| functional psychosis | An obsolete term once used to denote schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders before modern science discovered a biological component to some aspects of each of the disorders. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| functional refractory period | The minimum interval possible between successive responses to stimulation of a tissue. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional residual air | The volume of air remaining in the lungs at the end of a normal, quiet expiration. It is the sum of the residual volume and the expiratory reserve volume. Common abbreviation is frc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| functional residual capacity | The volume of air remaining in the lungs at the end of a normal, quiet expiration. It is the sum of the residual volume and the expiratory reserve volume. Common abbreviation is frc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| functional spasm | Professional neurosis, a disorder of a group of muscles used chiefly in one's occupation, marked by the occurrence of spasm, paresis, or incoordination on attempt to repeat the habitual movements; e.g., writer's cramp; probably a focal dystonia. Synonym: craft palsy, functional spasm. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional sphincter | A section of a tubular structure that acts as if it has a band of circular muscle to constrict it, although no such specialised structure can be found on morphological examination. Synonym: functional sphincter, radiological sphincter. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional splint | The joining of two or more teeth into a rigid unit by means of fixed restorations that cover all or part of the abutment teeth. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional stricture | A stricture due to localised spasm of muscular fibres in the wall of the canal. Synonym: functional stricture, temporary stricture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional terminal innervation ratio | The number of muscle fibres divided by the number of axons that innervate them. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional visual loss | An apparent loss of visual acuity or visual field with no substantiating physical signs; often due to a natural concern about visual loss combined with suggestibility and a fear of the worst; best treated with reassurance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| functional vocal fatigue | Difficult or abnormal voice production, the enunciation being too high, too loud, or too hard. Synonym: functional vocal fatigue. Origin: phon-+ G. Astheneia, weakness (05 Mar 2000) |
| allelic gene | See: allele, dominance of traits. (05 Mar 2000) |
| antibiotic resistance gene | Genes in a microorganism which confer resistance to antibiotics, for example by coding for enzymes which destroy it, by coding for surface proteins which prevent it from entering the microorganism, or by being a mutant form of the antibiotic's target so that it can ignore it. (09 Oct 1997) |
| autosomal gene | A gene located on any chromosome other than the sex chromosomes (X or Y). (05 Mar 2000) |
| bicoid gene | A group of genes which are important to the proper development of the head and thorax in the embryo of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. (09 Oct 1997) |