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polybrominated biphenyl

(Encyclopedia)polybrominated biphenyl or PBB, any of a group of organic compounds used as a fire retardant. In 1973 several thousand pounds of PBB were accidentally mixed with livestock feed that was later distribu...

Porter, Rodney Robert

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Rodney Robert, 1917–85, British biochemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1948. He was a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research, England (1949–1960), and a professor at St. Mary's Hos...

Sakmann, Bert

(Encyclopedia)Sakmann, Bert, 1942–, German biophysicist, M.D. Univ. of Göttingen, Germany, 1974. He has been a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen since 1974. Sakmann r...

toxin-antitoxin

(Encyclopedia)toxin-antitoxin, mixture of a poisonous substance, or toxin, with an antitoxin, or antibody, in such proportion that a large percentage of the toxin is neutralized by the antitoxin. Although formerly ...

radiology

(Encyclopedia)radiology, branch of medicine specializing in the use of X rays, gamma rays, radioactive isotopes, and other forms of radiation in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. X ray machines and fluoroscop...

Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso

(Encyclopedia)Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso jōvänˈnē älfônˈsō bôrĕlˈlē [key], 1608–79, Italian physiologist, physicist, astronomer, and mathematician; son of a Spanish infantryman. His wide interests led ...

Ceiba, La

(Encyclopedia)Ceiba, La lä sāˈbä [key], city (1997 est. pop. 96,000), N Honduras, capital of Atlántida dept., on the Caribbean Sea. It is the commercial and processing center of a rich agricultural region domi...

koala

(Encyclopedia)koala kōäˈlə [key], arboreal marsupial, or pouched mammal, Phascolarctos cinereus, native to Australia. Although it is sometimes called koala bear, or Australian bear, and is somewhat bearlike in ...

herpes simplex

(Encyclopedia)herpes simplex hûrˈpēz [key], an acute viral infection of the skin characterized by one or more painful, itching blisters filled with clear fluid. It is caused by either of two herpes simplex virus...

fetal tissue implant

(Encyclopedia)fetal tissue implant or fetal cell therapy, implantation of tissue from a fetus into a patient. In experimental procedures, fetal brain tissue has been implanted in the brains of patients with Parkins...

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