| ASC | acetylsulfanilyl chloride; altered state of consciousness; ambulatory surgical center; American Soci... |
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| ASI | addiction severity index; anxiety state inventory; anxiety status inventory; arthroscopic screw inst... |
| ASTHO | Association of State and Territorial Health Officers |
| ATS | Achard-Thiers syndrome; acid test solution; alpha-D-tocopherol acid succinate; American Thoracic Soc... |
| CES | carboxylesterase; cauda equina syndrome; cat's eye syndrome; central excitatory state; chronic elect... |
| transition state intermediate | In a chemical reaction, an unstable and high-energy configuration assumed by reactants on the way to making products. Enzymes are thought to bindand stabilise the transition state, thus lowering the energy of activation needed to drive the reaction to completion. (09 Oct 1997) |
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| triplet state | A second excited state of a molecule (e.g., chlorophyll) produced by absorption of light to produce the singlet state, then loss of some energy (fluorescence) to arrive at the longer-lived triplet state The molecule may remain sufficiently long in the triplet state for a second activating light quantum to be effective in producing a "second triplet" state, obviously at still a higher level of excitation, hence reactivity. Alternatively, it may lose the triplet state energy directly and return to the ground state. (05 Mar 2000) |
| eunuchoid state | An imprecisely delineated condition of a male manifesting signs of inadequate androgen secretion during adolescent growth, regardless of the cause; usually referring to long legs, short trunk, and boyish beardless faces. (05 Mar 2000) |
| twilight state | A condition of disordered consciousness during which actions may be performed without the conscious volition of the individual and with no memory of such actions. Compare: somnambulic epilepsy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| excited state | <chemistry, radiobiology> An atom or nucleus which possesses more energy than its ground state energy. (16 Dec 1997) |
| lacunar state | The presence of lacunes in the brain. One of the major factors underlying cerebrovascular disease; high correlation with hypertension and atherosclerosis. Symptomatic forms include pure motor hemiplegia and pure hemisensory syndrome; multiple lacunar infarcts are the most common cause of pseudobulbar palsy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| local excitatory state | Increased irritability of a nerve fibre or muscle fibre which is produced by an ineffective electrical stimulus; summation of the stimuli may occur, resulting in a propagated impulse if two or more subliminal stimuli are applied in rapid succession. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Abbe's law of limiting resolution | <physics> For a periodic structure of units separated by distance d and obliquely illuminated by the unrefracted ray and one of the two diffracted rays (extremely oblique illumination). Abbe applied the law of diffraction: d = 0.5 lambda /NA, where: lambda = wavelength of the monochromic light or shortest of mixed wavelengths NA = the limiting numerical aperture (NA) of objective or condenser. (05 Aug 1998) |
| all or none law | Consistently total response to any effective stimulus. Synonym: all or none law. (05 Mar 2000) |
| American Law Institute formulation | Used in certain jurisdictions to determine criminal responsibility in legal proceedings. See: criminal insanity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| American Law Institute rule | A test of criminal responsibility (1962): "a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law." (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ampere's law | <physics> General equation in electromagnetism relating the magnetic field and the currents generating it. The various forms of the equation can be found in an introductory electromagnetism text. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Angstrom's law | A substance absorbs light of the same wavelength as it emits when luminous. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arndt's law | An obsolete law stating that weak stimuli excite physiologic activity, moderately strong ones favour it, strong ones retard it, and very strong ones arrest it. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arrhenius law | The theory of electrolytic dissociation (1887) that became the basis of our modern understanding of electrolytes: in an electrically conductive solution (e.g., acid, base, or salt), free ions are present before electrolysis, and the proportion of molecules dissociated into ions can be calculated from measurements of electrical conductivity as well as of osmotic pressure. Synonym: Arrhenius law. (05 Mar 2000) |