Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – the US FDA is the government organisation that is responsible for approving and regulating human and animal medicines in the US. It is also responsible for the safety of other products including foods, cosmetics and tobacco.
See: www.fda.gov
phenotype — relating to how an organism behaves, based on how its genotype relates to the environment. Phenotypic resistance tests look at whether HIV continues to grow in a test tube after increasing concentrations of a drug are added. See genotype.
stage (staging) – the stage of hepatitis infection refers to the amount of scaring (fibrosis), from results from a biposy. It is usually measured on the Metavir scale of 0 to 4, where 0 represents no scarring and 4 cirrhosis, or on the Knodell scale of 0 to 6, where 0 is no scarring and 6 cirrhosis. See grading.
cervical smear – test to look for abnormal cells in the cervix and uterus.