CHAIN REACTION

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A series of chemical reactions in which the product of one is a reactant in the next

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("chain reaction" is a kind of...):

chemical reaction; reaction ((chemistry) a process in which one or more substances are changed into others)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A self-sustaining nuclear reaction; a series of nuclear fissions in which neutrons released by splitting one atom leads to the splitting of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("chain reaction" is a kind of...):

nuclear reaction ((physics) a process that alters the energy or structure or composition of atomic nuclei)

Credits

Context examples:

Variation of the polymerase chain reaction used to identify differentially expressed genes. mRNA from two different tissue samples is reverse transcribed, then amplified using short, intentionally nonspecific primers.

(Differential Display, NCI Thesaurus)

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), can be considered a type of man-made gene amplification process.

(Gene Amplification Technique, NCI Thesaurus)

The genetic sequence for CDR3 is amplified using the polymerase chain reaction and specific primers.

(CDR3 Spectratyping, NCI Thesaurus)

The aggregation of amyloid-beta eventually leads to the formation of amyloid plaques, in a toxic chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells.

(Brain cholesterol associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, University of Cambridge)

A modification of the standard polymerase chain reaction that increases the ability to preferentially amplify minority alleles and somatic mutations in the presence of an excess of wild-type molecules.

(COLD-PCR, NCI Thesaurus)

They extracted ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequences from each sample and converted them into stable complementary DNA (cDNA), which was processed using a technique called real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies the signal of genes activated by the multiplication of cDNA molecules.

(New method to classify brain tumour in children, SciDev.Net)

The authors concluded that this chain reaction in which a breakdown in autophagy triggers a widely destructive immune reaction may occur in human brain during several neurodegenerative disorders and that researchers may want to look to these systems for new treatment targets and strategies.

(New study implicates hyperactive immune system in aging brain disorders, National Institutes of Health)

Also called polymerase chain reaction.

(PCR, NCI Dictionary)

Concerns grew of possible extensive chain reactions, which the new study addressed.

(Reframing the dangers Antarctica's meltwater ponds pose to ice shelves and sea level, National Science Foundation)

A study modeled fracture chain reactions and water amounts necessary to repeat a rare, epic collapse such as the 2002 shattering of the iconic shelf "Larsen B."