Category: S
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Slow-to-warm-up children
Children whose temperament patterns include initial withdrawal from new situations, slow adaptability, and mild intensity of reaction.
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Slow brain waves
The theta rhythm recorded by an EEG from the subcortical parts of the brain and the delta rhythm, normally recorded during deep sleep. Sometimes recorded in awake sociopaths.
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Sling and swathe
A bandage in which the arm is placed in a sling and is bound to the chest by a swathe bandage.
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Sliding scale
In relation to health and medical care, a method of payment for services in which a person’s fees are scaled according to income level.
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Sleeping sickness
Encephalitis lethargica. An African disease, spread by the tsetse fly, where trypanosomes infest the blood. An illness that is caused by parasitic protozoa that are carried by tsetse flies. Symptoms of sleeping sickness include high fever and swollen glands. After a latency period of 4 to 6 months, the illness causes extreme sleepiness and inflammation…
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Sleeping pill
A drug in pill form that induces sleep. A pill containing drug, usually a barbiturate, which makes a person sleep. Colloquial term for a sedative taken for insomnia or as an aid to sleep.
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Sleep aid
Usually referring to an over-the-counter medication used to produce mild sedation. Such often contain antihistamines to produce drowsiness.
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Skin test
A tuberculin test to determine whether a person has had previous contact with the tuberculosis bacillus. A test for allergy, in which a substance is applied to the skin to see if a reaction occurs. Tests in which an antigen, an allergy causing substance, is applied to the skin in order to observe the response…
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Skin-popping
The subcutaneous injection of a drug. The subcutaneous injection of illicit drugs, a practice that may result in localized abscesses, limb cellulitis, fasciitis, sepsis, or death. Injection drug users who skin pop may be recognized by the presence of atrophied circular lesions on the skin, usually of the forearms.
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Sleeper effect
The increased power of a low credibility source in influencing an audience after a period of time has elapsed.