life

(noun)

A status given to any entity with the properties of reproduction and metabolism, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and archaea (single-celled microorganisms).

Related Terms

Examples of life in the following topics:

  • Life Functions

    • All life forms require certain core elements as well as physical and chemical factors from the ecosystem for biochemical functioning.
    • Cells are the basic unit of life that can be found in every living organism. 
    • Beyond these zones are the "zones of intolerance," where life for that organism is impossible.
    • These microorganisms are called extremophiles, and they thrive outside the ranges where life is commonly found.
    • All life forms require certain core chemical elements for biochemical functioning.

  • Onset, Duration, and Half-Life of Hormone Activity

    • Hormone half-life and duration of activity are limited and vary from hormone to hormone.
    • Vitamin D (which is actually a hormone) has a half-life of around one to two months.
    • Hormone half-life and duration of activity are limited and vary from hormone to hormone.
    • A biological half-life or elimination half-life is the time it takes for a substance such as a hormone or drug to lose half of its pharmacologic or physiologic activity.
    • In a medical context, half-life may also describe the time it takes for the blood plasma concentration of a substance to halve ("plasma half-life") its steady-state.

  • Survival Needs

    • To sustain human life, certain physiological needs include air, water, food, shelter, sanitation, touch, sleep and personal space.
    • While the development of tools, plumbing systems and food preservation have enabled modern man to live life with many creature comforts, the truth remains that the requirements for human survival are quite basic.
    • Food: Our food must be adequate in calorie and nutritional standards in order to sustain life.

  • Pylorospasm and Pyloric Stenosis

    • Pyloric stenosis (infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis) causes severe projectile non-bilious vomiting in the first few months of life.
    • Pyloric stenosis (or infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis) is a condition that causes severe projectile non-bilious vomiting in the first few months of life.
    • This condition typically develops in male babies in the first two to six weeks of life.
    • Infants with this condition usually present any time in the first weeks to months of life with progressively worsening vomiting.

  • Stages of Bone Development

    • Although bone initially forms during fetal development, it undergoes secondary ossification after birth and is remodeled throughout life.
    • Although bone may appear superficially as a static tissue, it is actually very dynamic, undergoing constant remodeling throughout the life of the vertebrate organism and well beyond in initial formation of the bone.
    • Remodeling or bone turnover is the process of resorption followed by replacement of bone with little change in shape, and occurs throughout a person's life; it continues to occur beyond the initial development of bone.

  • RBC Life Cycle

    • This iron is then reused for erythropoiesis, but more is needed from the diet to support healthy RBC life cycles.

  • Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension

    • There is no specific treatment, but is monitored closely to rapidly identify pre-eclampsia and its life-threatening complications (HELLP syndrome and eclampsia).
    • The fetus is at increased risk for a variety of life-threatening conditions, including pulmonary hypoplasia (immature lungs).
    • An appropriate plan for labor and delivery is to select a hospital with provisions for advanced life support of newborn babies.
    • HELLP syndrome is a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant or complication of pre-eclampsia.
    • Eclampsia is an acute and life-threatening complication of pregnancy, and is characterized by the appearance of tonic-clonic seizures, usually in a patient who had developed pre-eclampsia.

  • Chemical Buffer Systems

    • Chemical buffers such as bicarbonate and ammonia help keep blood pH in the narrow range compatible with life.
    • Many life forms thrive only in a relatively small pH range so they utilize a buffer solution to maintain a constant pH.

  • Is Being Too Clean a Bad Thing?

    • The hygiene hypothesis refers to lack of exposure to pathogens early in life, thus resulting in susceptibility to allergens.
    • Because of this we fail to induce a Th1 polarized response early in life so as we grow up we are more prone to developing Th2 induced disease.

  • Bone Remodeling

    • Bone remodeling or bone turnover is the process of resorption followed by replacement of bone, and occurs throughout a person's life.
    • Remodeling or bone turnover is the process of resorption followed by replacement of bone with little change in shape and occurs throughout a person's life.