(a.) Introductory; previous; preceding the main discourse or business; prefatory; as, preliminary observations to a discourse or book; preliminary articles to a treaty; preliminary measures; preliminary examinations.
(n.) That which precedes the main discourse, work, design, or business; something introductory or preparatory; as, the preliminaries to a negotiation or duel; to take one's preliminaries the year before entering college.
Example Sentences:
(1) Results obtained from animal experiments have been confirmed by preliminary clinical investigations.
(2) Preliminary data also suggest that high-molecular-weight rearrangements of the duplicated region are present in all tissues.
(3) For consistent identification of the normal pancreas, preliminary longitudinal scanning at, or near, the mid-line and subsequent oblique scanning in the long axis are necessary prerequisites in delineating the anatomic outline of the pancreas.
(4) Preliminary rhythmic somatic stimulation has a predominantly facilitating effect on EPs appearing in response to tonal stimuli in the areas A1, S2, S1.
(5) Results of this study provide preliminary evidence that tracheal adherence and HA of B avium are closely related.
(6) These preliminary experiments suggest that oSm is similar to IGF-I in its binding characteristics and that primary cultures of skeletal muscle satellite cells possess type I and type II IGF receptors.
(7) Preliminary studies of different systems suggest several of them may have sensitivity to detect intraepithelial abnormalities in excess of 95%.
(8) This preliminary study compared the level of ego development, as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT), of 30 women with histories of childhood sexual victimization, and 30 women with no history of abuse.
(9) Our preliminary data from this study suggest that 85% trichloroacetic acid is effective treatment of human papillomavirus infection of the cervix without dysplasia.
(10) We present in this preliminary report the early results of therapy for refractory leukemia with an intensive preparative regimen for bone marrow transplantation including etoposide, cytosine arabinoside, cyclophosphamide, and fractionated total body irradiation.
(11) This preliminary study estimates the occurrence of concurrent helminth infection in Africa and Brazil to determine whether such an approach is justified epidemiologically.
(12) Preliminary hearing results of 45 cases show air-bone gap closure of 67% within 10 dB and 98% within 20 dB.
(13) Results in this preliminary study demonstrate the need to evaluate the hazard of microbial aerosols generated by sewage treatment plants similar to the one studied.
(14) These preliminary results suggest that IGIV may be more beneficial and less expensive than plasmapheresis in treatment of GBS.
(15) The preliminary one-time administration of DSIP to animals subjected to a stressor influence also increases the SP content in the hypothalamus.
(16) The resultant scales were administered to a small sample for preliminary empirical testing.
(17) A preliminary study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of therapeutic patient groups in a rehabilitation setting.
(18) To test this hypothesis 30 Wistar rats were subjected to laparotomy and colonic resection and treated with 5-Fluorouracil or Mitomycin C. The bursting strength of the abdominal scars and the colonic anastomotic bursting pressure revealed some interference in the rats treated with 5-Fluorouracil (Student's t test P less than 0.05) but none in the case of Mitomycin C. This preliminary study deserves to be followed up.
(19) A preliminary "profile" of the patient with low back pain who would likely benefit from manual therapy included acute symptom onset with less than a 1-month duration of symptoms, central or paravertebral pain distribution, no previous exposure to spinal manipulation, and no pending litigation or workers' compensation.
(20) Preliminary studies suggested that inhibition of aggregation was not attributable to inhibition of prostanoid synthesis or to raised levels of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate.
Scratch
Definition:
(v. t.) To rub and tear or mark the surface of with something sharp or ragged; to scrape, roughen, or wound slightly by drawing something pointed or rough across, as the claws, the nails, a pin, or the like.
(v. t.) To write or draw hastily or awkwardly.
(v. t.) To cancel by drawing one or more lines through, as the name of a candidate upon a ballot, or of a horse in a list; hence, to erase; to efface; -- often with out.
(v. t.) To dig or excavate with the claws; as, some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.
(v. i.) To use the claws or nails in tearing or in digging; to make scratches.
(v. i.) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
(n.) A break in the surface of a thing made by scratching, or by rubbing with anything pointed or rough; a slight wound, mark, furrow, or incision.
(n.) A line across the prize ring; up to which boxers are brought when they join fight; hence, test, trial, or proof of courage; as, to bring to the scratch; to come up to the scratch.
(n.) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
(n.) A kind of wig covering only a portion of the head.
(n.) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
(a.) Made, done, or happening by chance; arranged with little or no preparation; determined by circumstances; haphazard; as, a scratch team; a scratch crew for a boat race; a scratch shot in billiards.
Example Sentences:
(1) To test the hypothesis that EAA agonists are involved in transmission of nociceptive information in the spinal cord, we tested the effect of various opioid, sigma and phencyclidine compounds on the action of NMDA in the tail-flick, hot-plate and biting and scratching nociceptive tests.
(2) Some organization schemes concerning locomotor and scratching rhythmicity generators are considered, such as: two half-centres with reciprocal inhibitory connections and tonic excitatory influences on these half-centres: two half-centres with inhibitory-excitatory connections and tonic excitatory influences on one half-centre; ring structures consisting of more than two functional groups of neurons with excitatory and inhibitory connections between them.
(3) In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch.
(4) The satisfaction derived from smoking depends not only on the pharmacological effects of nicotine but also the sensory stimulation from smoke inhalation, particularly the tracheal 'scratch'.
(5) The pathogenesis of the prolific mite population is unclear, but either a specific immunologic deficit or the inability to effectively eliminate the mites by scratching is a plausible possibility.
(6) Forty-three percent of dog bites, and 52% of cat bites-scratches were provoked, that is, happened while the victim was interacting with the animal.
(7) If the NHS was being created from scratch, primary and community care would be treated as one service.
(8) The timing of knee extensor activity within the hip cycle is different for each form of the scratch (Robertson et al., 1985); thus, the sign of the reset cannot be predicted from the timing of the stimulus relative to the knee extensor cycle.
(9) We report a patient with cat scratch disease who presented with multiple scattered nodular lesions on the legs.
(10) Application of APV to a midbody segment also reduced the magnitude of temporal summation in the scratch circuit in response to electrical stimuli delivered to the shell at 4- to 5-s intervals.
(11) Windshields, spectacles, contact lenses, lashes, an excessive tear meniscus, intraocular lens scratches, and posterior capsular opacification are possible causes that can be easily identified and treated.
(12) Ventral UVA pre-exposure did not appear to affect dorsal skin irritation as expressed by scratch marks.
(13) A rare vascular proliferation found as a skin lesion in patients suffering from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and sometimes referred to as epithelioid angiomatosis is believed to be a manifestation of infection by the cat scratch bacillus or a related organism.
(14) We have made Afghanistan stronger by building up from scratch strong security forces.
(15) Immunoperoxidase staining with an antiserum raised against the cat-scratch disease bacillus stained these organisms in all patients.
(16) licking, scratching, grooming, head and limb movements), a reaction termed immobility.
(17) These data suggest that hindlimb scratching induced by 5-HT agonists may not be centrally mediated but rather may be mediated by a neuronal 5-HT1A receptor localized outside the blood-brain barrier.
(18) In contrast, after weaning they showed a significant increment in the duration of face-washing, head-washing, fur licking and body-scratching.
(19) A strong correlation was found between reduction in scratching and improvement in skin status.
(20) But screens already demonstrated by GT can withstand scratches from concrete.