latency phase

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Related to latency phase: latent stage

la·ten·cy phase

in psychoanalytic personality theory, the period of psychosexual development in children, extending from about age 5 to the beginning of adolescence at age 12, during which the apparent cessation of sexual preoccupation stems from a strong, aggressive blockade of libidinal and sexual impulses in an effort to avoid oedipal relationships; during this phase, boys and girls are inclined to choose friends and join groups of their own sex.

Synonym(s): latency period

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

la·ten·cy phase

, latency period (lā'tĕn-sē fāz, pēr'ē-ŏd)

1. psychiatry According to psychoanalytic personality theory, the period of psychosexual development in children, extending from about age 5 to the beginning of adolescence around age 12, during which the apparent cessation of sexual preoccupation stems from a strong, aggressive blockade of libidinal and sexual impulses in an effort to avoid oedipal relationships; during this phase, boys and girls are inclined to choose friends and join groups of their own sex.

2. biowarfare Interval during which an organism lies dormant.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

References in periodicals archive ?

For LB medium : a latency phase in short and the amplitude of enzyme production is important.

The growth profiles have not shown a latency phase. The absence of latency phase is related to the used method.

Production, Partial Purification and Based SDS-PAGE Profiles of Caseinolytic Enzyme in two Bacillus Strains Isolated from Fermented Cassava leaves "Ntoba mbodi" in Congo Brazzaville

HIV-I strains that infect macrophages (macrophage-tropic isolates) are responsible for person-to-person transmission and are the predominant virus type during the clinical latency phase. In addition, macrophages are the main infected cells in organs such as the brain and lungs, and appear to be responsible for inflammation and injury in these sites, which lead to neurological dysfunction and AIDS Dementia Complex (ADC), or pulmonary inflammation and Lymphoid Interstitial Pneumonitis (LIP).

HIV-1 Env-chemokine receptor interactions in primary human macrophages: entry and beyond