| preclinical | 1. Before a disease becomes clinically recognisable. 2. <pharmacology> Refers to the testing of experimental drug the test tube or in animals before clinical trials in humans may be carried out. (10 Oct 1997) |
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| preclinical studies | <pharmacology> Studies in which a drug is tested on animals and in other non-human test systems. Safety information from such studies are used to support an investigational new drug application. (14 Nov 1997) |
| preclinical study | A study to test a drug, procedure or other medical treatment in animals. The aim is to collect data in support of safety. Preclinical studies are required before clinical trials can be started. (12 Dec 1998) |
| preclude | 1. To put a barrier before; hence, to shut out; to hinder; to stop; to impede. "The valves preclude the blood from entering the veins." (E. Darwin) 2. To shut out by anticipative action; to prevent or hinder by necessary consequence or implication; to deter action of, access to, employment of, etc.; to render ineffectual; to obviate by anticipation. "This much will obviate and preclude the objections." (Bentley) Origin: L. Praecludere, praeclusum; prae = before + claudere to shut. See Close. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| precoces | <zoology> Same as Praecoces. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| precocious | 1. Ripe or mature before the proper or natural time; early or prematurely ripe or developed; as, precocious trees. 2. Developed more than is natural or usual at a given age; exceeding what is to be expected of one's years; too forward; used especially of mental forwardness; as, a precocious child; precocious talents. Origin: L. Praecox, -ocis, and praecoquus, fr. Praecoquere to cook or ripen beforehand; prae = before + coquere to cook. See Cook, and cf. Apricot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| precocious puberty | Condition in which pubertal changes begin at an unexpectedly early age; often the result of a pathological process involving a gland capable of secreting oestrogens or androgens, e.g., the ovary or the adrenal cortex. Synonym: pubertas praecox. (05 Mar 2000) |
| precocity | Unusually early or rapid development of mental or physical traits. Origin: see precocious (05 Mar 2000) |
| precognition | Advance knowledge, by means other than the normal senses, of a future event; a form of extrasensory perception. Origin: L. Praecogito, to ponder before (05 Mar 2000) |
| precollagenous fibres | Immature, argyrophilic fibre's. (05 Mar 2000) |
| precommercial thinning | Thinning for timber stand improvement purposes, generally in young, densely stocked stands. (05 Dec 1998) |
| precommissural bundle | See: olfactory bundle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| precommissural septal area | A slender vertical whitish band immediately anterior to the lamina terminalis and anterior commissure; contrary to its name, it is not a cortical convolution but is the ventral continuation of the transparent septum. Synonym: area subcallosa, gyrus paraterminalis, gyrus subcallosus, pedunculus corporis callosi, corpus paraterminale, paraterminal body, paraterminal gyrus, peduncle of corpus callosum, precommissural septal area, subcallosal area, Zuckerkandl's convolution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| precommissural septum | See: septal area. (05 Mar 2000) |
| precommunical part of anterior cerebral artery | precommunical part of anterior cerebral artery |