(n.) The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc.
(n.) The act of making profitable use or applicaton of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.
(n.) The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.
(n.) Increase; growth; progress; advance.
(n.) Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
(n.) A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.
Example Sentences:
(1) These data indicate a steady improvement in laboratory performance over the last 10 years.
(2) Use of the improved operative technique contributed to reduction in number of complications.
(3) With UVB treatment clinical improvement was achieved, and a less pronounced decrease in epidermal LC was noticed.
(4) 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).
(5) In order to control noise- and vibration-caused diseases it was necessary not only to improve machines' quality and service conditions but also to pay special attention to the choice of operators and to the quality of monitoring their adaptation process.
(6) Symptomatic improvement was obtained in 14 of the 15 hands, and sensory-evoked response improved in 13 hands.
(7) McDonald said cutting better deals with suppliers and improving efficiency as well as raising some prices had only partly offset the impact of sterling’s fall against the dollar.
(8) Systemic corticosteroids (i.e., prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone) have improved the survival rate of patients with moderate and severe ulcerative colitis.
(9) The active agents modestly improved treadmill exercise duration time until 1 mm ST segment depression (3%), and only propranolol and diltiazem had significant effects.
(10) A segment of vas deferens was transplanted to the contralateral deferens with the intention of improving treatment for certain cases of infertility caused by obstruction.
(11) Blood pressure control was marginally improved during the study and it is thought possible that better patient compliance might explain this.
(12) Since interferon alfa-2b (Intron A) is useful as a single agent, it is important to determine if interferon can be combined with standard chemotherapy to improve both response and survival in patients with cancer.
(13) Patients had improved sitting balance and endurance after surgery.
(14) However, further improvement of culture systems is needed for active replication of HBV in vitro.
(15) Symptoms, particularly colicky abdominal pain, improved during the period of chelation therapy.
(16) Her muscle weakness and hyperCKemia markedly improved by corticosteroid therapy, suggesting that the diagnosis was compatible with polymyositis (PM).
(17) An intact post-injury marriage was associated with improvement in education.
(18) A review is presented concerning the development of new neuroimaging techniques in the last decade which have improved the diagnostic exploration of patients with spinal cord injuries, including studies of possible sequelae.
(19) Akinetic symptoms were improved in 7 of 10 patients.
(20) What we’re doing is designed to improve people’s lives.” "I don't see race, colour or creed, and neither do my children," he added.
Refinement
Definition:
(n.) The act of refining, or the state of being refined; as, the refinement or metals; refinement of ideas.
(n.) That which is refined, elaborated, or polished to excess; an affected subtilty; as, refinements of logic.
Example Sentences:
(1) The patients had a high AP, consumed more alcohol, were more well-fed, older and consumed more refined carbohydrates per 1 kg bw and less cholesterol and vegetable protein.
(2) After restrained least-squares refinement of the enzyme-substrate complex with the riboflavin omitted from the model, additional electron density appeared near the pyrophosphate, which indicated the presence of an ADPR molecule in the FAD binding site of PHBH.
(3) Well-refined x-ray structures of the liganded forms of the wild-type and a mutant protein isolated from a strain defective in chemotaxis but fully competent in transport have provided a molecular view of the sugar-binding site and of a site for interacting with the Trg transmembrane signal transducer.
(4) To meet these prerequisites we have introduced some technical refinements: (1) computer-controlled rectilinear translations of the target in combination with different angular positions of the source and (2) computer-controlled rotations of the target around a vertical axis in combination with different angular positions of the source.
(5) Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) was conceptualized more than 35 years ago, but its clinical application only flourished in the past 10 years after a number of technical refinements.
(6) In 1984 the press-fit condylar knee was first introduced and was intended to provide a condylar knee system primarily for posterior cruciate retention that addressed refinements in metallurgy, prosthetic geometry and sizing, cementless fixation, inventory management, and instrumentation.
(7) Obviously, the sheer number of lasers being used both clinically and experimentally indicates a great potential for further advancement and refinement in technique and surgical outcomes.
(8) Phases from x-ray structure factors (R = 0.43) computed from this model were then used in the calculation of another electron density map against which the model was further refined.
(9) Staging classifications are being refined to reflect increasing knowledge of important prognostic indicators, e.g., absence or presence of lymph node involvement, pattern of lymph node involvement, and absence or presence of visceral disease.
(10) The ordered aspect of the genetic code table makes this result a plausible starting point for studies of the origin and evolution of the genetic code: these could include, besides a more refined optimization principle at the logical level, some effects more directly related to the physico-chemical context, and the construction of realistic models incorporating both aspects.
(11) The structure of Mn(III) superoxide dismutase (Mn(III)SOD) from Thermus thermophilus, a tetramer of chains 203 residues in length, has been refined by restrained least-squares methods.
(12) Based on the refined atomic coordinates of the tRNAphe in the orthorhombic crystal, on the recent advances in the distance dependence of the ring-current magnetic field effects and on the adopted values for the isolated hydrogen-bonded NH resonances, a computed spectrum consisting of 23 protons was constructed.
(13) It can be used as a simple screening procedure to help determine which of many possible anthelmintic control strategies should be selected for more detailed examination in the field, and it provides a theoretical framework within which ideas concerning the epidemiology of parasitic gastroenteritis can be assessed and refined.
(14) The advances in lid and orbital surgery are due to the improvements made in diagnostic equipment and to technical refinements.
(15) The group’s refining business performed better than expected, more than doubling profit to $2.2bn from $1bn.
(16) They also suggest that both the migration of cortical neurons on glia and the refinement of the mapping between the peripheral whisker field and its cortical representation may depend upon the distribution of substrate adhesion molecules.
(17) Thus the present study gives support for a protective effect associated with a fiber-rich or vegetable-rich diet, while it indicates that frequent consumption of refined starchy foods, eggs and fat-rich foods such as cheese and red meat is a risk factor for colo-rectal cancer.
(18) Synthesis and discussion is focused on five major areas in which gerontological continuity and change are evidenced: 1) transformation of basic themes over time; 2) gerontology's identity crisis; 3) the social ideology of gerontology; 4) evolution and refinement of gerontological ideas and methods; and 5) temporal frameworks.
(19) The course content and format were refined after 11 pharmacists completed a pilot program.
(20) This has led to important advances in our understanding of the mechanism of axonal guidance, the physiology of neurotrophic factors and the establishment and refinement of neural connections.