sample conditional on the hypothesis. No hypothesis is preferred or prevails by default. The procedure may be applied recursively any number of times, as the data becomes available. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Makeham's hypothesis | A development of Gompertz' hypothesis as to the force of mortality following some mathematical law. Makeham assumed that death was the consequence of two generally coexisting causes: 1) chance; 2) a deterioration or increased inability to withstand destruction. The first of these is constant, the second is an increasing geometrical progression. (05 Mar 2000) |
| gate-control hypothesis | A theory to explain the mechanism of pain; small fibre afferent stimuli, particularly pain, entering the substantia gelatinosa can be modulated by large fibre afferent stimuli and descending spinal pathways so that their transmission to ascending spinal pathways is blocked (gated). Synonym: gate-control hypothesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Gompertz' hypothesis | A theory that the force of mortality increases in geometrical progression, being based on the assumption that the average exhaustion of a person's power to avoid death is such that at the end of equal infinitely small intervals of time he loses equal proportions of the power to oppose destruction which he had at the commencement of each of these intervals. (05 Mar 2000) |
| chemiosmotic hypothesis | <biochemistry, cell biology> A theoretical mechanism (proposed by Mitchell) to explain energy transduction in the mitochondrion. As a general mechanism it is the coupling of one enzyme catalysed reaction to another using the transmembrane flow of an intermediate species. For example Cytochrome oxidase pumps protons across the mitochondrial inner membrane and ATP synthesis is driven by re entry of protons through the ATP synthesising protein complex. The alternative model is production of a chemical intermediate species, but no compound capable of coupling these reactions has ever been identified. (18 Nov 1997) |
| Michaelis-Menten hypothesis | <chemistry> That a complex is formed between an enzyme and its substrate (the O'Sullivan-Tompson hypothesis), which complex then decomposes to yield free enzyme and the reaction products (Brown hypothesis), the latter rate determining the overall rate of substrate-product conversion. See: Michaelis-Menten constant, Michaelis-Menten equation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mnaemic hypothesis | The theory that stimuli or irritants leave definite traces (engrams) on the protoplasm of the animal or plant, and when these stimuli are regularly repeated they induce a habit which persists after the stimuli cease; assuming that the germ cells share with the nerve cells in the possession of engrams, acquired habits may thus be transmitted to the descendants. Synonym: mnaemic theory, mnemism, Semon-Hering theory. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wobble hypothesis | <molecular biology> Explains why the base Inosine is included in position 1 in the anticodons of various t RNAs, why many mRNA codon words translate to a single amino acid, why there are appreciably fewer t RNAs than mRNA codon types and why the redundant nature of the genetic code translates into a precise set of 20 amino acids. Inosine in Position 1 in the anticodon can base pair with A, u or C in position 3 in the mRNA codon, so that for example UCU, UCC, UCA all code for Serine using an inosine anticodon. (18 Nov 1997) |
| sequence hypothesis | Francis Crick's seminal concept that genetic information exists as alinear DNA code, DNA and protein sequence are colinear. (09 Oct 1997) |
| hypothesis | <statistics> A supposition that appears to explain a group of phenomena and is advanced as a basis for further investigation, a proposition that is subject to proof or to an experimental or statistical test. (11 Jan 1998) |
| sliding filament hypothesis | The theory that the contracting muscle shortens because two sets of filaments slide past each other. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Starling's hypothesis | The principle that net filtration through capillary membranes is proportional to the transmembrane hydrostatic pressure difference minus the transmembrane oncotic pressure difference; although well established, it is called Starling's hypothesis to distinguish it from Starling's law of the heart. (05 Mar 2000) |