| SPC | salicylamide, phenacetin, and caffeine; seropositive carrier; single palmar crease; single photoelec... |
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| SSB | short spike burst; sicca syndrome B; single-strand break; single-stranded binding [protein]; stereos... |
| SUA | serum uric acid; single umbilical artery; single unit activity |
| CNE | chief nurse executive; chronic nervous exhaustion; concentric needle electrode |
| DME | degenerative myoclonus epilepsy; dimethyl diester; dimethyl ether; diphasic meningoencephalitis; dir... |
| 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) |
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| single bond | A covalent bond resulting from the sharing of one pair of electrons; e.g., H3C-CH3 (ethane). (05 Mar 2000) |
| single cell protein | <protein> Protein produced by single cells in culture, especially Candida species, that could be of possible commercial importance in providing food sources from biotechnological processes. (10 Oct 1997) |
| single channel recording | Variant of patch clamp technique. (18 Nov 1997) |
| 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 gene disorder | Hereditary disorder caused by a mutant allele of a single gene (for example, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, retinoblastoma, sickle cell disease). Compare: polygenic disorders. (09 Oct 1997) |
| single-hearted | Having an honest heart; free from duplicity. Sin"gle-heart"edly. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| single immunodiffusion | See: gel diffusion precipitin tests in one dimension, gel diffusion precipitin tests in two dimensions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| single lucent skull lesion | <radiology> Mnemonic: HELP ME, haemangioma, epidermoid / dermoid, leptomeningeal cyst, lambdoid suture defect, Paget's (osteoporosis circumscripta), post-surgical, metastasis (solitary), eosinophilic granuloma, encephalocele (12 Dec 1998) |
| single-minded | Having a single purpose; hence, artless; guileless; single-hearted. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| single parent | An unmarried natural, adoptive, or substitute parent of a dependent child, whether living with or visiting the child. To be used also for single-parent families. The concept includes the never-married, as well as the divorced and widowed. (12 Dec 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 person | The unmarried man or woman. (12 Dec 1998) |
| single photon emission computed tomography | <radiology> Tomographic imaging of metabolic and physiological functions in tissues, the image being formed by computer synthesis of photons of a single energy emitted by radionuclides administered in suitable form to the patient. The method uses radionuclides which emit a single photon of a given energy. The camera is then rotated 180 or 360 degrees around the patient to capture images at multiple positions along the arc. The computer then reconstructs the transaxial, sagittal, and coronal images from the 3-dimensional distribution of radionuclides in the target area scanned. The advantages of SPECT are that it can be used to observe biochemical and physiological processes as well as the size and volume of the organ. The disadvantage is that, unlike positron emission tomography where the positron-electron annihilation results in the emission of 2 photons at 180 degrees from each other, SPECT requires physical collimation to line up the photons, which results in the loss of available photons and hence degrades the image. Acronym: SPECT (20 Jun 2000) |