| life change events | Those occurrences, including social, psychological, and environmental, which require an adjustment or effect a change in an individual's pattern of living. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| life events | Occurrences in one's daily life, some of which act as stressors. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life expectancy | <epidemiology> Longevity, the average length of life of individuals in a population. (05 Dec 1998) |
| life instinct | The instinct of self-preservation and sexual procreation; the basic urge toward preservation of the species. Synonym: sexual instinct. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life stress | Events or experiences that produce severe strain, e.g., failure on the job, marital separation, loss of a love object. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life support care | Care provided patients requiring extraordinary therapeutic measures in order to sustain and prolong life. (12 Dec 1998) |
| life support systems | Systems that provide all or most of the items necessary for maintaining life and health. Provisions are made for the supplying of oxygen, food, water, temperature and pressure control, disposition of carbon dioxide and body waste. The milieu may be a spacecraft, a submarine, or the surface of the moon. In medical care, usually under hospital conditions, life support care is available. (12 Dec 1998) |
| life table | A representation of the probable years of survivorship of a defined population of subjects; since survivorship is changed by new methods of prevention or treatment, a diachronic study is commonly used because the main interest lies in the composite structure of the current population. (In the summarizing technique used to describe the pattern of mortality and survival in a population, survivors to age x are denoted by the symbol lx and the expectation of life at age x is denoted by the symbol x. (05 Mar 2000) |
| life tables | Summarizing techniques used to describe the pattern of mortality and survival in populations. These methods can be applied to the study not only of death, but also of any defined endpoint such as the onset of disease or the occurrence of disease complications. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anovulatory cycle | A sexual cycle in which no ovum is discharged. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Born-Haber cycle | <physics> This is a mathematical description of the relationship between the electron affinity, heats of atomisation, ionisation energy and lattice energy of ionic compounds. (09 Oct 1997) |
| bottoming cycle | A cogeneration system in which steam is used first for process heat and then for electric power production. (05 Dec 1998) |
| brain wave cycle | The complete upward and downward excursion of a single wave, complex, or impulse as seen on an electroencephalogram. (05 Mar 2000) |
| c3 cycle | <biochemistry> The part of the photosynthesis process where carbon dioxide is converted into three-carbon compounds, which can then be turned into six-carbon sugars. (07 Nov 1997) |
| c4 cycle | <plant biology> An alternative, very efficient pathway used by plants living in areas with low levels of carbon dioxide, to convert carbon dioxide into a form usable by the plants during photosynthesis. (09 Oct 1997) |