| SI | International System of Units [Fr. le Systeme International d'Unites]; sacroiliac; saline infusion; ... |
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| AI | accidental injury; accidentally incurred; adiposity index; aggregation index; allergy and immunology... |
| CMI | carbohydrate metabolism index; care management integration; case mix index; cell-mediated immunity; ... |
| CSI | calculus surface index; cancer serum index; cavernous sinus infiltration; cervical spine injury; che... |
| EI | Edmonton injector; electrolyte imbalance; electron impact; electron ionization; emotionally impaired... |
| united states national aeronautics and space administration | An independent federal agency established in 1958. It conducts research for the solution of problems of flight within and outside the earth's atmosphere and develops, constructs, tests, and operates aeronautical and space vehicles. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| los alamos national laboratory | <radiobiology> Major DOE research facility, located in Los Alamos, new Mexico, about an hour west of Santa Fe. Former home of a frozen-deuterium-fibre Z-pinch device, which was dismantled. Home to an active theory division, including the Numerical Tokamak Grand Challenge (being performed on the CM-5 massively-parallel supercomputer). Also home to former alternative-concepts experimental devices like Scyllac, FRX-A, FRX-B, FRX-C/LSM, ZT40, and the aborted CPRF which was killed in 1991 when it was almost complete (budget cuts). Currently there are some small in-house experiments, including one on electrostatic confinement as a possible fusion device, and/or a compact neutron source. They also do theory and experimental collaboration with other labs worldwide. (09 Oct 1997) |
| attitude to death | Conceptual response of the individual to the various aspects of death, which are based on his psychosocial and cultural experience. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Black Death | <disease, organism> Yersinina pestis is a gram-negative, rod-shaped, faculatively anaerobic bacterial species in the family Enterobacteriaceae. It causes bubonic plaque, which is transmitted by rodent fleas. Historically known as the Black Plague, this disease devastated Europe and Asia in the 1300s. It still exists today and is characterised by sudden high fever, chills, excessively swollen and tender lymph nodes (buboes), followed by tissue bleeding and gangrene. Other complications include pneumonia and septicaemia. (12 Nov 1997) |
| brain death | Total cessation of brain function for 24 hours as manifested by absence of spontaneous movement, absence of spontaneous respiration, and absence of all brainstem reflexes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| rate, death | The number of deaths in the population divided by the average population (or the population at midyear) is the crude death rate. In 1994, for example, the crude death rate per 1,000 population was 8.8 in the united states, 7.1 in Australia, etc. A death rate can also be tabulated according to age or cause. (12 Dec 1998) |
| genetic death | Death of the bearer of a gene at any age before generating living offspring. May be compatible with good health and long life. See: genetic lethal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maternal death | Death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days after the termination of gestation, irrespective of the duration and site of pregnancy and the cause of death; two periods are recognised in the 42-day interval: period 1 includes day 1 to day 7; period 2 includes day 8 to day 42. Maternal death's are further classified as: (05 Mar 2000) |
| maternal death rate | The number of maternal deaths that occur as the direct result of the reproductive process per 100,000 live births. See: rate. See: maternal death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cause of death | Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint. (12 Dec 1998) |
| cell death | <cell biology> Cells die (nonaccidentally) either when they have completed a fixed number of division cycles (around 60, the Hayflick limit) or at some earlier stage when programmed to do so, as in digit separation in vertebrate limb morphogenesis. Whether this is due to an accumulation of errors or a programmed limit is unclear, some transformed cells have undoubtedly escaped the limit. See: apoptosis. (26 Mar 1998) |
| cerebral death | A clinical syndrome characterised by the permanent loss of cerebral and brain stem function, manifested by absence of responsiveness to external stimuli, absence of cephalic reflexes, and apnea. An isoelectric electroencephalogram for at least 30 minutes in the absence of hypothermia and poisoning by central nervous system depressants supports the diagnosis. Synonym: brain death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| perinatal death | An inclusive term referring to both stillborn infants and neonatal death's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mitotic death | <cell biology> Cells fatally damaged by ionising radiation may not die until the next mitosis, at which point the radiation damage to the DNA becomes evident, particularly when there is fragmentation of chromosomes. (18 Nov 1997) |
| cot death | <syndrome> May affect infants of any age, but some risk factors have been identified: term infants who have had a life-threatening period of apnoea (not breathing), premature infants of low birth weight, siblings of infants who have succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome and infants of substance abusing mothers. Peak age is at 2.5 months and 4 months, but can range from 1 month to 1 year. High risk infants should have home monitoring done. It is recommended that the less than 4 month old infant should sleep on their back. Synonym: cot death syndrome. Incidence: 2 per 1,000 live births. Acronym: SIDS (27 Sep 1997) |