| half-time | The time, in a first-order chemical (or enzymic) reaction, for half of the substance (substrate) to be converted or to disappear. Compare: half-life. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| half-value layer | <radiobiology> The thickness of a specified material (usually a specific absorber), which attenuates a beam of radiation so that the exposure rate or absorbed dose rate at a specified point is reduced by half. (20 Sep 2002) |
| drug half-life | The amount of time it takes for one-half of an administered drug to be lost through biological processes (metabolism and elimination). (27 Sep 1997) |
| effective half-life | <radiobiology> Time required for a radioactive substance contained in a biological system (such as a person or an animal) to reduce its radioactivity by half, as a combination result of radioactive decay and biological elimination from the system. (09 Oct 1997) |
| elimination half-life | <pharmacology> The time it takes for the body to eliminate or breakdown half of a dose of a pharmacologic agent. (09 Oct 1997) |