| adaptation | 1. <cell biology> The adjustment of an organism to its environment or the process by which it enhances such fitness. 2. <ophthalmology> The normal ability of the eye to adjust itself to variations in the intensity of light, the adjustment to such variations. 3. <neurology, physiology> The decline in the frequency of firing of a neuron, particularly of a receptor, under conditions of constant stimulation. 4. <dentistry> (a) the proper fitting of a denture, (b) the degree of proximity and interlocking of restorative material to a tooth preparation, (c) the exact adjustment of bands to teeth. 5. <microbiology> The adjustment of bacterial physiology to a new environment. Origin: L. Adaptare = to fit (18 Nov 1997) |
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| adaptation diseases | Disease's falling theoretically into Selye's concept of the general-adaptation syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptation syndrome of Selye | General non-specific adaptation of the organism in response to specific stimuli which trigger a cycle of extensive physiological changes in the endocrine and other organ systems due to prolonged and intense stress. See: general adaptation syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptation, ocular | The adjustment of the eye to variations in the intensity of light. Light adaptation is the adjustment of the eye when the light threshold is increased; dark adaptation when the light is greatly reduced. (12 Dec 1998) |
| adaptation, psychological | Favourable changes experienced by an individual, either as regards himself or his relationship with his environment, which lead to adjustment - also a rearrangement in mental attitude. (12 Dec 1998) |
| adapter | 1. One who adapts. 2. <chemistry> A connecting tube; an adopter. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| adaptive behaviour | Any behaviour that enables an organism to adjust to a particular situation or environment. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive behaviour scales | A behavioural assessment device to quantify the levels of skills of mentally retarded and developmentally delayed individuals in interacting with the environment; consists of three developmentally related factors: 1) personal self-sufficiency, e.g., eating, dressing; 2) community self-sufficiency, e.g., shopping, communicating; 3) personal and social responsibility, e.g., use of leisure time, job performance. See: intelligence. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive enzyme | Inducible enzyme, an enzyme that can be detected in a growing culture of a microorganism, after the addition of a particular substance (inducer) to the culture medium, but was not detectable prior to the addition and can act on the inducer. A prototype is the beta-galactosidase of Escherichia coli, synthesised upon the addition of various galactosides, whether or not these are good substrates. Compare: constitutive enzyme. Synonym: adaptive enzyme. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive hypertrophy | Thickening of the walls of a hollow organ, like the urinary bladder, when there is obstruction to outflow. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptive management | A continuing process of action-based planning, monitoring, researching, evaluating, and adjusting with the objective of improving implementation and achieving the goals of the selected alternative. (05 Dec 1998) |
| adaptive management area | Landscape units designated for development and testing of technical and social approaches to achieving desired ecological, economic, and other social objectives. (05 Dec 1998) |
| adaptive radiation | <chemistry> The evolution of new speciesor sub-species to fill unoccupied ecological niches. (06 May 1997) |
| adaptometer | A device for determining the course of retinal dark adaptation and for measuring the minimum light threshold. Compare: biophotometer. (05 Mar 2000) |
| adaptor | <molecular biology> Short synthetic oligonucleotide strands that have one stickyend and oneblunt end, the blunt ends join to the blunt end of a DNA fragment, forming a new fragment with two sticky ends that can be more easily spliced into a vector. (13 Oct 1997) |