| ECH | educator contact hour |
|---|---|
| FCH | faculty contact hour; family case home; fetal cystic hygroma |
| HAPC | high-amplitude peristaltic contraction; hospital-acquired penetration contact |
| HIPA | heparin-induced platelet activation |
| ICDRC | International Contact Dermatitis Research Center |
| contact illumination | Illumination of the eye by means of an instrument in contact with the cornea or bulbar conjunctiva. Critical illumination, the precise focusing of the light source directly upon the object being examined. Dark-field illumination, a procedure in which a black circular shield is used to block the majority of the vertically directed rays of light (e.g., the field is dark), and a circumferential, suitably angled, mirrored surface is used to direct the peripheral rays horizontally against the object, thereby reflecting the light vertically through the objective lens and along the optical axis; thus, the object is well illuminated in a contrasting dark background. Synonym: dark-ground illumination. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| contact induced spreading | The response in which contact between two epithelial cells leads to a stabilised contact and the increased spreading of the cells so that the area covered is greater than that covered by the two cells in isolation. (18 Nov 1997) |
| contact inhibition | The inhibition of continued growth and division of a cell or colony due to physical contact with other cells or colonies. The stopping of continued growth when a certain density of cells has been reached. The momentary stopping of all movement when a mobile cell runs into another cell. (09 Oct 1997) |
| contact inhibition of growth | See: density dependent inhibition. (18 Nov 1997) |
| contact inhibition of movement | Reaction in which the direction of motion of a cell is altered following collision with another cell. In heterologous contacts both cell may respond (mutual inhibition) or only one (nonreciprocal). Type I contact inhibition involves paralysis of the locomotory machinery, Type II is a consequence of adhesive preference for the substratum rather than the dorsal surface of the other cell. (18 Nov 1997) |
| contact inhibition of phagocytosis | Phenomenon described in sheets of kidney epithelial cells that, when confluent, lose their weak phagocytic activity, probably because of a failure of adhesion of particles to the dorsal surface in the absence of ruffles. (18 Nov 1997) |
| contact lens | A lens that fits over the cornea and sclera or cornea only; used to correct refractive errors. (05 Mar 2000) |
| contact lenses | Curved shells of glass or plastic applied directly over the globe or cornea to correct refractive errors. (12 Dec 1998) |
| contact lenses, extended-wear | Hydrophilic contact lenses worn for an extended period or permanently. (12 Dec 1998) |
| contact lenses, hydrophilic | Soft, supple contact lenses made of plastic polymers which interact readily with water molecules. Many types are available, including continuous and extended-wear versions, which are gas-permeable and easily sterilised. (12 Dec 1998) |
| contact lens solutions | Sterile solutions used to clean and disinfect contact lenses. (12 Dec 1998) |
| contact point | That part of the proximal surface of a tooth which touches the adjacent tooth mesially or distally. Synonym: contact point, point of proximal contact. (05 Mar 2000) |
| contact rate | <epidemiology> The rate at which susceptibles meet infecteds. Usually measured as individuals per unit time. (05 Dec 1998) |
| contact sensitivity | Allergic response to contact with irritant, usually a hypersensitivity. (18 Nov 1997) |
| contact sites A | Developmentally regulated adhesion sites that appear on the ends of aggregation competent Dictyostelium discoideum at the stage when the starved cells begin to come together to form the grex. Originally detected by the use of Fab fragments of polyclonal antibodies, raised against aggregation competent cells and adsorbed against vegetative cells, to block adhesion in EDTA containing medium. (Cell cell adhesion mediated by contact sites A, unlike that mediated by contact sites B, is not divalent cation sensitive). The fact that a mutant deficient in csA behaves perfectly normally in culture is puzzling. (18 Nov 1997) |