Life and health

Spiranthes

Spiranthes (ladies'-tresses) is a genus of about 44 accepted terrestrial orchid species with small white to pink flowers spirally arranged on a spike; centered in North America, dispersed to Eurasia about 7 million years ago, and prone to hybrid speciation.

Spirapril

Spirapril (Renormax, SCH-33844) is a non-sulfhydryl ACE inhibitor prodrug hydrolyzed to active spiraprilat; 50% oral bioavailability, dual renal-hepatic elimination, 6 mg once daily for hypertension; FDA-approved 1994, discontinued in North America.

SPIRE2 trial

SPIRE2 (Supporting Practices In Respecting Elders Phase 2) is a cluster-randomized clinical trial comparing the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit alone with a GRACE-augmented version in older adults with complex health needs.

Spirifer

Spirifer is an extinct Paleozoic brachiopod genus (Sowerby, 1818), type genus of Spiriferidae, order Spiriferida, with winged strophic shells, sulcus and fold, and spiral lophophore supports (spiralia).

Spiriferina

Spiriferina is an extinct genus of spire-bearing brachiopods in the order Spiriferinida, named by d'Orbigny in 1847 with type species Spirifer walcotti; its fossils range from the Silurian to the Jurassic across Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Spirillum

Spirillum is a genus of gram-negative, spiral-shaped bacteria living in stagnant freshwater, named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1832 with Spirillum volutans as its type species.

SPIRIT II trial

SPIRIT II trial: 300-patient randomized trial (Serruys, EuroIntervention 2006) comparing the XIENCE V everolimus-eluting stent with the TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stent in Europe and Asia Pacific; EES cut in-stent late loss at 180 days (0.11 vs 0.36 mm, p<0.0001) with favorable 5-year safety.

SPIRIT-P1 trial

SPIRIT-P1 (NCT01695239) is Eli Lilly's phase III trial of ixekizumab, an IL-17A antibody, in biologic-naive active psoriatic arthritis; 417 patients, adalimumab reference, 156-week efficacy and safety follow-up.

Spiritual Therapies

Spiritual therapies are mystical, religious, or spiritual practices performed for health benefit, including prayer, faith healing, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, meditation, and yoga; randomized trial evidence is mixed with very low certainty.

Spirobranchus giganteus

Spirobranchus giganteus, the Christmas tree worm (spiral-gilled tubeworm), is a colorful serpulid polychaete symbiotic with reef corals; now restricted by WoRMS to Caribbean specimens after the old circumtropical species was split into complexes.

Spirochaeta

Spirochaeta: free-living, non-pathogenic helical bacteria genus (Ehrenberg 1835, type species S. plicatilis) in Spirochaetaceae, found in sulfide-rich mud and sewage; several species reclassified into Treponema and Sphaerochaeta.

Spirochaete

Spirochaetes (phylum Spirochaetota) are spiral Gram-negative bacteria with periplasmic endoflagella, including the agents of syphilis, Lyme disease, and leptospirosis; taxonomy revised into four orders and five families.

Spirodela

Spirodela (giant duckweed) is a genus of four free-floating aquatic plants in Araceae, Lemnoideae, the most ancestral duckweed genus, used in wastewater phytoremediation and genomics, with Spirodela polyrhiza the type species.

Spirodiclofen

Spirodiclofen (Envidor, BAJ 2740), a tetronic acid acaricide and insecticide, IRAC Group 23 acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitor introduced by Bayer in 2003; EU approval expired 2020, resistance documented in citrus mites.

Spirogyra

Spirogyra is a genus of unbranched filamentous freshwater green algae (Zygnemataceae) with spiral ribbon chloroplasts, reproducing by conjugation; 400-plus species, closest algal relatives of land plants, also called pond silk.

Spiromesifen

Spiromesifen (CAS 283594-90-1, Oberon, Interrupt) is a spirocyclic tetronic acid, IRAC Group 23 insecticide-acaricide inhibiting acetyl CoA carboxylase lipid synthesis, used against mites and whiteflies; EU approval expired 30 September 2023.

Spirometer

Spirometer: device measuring lung air volume and flow, invented and named by John Hutchinson in 1846, who also coined vital capacity. Central to spirometry for diagnosing asthma and COPD, standardized by ATS/ERS since 1979.

Spirometry

Spirometry is a pulmonary function test measuring how much air a person can exhale and how quickly, widely used to diagnose and monitor lung diseases such as COPD.

SPIROMICS study

SPIROMICS (SubPopulations and InteRmediate Outcome Measures In COPD Study), NCT01969344, is an NHLBI-funded US prospective COPD cohort of about 2,981 participants at twelve centers, identifying COPD subpopulations and biomarkers, with SOURCE, AIR, and HF extensions.

Spironolactone

Spironolactone (Aldactone) is a steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist and potassium-sparing diuretic discovered at Searle in the 1950s, launched 1960, used for edema, hypertension, heart failure, and PCOS, with hyperkalemia and gynecomastia as key risks.

Spiroplasma

Spiroplasma: wall-less helical Mollicutes genus (Saglio et al. 1973, type species S. citri) of insect-transmitted plant pathogens and arthropod symbionts, cultivable, motile by kinking, genomes 780-2,220 kbp.

Spirotetramat

Spirotetramat (Movento) is a Bayer systemic ketoenol insecticide, IRAC Group 23 acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitor, phloem- and xylem-mobile, controlling sucking pests; EU-approved 2014-2024 with known ACC-mutation resistance in Myzus persicae.

Spiroxamine

Spiroxamine (KWG 4168) is a spiroketal-amine, SBI Class II (FRAC 5) systemic fungicide controlling powdery mildew in cereals and grapes; EU-approved since 2012, expiry extended to 31 May 2026.

Spirulina

Spirulina is dried biomass of blue-green cyanobacteria, chiefly Arthrospira platensis, sold as a dietary supplement; it is 65 to 70 percent protein and was historically harvested by the Aztecs.

Spisula solida

Spisula solida, the thick trough shell or solid surf clam (Linnaeus, 1758), a Mactridae bivalve of eastern Atlantic sandy seabeds; thick white shell to 50 mm, suspension feeder, commercially fished in Portugal and Ireland.

Spisula solidissima

Spisula solidissima, the Atlantic surfclam (also hen clam, bar clam, sea clam), is the largest bivalve of the western North Atlantic, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Hatteras, supporting a U.S. ITQ-managed fishery with a 3.4-million-bushel quota and a northward, climate-driven range shift.

Spisula subtruncata

Spisula subtruncata, the cut trough shell or cut surfclam, is a marine bivalve in the trough shell family Mactridae, buried in silty or muddy sand from Norway to the Mediterranean.

Spiticeras

Spiticeras (Uhlig, 1903) is an extinct Tithonian–Berriasian ammonoid genus in family Olcostephanidae, type species Ammonites spitiensis Blanford, known from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, including Neuquén Basin species S. acutum and S. hauthali.

Spitting cobra

Spitting cobras, Naja spp. and the rinkhals Hemachatus haemachatus, eject venom at enemies' eyes up to about 2.5 m; spitting evolved three times independently with raised PLA2 venom abundance.