| machado-joseph disease | A progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system occurring in portuguese-azorean families, having a variety of forms and inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. There are four major types: type I: with pyramidal and extrapyramidal deficits; type II: with cerebellar, pyramidal and extrapyramidal deficits; type III: with cerebellar deficits and distal sensorimotor neuropathy; type IV: with parkinsonism and distal sensory neuropathy. It was originally reported in two portuguese-azorean families in massachusettes (machado), then in another portuguese family (thomas), and later in a third family in california (joseph, who settled there in 1845). It has been reported also in japanese families. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| machairodus | <paleontology> A genus of extinct mammals allied to the cats, and having in the upper jaw canine teeth of remarkable size and strength; hence called saber-toothed tigers. Origin: NL, fr. Gr. Dagger + tooth. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| machiavelian | Of or pertaining to Machiavel, or to his supposed principles; politically cunning; characterised by duplicity or bad faith; crafty. Origin: From Machiavel, an Italian writer, secretary and historiographer to the republic of Florence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| machiavellianism | A personality dimension characterised by the manipulation of others. (12 Dec 1998) |
| machine | 1. In general, any combination of bodies so connected that their relative motions are constrained, and by means of which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a construction, more or less complex, consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc, with their supports and connecting framework, calculated to constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit, modify, and apply them to the production of some desired mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the excitation of electricity by an electrical machine. The term machine is most commonly applied to such pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts, for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated an apparatus, not a machine; as, a bleaching apparatus. Many large, powerful, or specially important pieces of mechanism are called engines; as, a steam engine, fire engine, graduating engine, etc. Although there is no well-settled distinction between the terms engine and machine among practical men, there is a tendency to restrict the application of the former to contrivances in which the operating part is not distinct from the motor. 2. Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle. 3. A person who acts mechanically or at will of another. 4. A combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social machine. "The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive." (Landor) 5. A political organization arranged and controlled by one or more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends. 6. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit. Elementary machine, a name sometimes given to one of the simple mechanical powers. See Mechanical. Infernal machine. See Infernal. Machine gun.See Gun. Machine screw, a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into metal, in distinction from one which is designed especially to be screwed into wood. Machine shop, a workshop where machines are made, or where metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc. Machine tool, a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal, etc, by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc, designed for a more or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from a machine for producing a special article as in manufacturing. Machine twist, silken thread especially adapted for use in a sewing machine. Machine work, work done by a machine, in contradistinction to that done by hand labour. Origin: F, fr. L. Machina machine, engine, device, trick, Gr, from means, expedient. Cf. Mechanic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| machine learning | This is the study of how to create computers that will learn from experience and modify their activity based on that learning (as opposed to traditional computers whose activity will not change unless the programmer explicitly changes it). This discipline is a sub-set of Artificial Intelligence. (09 Oct 1997) |
| machine, heart-lung | A machine that does the work both of the heart (pump blood) and the lungs (oxygenate the blood). Used, for example, in open heart surgery. Blood returning to the heart is diverted through the machine before returning it to the arterial circulation. Also called a pump-oxygenator. (12 Dec 1998) |
| machinery murmur | The long "continuous" rumbling murmur of patent ductus arteriosus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| macho | <zoology> The striped mullet of California (Mugil cephalus, or Mexicanus). Origin: Sp. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Machupo virus | <virology> A member of the Arenaviridae that may cause a severe haemorrhagic fever in humans. The natural hosts are rodents and transmission from human to human is not common. (18 Nov 1997) |
| Mackay, R Stuart | <person> U.S. Physicist, *1924. See: Mackay-Marg tonometer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mackay-Marg tonometer | A recording electronic applanation tonometer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mackenrodt's ligament | <anatomy> A fibrous band attached to the uterine cervix and the vault of the lateral fornix of the vagina; continuous with the tissue ensheathing the pelvic vessels. Synonym: cervical ligament of uterus, ligamentum transversale colli, Mackenrodt's ligament. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mackenrodt, Alwin | <person> German gynecologist, 1859-1925. See: Mackenrodt's ligament. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mackenzie's amputation | A modification of Syme's amputation at the ankle joint, the flap being taken from the inner side. (05 Mar 2000) |