| NMBA | neuromuscular blocking agent |
|---|---|
| DIT | Diet Induced Thermogenesis = Thermic Effect of Food = Specific Dynami... |
| AMPAC | American Medical Political Action Committee |
| AP | accessory pathway; accounts payable; acid phosphatase; acinar parenchyma; action potential; active p... |
| APA | action potential amplitude; aldosterone-producing adenoma; Ambulatory Pediatric Association; America... |
| neuromuscular blocking agent | A group of drugs that prevent motor nerve endings from exciting skeletal muscle. They act either by competing for the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, (like D-tubocurarine, mivacurium and pancuronium), or by first stimulating the postjunctional muscle membrane and subsequently desensitizing the muscle endplates to the acetylcholine (like succinylcholine or decamethonium); used in surgery to produce paralysis and facilitate manipulation of muscles. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| neuromuscular blocking agents | Drugs that interrupt transmission of nerve impulses at the skeletal neuromuscular junction. They can be of two types, competitive, stabilizing blockers (neuromuscular nondepolarising agents) or noncompetitive, depolarising agents (neuromuscular depolarising agents). Both prevent acetylcholine from triggering the muscle contraction and they are used as anaesthesia adjuvants, as relaxants during electroshock, in convulsive states, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| nondepolarising neuromuscular blocking agent | A compound that paralyzes skeletal muscle primarily by inhibiting transmission of nerve impulses at the neuromuscular junction rather than by affecting the membrane potention of motor endplate or muscle fibres. (05 Mar 2000) |
| action | 1. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action. "One wise in council, one in action brave." (Pope) 2. An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. "The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." (1 Sam. Ii. 3) 3. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events. 4. Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action. 5. <mechanics> Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun. 6. <physiology> Any one of the active processes going on in an organism; the performance of a function; as, the action of the heart, the muscles, or the gastric juice. 7. Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings. 8. The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted. 9. A suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right in a court of justice; in a broad sense, a judicial proceeding for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense. A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim. 10. A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks. "The Euripus of funds and actions." (Burke) 11. An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action. 12. The mechanical contrivance by means of which the impulse of the player's finger is transmitted to the strings of a pianoforte or to the valve of an organ pipe. Chose in action the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity. Synonym: Action, act. In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction is observable. Action involves the mode or process of acting, and is usually viewed as occupying some time in doing. Act has more reference to the effect, or the operation as complete. "To poke the fire is an act, to reconcile friends who have quarreled is a praiseworthy action." (C. J. Smith) Origin: OF. Action, L. Actio, fr. Agere to do. See Act. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| action current | An electrical current induced in muscle fibres when they are effectively stimulated; normally it is followed by contraction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| action potential | <physiology> The sequential, electrochemical polarization and depolarisation that travels across the membrane of a nerve cell (neuron) in response to stimulation (touch, pain, cold, etc.) (09 Oct 1997) |
| action tremor | <neurology> A tremor which arises or which is intensified when a voluntary, coordinated movement is attempted. (18 Nov 1997) |
| back-action plugger | An instrument for condensing gold foil or amalgam in areas that cannot be reached directly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ball valve action | The intermittent blockage of a tube or outlet of a cavity by some object or material that permits passage in one direction but not in the other. (05 Mar 2000) |
| calorigenic action | Increase of heat production of the body, as by the thyroid hormone. Synonym: thermogenic action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| capillary action | The phenomenon of a liquid such as water spontaneously creeping up thin tubes and fibres, this is caused by adhesive and cohesive forces and surface tension. (09 Oct 1997) |
| mass-action ratio | The ratio of the product of all of the product concentrations divided by the product of all of the reactant concentrations of a particular reaction; when the reaction has been completed (i.e., t = ∞), then this ratio is equal to the equilibrium constant. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mass action theory | That large areas of brain tissue function as a whole in learned or intelligent action. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mass action transmission | <epidemiology> Transmission of infection which occurs at a rate directly proportional to the number or density of both susceptibles and infecteds present. Some authors reserve the name mass action for transmission processes of the form b X Y/N , which we associate with STD-type transmission, and describe transmission rates of the form b X Y , as pseudo-mass action ; the two are equivalent if the population size is unchanging. (05 Dec 1998) |
| cumulative action | The condition in which repeated administration of a drug may produce effect's that are more pronounced than those produced by the first dose. Synonym: cumulative action. (05 Mar 2000) |