Category: L

In electrosurgery current that flows toward a ground along a path that the surgeon did not intend.  

The synthetic refinement of a candidate drug from its crude or original state into an agent that is safer, more useful, or more marketable.  

A chemical compound thought to be useful, safe, and distinctive enough that it might prove to be a good candidate for drug development.  

A zero that precedes a decimal point, e.g., as in “levothyroxine 0.5 mg p.o. daily.” Leading zeros should always be employed when writing prescriptions for doses of drugs that are fractions of a unit. In the example above an alternative method of writing the drug dose without decimals is “levothyroxine 50 gg p.o. daily.”  

Cataleptic condition during which limbs remain in any position in which placed.  

A reddish-brown compound used to prepare lead subacetate.  

A lead compound that is used in solution as an astringent.  

Extraction of a substance from a mixture by washing the mixture with a solvent in which only the desired substance is soluble.  

A contaminated liquid that leaves soil after water percolates through earth (e.g., in waste disposal sites), farmlots, or landfills.  

Dramatic movements of the arms across the torso, which are occasionally observed in brain-dead patients after they have been disconnected from mechanical life support. These movements may be misinterpreted as signs of life, when in fact they are merely involuntary reflexes,