| BEAR | biological effects of atomic radiation |
|---|---|
| BEI | back-scattered electron imaging; biological exposure indexes; butanol-extractable iodine |
| BEIR | biological effects of ionizing radiation |
| BFB | biological feedback; bronchial foreign body |
| BHL | bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy; biological half-life |
| coupling factors | Proteins that restore phosphorylating ability to mitochondria that have lost it, i.e., have become "uncoupled" so that oxidation and electron transport no longer produces ATP. Usually termed coupling factor F1, F2, etc. Synonym: C factors. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| haematopoietic cell growth factors | These growth factors comprise a family of haematopoietic regulators with biological specificities defined by their ability to support proliferation and differentiation of blood cells of different lineages. Erythropoietin and the colony-stimulating factors belong to this family. Some of these factors have been studied and used in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and bone marrow failure syndromes. (12 Dec 1998) |
| haemolysin factors | Plasmids controlling the synthesis of haemolysin by bacteria. (12 Dec 1998) |
| precipitating factors | Factors associated with the definitive onset of a disease, illness, accident, behavioural response, or course of action. Usually one factor is more important or more obviously recognizable than others, if several are involved, and one may often be regarded as "necessary". Examples include exposure to specific disease; amount or level of an infectious organism, drug, or noxious agent, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| predisposing factors | Attitudinal, personality, and related factors that motivate and guide an individual to take certain health actions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sex factors | Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from sex characteristics, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from sex distribution, the number of males and females in given circumstances. (12 Dec 1998) |
| socioeconomic factors | Social and economic factors that characterise the individual or group within the social structure. (12 Dec 1998) |
| steam conversion factors | (approximations) 1 pound of steam = 1,000 Btu = .3 kW. 10,000 lbs/hr steam = 300 boiler horsepower. (05 Dec 1998) |
| stem cell growth factors | <growth factor> Compounds, usually proteins, that make stem cells grow faster. (26 Mar 1998) |
| nerve growth factors | Factors which enhance the growth potentialities of sensory and sympathetic nerve cells. (12 Dec 1998) |
| debranching factors | Enzyme's that bring about destruction of branches in glycogen; formerly considered to be one enzyme, now known to be a mixture of transferases (4-alpha-d-glucanotransferase) and hydrolases (amylo-1,6-glucosidase). Synonym: debranching factors. (05 Mar 2000) |
| direct lytic factors | most abundant proteins in cobra (naja of the elapids) venom; basic polypeptides of 57 to 62 amino acids with four disulfide bonds and a molecular weight of less than 7000; causes skeletal and cardiac muscle contracture, interferes with neuromuscular and ganglionic transmission, depolarises nerve, muscle and blood cell membranes, thus causing haemolysis. Synonym: cobramine a; cobramine b; cobra cytotoxin; gamma toxin; membrane-active polypeptide. (12 Dec 1998) |
| initiation factors | The set of catalytic proteins required, in addition to mRNA and ribosomes, for protein synthesis to begin. In bacteria three distinct proteins have been identified: if 1 (8 kD), IF 2 (75 kD) and IF 3 (30 kD). at least 6-8 proteins have been identified in eukaryotes. IFs 1 and 2 enhance the binding of initiator tRNA to the initiation complex. (18 Nov 1997) |
| insulin-like growth factors | Peptides whose formation is stimulated by growth hormone. These peptides bring about peripheral tissue effects of that hormone and have high (about 70%) homology to human insulin. Synonym: somatomedins. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ischemia-modifying factors | Various factors that play a role in determining the extent of necrosis with cerebral stroke; these include blood viscosity and osmolality, the blood pressure, and the anatomy of the neck and intracranial arteries. (05 Mar 2000) |