Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

258 results found

Pap test

(Encyclopedia)Pap test, Pap smear, or Papanicolaou test păpˌənēˈkəlou [key], medical procedure used to detect cancer of the uterine cervix (see uterus). A scraping, brushing, or smear, is taken from the surf...

Pap smear

(Encyclopedia)Pap smear: see Pap test.

Papanicolaou test

(Encyclopedia)Papanicolaou test: see Pap test.

Marsh test

(Encyclopedia)Marsh test, method for the detection of arsenic, so sensitive that it can be used to detect minute amounts of arsenic in foods (the residue of fruit spray) or in stomach contents. The sample is placed...

flame test

(Encyclopedia)flame test, test used in the identification of certain metals. It is based on the observation that light emitted by any element gives a unique spectrum when passed through a spectroscope. When a salt ...

Schick test

(Encyclopedia)Schick test, diagnostic test designed to evaluate susceptibility to diphtheria. A small amount of diphtheria toxin is injected into the skin; the injection will produce an area of redness and swelling...

Rorschach test

(Encyclopedia)Rorschach test: see personality; psychological tests. ...

Turing test

(Encyclopedia)Turing test, a procedure to test whether a computer is capable of humanlike thought. As proposed (1950) by the British mathematician Alan Turing, a person (the interrogator) sits with a teletype machi...

psychological test

(Encyclopedia)psychological test, any of a variety of testing procedures for measuring psychological traits and behavior, or for studying some specialized aspect of ability. Several forms of testing have arisen fro...

stress test

(Encyclopedia)stress test or exercise electrocardiography, in medicine, a test that evaluates the performance of the heart by subjecting it to controlled amounts of physical stress. Such tests, which include walkin...