1. A lump or aggregation of coherent material. SYN: massa [TA]. 2. In pharmacy, a soft solid preparation containing an active medicinal agent, of such consistency that it can be divided into small pieces and rolled into pills. 3. One of the seven fundamental quantities in the SI system; its unit is the kilogram, defined as the m. of the international prototype of the kilogram, which is made of platinum-iridium and kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. 4. The quantity of matter in a body or substance. [L. massa, a doughlike m.]
- apperceptive m. the already existing knowledge base in a similar or related area with which the new perceptual material is articulated.
- filar m. SYN: reticular substance (1).
- injection m. colored solutions or suspensions injected into the vascular system to render vessels and their walls prominent; useful for gross preparations and for study under low magnification after clearing; most fluids contain warm gelatin and the coloring materials are carmine, Berlin blue, or carbon.
- inner cell m. the cells at the embryonic pole of the blastocyst concerned with formation of the body of the embryo per se. SYN: embryoblast.
- intermediate m. SYN: interthalamic adhesion.
- lateral m. of atlas [TA] the thick weight-bearing lateral part of the atlas on each side that articulates above with the occipital condyle and below with the axis. SYN: massa lateralis atlantis [TA].
- pilular m. the mixture of drug(s), excipients, diluents and binders with a suitable amount of liquid to form a plastic m. which can be rolled into a long rod and cut into the appropriate number of units for pills to be rolled from. SYN: pill m..
- sclerotic cemental m. benign fibro-osseous jaw lesions of unknown etiology, occurring predominantly in middle-aged black females, which present as large painless radiopaque masses usually involving several quadrants of the jaw. SYN: florid osseous dysplasia, cemental dysplasia.
- tubular excretory m. the m. of functioning excretory tubules of the kidney determined from the excretion of measurable compounds processed in the kidney primarily by tubular secretion.
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Medicine, Angioplasty, or Surgery Study
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mass 'mas n
1) the property of a body that is a measure of its inertia, that is commonly taken as a measure of the amount of material it contains, that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field, and that along with length and time constitutes one of the fundamental quantities on which all physical measurements are based
2) a homogeneous pasty mixture compounded for making pills, lozenges, and plasters <blue \mass>
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(mas) [L. massa] 1. a lump or body made up of cohering particles; see also massa. 2. a cohesive mixture suitable for being made up into pills. 3. the characteristic of matter that gives it inertia; the SI unit for mass is the kilogram. Symbol m>.Medical dictionary. 2011.