| artificial ankylosis | <orthopaedics> The surgical immobilisation of a joint (joint fusion). (27 Sep 1997) |
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| artificial anus | An opening into the bowel, usually in the right or left flank, as a result of a colostomy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial Carlsbad salt | A mixture of potassium sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and dried sodium sulfate; a laxative. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial classification | <zoology> Classification based on convenient or conspicuous diagnostic characters without attention to characters indicating relationship, often a classification based on a single arbitrarily chosen character, rather than an evaluation of the totality of characters. (09 Jan 1998) |
| artificial crown | A fixed restoration of the major part of the entire coronal part of a natural tooth; usually of gold, porcelain, or acrylic resin. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial dentition | <dentistry> A synthetic replacement for all of your teeth in either your upper or your lower jaw. (08 Jan 1998) |
| artificial eye | A curved disk of opaque glass or plastic, containing an imitation iris and pupil in the centre, inserted beneath the eyelids and supported by the orbital contents after evisceration or enucleation; it may be ready-made (stock) or custom-made. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial fever | 1. Obsolete synonym for pyrotherapy. 2. Treatment of fever. Synonym: artificial fever, induced fever. Origin: pyreto-+ G. Therapeia, treatment (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial heart | A mechanical pump used to replace the function of a damaged heart, either temporarily or as a permanent prosthesis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial heart valve | <cardiology> A synthetic or porcine (pigskin) valve surgically placed into the heart to replace a defective or malfunctioning valve. The aortic and mitral valves are the most frequently replaced with artificial valves. (27 Sep 1997) |
| artificial insemination | <gynaecology> The placement of a sperm sample inside the female reproductive tract to improve the female's chances of getting pregnant. (See also intracervical insemination, intrauterine insemination, intratubal insemination). (09 Oct 1997) |
| artificial intelligence | In a nutshell, artificial intellence (AI) is the study of how to create acomputer that can think like a human being. See also expert systems and machine learning. (09 Oct 1997) |
| artificial kidney | A machine for haemodialysis in acute or chronic renal failure; toxic substances in the blood are removed by exposure to dialyzing fluid across a semipermeable membrane. Synonym: artificial kidney. Ultrafiltration haemodialyzer, a haemodialyzer that uses fluid pressure differentials to bring about loss (usually) of protein-free fluid from the blood to the bath, as in certain edematous conditions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial Kissingen salt | A mixture of potassium chloride, sodium chloride, anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate; an antacid and laxative. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial life | Artificial life (AL, alife) is a scientific discipline in whichresearchers study life by creating computer programs that recreatebiological systems from scratch. (09 Oct 1997) |