| viability test | <investigation> Test to determine the proportion of living individuals, cells or organisms, in a sample. Viability tests are most commonly performed on cultured cells and usually depend on the ability of living cells to exclude a dye, (an exclusion test) or to specifically take it up (inclusion test). (18 Nov 1997) |
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| Mauthner's test | An obsolete test for colour perception similar to Holmgren's, but made with vials filled with pigments instead of with skeins of wool. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximal Histalog test | A test for measurement of maximal production of gastric acidity or anacidity; it is similar to the histamine test, but uses Histalog (betazole hydrochloride), an analogue of histamine. Synonym: maximal Histalog test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mazzotti test | A test for onchocerciasis using an oral test dose of diethylcarbamazine (50 or 100 mg), resulting in the appearance of an acute rash in 2 to 24 hours from death of microfilariae in the skin. Synonym: Mazzotti reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| McMurray test | Rotation of the tibia on the femur to determine injury to meniscal structures. (05 Mar 2000) |
| McNemar's test | A form of chi-square test for matched paired data. (05 Mar 2000) |
| McPhail test | A test for progesterone and like substances; immature female rabbits are treated with 150 IU of estrone over a period of 6 days; the test material is then given in five daily subcutaneous doses; progestational proliferation of the endometrium is noted and the results estimated according to a scale from 0 to ++++; the amount required to produce an average (++) response is taken as a unit, equivalent to 0.25 mg of progesterone. (05 Mar 2000) |
| passive cutaneous anaphylaxis test | An animal is injected intradermally with antibody (usually IgE) and subsequently challenged intravenously with a mixture of antigen and Evans blue dye 24-48 hours later. A dark blue area indicates a positive reaction due to the leakage of the dye at the site of antigen-antibody reactions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| patch test | A test of skin sensitiveness: a small piece of paper, tape, or a cup, wet with CO non-irritating diluted test fluid, is applied to skin of the upper back or upper outer arm and after 48 hours the area previously covered is compared with the uncovered surface; an erythematous reaction with vesicles occurs if the substance causes contact allergy. See: photo-patch test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Reinsch's test | A test for arsenic in which a strip of copper is placed in the suspected fluid, which is then acidulated with hydrochloric acid and boiled; if arsenic is present a gray deposit occurs on the copper, and this deposit on heating is sublimated and deposited as a crystalline layer on a piece of glass held above the copper strip. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Reiter test | A complement-fixation test for syphilis using as antigen material prepared from the Reiter strain of Treponema pallidum; the test has been largely replaced in laboratory medicine by the fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABS) test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Patrick's test | A test to determine the presence or absence of sacroiliac disease; with the patient supine, the hip and knee are flexed and the external malleolus is placed above the patella of the opposite leg; this can ordinarily be done without pain, but, on depressing the knee, pain is promptly elicited in sacroiliac disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Paul-Bunnell test | Test for detection of heterophil antibodies in infectious mononucleosis. See: Forssman antigen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Paul's test | Pus is rubbed into a scarification on a rabbit's eye; if the pus is from a variolous or vaccinal pustule a condition of epitheliosis develops in from 36 to 48 hours; the sputum of a smallpox patient is said to cause the same reaction. Synonym: Paul's test. (05 Mar 2000) |
| visual field test | <ophthalmology> A test which measures the extent of visual field loss. This test may be performed by a number of methods including confrontation, tangent screen exam and automated perimetry. Diseases that affect visual field include stroke, diabetes, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, hyperthyroidism, Jacob-Creutzfeldt disease and optic glioma. (27 Sep 1997) |