| DFA | direct fluorescent antibody; discriminant function analysis; dorsiflexion assistance |
|---|---|
| FADF | fluorescent antibody dark field |
| FAMA | Fellow of the American Medical Association; fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen |
| FANA | fluorescent antinuclear antibody |
| FAST | flow-assisted, short-term [balloon catheter]; fluorescent antibody staining technique; fluoro-allerg... |
| cutaneous absorption | The absorption of drugs, allergens, and other substances through unbroken skin. Synonym: cutaneous absorption. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| specific absorption coefficient | Absorbance (of light) per unit path length (usually the centimeter) and per unit of mass concentration. Compare: molar absorption coefficient. Synonym: absorbancy index, absorptivity, extinction coefficient, specific extinction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| spectrophotometry, atomic absorption | A highly sensitive technique used to analyze various elements, especially metals, including aluminum, arsenic, beryllium, calcium, copper, iron, lead, and lithium, which are present in trace amounts. The atoms are excited above a ground state by flame vaporization, and the radiation emitted as the molecules return to a ground state is measured in unexcited non-ionised molecules. (12 Dec 1998) |
| disjunctive absorption | Absorption of living tissue in immediate relation with a necrosed part, producing a line of demarcation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| d-xylose absorption | This test measures the intestine's ability to absorb the simple sugar, D-xylose. This is an indicator for whether or not nutrients are being absorbed properly in the intestine. This test is often used to evaluate persistent diarrhoea, weight loss, malnutrition and cases of suspected malabsorption. Abnormal results may be seen in the following conditions: Crohn's disease, Giardiasis, hookworm infestation, radiation enteritis, celiac sprue, viral gastroenteritis and Whipple's disease. (27 Sep 1997) |
| interstitial absorption | The removal of water or of substances in the interstitial fluid by the lymphatics. (05 Mar 2000) |
| electron resonance absorption | <physics> A spectrometric method, based on measurement of electron spins and magnetic moments, for detecting and estimating free radicals in reactions and in biological systems. Synonym: electron paramagnetic resonance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| external absorption | The absorption of substances through skin, mucocutaneous surfaces, or mucous membranes. (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) |
| affinity antibody | The measure of the interaction between molecules such as a receptor and its ligand. This interaction is reversible. (05 Mar 2000) |
| agglutinating antibody | 1. An antibody that causes clumping or agglutination of the bacteria or other cells which either stimulated the formation of the agglutinin, or contain immunologically similar, reactive antigen. Synonym: agglutinating antibody, immune agglutinin. 2. A substance, other than a specific agglutinating antibody, that causes organic particles to agglutinate, commonly qualified, e.g., plant agglutinin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anaphylactic antibody | Antibody that has an affinity for certain kinds of cells, in addition to and unrelated to its specific affinity for the antigen that induced it, because of the properties of the Fc portion of the heavy chain. See: heterocytotropic antibody, homocytotropic antibody, cytotropic antibody test. Synonym: anaphylactic antibody, cytophilic antibody. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anti-basement membrane antibody | Autoantibodies to renal glomerular basement membrane antigens. (05 Mar 2000) |
| antibody | An immunoglobulin molecule that has a specific amino acid sequence by virtue of which it interacts only with the antigen that induced its synthesis in cells of the lymphoid series (especially plasma cells) or with antigen closely related to it. Antibodies are classified according to their ode of action as agglutinins, bacteriolysins, haemolysins, opsonins, precipitins, etc. (18 Nov 1997) |
| antibody affinity | A measure of the binding strength between antibody and a simple hapten or antigen determinant. It depends on the closeness of stereochemical fit between antibody combining sites and antigen determinants, on the size of the area of contact between them, and on the distribution of charged and hydrophobic groups. It includes the concept of "avidity," which refers to the strength of the antigen-antibody bond after formation of reversible complexes. (12 Dec 1998) |