| SB | Bachelor of Science; Schwartz-Bartter [syndrome]; serum bilirubin; shortness of breath; sick bay; si... |
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| SCA | self-care agency; severe congenital anomaly; sickle-cell anemia; single-camera autostereoscopic [ima... |
| SPC | salicylamide, phenacetin, and caffeine; seropositive carrier; single palmar crease; single photoelec... |
| 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 |
| single | 1. One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star. "No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest." (Pope) 2. Alone; having no companion. "Who single hast maintained, Against revolted multitudes, the cause Of truth." (Milton) 3. Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman. "Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness." (Shak) "Single chose to live, and shunned to wed." (Dryden) 4. Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope. 5. Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat. "These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, . . . Who now defles thee thrice ti single fight." (Milton) 6. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed. "Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound." (I. Watts) 7. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere. "I speak it with a single heart." (Shak) 8. Simple; not wise; weak; silly. "He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice." (Beau & Fl) Single ale, beer, or drink, small ale, etc, as contrasted with double ale, etc, which is stronger. Single bill, a single rope running through a fixed block. Origin: L. Singulus, a dim. From the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. Sengle, fr. L. Singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular. 1. To select, as an individual person or thing, from among a number; to choose out from others; to separate. "Dogs who hereby can single out their master in the dark." (Bacon) "His blood! she faintly screamed her mind Still singling one from all mankind." (More) 2. To sequester; to withdraw; to retire. "An agent singling itself from consorts." (Hooker) 3. To take alone, or one by one. "Men . . . Commendable when they are singled." (Hooker) Origin: Singled; Singling. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| single ascertainment | Method of ascertainment of locating affected individuals by hospital or clinic admission or another way in which probability of encountering the same family twice approaches zero; thus, the probability that a family will be ascertained is proportional to the number of affected members. (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 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) |