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Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Short Names
Listed below are the preferred forms of some common abbreviations, acronyms, and short names. Unless otherwise noted, these short forms should always be written out in full in titles. When introducing these abbreviations (or others not listed here), the term should be written out in full and the abbreviation or acronym given in parentheses; therafter only the abbreviations need be used.
- ACTH
adrenocorticotropic hormone (adrenocorticotropin)
- ADP
adenosine diphosphate
- ADPase
adenosine diphosphatase
- ALT
Measurements and Units of Measure
Abbreviate measurements and units of measure only with numerals, in figures, or in the body of tables. In measurements using more than 2 units of measure (e.g., 1.5 μmol/cm2/s), do not use more than one slant line (solidus). Instead, please express the measurement in the following way:
1.5 μmol · cm−2 · s−1
Combining Prefixes
- T
tera- (1012)
- G
giga- (109)
- M
mega- (106)
- k
kilo- (103)
- h
hecto- (102)
- da
deca- (101)
- d
deci- (10−1)
- c
centi- (10−2)
- m
milli- (10−3)
- μ
micro- (10−6)
- n
nano- (10−9)
- p
pico- (10−12)
- f
femto- (10−15)
- a
atto- (10−18)
Units
- A
ampere(s)
- Å
angstrom(s)
- cal
calorie(s)
- °C
degree(s) Celsius
- C
coulomb(s)
- cpm
counts per minute
- cps
counts per second
- cm3
cubic centimeter(s) (not cc)
- Ci
Curie(s)
- cycle/min
cycles per minute
- cycle/s
cycles per second
- dalton(s)
dalton(s) (do not abbreviate)
- day(s)
day(s) (do not abbreviate)
- d
density
- dpm
disintegrations per minute
- dps
disintegrations per second
- eV
electron volt(s)
- Eq
equivalent(s)
- °F
degree(s) Fahrenheit
- F
farad
- ft
foot
- G
gauss
- g
gram(s)
- g
gravity(ies)
- t½
half-life
- H
henry(ies)
- Hz
hertz
- h
hour(s)
- in
inch(es)
- IU
international unit(s)
- J
Radioisotopes
Gastroenterology follows the recommendations adopted by the IUB Committee of Editors of Biochemical Journals. The guidelines are:
- 1
The symbol for the isotope should be placed in square brackets directly attached to the front of the name or formula labeled (e.g., [14C]urea). The isotopic prefix should be attached to the part of the name to which it refers (e.g., sodium {14C}formate). Exceptions to these guidelines are:
- A
When the native chemical or substance does not contain any isotope of the
- A
Statistical Terms
- χ2 method
chi-squared method
- r
correlation coefficient
- df
degrees of freedom
- x̄
mean
- NS
not significant
- n
number of observations
- P
probability
- SD
standard deviation
- SEM
standard error of the mean
- Student t test
express in full
- F
variance ratio
General Information
Chemical names. Chemical names should be spelled and styled according to the Merck Index, 10th edition.
Drug names. Please use generic names wherever possible. If a trade name drug was used in the study being reported, please cite the trade name in parentheses, along with the manufacturer’s name and location (see Manufacturers).
Greek letters. Current preferred style favors the use of Greek letters over their English equivalents. Thus alpha-l-antitrypsin and gamma-globulin should be styled α1