| 释义 |
Down, n.4
Brit. |daʊn|, U.S. |daʊn|
[‹ the name of John Langdon Haydon Down (1828–96), English physician, who described the syndrome in 1866 (see Mongolian adj. 3).]
I. Compounds.
1. Down's syndrome n. (also Down syndrome) a congenital disorder characterized by mental retardation and various physical abnormalities, including short stature, brachycephalic skull, and facial dysmorphia with epicanthic folds and fissured tongue, resulting from trisomy or translocation of chromosome 21. Cf. earlier mongolism n.
The preferred term for the disorder since the 1960s:
1961Lancet 21 Oct. 935/1 Our contributors prefer Down's syndrome to mongolism because they believe that the term ‘mongolism’ has misleading racial connotations and is hurtful to many parents.
1961G. Allen et al. in Lancet 8 Apr. 775/2 Some of the undersigned are inclined to replace the term ‘mongolism’ by such designations as ‘Langdon-Down anomaly’, or ‘Down's syndrome or anomaly’ or ‘congenital acromicria’. 1978M. Pines Inside Cell 36 Down's syndrome (mongolism) can now be detected before birth, by withdrawing a sample of amniotic fluid from the expectant mother's uterus..and counting the chromosomes in cells which the growing fetus shed in this fluid. 1989Time 6 Nov. 12 Your critic is probably right in commenting..that sappy, sugar-coated portrayals of individuals with Down syndrome do little to make the public aware. 1993Sat. Night (Toronto) June 16/2 When we decide to abort a fetus who is diagnosed with Down's syndrome, for example, we are already making a eugenic decision. 2001Denver Post 21 Jan. b3/4 Those with Down syndrome have less visual sensitivity and may not be able to see buttons on talk machines or other devices unless the contrast is adjusted.
2. In the genitive and (rare) attrib. Affected by Down's syndrome; of or relating to Down's syndrome.
1971Nature 19 Mar. 168/2 The elevation of leucocyte alkaline phosphatase activity in cells from Down's patients. 1977Jrnl. Med. Genetics 14 40/2 The age difference between a Down's case and control was usually 5 years or less. 1977Jrnl. Med. Genetics 14 44/2 We are hopeful that soon it will be possible to define a woman's risk of producing a Down's child with considerably more accuracy than from an estimate based on age alone. 1980New Scientist 3 July 54/1 In 1939, when most Down's children were institutionalised, the mortality was very high at 87 per cent before the age of five. 1987C. A. Clarke Human Genetics & Med. (ed. 3) viii. 62 Very occasionally ‘Down’ women have babies. 1999Guardian 23 Nov. ii. 8/5 In Down's pregnancies, the nuchal fold is enlarged and the scans can show this fairly early.
II. Simple uses.
3. In the genitive, used absol. = Down's syndrome n. at 1.
1984Washington Post 26 Dec. b6/1 ‘The variant causes no health problems for the parents,’ said geneticist Colleen Jackson-Cook, ‘but..it does appear to predispose them to having a child with [Down's].’ 1994Harper's Mag. Dec. 47 Only one in a hundred people with Down's are mosaics. 2002Times 16 July (Bood Birth Guide Suppl.) 8/1 New techniques for processing samples of amniotic fluid are speeding up the time it takes to get a diagnosis of Down's. |