An abnormal susceptibility to some drug, protein or other agent which is peculiar to the individual.
Origin: Gr. Synkrasis = mixture
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
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Idiosyncrasy, from Greek ιδιοσυγκρασία, idiosunkrasia, "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" (idios "one's own" and syn-krasis "mixture") is defined as an individualizing quality or characteristic of a person or group, and is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. The term can also be applied to symbols. Idiosyncratic symbols mean one thing for a particular person, as a blade could mean war, but to someone else, it could symbolize a surgery. By the same principle, linguists state that words are not only arbitrary, but also largely idiosyncratic signs.
Idiosyncrasy defined the way physicians conceived diseases in the nineteenth century. They considered each disease as a unique condition, related to each patient. This understanding began to change in the 1870s, when discoveries made by researchers in Europe permitted the advent of a 'scientific medicine', a precursor to the Evidence-Based Medicine that is the standard of practice today.
In contemporary medicine (as of 2007), the term Idiosyncratic drug reaction
In psychiatry, the term means a specific and unique mental condition of a patient, often accompanied by neologisms. In psychoanalysis and behaviorism, it is used for the personal way a given individual reacts, perceives and experiences a common situation: a certain dish made of meat may cause nostalgic memories in one person and disgust in another. These reactions are called idiosyncratic.
In portfolio theory, risks of price changes due to the unique circumstances of a specific security, as opposed to the overall market, are described as idiosyncratic risk. This risk can be virtually eliminated from a portfolio through diversification. It is also often called unsystematic or specific risk. It means there is no compensation for risk, no matter how risky the asset is, and no matter how risk averse we are.[citation needed]
In econometrics, idiosyncratic error is used to describe error from panel data that both changes over time and across units (individuals, firms, cities, etc.)
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