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  • Glossary
| Last Updated:07/02/2022

GLOSSARY

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Authorization

The process of determining, by evaluating applicable access control information, whether a subject is allowed to have the specified types of access to a particular resource. Usually, authorization is in the context of authentication. Once a subject is authenticated, it may be authorized to perform different types of access.

Authentication

Authentication is the process of verifying that a potential partner in a conversation is capable of representing a person or organization.

Attribute

A distinct characteristic of an object. An object's attributes are said to describe the object. Objects' attributes are often specified in terms of their physical traits, such as size, shape, weight, and color, etc., for real-world objects. Objects in cyberspace might have attributes describing size, type of encoding, network address, etc.

Artifact

A piece of digital information. An artifact may be any size, and may be composed of other artifacts. Examples of artifacts: a message; a URI; an XML document; a PNG image; a bit stream.

Architecture

The software architecture of a program or computing system is the structure or structures of the system. This structure includes software components, the externally visible properties of those components, the relationships among them and the constraints on their use.

Aquatic

Living in water.

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)

These antimalarial drugs are relatively affordable and effective against multidrug-resistant strains of malaria-causing parasites. ACTs produce a rapid response and are tolerated by most patients.

Antibiotics

Drugs that kill disease-causing bacteria.1 One example of an antibiotic is amoxicillin, which prevents bacteria from multiplying and is commonly used for treating S. pneumoniae. Another antibiotic, cotrimoxazole, is often used to protect adults and children with HIV from opportunistic infections, including pneumonia.

Antenna

Sensory organ on the head for hearing and smell.

ANOVA

Acronym for "analysis of variance," a statistical tool for analyzing the variability in a process.

Alignment

Representation of a prediction of the amino acids in tertiary structures of homologues that overlay in three dimensions. Alignments held by SMART are mostly based on published observations (see domain annotations for details), but are updated and edited manually. (SMART)

Algorithm

A fixed procedure embodied in a computer program. (NCBI)

Adult

The fully developed mature form.

Adolescents

Males and females, aged 10-19 years.

Access

To interact with a system entity in order to manipulate, use, gain knowledge of, and/or obtain a representation of some or all of a system entity's resources.

Abdomen

Part of the body that contains the digestive and reproductive organs.

Analysis

Analysis is the scientific process of examining something in order to find out what it consists of.

Annual parasitic incidence (A.P.I.)

 The annual parasite incidence is defined as the number of new infections per 1000 people per year.

Adult vector density

 Man-hour hand catches (per-man-hour density) = number of mosquitoes caught divided by number of man-hours spent looking for them.

Attack rate

 A narrowly defined population observed for a limited period of time, such as during an epidemic, is used to calculate a version of an incidence rate.

Asymptomatic

 Lack of symptoms. It is possible to contract the coronavirus and make antibodies to it even if you stay asymptomatic. It is also possible to spread the virus to others if you're carrying it but have no symptoms.

Association

 Relationship between two or more occurrences, qualities, or other variables in terms of statistics.

Applied epidemiology

 Applied epidemiology is the application or practise of epidemiology to public health problems.

Analytic study

 A comparative research with the goal of identifying and quantifying relationships, testing hypotheses, and determining causes. Cohort studies and case-control studies are two typical types.

Analytic epidemiology

 The study of health-related causes and effects, which is an element of epidemiology. To quantify the association between exposures and outcomes and test hypotheses about causal relationships, researchers use comparison groups, which give baseline data.

Agent

 A factor, such as a bacterium, chemical substance, or type of radiation, whose existence, excessive presence, or relative absence (in deficient disorders) is required for the occurrence of a disease.

Atovaquone

 A malaria-prevention medication. It's in the atovaquone-proguanil combination, which can be used for both prevention and treatment.

Antigen test

 A type of diagnostic test that checks to see if you're currently infected. The test looks for proteins (antigens) in a sample taken from your nose or throat. Antigen tests are faster than PCR tests, but they have a higher risk of false positives (meaning that they’re more likely to say you have the infection when you don’t). This may also be called a rapid test or rapid diagnostic test.

Antigen

 Anything that causes the immune system to create antibodies. Foreign substances, like as pieces of invading bacteria, viruses, or parasites, are frequently called as antigens.

Antibody test

Also called a serology test, this checks to see if you have antibodies in your blood that show that you were previously infected with the virus.

Antibody

 Antibodies (or gamma globulin) is a specific serum protein produced by B lymphocytes in the blood in reaction to foreign proteins (antigens). Antibodies bind to the antigens that triggered the immune response in a specific way. Antibodies aid the body's defence against infectious organisms such bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

Anaemia

 A decrease in the number of circulating red blood cells or the amount of haemoglobin in the blood.

Assurance

 One of the three core functions in public health.   Making sure that all populations have access to appropriate and cost-effective care, including health promotion and disease prevention services.  The services are assured by encouraging actions by others, by collaboration with other organizations, by requiring action through regulation, or by direct provision of services.

Anthropocene

The ‘Anthropocene’ is a proposed new geological epoch resulting from significant human-driven changes to the structure and functioning of the Earth System, including the climate system.

Alignment

 Representation of a prediction of the amino acids in tertiary structures of homologues that overlay in three dimensions. Alignments held by SMART are mostly based on published observations (see domain annotations for details), but are updated and edited manually.

Accreditation

 The development of a set of standards, a process to measure health department performance against those standards, and some form of reward or recognition for those agencies meeting the standards.

Assessment

 One of public health’s three core functions.   The regular collection, analysis and sharing of information about health conditions, risks and resources in a community.   Assessment is needed to identify health problems and priorities and the resources available to address the priorities.

Anopheles

 A mosquito genus with some species capable of transmitting human malaria.

Anthropophilic

 Mosquitoes that prefer to feed on human blood are referred to as " Anthropophilic."