| AMA | against medical advice; alkaline membrane assay; American Management Association; American Medical A... |
|---|---|
| NA | Avogadro constant or number; nalidixic acid; Narcotics Anonymous; network administrator; neuraminida... |
| DFA | Direct Fluorescent Antibody |
| FTA-ABS test | Fluorescent Treponemal Antibody ABSorption test |
| IFA test | Indirect Fluorescent Antibody test |
| Kasten's fluorescent PAS stain | <technique> A fluorescent modification of the periodic acid Schiff stain for polysaccharides which uses one of Kasten's fluorescent Schiff reagents. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Kasten's fluorescent Schiff reagents | Fluorescent analogues of Schiff's reagent which are fluorescent basic dyes lacking acidic side groups and containing one or more primary amine groups; used in cytochemical detection of DNA in Kasten's fluorescent Feulgen stain, polysaccharides in Kasten's fluorescent PAS stain, and proteins in the ninhydrin-Schiff stain; such analogues include acriflavine, auramine O, and flavophosphine N. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fluorescent | Having the ability to emit light of a certain wavelength when activated by light of another wavelength. (09 Oct 1997) |
| fluorescent dyes | Dyes that emit light when exposed to light. The wave length of the emitted light is usually longer than that of the incident light. Fluorochromes are substances that cause fluorescence in other substances, i.e., dyes used to mark or label other compounds with fluorescent tags. They are used as markers in biochemistry and immunology. (12 Dec 1998) |
| fluorescent in situ hybridization | See FISH. (12 Dec 1998) |
| fluorescent label | A molecule which fluoresces and can be attached to a probe molecule that does not fluoresce. (09 Oct 1997) |
| fluorescent microscope | <instrument> A microscope equipped to examine material that fluoresces under ultraviolet (UV) light. (12 Dec 1998) |
| fluorescent screen | A screen coated with fluorescent crystals such as the calcium tungstate used in the fluoroscope. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fluorescent stain | <technique> A stain or staining procedure using a fluorescent dye or substance that will combine selectively with certain tissue components and that will then fluoresce upon irradiation with ultraviolet or violet-blue light. (05 Mar 2000) |
| affinity antibody | The measure of the interaction between molecules such as a receptor and its ligand. This interaction is reversible. (05 Mar 2000) |
| agglutinating antibody | 1. An antibody that causes clumping or agglutination of the bacteria or other cells which either stimulated the formation of the agglutinin, or contain immunologically similar, reactive antigen. Synonym: agglutinating antibody, immune agglutinin. 2. A substance, other than a specific agglutinating antibody, that causes organic particles to agglutinate, commonly qualified, e.g., plant agglutinin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anaphylactic antibody | Antibody that has an affinity for certain kinds of cells, in addition to and unrelated to its specific affinity for the antigen that induced it, because of the properties of the Fc portion of the heavy chain. See: heterocytotropic antibody, homocytotropic antibody, cytotropic antibody test. Synonym: anaphylactic antibody, cytophilic antibody. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anti-basement membrane antibody | Autoantibodies to renal glomerular basement membrane antigens. (05 Mar 2000) |
| antibody | An immunoglobulin molecule that has a specific amino acid sequence by virtue of which it interacts only with the antigen that induced its synthesis in cells of the lymphoid series (especially plasma cells) or with antigen closely related to it. Antibodies are classified according to their ode of action as agglutinins, bacteriolysins, haemolysins, opsonins, precipitins, etc. (18 Nov 1997) |
| antibody affinity | A measure of the binding strength between antibody and a simple hapten or antigen determinant. It depends on the closeness of stereochemical fit between antibody combining sites and antigen determinants, on the size of the area of contact between them, and on the distribution of charged and hydrophobic groups. It includes the concept of "avidity," which refers to the strength of the antigen-antibody bond after formation of reversible complexes. (12 Dec 1998) |