(a.) Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the quantitative relations of force and matter, as distinguished from mental, vital, chemical, etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory; mechanical deposits.
(a.) Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools; made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical precision; mechanical products.
(a.) Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion; proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing; mechanical verses; mechanical service.
(a.) Made and operated by interaction of forces without a directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.
(a.) Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric.
(n.) A mechanic.
Example Sentences:
(1) Such a signal must be due to a small ferromagnetic crystal formed when the nerve is subjected to pressure, such as that due to mechanical injury.
(2) These data suggest that the hybrid is formed by the same mechanism in the absence and presence of the urea step.
(3) Some common eye movement deficits, and concepts such as 'the neural integrator' and the 'velocity storage mechanism', for which anatomical substrates are still sought, are introduced.
(4) We have investigated the effect of methimazole (MMI) on cell-mediated immunity and ascertained the mechanisms of immunosuppression produced by the drug.
(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) It is concluded that amlodipine reduces myocardial ischemic injury by mechanism(s) that may involve a reduction in myocardial oxygen demand as well as by positively influencing transmembrane Ca2+ fluxes during ischemia and reperfusion.
(7) Models able to describe the events of cellular growth and division and the dynamics of cell populations are useful for the understanding of functional control mechanisms and for the theoretical support for automated analysis of flow cytometric data and of cell volume distributions.
(8) The following is a brief review of the history, mechanism of action, and potential adverse effects of neuromuscular blockers.
(9) However, the mechanism of the inhibitory action is still somewhat uncertain.
(10) It also provides mechanical support for the collateral ligaments during valgus or varus stress of the knee.
(11) We studied the hemodynamic changes caused by bronchoscopy under LA in mechanically ventilated patients and the effect of LA on the endoscopic decline in arterial pO2.
(12) Together these observations suggest that cytotactin is an endogenous cell surface modulatory protein and provide a possible mechanism whereby cytotactin may contribute to pattern formation during development, regeneration, tumorigenesis, and wound healing.
(13) Dilutional studies comparing the mechanism of inhibition of monoamine oxidase produced by Gerovital H3 and by ipronizid demonstrated that Gerovital H3 was a reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase.
(14) To investigate the mechanism of enhanced responsiveness of cholesterol-enriched human platelets, we compared stimulation by surface-membrane-receptor (thrombin) and post-receptor (AlF4-) G-protein-directed pathways.
(15) Based on our results, we propose the following hypotheses for the neurochemical mechanisms of motion sickness: (1) the histaminergic neuron system is involved in the signs and symptoms of motion sickness, including vomiting; (2) the acetylcholinergic neuron system is involved in the processes of habituation to motion sickness, including neural store mechanisms; and (3) the catecholaminergic neuron system in the brain stem is not related to the development of motion sickness.
(16) Thus, mechanical restitution of the ventricle is a dynamic process that can be assessed using an elastance-based approach in the in situ heart.
(17) The mechanism by which pertussis toxin (PT) breaks the unresponsiveness of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) was examined in B10 mice.
(18) This suggests that a physiological mechanism exists which can increase the barrier pressure to gastrooesophageal reflux during periods of active secretion of the stomach, as occurs in digestion.
(19) The macrophage-derived product, interleukin 1 (IL 1) is thought to play an important regulatory role in the proliferation of T lymphocytes; however, its mechanism of action is unknown.
(20) Adding a layer of private pensions, it was thought, does not involve Government mechanisms and keeps the money in the private sector.
Perfunctory
Definition:
(a.) Done merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions.
(1) The apparent lack of "anything to do" can discourage physicians from attempting anything more than perfunctory management of these cases.
(2) Refugees scramble for ways into Europe as Hungary seals borders Read more Habbal was one of at least 16 applicants to be rejected on Tuesday, and he claimed that each person was turned down in a maximum 20 minutes, after a series of perfunctory questions about their country of origin and route to Hungary.
(3) From the peak of potential perfection you descend down through "going to the toilet with the door open", past "perfunctory sex" and into "cold, dead stares across the breakfast table".
(4) The visit though will remain perfunctory, reflecting the troubled relationship.
(5) Instead it pushed through Lord Mandelson's wrong-headed digital economy bill, which only got its perfunctory Commons second reading yesterday, as well as the unavoidable budget resolutions.
(6) Social care is in crisis, leaving half a million frail old people with no care at all, while others get notoriously perfunctory 15-minute home visits or often squalid residential care.
(7) You could never accuse Frank Lowy of not caring enough about Australian football, but in his press conference announcing Postecoglou as coach there was a warmth and an avuncularity that had been missing in his more perfunctory public interactions with Osieck, Verbeek and even Hiddink.
(8) In a brilliant coincidence, he was also there to collect them all, rewarding all the fans who voted on social media with a fairly perfunctory performance of What Do You Mean?
(9) The process for deciding that the war was legal is described as “perfunctory” by the inquiry, while “no formal record was made of that decision, and the precise grounds on which it was made remains unclear”.
(10) These were the days when, other than perfunctory call-ups by prison staff, there was little focus on the motivations behind so-called offending behaviour.
(11) "The North's film-makers are just doing perfunctory work.
(12) Nursing home physicians are often unprepared to make psychiatric diagnoses, and a perfunctory annual psychiatric evaluation is insufficient to manage the complex depression syndromes of nursing home residents.
(13) If this could be attained, the hours in a hospital on rounds or at lectures would be better spent and ultimately, the speaker, too, would derive more satisfaction from his work if he were rewarded with stimulating questions from an appreciative audience instead of the perfunctory applause of somnolent, noncomprehending colleagues, driven almost to distraction by unending cacolalia complicated by lightning speed and rank inaudibility.
(14) Savile was given only a "perfunctory" interview, conducted on his terms at Stoke Mandeville ("not good practice") and with a friend present, about whose status officers did not inquire.
(15) All the approaches to Baghdad are defended by a mix of state security forces and Shia militiamen, most of whom have had several perfunctory days of training before being dispatched to the frontline.
(16) He's saying that the EIB is "part of the Brussels racket"; that BA was a major recipient of the bank's soft loans because it tried to steer Britain into the euro (must have been a bad job); that "everyone knows" that Britain is in a worse economic state than everyone else (oddly enough he cites Brussels as a source) and that our "wooden and perfunctory" PM is "pathologically incapable" of apologising for his mistakes.
(17) The inquiry also heard how Dorrell thought the framework for the fledgling PCC, which was set up in 1991, was "vague", "perfunctory" and lacking in any "real sanctions".
(18) The news is heartbreaking for the families involved and it will be scarcely believable for these hospitals and GPs who are doing their best to deliver services despite the neglect of the government.” He said that Hunt’s statement to MPs last July was “perfunctory, complacent and evasive, failing to reveal any of the catastrophic detail of how 500,000 pieces of correspondence including test and screening results and pathways following hospital treatment, had failed to be delivered and were in fact languishing unopened in a warehouse”.
(19) There’s a terrific documentary about one such case, the Detroit band Death whose sole album was released in a perfunctory edition in, I believe, 1975 and disappeared until a copy of it was digitised and made public on the internet.
(20) Most important, the history and physical examination are often perfunctory and the patient undergoes a number of contrast and imaging studies, endoscopic procedures, and laboratory investigations which may still be non-diagnostic.