scale

scale

 [skāl]

1. a thin flake or compacted platelike body, as of cornified epithelial cells. See also squama.

2. a scheme or device by which some property may be measured (as hardness, weight, linear dimension).

3. to remove incrustations or other material from a surface, as from the enamel of teeth.

absolute scale (absolute temperature scale)

1. one with its zero at absolute zero (−273.15°C, −459.67°F).

2. Kelvin s.

ASIA scale a descriptive tool developed by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) as a part of the complete classification of patients with spinal cord injuries. Called also Frankel Classification. See accompanying table.

Bayley S's of Infant Development a psychological test for assessing development of infants, using motor, mental, and behavioral developmental scales.

Borg scale a numerical scale for assessing dyspnea, from 0 representing no dyspnea to 10 as maximal dyspnea.

Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment scale a behavioral assessment scale used to evaluate the interactive behavior of a newborn by its responses to environmental stimuli.

Celsius scale (C) a temperature scale with zero at the freezing point of water and the normal boiling point of water at 100 degrees. The abbreviation 100°C should be read “one hundred degrees Celsius.” (For equivalents of Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures, see Appendix.)

centigrade scale one with 100 gradations or steps between two fixed points, as the Celsius scale.

Fahrenheit scale (F) a temperature scale with the freezing point of water at 32 degrees and the normal boiling point of water at 212 degrees. The abbreviation 100°F should be read “one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.” (For equivalents of Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures, see Appendix.)

French scale one used for denoting the size of catheters, sounds, and other tubular instruments, each French unit (symbol F) being approximately 0.33 mm in diameter.

Glasgow Coma scale a standardized system for assessing response to stimuli in a neurologically impaired patient, assessing eye opening, verbal response, and motor ability. Reaction scores are depicted in numerical values, thus minimizing the problem of ambiguous and vague terms to describe the patient's neurologic status. (See accompanying Table.) The total score is obtained by adding E, M, and V; a score of 7 or less indicates coma and a score of 9 or more rules out coma.

Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale a hundred-point scale used as axis V of DSM-IV to assess a client's recent and current levels of social, psychological, and occupational functioning.

gray scale a representation of intensities in shades of gray, as in gray-scale ultrasonography.

interval scale a scale having equal numerical distances between intervals in addition to mutually exclusive categories, exhaustive categories, and rank ordering but no zero point.

Karnofsky scale (Karnofsky performance scale) a widely used performance scale, assigning scores ranging from 0 for a nonfunctional or dead patient to 100 for one with completely normal functioning.

Kelvin scale an absolute scale in which the unit of measurement, the kelvin, corresponds to that of the Celsius scale; therefore the ice point is at 273.15 kelvins.

Likert scale a tool used to determine opinions or attitudes; it contains a list of declarative statements, each followed by a scale on which the subject is to indicate degrees of intensity of a given feeling.

Neonatal Behavior Assessment scale Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.

performance scale a scale that measures a patient's performance status, serving as a prognostic indicator of seriousness of disease or disability. The most widely used scale is the Karnofsky scale.

Problem Rating scale for Outcomes see problem rating scale for outcomes.

semantic differential scale a measurement device that consists of two opposite adjectives with a seven-point scale between them; each item under examination is assigned to a specific point on the scale.

temperature scale one for expressing degree of heat, based on absolute zero as a reference point, or with a certain value arbitrarily assigned to such temperatures as the ice point and boiling point of water.

Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

scale

(skāl),

1. A standardized test for measuring psychologic, personality, or behavioral characteristics.
See also: score, test.

2. Synonym(s): squama

3. A small, thin plate of horny epithelium, resembling a fish scale, cast off from the skin.

4. To desquamate.

5. To remove tartar from the teeth.

6. A device by which some property can be measured.

[L. scala, a stairway]

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

scale

(skāl)

n.

1.

a. One of the many small hard dermal or epidermal structures that characteristically form the external covering of fishes and reptiles and certain mammals, such as pangolins.

b. A similar part in other animals, such as one of the thin flat overlapping structures that cover the wings of butterflies and moths.

2.

a. A dry thin flake of epidermis shed from the skin.

b. A skin lesion or lesions marked by such flakes.

v. scaled, scaling, scales

v.tr.

Dentistry To remove (tartar) from tooth surfaces with a pointed instrument.

v.intr.

To come off in scales or layers; flake.

---

scale′like adj.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

scale

Clinical research A group of related measures of a variable, which are arranged in some order of intensity or importance. See Abbreviated injury scale, Abnormal Involuntary Movement scale, ADL scale, Alzheimer's Disease Assessment scale, Baker scale, Barnes Akathisia scale, California relative value studies scale, Celsius scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies scale, Cerebral performance category scale, Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke scale, Conflicts Tactics scale, Crohn's disease activity scale, Economy of scale, Epworth sleepiness scale, Family Environment scale, Framingham Disability scale, Glasgow coma scale, General Perceived Health scale, Goldman scale, Heinrichs–Carpenter Quality of Life scale, HOME scale, International Nuclear Event scale, Injury Severity scale, Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric scale, Instrumental ADL scale, Intensity of Sexual Desire & Symptoms scale, Jackson scale, Jenkins Activity scale, Karnovsky scale, Katz ADL scale, Kenny Self-Care scale, Killip scale, Lanza scale, Life event scale, Likert scale, Marital adjustment scale, Miller Behavioral Style scale, MISS scale, Modified Rankin scale, MRC scale, Neonatal Behavioral Assessment scale, NIH Stroke scale, Nominal scale, Ordinal scale, Overall Quality of Life scale, Paling scale, Positive & Negative Symptom scale, Prostate Symptomatology scale, Quality of Life scale, QWB-quality of well-being scale, RBRVS scale, Richter scale, Rosenberg scale, Safety-degree scale, Schneider scale, Scoville scale, Sexual Symptom Distress scale, Simpson-Angus scale, Specific Activity scale, Spielberger scale, Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale, Visual analogue scale, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised scale, Zung Depression scale.

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

scale

(skāl)

1. Graduations, as on a scientific scale or instruments to mark units or divisions thereof to measure quantity.

2. Synonym(s): squama.

3. psychology/psychiatry A standardized test for measuring psychological, personality, or behavioral characteristics.
See also: test, score

4. A small, thin plate of horny epithelium, resembling a fish scale, cast off from the skin.

5. To desquamate.

6. dentistry/dental hygiene/dental assisting To remove calculus from the teeth.

7. A device by which some property can be measured.

[L. scala, a stairway]

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

scale

any plate-like outgrowth of the integument of an organism, each in the form of a flat calcified or horny structure on the surface of the skin. Scales are found in fish, and in reptiles such as snakes where they are derived from both the epidermis and the dermis, and in insects (e.g. Lepidoptera) , where they are derived from hairs. See PLACOID, COSMOID, GANOID.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

scale

(skāl)

To remove tartar from the teeth.

2. To desquamate.

[L. scala, a stairway]

Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012

Patient discussion about scale

Q. how do i grade the severeness of my asthma? is there like a common scale for it?

A. Yes, it's graded according to the frequency of the day-time (from 2 days in a week to continuous symptoms) and night time (from 2 nights per month to every night) symptoms. The more frequent the disease, the more aggressive the treatment is.

You may read more here:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Asthma/Asthma_WhatIs.html

Q. how would recognize the severeness of every Autistic person? is there like a known chart and scale for it???

A. there's the "Social Responsiveness Scale" (SRS).
The SRS measures the severity of social impairment associated with autism spectrum disorders.

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