| HMC | hand-mirror cell; health maintenance cooperative; heroin, morphine, and cocaine; histocompatibility ... |
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| HPCC | health plan purchasing cooperative; high performance computing and communication |
| OCHS | Office of Cooperative Health Statistics |
| ACTG | AIDS Clinical Trial Group |
| NCIC | CTG National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trial Group |
| controlled clinical trials | Clinical trials involving one or more test treatments, at least one control treatment, specified outcome measures for evaluating the studied intervention, and a bias-free method for assigning patients to the test treatment. The treatment may be drugs, devices, or procedures studied for diagnostic, therapeutic, or prophylactic effectiveness. Control measures include placebos, active medicines, no-treatment, dosage forms and regimens, historical comparisons, etc. When randomization using mathematical techniques, such as the use of a random numbers table, is employed to assign patients to test or control treatments, the trials are characterised as randomised controlled trials. However, trials employing treatment allocation methods such as coin flips, odd-even numbers, patient social security numbers, days of the week, medical record numbers, or other such pseudo- or quasi-random processes, are simply designated as controlled clinical trials. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| cytogenetics, clinical | The application of cytogenetics to clinical medicine. For example, clinical cytogenetic studies might be done to determine whether a child with possible Down syndrome has an extra chromosome 21. (12 Dec 1998) |
| prospective, randomised, double-blind clinical trial | <statistics> A clinical trial in which the method for analysing data has been specified in the protocol before the study has begun (prospective), the patients have been randomly assigned to receive either the study drug or alternative treatment, and in which neither the patient nor the physician conducting the study know which treatment is being given to the patient. (13 Nov 1997) |
| psychology, clinical | The branch of psychology concerned with psychological methods of recognizing and treating behaviour disorders. (12 Dec 1998) |
| human clinical trial | <pharmacology> Controlled clinical studies in human volunteers to test the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical candidates. There are usually three distinct phases of human clinical testing: Phases I, II, and III. Phase I trials are safety studies of volunteers, usually healthy controls. Phase II trials are studies to confirm safety and study optimum dose and initial efficacy. Phase III trials are studies to prove safety and efficacy in a specific patient population. (14 Nov 1997) |
| decision support systems, clinical | Computer-based information systems used to integrate clinical and patient information and provide support for decision-making in patient care. (12 Dec 1998) |
| disease, clinical | A disease with clinical signs and symptoms that can be recognised. As distinct from a subclinical illness without recognizable clinical manifestations. Diabetes, for example, can be subclinical in a person before emerging as a clinical disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
| in clinical parlance | The term often refers to the posterior funiculus of the spinal cord. (05 Mar 2000) |
| epidemiology, clinical | Epidemiology focused specifically upon patients. (12 Dec 1998) |
| ABO blood group | <haematology> The major human blood type system which describes the oligosaccharide glycoprotein antigens found on the surface of human blood cells. According to the type of antigen present, a person may be assigned a blood type of A, B, AB or O. A second type of antigen, the Rh factor, renders a positive or negative blood type. The ABO blood group system is important because it determines who can donate blood to or accept blood from whom. Type A or AB blood will cause an immune reaction in people with type B blood and type B and AB blood will cause a reaction in people with type A blood. Conversely, type O blood has no A or B antigens, so people with type O blood are universal donors. And since AB blood already produces both antigens, people who are type AB can accept any of the other blood types without suffering an immune reaction. (04 Jul 1999) |
| actinobacteria group | A group of gram-positive, heterogeneous bacteria. This group encompasses a range of morphologically, physiologically, and chemically different organisms and includes bacteria that form cocci, short rods, irregular rods, and mycelia that fragment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl group | <chemistry> A funtional group on an organic molecule which is derived from an alkane which has lost a hydrogen atom. (13 Nov 1997) |
| aluminum group | Aluminum, boron, gallium, indium, and thallium. (05 Mar 2000) |
| amino group | <biochemistry> An -NH2 group. Organic compounds which have this group are called amines. (09 Oct 1997) |
| anterior group of axillary lymph nodes | Lymph nodes located along the lateral thoracic vein; they receive the drainage of the pectoral region, including most of the drainage of the breast. Synonym: nodi lymphatici axillaris pectorales, anterior group of axillary lymph nodes. (05 Mar 2000) |