| inbreeding, coefficient of | A statistical way of gauging how close two people are as to their genes. The coefficient of inbreeding (symbolised as f) is the probability that a person with two identical genes received both genes from an identical ancestor. Take, for example, first cousins. They share a set of grandparents. For any particular allele (gene) in the father, the chance that the mother inherited the same allele from the same source is 1/8. For any gene the father passes to his child, the chance is 1/8 that the mother has the same gene and 1/2 that she transmits that gene to the child so 1/8 x 1/2 = 1/16. Thus, a first-cousin marriage has a coefficient of inbreeding f =1/16. The added risks to the offspring of first cousins depend not only upon this coefficient of inbreeding but also upon the genetic family history and, in some cases, upon test results (as to beta thalassaemia, for instance, for first cousins of italian descent). There are always added risks from the mating of closely related persons. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| isotonic coefficient | The amount of salts in the blood plasma, or the amount that should be added to distilled water in order to prepare an isotonic solution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ostwald's solubility coefficient | The milliliters of gas dissolved per milliliter of liquid and per atmosphere (760 mm of Hg) partial pressure of the gas at any given temperature. This differs from Bunsen's solubility coefficient (a) in that the amount of dissolved gas is expressed in terms of its volume at the temperature of the experiment, instead of STPD. Thus, lambda = a (1 + 0.00367t), where t = temperature in degrees Celsius. (05 Mar 2000) |
| oxygen utilization coefficient | The extraction coefficient for oxygen in any given tissue. (05 Mar 2000) |
| temperature coefficient | The fractional change in any physical property per degree rise in temperature. (05 Mar 2000) |
| economic coefficient | In growth and cultivation of microorganisms, the ratio of the mass produced to the substrate consumed. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Jaccard coefficient | <zoology> An association coefficient used in numerical taxonomy, it is the proportion of characters that match, excluding those that both organisms lack. (12 Jan 1998) |
| extinction coefficient | <chemistry> A constant used in the Beer-Lambert Law which relates the concentration of the substance being measured (in moles) to the absorbance of the substance in solution (how well the substance in solution blocks light beamed through it from getting out on the other side). (09 Oct 1997) |
| extraction coefficient | The percentage of a substance removed from the blood or plasma in a single passage through a tissue; e.g., the extraction coefficient for p-aminohippuric acid (PAH) in the kidney is the difference between arterial and renal venous plasma PAH concentrations, divided by the arterial plasma PAH concentration. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ultrafiltration coefficient | The filtration coefficient of a semipermeable membrane. (05 Mar 2000) |
| filtration coefficient | A measure of a membrane's permeability to water; specifically, the volume of fluid filtered in unit time through a unit area of membrane per unit pressure difference, taking into account both hydraulic and osmotic pressures. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal coefficient | <microbiology> That concentration of disinfectant that kills bacteria at 20-25캜 in the shortest period of time. (05 Mar 2000) |
| linear absorption coefficient | That fraction of ionizing radiation absorbed in a unit thickness of a substance or tissue. See: absorption coefficient. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Long's coefficient | A formula for estimating from the specific gravity of a specimen of urine the approximate amount of solids in grams per liter; the last two figures of the value for specific gravity are multiplied by 2.6. Synonym: Long's coefficient. (05 Mar 2000) |