sporadic
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Related to sporadic: sporadic disease, sporadic fatal insomnia
sporadic
[spŏ-rad´ik]occurring singly; widely scattered; not epidemic or endemic.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
spo·rad·ic
(spō-rad'ik),1. Denoting a temporal pattern of disease occurrence in an animal or human population in which the disease occurs only rarely and without regularity.
2. In the genetic context, sporadic denotes a singleton or sport. Several quite different and disparate phenomena are covered by this term, including a new mutation; occult nonpaternity; the chance outcome for a recessive trait in two carrier parents with a small family; extreme variability in the expression of a gene; an environmental phenocopy; a multilocal genocopy, etc. No useful properties can be predicated of all members of this class; and the term is notionally useless.
3. Occurring irregularly, haphazardly.
[G. sporadikos, scattered]
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
sporadic
(spə-răd′ĭk, spô-)adj.
1. Occurring at irregular intervals or in isolated or scattered places; having no pattern or order: his sporadic attendance in class; rebels who put up sporadic resistance.
2. Medicine Not epidemic, endemic, or inherited. Used of a disease or condition: Most cancers are sporadic, caused by genetic mutations that are not heritable.
spo·rad′i·cal·ly adv.
spo·rad′i·cal·ness n.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
sporadic
Epidemiology adjective Referring to a noninherited condition that arises rarely in a particular population Genetics adjective Referring to an event attributable to changes in somatic DNA, which may be inherited, but unpredictablyMcGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
spo·rad·ic
(spōr-ad'ik)1. Denoting a temporal pattern of disease occurrence in an animal or human population in which the disease occurs only rarely and without regularity.
See also: endemic, epidemic, epizootic
See also: endemic, epidemic, epizootic
2. Occurring irregularly, haphazardly.
[G. sporadikos, scattered]
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012
sporadic
having a distribution confined to limited and dispersed localities; scattered.Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005
Sporadic
Occurring at random or by chance, and not as a result of a genetically determined, or inherited, trait.
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
spo·rad·ic
(spōr-ad'ik)1. Denoting temporal pattern of disease occurrence in which the disease occurs only rarely and without regularity.
2. Occurring irregularly, haphazardly.
[G. sporadikos, scattered]
Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012