Life at the Cell and Below-Cell Level. The Hidden History of a Fundamental Revolution in Biology
by
Gilbert N. Ling, Ph.D.
Pacific Press
2001
ISBN 0-9707322-0-1
"Dr. Ling is one of the most inventive biochemist I have ever met."
Prof. Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Laureate
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A Super-Glossary
for Words, Terms and Basic Concepts Used in the Book
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O-site: an empty or vacant site.
Occam's razor: a scientific and philosophic rule that the
simplest of competing theories be preferred over the more complex or
that explanation of unknown be first sought among the known.
occlusion: the act or state of being occluded To occlude means to
shut off, block or plug up.
occlusion water: name introduced by Bungenberg de long to
describe water filling the space in wads of interweaving protein chains.
oedema: same as edema.
(upward-oriented) OH group: In the perspective representation of
Hayworth modified by Pigman, the D-glucose molecule is shown lying on a
plane so that the edge of the molecular formula closest to the observer
appears as the bottom line of a hexagon with the oxygen atom occupying
one comer. Counting from that oxygen atom in a clockwise direction, are
the first carbon (C1), the second carbon (C2) and
so on in that order. In the D-glucose molecule, the OH group on the
third carbon atom (С3) is oriented upward.
oil potential: the electrical potential difference measured
across a layer of oil.
(olive) oil-water distribution coefficient: the equilibrium
distribution coefficient of a chemical substance between an olive-oil
phase and water phase.
one-dimensional Ising model: a rigorous statistical mechanical
treatment of order-disorder transition in one-dimensional crystals
introduced by E. Ising in 1925353.
one-on-one, close-contact adsorption: an adsorption, in which the
adsorbing site and the adsorbed molecule or ion are in close steady
contact and are stoichiometric, i.e., following the law of definite
proportion: one monovalent ion on one monovalent anionic site.
oocyte, ovarian egg: an egg before maturation and still in the
ovary Mature frog oocytes are big single cells measuring 1 mm or more in
diameter.
oppositely-oriented water dipoles: The asymmetric position of the
two hydrogen atoms in a water molecule endows the water with a permanent
dipole moment. If the positive end of such a water dipole is placed next
to the negative end of a neighboring water molecule, they constitute
what may be called a pair of oppositely oriented water dipoles.
ordinate: To French mathematician and philosopher, Rene Descartes
(1596-1650) is commonly given the credit for introducing analytical
geometry. In this system the location of a point in a plane (or space)
is determined by distances measured respectively along two (or three)
Cartesian coordinates from their point of intersection. Of these, the
vertical or у coordinate is conventionally referred to as the ordinate
while the horizontal of x coordinate is referred to as abscissa.
organelles: See subcellular particles.
organic phosphates: important organic phosphates in living cells
include adenosine triphosphate (ATP), phosphocreatine or creatine
phosphate (CrP) and various phosphate intermediates in carbohydrate
metabolism including glucose-1-phosphate, glucose-6-phosphate,
fructose-1,6-diphos-phate etc.
orientation: the act or state of being positioned at a specific
spatial relationship to a fixed object.
osmometer: a device comprising aqueous solution of an osmotically
active free solute separated by a semipermeable membrane from a similar
solution containing the same solute but at a lower concentration
exerting an osmotic pressure equal to that predicted by the van Hoff
equation (Equation 1).
osmotic activity: The osmotic pressure is directly related to the
partial vapor pressure (Equation 2). Osmotic activity of a dissolved
substance is the activity of that solute in lowering the partial vapor
pressure of the water in which it is dissolved.
osmosis: the passage of the solvent (e.g., water) from one
enclosed phase like a living cell to an adjoining phase or vice versa.
osmotic pressure: the mechanical pressure that must be applied to
the phase containing a higher concentration of osmotically active solute
(e.g., sucrose) to prevent a gain in the amount of the solvent (e.g.,
water) in that phase.
osmotically active: A substance is considered as osmotically
active if a concentrated solution of that substance enclosed in a
semipermeable membrane draws water from another contiguous phase
containing either pure water or a solution of the same substance but at
a lower concentration.
ouabain: a cardiac glycoside with exceptionally high solubility
in water.
ovarian egg: an egg that has not yet been discharged from and
thus remains in the ovary.
oxidation: the act or process of oxidizing.
oxidation-reduction potential (standard oxidation-reduction
potential): the potential established at an inert electrode when
dipped into a solution containing equimolar amount of an ion or molecule
in two states of oxidation.
oxidative activity: an activity that removes electrons from an
atom, ion or molecule.
oxidize: to remove one or more electrons from (an atom, ion or
molecule).
oxidized collodion-coated glass electrode: a glass electrode
covered with a layer of collodion that has been oxidized by exposure to
HBr or NaOH, thereby endowing the electrode surface with fixed carboxyl
groups.
oxyacid: an acid whose functional group contains negatively
charged oxygen atoms, e.g., carboxyl group of acetic acid.
oxygen tension: partial pressure of oxygen (in the surrounding
environment) equivalent to the concentration of oxygen in the system.
oxygenated state: Hemoglobin can exist in two states: an
oxygenated state in which oxygen molecules adsorb on the four heme
sites; a deoxygenated state in which the oxygen molecules are removed.
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