| 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) |
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| 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) |