Category: S

  • Steatoma

    A cyst in a blocked sebaceous gland. Lipoma, fatty tumor. The term is also used for any tumor of a sebaceous gland. A growth of fatty tissue; a glandular cyst.  

  • Steapsin

    An enzyme produced by the pancreas, which breaks down fats in the intestine. Lipase is an enzyme found in the pancreatic juice.  

  • Steam inhalation

    A treatment for respiratory disease in which someone breathes in steam with medicinal substances in it. A technique for alleviating certain symptoms associated with colds, sinusitis, and laryngitis involves inhaling vapor emanating from a container of hot water. The moisture helps to loosen nasal and throat secretions, facilitating their easier clearance.  

  • Stay

    The time which someone spends in a place. A postponement of an administrative or a judicial ruling.  

  • Statutory bodies

    Organisations set up by Acts of Parliament to carry out specific functions, e.g. the Nursing and Midwifery Council, set up to regulate the nursing and midwifery professions.  

  • Status lymphaticus

    A condition in which the glands in the lymphatic system are enlarged. Enlargement of the thymus and other parts of the lymphatic system, formerly believed to be a predisposing cause to sudden death in infancy and childhood associated with hypersensitivity to drugs or vaccines. A state where the body’s lymphoid tissues, particularly the thymus gland…

  • State of mind

    A general feeling.  

  • State

    The condition of something or of a person. A particular circumstance of a living being that exhibits variations either in its structure or in its physiological processes or sometimes both, during different intervals of its existence. Situations that necessitate a predetermined sequence of events are called stages.  

  • Starvation diet

    A diet which contains little nourishment, and is not enough to keep a person healthy.  

  • Starvation

    The fact of having had very little or no food. Involuntary absence of feeding. Condition resulting from lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged period and characterized by weight loss, widespread physiologic and metabolic disturbances, and increased susceptibility to infection. Suffering extremely or dying of a lack of food. Starvation occurs primarily during famine conditions…