| single ventricle | Congenital absence or near total absence of the ventricular septum. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| single-blind method | A method in which either the observer(s) or the subject(s) is kept ignorant of the group to which the subjects are assigned. (12 Dec 1998) |
| single-foot | An irregular gait of a horse; called also single-footed pace. See Single, "Single-foot is an irregular pace, rather rare, distinguished by the posterior extremities moving in the order of a fast walk, and the anterior extremities in that of a slow trot." (Stillman (The Horse in Motion)) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| single-gene diseases | Hereditary disorders caused by a change (mutation) in a single gene. There are thousands of single-gene diseases including achondroplastic dwarfism, huntington disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, duchenne muscular dystrophy, and haemophilia. Single-gene diseases typically describe classic simple mendelian patterns of inheritance (as autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, and x-linked traits) by comparison with polygenic diseases. (12 Dec 1998) |
| single-hearted | Having an honest heart; free from duplicity. Sin"gle-heart"edly. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| single-minded | Having a single purpose; hence, artless; guileless; single-hearted. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| single-payer system | An approach to health care financing with only one source of money for paying health care providers. The scope may be national (the canadian system), state-wide, or community-based. The payer may be a governmental unit or other entity such as an insurance company. The proposed advantages include administrative simplicity for patients and providers, and resulting significant savings in overhead costs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| single-strand break | A break in double-stranded DNA in which only one of the two strands has been cleaved; both strands have not separated from each other. (05 Mar 2000) |
| singleness | 1. The quality or state of being single, or separate from all others; the opposite of doubleness, complication, or multiplicity. 2. Freedom from duplicity, or secondary and selfish ends; purity of mind or purpose; simplicity; sincerity; as, singleness of purpose; singleness of heart. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| singlestick | In England and Scotland, a cudgel used in fencing or fighting; a backsword. The game played with singlesticks, in which he who first brings blood from his adversary's head is pronounced victor; backsword; cudgeling. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| singlet oxygen | An energised but uncharged form of oxygen that is produced in the metabolic burst of leucocytes and that can be toxic to cells. (18 Nov 1997) |
| singlet state | A transient, excited state of a molecule (e.g., of chlorophyll, upon absorbing light) that can release energy as heat or light (fluorescence) and thus return to the initial (ground) state; it may alternatively assume a slightly more stable, but still excited state (triplet state), with an electron still dislocated as before but with reversed spin. (05 Mar 2000) |