edgepedia

Human health and medicine

25,729 articles

Spoons sex position

Spoons sex position: both partners lie on their sides facing the same direction, one behind the other (big spoon, little spoon). Used for intercourse and cuddling; recommended in late pregnancy, after cancer treatment, and for painful conditions.

Sporadic adult-onset ataxia of unknown etiology

Sporadic adult-onset ataxia of unknown etiology (SAOA, idiopathic late-onset cerebellar ataxia) is a rare non-hereditary degenerative ataxia beginning around age 50, with progressive gait ataxia, dysmetria, and dysarthria, differentiated from MSA-C and increasingly reclassified genetically (FGF14, RFC1).

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD, sporadic CJD) is the most common human prion disease, about 85-90% of CJD cases, a rapidly fatal dementia with myoclonus, median onset age 65, incidence roughly 0.5-2 per million per year, no treatment.

Sporadic fatal insomnia

Sporadic fatal insomnia (sFI, sCJDMM2 thalamic subtype) is an extremely rare sporadic prion disease mimicking fatal familial insomnia without PRNP mutation, causing sleep loss, autonomic and motor signs, thalamic degeneration, and death within two to three years.

Sporadic hyperekplexia

Sporadic hyperekplexia, or startle disease, is a rare neurologic disease of excessive startle response with hyperreflexia in patients with no affected relatives and no other neurologic cause.

Sporadic infantile bilateral striatal necrosis

Sporadic infantile bilateral striatal necrosis (Sporadic IBSN, ABSN, ORPHA:225147) is a rare, non-inherited syndrome of bilateral symmetric degeneration of the caudate, putamen, and pallidum, often post-febrile, causing choreoathetosis, dystonia, and regression.

Sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis

Sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis (S-LAM) is a rare cystic lung neoplasm of women without tuberous sclerosis, caused by somatic TSC2/TSC1 mutations activating mTOR; treated with sirolimus.

Sporadic Parkinson disease

Sporadic Parkinson disease (ICD-11 8A00.00; idiopathic PD) is Parkinson disease without apparent inheritance, the majority of cases, a multifactorial Lewy body disease driven by polygenic risk, environment, and aging.

SportMarkers study

SportMarkers (NCT03386981) is an observational study by IRCCS Ospedale Galeazzi-Sant'Ambrogio in Milan studying bone metabolism in 200 professional athletes by sport type, using bone turnover markers, hormones, and miRNAs; started 2016, recruiting.

Sports and exercise cardiology

Sports and exercise cardiology is the cardiology subspecialty caring for competitive athletes and highly active people, covering screening, the athlete's heart, risk stratification, and exercise prescription.

Sports medicine

Sports medicine, also called sport and exercise medicine (SEM), is the medical specialty for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating sports and exercise injuries, in athletes and nonathletes alike.

Sports nutrition

Sports nutrition: the evidence-based study and practice of diet, hydration, and supplements for athletic performance. Covers carbohydrate, protein, and fat guidance, energy availability (REDs), and supplement evidence from ACSM, ISSN, and IOC positions.

Spot scanning proton therapy

Spot scanning proton therapy is a radiation technique in which a magnetically steered proton pencil beam deposits individually weighted spots, building a 3D dose layer by layer.

SPR2015

SPR2015 is SciBrunch Therapeutics' preclinical oral molecular glue KRAS G12D (ON) inhibitor, licensed worldwide to Merck in September 2026 for $400 million upfront ($2.13 billion total), with nanomolar potency and colorectal xenograft activity.

Sprain

Sprain: a stretched or torn ligament at a joint, distinct from a strain (muscle or tendon). Common at the ankle and wrist; graded I to III; treated with rest, cold, compression, and functional rehabilitation.

Sprained ankle

Sprained ankle (ankle sprain): ligament injury from excessive stretching, usually lateral, graded 1-3. Treated with bracing, progressive weight bearing, and balance training; functional treatment and short immobilization show similar patient-reported outcomes.

Sprengel deformity

Sprengel deformity, also called congenital high scapula or congenital elevation of the scapula, is a rare birth defect in which the shoulder blade fails to descend, causing elevation, dysplasia, limited shoulder motion, and associations with Klippel-Feil syndrome and scoliosis.

SPUM-ACS study

SPUM-ACS (Special Program University Medicine – Acute Coronary Syndromes, NCT01000701) is a Swiss prospective multicentre cohort of over 7,000 ACS patients at university hospitals, studying inflammation, biomarkers, treatment safety, and mortality prediction.

Spurting

Spurting: present participle of the English verb spurt, to flow out suddenly and forcefully in a stream; verb attested 1560s, of obscure origin; also a medical term for arterial bleeding and a GEMET agricultural term for spray application.

Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) is Russia's two-dose adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccine by the Gamaleya Centre, using rAd26 then rAd5; registered August 2020, 91.6% trial efficacy, used in about 70 countries, never WHO EUL-listed.

Sputum

Sputum (phlegm) is saliva and mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract, used to diagnose TB (smear, culture, Xpert MTB/RIF), pneumonia, and COPD exacerbations; color alone is a weak bacterial marker.

Sputum culture

A sputum culture is a laboratory test that grows mucus coughed up from the lungs to identify bacteria or fungi causing pneumonia, tuberculosis, or bronchiectasis infections.

Sputum cytology

Sputum cytology is a noninvasive, inexpensive diagnostic test that examines cells from coughed-up sputum under the microscope to detect lung cancer, though it is no longer recommended for screening.

SPYK04

SPYK04 is Chugai-discovered oral RAF-MEK molecular glue, a MEK1/2 inhibitor for MAPK-altered solid tumors; Phase I NCT04511845 showed 8.7% ORR, and InxMed licensed it worldwide in 2026.

Squalamine

Squalamine (MSI-1256F, ENT-01, Evizon) is a cationic aminosterol isolated in 1993 from dogfish shark tissue; antimicrobial, antiangiogenic via NHE3 inhibition, trialed in cancer, AMD, and Parkinson's disease.

Squalene synthase deficiency

Squalene synthase deficiency (SQSD, OMIM 618156) is a rare autosomal recessive cholesterol biosynthesis disorder caused by biallelic FDFT1 variants, marked by neonatal seizures, profound developmental delay, and farnesol-derived urine metabolites.

Squamous cell carcinoma of conjunctiva

Squamous cell carcinoma of conjunctiva (CSCC, ICD-11 2D00.2) is the invasive malignant end of ocular surface squamous neoplasia, driven by UV exposure, HIV immunosuppression, and possibly HPV, commonest in Africa, treated by excision, topical chemotherapy, or radiotherapy.

Squamous cell carcinoma of cornea

Squamous cell carcinoma of the cornea is a rare invasive cancer of the corneal surface epithelium, the advanced end of a spectrum called ocular surface squamous neoplasia.

Squamous cell carcinoma of floor of mouth

Squamous cell carcinoma of the floor of mouth (FOM SCC) is a malignancy beneath the tongue, about 10% of oral SCCs. High occult nodal spread (21% stage I), surgery mainstay, 5-year survival 95% to 52% by stage.

Squamous cell carcinoma of middle ear

Squamous cell carcinoma of middle ear (ICD-11 2C21.1), a rare keratinising carcinoma of middle ear epithelium; presents as otorrhea, otalgia, hearing loss; treated by temporal bone resection plus radiotherapy.