What's the difference between alleviate and decrease?

Alleviate


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To lighten or lessen the force or weight of.
  • (v. t.) To lighten or lessen (physical or mental troubles); to mitigate, or make easier to be endured; as, to alleviate sorrow, pain, care, etc. ; -- opposed to aggravate.
  • (v. t.) To extenuate; to palliate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The use of an absorbable material may alleviate potential late complications associated with implantation of nonabsorbable materials.
  • (2) To alleviate these problems we developed an object-oriented user interface for the pipeline programs.
  • (3) The drug proved to be of high value in alleviating nocturnal coughing controlling spastic bronchitis in children, as a pretreatment before bronchological examinations and their anaesthesia.
  • (4) Ketazolam was found to be significantly better than placebo in alleviating anxiety and its concomitant symptomatology as measured by the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, three Physician's Global Impressions, two Patient's Global Impressions, and three Target Symptoms.
  • (5) We have studied if 2 Hz electroacupuncture alleviates chronic nociceptive pain and if so whether the alleviation was related to the release of endogenous opioids.
  • (6) Therapy with prednisone appears to alleviate the hypoglycemia rapidly, usually within 24 hours.
  • (7) Chemonucleolysis is a procedure in which an enzyme is injected into the intervertebral disc for the purpose of alleviating sciatic pain.
  • (8) Major alleviation of the rigidity and bradykinesia with chronic oral l-dopa therapy was not accompanied by any change in the silent period.
  • (9) Michael Brown’s parents, appearing on the Today show on Tuesday, said they believe the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, would be alleviated by the prosecution of the officer who shot and killed their son.
  • (10) Possible applications of the study in alleviating rural doctor shortages are discussed.
  • (11) Co-existent superficial femoral disease can be alleviated by appropriate concomitant profundaplasty.
  • (12) I used it primarily as a social lubricant but also to alleviate boredom, stress and loneliness.
  • (13) It is necessary to have available a means of alleviating this symptom in a way that will be effective, comfortable, and efficient in terms of time and expense.
  • (14) The routine use of topical anesthetics to alleviate discomfort associated with in vivo ocular irritancy testing has been advocated.
  • (15) Rwanda was among 11 signatories to a regional peace agreement signed last month, and has been praised for progress on poverty alleviation.
  • (16) If more people are helped before their problems become crises, this would alleviate some of the pressures on our social care services.
  • (17) "We have developed this in conjunction with organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a way of alleviating a real health problem in the developing world," says Dubock.
  • (18) However, before appropriate management decisions can be made to alleviate the effects of behavioral stress on reproduction, it is necessary to identify the mechanisms by which stress disrupts normal reproduction.
  • (19) The effectiveness of even a low dose of 4-methylpyrazole suggests its clinical usefulness for alleviation of acute acetaldehyde toxicity in alcohol-hypersensitive Japanese individuals as well as in disulfiram-treated alcoholics.
  • (20) Devastating neurologic complications can be avoided or alleviated in a great proportion of patients undergoing radiation therapy for cerebral metastases and spinal cord compression.

Decrease


Definition:

  • (n.) To grow less, -- opposed to increase; to be diminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December.
  • (v. t.) To cause to grow less; to diminish gradually; as, extravagance decreases one's means.
  • (v.) A becoming less; gradual diminution; decay; as, a decrease of revenue or of strength.
  • (v.) The wane of the moon.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Furthermore, it had early diagnostic (seven days) as well as prognostic value, as revealed by response to therapy and decrease in COA titer.
  • (2) Such a decrease significantly biased survival (p = 0.001).
  • (3) The proportion of motile spermatozoa decreased with time at the same rate when samples were prepared in either HEPES or phosphate buffers.
  • (4) Clinical signs of disease developed as early as 15 days after transition to the experimental diets and included impaired vision, decreased response to external stimuli, and abnormal gait.
  • (5) One hour after direct mechanical cardiomassage (DMCM) a moderately pronounced edema of the intercellular spaces in the basal compartment of the seminiferous epithelium, normal content of lactate and succinate dehydrogenases, and a certain decrease in the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenases and NAD- and NADP-diaphorases were noted.
  • (6) The cross sectional area of the aortic lumen was gradually decreased while the length of the stenotic lesion gradually increased by using strips with different width.
  • (7) A change in the pattern of care of children with IDDM, led to a pronounced decrease in hospital use by this patient group.
  • (8) With UVB treatment clinical improvement was achieved, and a less pronounced decrease in epidermal LC was noticed.
  • (9) Measurement of the intraspinal monoamine level revealed a decrease in the intraspinal norepinephrine level in the treated animals.
  • (10) All subjects completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire, which measures the use and perceived effectiveness of a variety of cognitive and behavioral coping strategies in controlling and decreasing pain.
  • (11) On removal of selective pressure, the His+ phenotype was lost more readily than the Ura+ Trp+ markers, with a corresponding decrease in plasmid copy number.
  • (12) This clinical improvement was also associated with a decrease of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p less than 0.001), decrease of C-reactive protein (p less than 0.0001) and with improvement of anaemia (p less than 0.05).
  • (13) These results suggest that the pelvic floor is affected by progressive denervation but descent during straining tends to decrease with advancing age.
  • (14) On the other hand, after exposure to BrdUrd, neuron specific enolase decreased in NB-1 and SK-N-DZ and increased in GOTO.
  • (15) In X-irradiated litters, almost invariably, the incidence of anophthalmia was higher in exencephalic than in nonexencephalic embryos and the ratio of these incidences (relative risk) decreased toward 1 with increasing dose.
  • (16) Blood flow decreased immediately after skin expansion in areas over the tissue expander on days 0 and 1 and returned to baseline levels within 24 hours.
  • (17) Western blot analysis of these mitochondria using an antibody against carnitine palmitoyltransferase II purified from beef heart demonstrates a 68-kDa protein, which under ischemic conditions apparently is decreased by 2 kDa.
  • (18) Even with hepatic lipase, phospholipid hydrolysis could not deplete VLDL and IDL of sufficient phospholipid molecules to account for the loss of surface phospholipid that accompanies triacylglycerol hydrolysis and decreasing core volume as LDL is formed (or for conversion of HDL2 to HDL3).
  • (19) Content of cyclic nucleoside monophosphates was decreased in all the eye tissues in experimental toxico-allergic uveitis as well as penetration of cAMP into the fluid of anterior chamber of the eye.
  • (20) Type 1 changes (decreased signal intensity on T1-weighted spin-echo images and increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images) were identified in 20 patients (4%) and type 2 (increased signal intensity on T1-weighted images and isointense or slightly increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images) in 77 patients (16%).