Copy of `Dorland's Medical Dictionary`

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Dorland's Medical Dictionary Category: Health and Medicine > Medical Dictionary Date & country: 31/12/2010, USA Words: 39128

Somogyi effect
(so-mo´gee) Somogyi phenomenon a rebound phenomenon occurring in diabetes mellitus; overtreatment with insulin induces hypoglycemia, which initiates the release of epinephrine, corticotropin, glucagon, and growth hormone. That stimulates fat breakdown, gluconeogenesis, and glycogenolysis, which then result in rebound hyperglyc...

Sonata
(so-nah´tә) trademark for a preparation of zaleplon, used to treat insomnia.

Sones coronary catheter
a woven Dacron or polyurethane catheter used in coronary arteriography to cannulate and deliver contrast material to the coronary arteries via the brachial artery.

sonic waves
audible sound waves.

sonicate
(son´ĭ-kāt) to expose to sound waves; to disrupt bacteria by exposure to high-frequency sound waves. the products of such disruption.

sonication
(son″ĭ-ka´shәn) exposure to sound waves; disruption of bacteria by exposure to high-frequency sound waves.

sonogram
(son´o-gram) a record or display obtained by ultrasonic scanning.

sonography
(sә-nog´rә-fe) ultrasonography. adj., sonograph´ic., adj.

sonolucent
(son″o-loo´sәnt) in ultrasonography, permitting passage of ultrasound waves without reflecting them back to their source (without giving off echoes).

sonorous
(son´ә-rәs) (sә-nor´әs) resonant; sounding.

sopor
(so´por) unnaturally deep or profound sleep.

soporific
(sop″o-rif´ik) (so″po-rif´ik) producing deep sleep. hypnotic (def. 2).

soporous
(so´por-әs) associated with coma or deep sleep.

sorb
(sorb) to attract and retain substances by absorption or adsorption.

sorbefacient
(sor″bә-fa´shәnt) absorbefacient.

sorbic acid
(sor´bik) an agent that inhibits growth of yeasts and molds and is used as an antimicrobial preservative.

sorbitol
(sor´bĭ-tol) a six-carbon sugar alcohol from a variety of fruits, found in lens deposits in diabetes mellitus. A pharmaceutical preparation is used as a sweetening agent and osmotic laxative, and in drugs as a tablet excipient, moistening agent, and stabilizer.

Sorbitrate
(sor´bĭ-trāt) trademark for preparations of isosorbide dinitrate, a coronary vasodilator.

sordes
(sor´dēz) foul matter collected on the lips and teeth in low fevers, consisting of food, microorganisms, and epithelial elements.

sore
(sor) a popular term for any lesion of the skin or mucous membrane. painful. bed sore popular term for pressure ulcer. canker sore recurrent aphthous stomatitis. cold sore herpes febrilis. pressur...

sore throat
(sor thrōt) inflammation of the throat; called also faucitis. pharyngitis. clergyman's sore throat loss of the voice from overuse, as by clergymen; called also dysphonia clericorum. septic sore throat , streptococcal sore throat ...

sorption
(sorp´shәn) the process or state of being sorbed; absorption or adsorption.

Sorsby syndrome
(sorz´be) a congenital condition consisting of bilateral macular coloboma associated with apical dystrophy of the hands and feet, usually brachydactyly confined to the distal two phalanges.

sorting test
(sort´ing) a type of test for assessing abstract thinking; the patient must arrange objects or cards into groups based on some abstract relationship. Schizophrenics and patients with cortical lesions show impaired performance.

sotalol
(so´tә-lol) a non-cardioselective beta-adrenergic blocking agent, used as the hydrochloride salt in treatment of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.

Soto-Hall sign
with the patient lying supine, on flexion of the spine beginning at the neck and going downward, pain will be felt at the site of the lesion in back abnormalities.

Sotos syndrome
(so´tōs) cerebral gigantism.

souffle
(soo´fәl) a soft, blowing auscultatory sound. cardiac souffle any heart murmur of a blowing quality. funic souffle , funicular souffle a hissing souffle synchronous with fetal heart sounds, probably from the umbilical cord. ...

sound
(sound) the sensation resulting from stimulation of the ear by vibrations of air or some other elastic medium with a frequency between 20 and 20,000 Hz. a noise, normal or abnormal, heard within the body; see also under bruit, fremitus, murmur, and rale. a slender instrument to be introduced ...

sound waves
longitudinal waves of mechanical energy that transmit the vibrations interpreted as sound (def. 2).

South African tick-bite fever
boutonneuse fever.

South American hemorrhagic fevers
Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorhagic fever, and Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever considered as a group.

soy
(soi) soybean.

soybean
(soi´bēn) the bean of the leguminous plant, Glycine max. It contains little starch, is rich in protein, and also contains high levels of phytoestrogens.

soybean test
urease test (def. 1).

Sp
O2 oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry.

sp gr
specific gravity.

space
(spās) a delimited area. an actual or potential cavity of the body. the areas of the universe beyond the earth and its atmosphere. adj., spa´tial., adj.

space adaptation syndrome
a form of motion sickness occurring in a weightless environment during space flight, with nausea, vomiting, anorexia, headache, malaise, drowsiness, and lethargy. It is probably caused by conflicting signals concerning motion from the otolith (whose proper function depends on the presence of gravity) and the visual system...

space medicine
the branch of aviation medicine concerned with conditions encountered by human beings in space.

space sense
the faculty by which relative positions and relations of objects in space are perceived.

spacer DNA
nontranscribed DNA sequences occurring between genes, usually containing highly repetitive DNA.

spacing
(spās´ing) the creation or arranging of spaces. third spacing the shift of fluid from the intravascular compartment into other compartments, as by extravasation into the interstitial space or accumulation in the intestinal lumen, where it is not available to support circulation.

Spalding sign
in the x-ray film of the fetus in utero, overriding of the bones of the vault of the skull indicates death of the fetus.

Spanish toxic oil syndrome
name given to an epidemic of acute pneumonia with pulmonary edema, fever, rash, myalgia, and eosinophilia, sometimes with neuromuscular damage or fatal respiratory failure. It occurred in Spain in 1981 after contaminated cooking oil was sold by traveling salesmen. The toxin has not been identified. Called also toxic oil s...

sparfloxacin
(spahr-flok´sә-sin) a synthetic, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent.

spargana
(spahr´gah-nah) plural of sparganum.

sparganosis
(spahr″gә-no´sis) infection with spargana, which invade the subcutaneous tissues, causing inflammation and fibrosis. If the lymphatics are involved, elephantiasis results.

sparganum
(spahr´gә-nәm) a migrating larva of a tapeworm; see also sparganosis.

sparing therapy
treatment directed to the protecting and sparing of an organ by allowing it to rest as much as possible.

spasm
(spaz´әm) a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles. a sudden, transitory constriction of a passage, canal, or orifice; spasms usually occur when the nerves supplying muscles are irritated, and pain often accompanies them. They vary from mild twitches to severe convulsions and ...

spasmodic
(spaz-mod´ik) of the nature of a spasm; occurring in spasms.

spasmolysis
(spaz-mol´ĭ-sis) the arrest of spasm.

spasmolytic
(spaz″mo-lit´ik) arresting or checking spasms. antispasmodic.

spasmus
(spaz´mәs) Latin word meaning spasm. spasmus nutans nodding spasm.

spastic
(spas´tik) characterized by spasms, or tightening of the muscles, causing stiff and awkward movements and in some cases a scissorslike gait.

spastic abasia
paroxysmal trepidant abasia.

spastic colon
old name for irritable bowel syndrome.

spastic gait
a walk in which the legs are held together and move in a stiff manner, the toes seeming to drag and catch.

spastic ileus
that due to persistent contracture of an intestinal segment; called also dynamic ileus.

spastic paralysis
paralysis with rigidity of the muscles and heightened deep muscle reflexes and tendon reflexes.

spasticity
(spas-tis´ĭ-te) continuous resistance to stretching by a muscle due to abnormally increased tension, with heightened deep tendon reflexes. clasp-knife spasticity clasp-knife rigidity.

spatial
(spa´shәl) pertaining to space.

spatial formula
stereochemical formula a chemical formula giving the numbers of atoms of each element present in a molecule of a substance, which atom is linked to which, the types of linkages involved, and the relative positions of the atoms in space.

spatium
(spa´she-әm) Latin word meaning space; a term used in anatomy.

spatula
(spach´ә-lә) a wide, flat, blunt, usually flexible instrument of little thickness, used for spreading material on a smooth surface or mixing.

spatula needle
a minute needle with a flat or slightly curved concave surface that does not cut or pierce, used in ophthalmic surgery.

spatulate
(spach´ә-lāt) having a flat blunt end. to mix or manipulate with a spatula.

spatulation
(spach″ә-la´shәn) the combining of materials into a homogeneous mixture by continuously heaping them together and smoothing the mass out on a smooth surface with a spatula.

spay
(spa) to castrate a female animal, usually by oophorohysterectomy.

SPCA
serum prothrombin conversion accelerator (factor VII).

spearmint oil
the volatile oil distilled with steam from the fresh overground parts of Mentha spicata or M. cardiaca, used as a flavor for pharmaceutical preparations.

special anatomy
anatomy devoted to study of particular organs or parts.

special senses
the senses of vision, hearing, taste, and smell; equilibrium is sometimes considered a special sense, but touch usually is not. See also somatic senses.

specialist
(spesh´әl-ist) a health care professional whose practice is limited to a particular area, such as a branch of medicine, surgery, or nursing; especially, one who by virtue of advanced training is certified by a specialty board as being qualified to so limit his or her practice.

specialty
(spesh´әl-te) the field of practice of a specialist.

species
(spe´shēz) (spe´sēz) a taxonomic category subordinate to a genus (or subgenus) and superior to a subspecies or variety; composed of individuals similar in certain morphologic and physiologic characteristics. type species the original species from which the...

species-specific
(spe″sēz-spә-sif´ik) characteristic of a particular species; having a characteristic effect on, or interaction with, cells or tissues of members of a particular species; said of an antigen, drug, or infective agent.

specific
(spә-sif´ik) pertaining to a species. produced by a single kind of microorganism. restricted to a particular structure or function, such as in application or effect. a remedy specially indicated for a particular disease. in immunology, pertaining to the special aff...

specific compliance
lung compliance in relation to the actual lung volume.

specific disease
any disease caused by a specific agent.

specific gravity
the weight of a substance compared with the weight of an equal amount of some other substance taken as a standard. For liquids the usual standard is water. The specific gravity of water is 1; if a sample of urine shows a specific gravity of 1.025, this means that the urine is 1.025 times heavier than water. (The normal sp...

specific gravity test
see specific tests, including Fishberg concentration test and urine concentration test.

specific heart muscle disease
secondary cardiomyopathy.

specific immune globulin
a preparation of immune globulin derived from a donor pool preselected for high antibody titer against a specific antigen, such as hepatitis B immune globulin.

specific immunity
immunity against a particular disease, such as scarlet fever or measles, or against a particular antigen.

specific rate
a rate that applies to a specific demographic subgroup, such as individuals of a specific age, sex, or race, giving the total number of events in relation only to that subgroup. See also adjusted rate and crude rate.

specificity
(spes″ĭ-fis´ĭ-te) the quality of having a certain action, as of affecting only certain organisms or tissues, or reacting only with certain substances, as antibodies with certain antigens (antigen specificity). diagnostic specificity; the probability that a person not having a disease will b...

specimen
(spes´ĭ-mәn) a small sample or part taken to show the nature of the whole, such as a small quantity of urine for urinalysis or a small fragment of tissue for microscopic study. clean-catch specimen , clean-voided specimen a urine specimen obtained after the ext...

spectacles
(spek´tә-kәlz) glasses.

spectinomycin
(spek″tĭ-no-mi´sin) an antibiotic derived from Streptomyces spectabilis, used as the hydrochloride salt in treatment of gonorrhea.

spectra
(spek´trә) plural of spectrum.

spectrin
(spek´trin) a contractile protein attached to glycophorin at the cytoplasmic surface of the cell membrane of erythrocytes, important in maintenance of cell shape.

Spectrobid
(spek´tro-bid″) trademark for a preparation of bacampicillin, an antibacterial.

spectrometry
(spek-trom´ә-tre) determination of the place of lines in a spectrum.

spectrophotometer
(spek″tro-fo-tom´ә-tәr) an apparatus for measuring light sense by means of a spectrum. an apparatus for determining the quantity of coloring matter in a solution by measurement of transmitted light. See also colorimeter.

spectrophotometry
(spek″tro-fo-tom´ә-tre) the use of the spectrophotometer.

spectroscope
(spek´trә-skōp) an instrument for developing and analyzing the spectrum of a substance. adj., spectroscop´ic., adj.

spectroscopy
(spek-tros´kә-pe) examination by means of a spectroscope.

spectrum
(spek´trәm) the series of images (bands of color, for example) that result from the refraction of electromagnetic radiation (such as light or x-rays) so that they are arranged according to frequency or wavelength. range of activity, often used of antibiotics. range of manifestations, a...