| IH | idiopathic hirsutism; idiopathic hypercalciuria; immediate hypersensitivity; incompletely healed; in... |
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| IIF | immune interferon; indirect immunofluorescence |
| IMBC | indirect maximum breathing capacity |
| IME | independent medical examination; indirect medical education |
| IMH | idiopathic myocardial hypertrophy; indirect microhemagglutination [test] |
| colony-forming units assay | A cytologic technique for measuring the functional capacity of stem cells by assaying their activity. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| competitive binding assay | General term for an assay in which a binder competes for labelled versus unlabelled ligand; following separation of free and bound ligand, the ligand (the analyte assayed) is quantitated by relating bound and unbound ratios to known standards. See: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, radioreceptor assay, immunoassay, enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique, radioimmunoassay. Synonym: displacement analysis, saturation analysis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| complement binding assay | A test for the detection of immune complexes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| complement haemolytic activity assay | Usual screening assay for complement. Dilutions of the serum to be tested are added to antibody-coated erythrocytes and the percentage of lysis is measured. The values are expressed by ch50, haemolytic complement units per milliliter, which is the dilution of serum required to lyse 50 percent of the erythrocytes in the assay. (12 Dec 1998) |
| plaque assay | 1. <investigation> Assay for virus in which a dilute solution of the virus is applied to a culture dish containing a layer of the host cells, convective spread is prevented by making the medium very viscous. After incubation the plaques, areas in which cells have been killed (or transformed), can be recognised and the number of infective virus particles in the original suspension estimated. 2. Assay for cells producing antibody against erythrocytes or against antigen that has been bound to the erythrocytes. The cell is surrounded by a clear plaque of haemolysis. Basic principle behind the assay is the same as for the virus plaque assay. (18 Nov 1997) |
| haemolytic plaque assay | <investigation> A haemolytic plaque assay is a lab technique used to show that certain antibodies are secreted by antibody-making cells when these cells are mixed with red blood cells. The mixture is spread onto a plate of agar, if a plaque appears, it means that the red blood cells have been destroyed (by haemolysis) by the antibodies. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Hageman factor assay | A test used to measure the activity of a blood clotting factor XII. This test may be used to evaluate excessive bleeding. Low factor XII may be seen in cases of congenital deficiency of factor XII, heparin administration and liver disease. (27 Sep 1997) |
| progesterone receptor assay | The progesterone receptor test (PgR assay) checks the tumour for its hormone status. (16 Dec 1997) |
| hemizona assay | <investigation> The hemizona assay is a laboratory test of the ability of sperm to penetrate into a human egg, first the egg is split in half, then one half is tested against the husband's sperm and the other half against sperm from a fertile man. (09 Oct 1997) |
| scintillation proximity assay | Assay system in which antibody or receptor molecule is bound to a bead that will emit light when _ emission from an isotope occurs in close proximity, i.e. From a radioactively labelled ligand. Avoids the need for scintillant in order to measure the amount of bound isotope and thus the amount of antigen or ligand present. (18 Nov 1997) |
| hormone receptor assay | A diagnostic test to determine whether a breast cancer's growth is influenced by hormones or if it can be treated with hormones. (09 Oct 1997) |
| subrenal capsule assay | In vivo method of screening investigative anticancer drugs and biologic response modifiers for individual cancer patients. Fresh tumour tissue is implanted under the kidney capsule of immunocompetent mice or rats; gross and histological assessments follow several days after tumour treatment in situ. (12 Dec 1998) |
| nuclear run off assay | <investigation, procedure> Technique for determining which genes are being actively transcribed at a given moment in an experiment by extracting nuclear material and allowing transcription to continue, then analysing the resulting RNAs. (18 Nov 1997) |
| DNA filter assay | <molecular biology> A lab technique used to identify the complementary base sequences of DNA. It involves immobilising the DNA on a filter and putting it in a solution that contains radioactively-labelled probe DNA or RNA molecules. (09 Oct 1997) |
| double antibody sandwich assay | For antigen; an application of the ELISA method in which material being tested for antigen is added to wells coated with known antibody; the presence of antigen fixed to the antibody coat can be determined either directly, by adding human antibody linked to the enzyme of the indicator system, or indirectly, by first adding unlabelled known antibody, the attachment of which to the antigen can be demonstrated by addition of immunoglobulin-specific antibody linked to the enzyme. (05 Mar 2000) |