Preferred Spellings and Usage
A
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| acetyl CoA | acetyl-CoA (with hyphen) |
| acetyl-coenzyme A | acetyl coenzyme A (no hyphen) |
| α cell | alpha cell |
| adapter | adaptor |
| African-American | African American (unhyphenated preferred in APA and AMA guidelines) |
| Akaike information criterion | Akaike’s information criterion |
| AKT | Akt (this is treated as the protein name, rather than an abbreviation, and does not need to be written in full) |
| albumin-to-creatinine ratio (or other variations) | albumin/creatinine ratio |
| amido black | Amido Black |
| (amino acid chains) | Gly-Lys-Ala |
| amphetamine (USAN) | amfetamine (INN) |
| anti-diabetic drug | glucose-lowering drug or hypoglycaemic drug |
| anti-oxidant | antioxidant |
| apolipoproteins | If using abbreviation, format as e.g. ApoA-I, ApoB-100 (initial capital) |
| around [e.g. 3 ml urine] | about 3 ml urine |
B
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| base line | baseline |
| B-cell | B cell |
| β cell | beta cell (but β OK for chemicals, etc.) |
| beta blocker | β-blocker |
| biobreeding (BB) rats | BioBreeding (BB) rats |
| birth weight | birthweight |
| bisulfite | bisulphite |
| Black/White or black/white (race) | initial capital or lower case acceptable – make consistent |
| breast-fed, breast-feeding | breastfed, breastfeeding |
C
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| C or COOH terminal | C- or COOH-terminal (hyphen optional with terminus) |
| C3 | C-3 (third carbon atom) C3 (chain of three carbon atoms) |
| calorie | energy (e.g. low-energy diet, % of energy from fat; note that the abbreviation VLCD [very low calorie diet] is acceptable) |
| CD4+ | CD4+ |
| C peptide | C-peptide |
| caesarean | Caesarean |
| case−cohort | case-cohort (with hyphen − N-rule is not appropriate as cases fall within the cohort) |
| case-control | case−control (with N-rule) |
| Chinese Han | Han Chinese |
| chi-square test | χ2 test |
| cholecalciferol | vitamin D3 |
| cholesterol ester | cholesteryl ester |
| Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel | Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel |
| Cochran’s Q | Cochran’s Q |
| Coenzyme Q10 | Coenzyme Q10 |
| colocalise | co-localise |
| co-morbid | comorbid |
| co-ordinate | coordinate |
| Cox-Mantel | Cox–Mantel |
| coxsackie | Coxsackie (upper case C as named after the town of Coxsackie, although sometimes lower case when used as the vernacular; Coxsackie B virus and Coxsackievirus B are both acceptable) |
| credible interval | Abbreviate to CrI (not CI) |
| cross over | crossover |
| Cross-talk | crosstalk |
| C-statistic | C statistic (upper case C, non-italic, no hyphen) |
| Ct | Ct (cycle threshold: upright font) |
| cytochrome c | cytochrome c (c in italics) |
D
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| dark-grey | dark grey |
| data is | data are (plural) |
| data set | dataset |
| day time/day-time | daytime [no hyphen] |
| deuterated | 2H-labelled or similar (e.g. 2H2O) |
| df | df |
| D glucose | d-glucose (small cap) (Capital G if at the beginning of a sentence) |
| DI | DI (disposition index) |
| diabetic/diabetics | avoid referring to people as ‘diabetics’ – use ‘person with diabetes’, ‘diabetic individual’ etc. |
| diabetic pregnancy | pregnancy affected by diabetes, diabetic woman etc.(depending on context) |
| dietician | dietitian |
| disk | for computer disk |
| DM | diabetes mellitus (do not use DM in text. It may be used in the tables and figures with a written-out explanation) |
| dose | dose refers to single amount of a drug |
| dosage | dosage also includes details of the timing |
| double blinded | double-blinded |
| down-regulate | downregulate |
| drop-out | dropout |
E
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| EIF | eIF (eukaryotic initiation factor, e is generally styled as lower case) |
| electrophoretic mobility-shift assay | electrophoretic mobility shift assay |
| end point | endpoint |
| end product | end-product |
| enzymic | enzymatic |
| et al. | et al (no full point) |
| etiology | aetiology |
| euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemic clamp | euglycaemic−hyperinsulinaemic clamp |
| evidenced-based | evidence-based |
F
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| first born/first-born | firstborn |
| firstly, secondly, thirdly … | first, second, third |
| FGM | flash glucose monitoring (or OK to abbreviate to FM [flash monitoring]) |
| focussed | focused |
| foetus/foetal | fetus/fetal |
| follow up | follow-up (when used as an adjective or noun rather than verb) |
| free cholesterol | non-esterified cholesterol |
| free fatty acids | non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) |
| f-test | F test |
G
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| glitazone | thiazolidinedione |
| glucose-6-phosphate | glucose 6-phosphate but glucose-6-phosphatase (note hyphenation) |
| glutathione S-tranferase | glutathione S-transferase (S in italics) |
| glycaemia | raise AQ to ask if ‘blood glucose’ or similar would be more appropriate |
| guinea-pig | guinea pig |
H
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| HbA1c | HbA1c (note styling i.e. lower case subscript c) |
| HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, etc. | HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, etc. |
| Hank’s balanced salt solution | Hanks’ balanced salt solution |
| health care | healthcare |
| high fat diet | high-fat diet |
| high fat fed | high-fat-fed (not high fat-fed, high-fat fed etc.) |
| hind limb | hindlimb |
| HSV1 | HSV-1 herpes simplex virus 1 |
| hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp | hyperinsulinaemic−euglycaemic clamp |
I
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| IDDM patient | type 1 diabetic patient |
| interleukin 2 | interleukin-2 (with hyphen) |
| IL 2 | IL-2 (with hyphen) |
| intima-media thickness | intima–media thickness (en-dash) |
J
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| JDRF | Correct name of the charity (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). No need to expand |
K
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| Kaplan-Meier | Kaplan–Meier (en-dash) |
| KD | kDa (abbreviation for kilodaltons) |
| knock-in | knockin |
| knock-out | knockout |
L
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| L-cell | L cell |
| leukemia | leukaemia |
| light-grey | light grey |
| Log | Use lower case log with space before parentheses in running text, e.g. ‘log (fold change)’. Style in figures can be relaxed (upper or lower case L, space or no space), but try to make consistent across figures if possible |
| log rank | logrank |
| lumenal | luminal |
M
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| MAFA | MafA (a transcription factor) |
| male, female as nouns | men, women |
| Mann-Whitney U test | Mann–Whitney U test (en-dash) |
| Medline | MEDLINE |
| metabolic syndrome | the metabolic syndrome |
| methods methodology | Not interchangeable. Methodology is a system of methods used in a particular area of study |
| Mexican-American | Mexican American (unhyphenated preferred in APA and AMA guidelines) |
| mm Hg | mmHg (closed up) |
| MTOR | mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) |
| M value | M value (insulin sensitivity) |
| Myanmar | Burma |
N
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| N or NH2 terminal | N- or NH2-terminal (hyphen optional with terminus) |
| naïve | naive (no diaeresis) |
| Neuman-Keuls | Neuman–Keuls (en-dash) |
| neurone | neuron |
| NFκB | NF-κB |
| NICE | Expansion is the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (from 2013) |
| NIDDM | type 2 diabetes |
| night time | night-time [include hypen] |
| nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice | non-obese diabetic mice (note that NOD is an accepted abbreviation) |
| Northern blot | northern blot |
O
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| OD (optical density) | absorbance (the preferred technical term) |
| OD450 etc | absorbance at 450 nm |
| omega fatty acid | n-3 fatty acid (hyphen not en dash) |
| ‘omics’ | omics (this term is OK with no need for quote marks) |
| on line | online |
| out-patient | outpatient |
| over-express | overexpress |
| over-nutrition | overnutrition |
| overrepresent | over-represent |
| over-stimulate | overstimulate |
P
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| pancreata | pancreases |
| parasthesias | parasthesiae |
| penicillin streptomycin | penicillin−streptomycin |
| percent | per cent |
| periodic acid-schiff’s reagent | periodic acid–Schiff’s reagent (en-dash, capital S) |
| peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor, gamma, coactivator 1, alpha | peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, gamma, coactivator 1, alpha |
| persons | people |
| person years | person-years |
| phase 1/2 (trial) | Phase I/II (upper case P, Roman numerals) |
| phosphorylase a | phosphorylase a (a in italics) |
| post-hoc | post hoc (no hyphen) |
| post-natal | postnatal |
| post-prandial | postprandial |
| posttranscriptional | post-transcriptional |
| posttranslational | post-translational |
| preadipocytes | pre-adipocytes |
| pre-diabetic | prediabetic |
| pre-prandial | preprandial |
| prepregnancy | pre-pregnancy |
| pro-inflammatory | proinflammatory |
| pro-insulin | proinsulin |
| program | programme (but program is correct for computer program or when referring to cellular programming) |
| Pubmed | PubMed |
Q
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| quantitation, quantitate | quantification, quantify |
R
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| Ra, Rd (rate of appearance, rate of disappearance) | Ra, Rd |
| READ codes | Read codes |
| realtime | real-time (if adjective), otherwise real time |
| real-time PCR | Don’t abbreviate to RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) |
| receiver operator characteristic | receiver operating characteristic |
| red blood cell | erythrocyte |
| re-fed, re-feeding | refed, refeeding |
| regime(n) | regimen (treatment routine) regime (governmental system) |
| regular insulin | short-acting insulin |
| ROC | Precede by ‘a’ rather than ‘an’ (pronounced as ‘rock’) |
| rpm | rev/min (appropriate for shakers; convert to g for centrifuge speed) |
S
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| sacrificed | killed |
| side-effect | side effect (unless adjectival) |
| skinfold | skinfold thickness (but keep ‘sum of skinfolds’, and ‘skinfold’ can be used in tables/figures) |
| SNP | Precede by ‘a’ rather than ‘an’ (pronounced as ‘snip’) |
| socio-economic | socioeconomic |
| Sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 | Sodium−glucose cotransporter 2 |
| south Asian | South Asian |
| southern blot | Southern blot (for DNA) (invented by Prof. Southern, hence capital S) |
| Sprague-Dawley | Sprague Dawley (no hyphen or N rule) |
| St. | St (contraction, not abbreviation) |
| streptozotocin | streptozocin (INN name; often abbreviated to STZ, but needs to be defined) |
| Student-Neuman-Keuls | Student–Neuman–Keuls (en-dash) |
| Students t-test | Student’s t test |
| sub-group | subgroup |
| sub-population | subpopulation |
| sulphonylurea | sulfonylurea |
| super family | superfamily |
| survival | survival rate |
T
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| T-cell | T cell |
| The Netherlands | the Netherlands (except at beginning of sentence) |
| T-helper | T helper |
| thin layer chromatography | thin-layer chromatography (or TLC) |
| time-course | time course |
| TNFα | TNF-α |
| transaminase | aminotransferase |
| triglyceride | triacylglycerol (except adipose triglyceride lipase [ATGL]) |
| tritiated | 3H-labelled or similar (e.g. 3H2O) |
| tumoural | tumoral |
| type 1 diabetes in the mouse | mouse model of type 1 diabetes |
| type I diabetes | type 1 diabetes |
| type II diabetes | type 2 diabetes |
U
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| under-estimate | underestimate |
| underrecord | under-record |
| underrepresent | under-represent |
| United Kingdom | UK |
| up-regulate | upregulate |
| US | OK if adjectival, otherwise USA |
V
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism | variable-number-of-tandem-repeats polymorphism |
| versus | vs |
| vitamin B12 | vitamin B12 |
| vitamin D3 | vitamin D3 |
| vitreous (as a noun) | vitreous body or vitreous humour (ask author if this can be changed) |
W
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| web site | website |
| Western blot | western blot (for protein) |
| western Europe | Western Europe (upper case W) |
| wildtype | wild-type |
| Wmax | Wmax |
| World Health Organization | WHO (standard abbreviation; -iz spelling in references) |
Z
| Non-preferred spelling / usage | Preferred spelling / usage |
| z score | z score |
| Z test | Z test |