Mannitol

Mannitol, also known as mannite or manna sugar, is a white, crystalline solid that looks and tastes sweet like sucrose. Medically it is used to treat increased intracranial pressure. It also has several industrial uses. In plants its purpose is to alleviate osmotic stress.

Serious side effects may include worsening heart failure, electrolyte abnormalities, or low blood volume. It is unclear if it is safe in pregnancy. Mannitol is classified as a sugar alcohol; that is, it is derived from a sugar (mannose) by reduction. Other sugar alcohols include xylitol and sorbitol. Mannitol and sorbitol are isomers, the only difference being the orientation of the hydroxyl group on carbon 2.

It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system. It was originally isolated from the flowering ash and called manna after its resemblance to the Biblical food.

Uses

Medical uses

Mannitol is used to reduce acutely raised intracranial pressure until more definitive treatment can be applied, e.g., after head trauma.

Software development process

In software engineering, a software development methodology (also known as a system development methodology, software development life cycle, software development process, software process) is a splitting of software development work into distinct phases (or stages) containing activities with the intent of better planning and management. It is often considered a subset of the systems development life cycle. The methodology may include the pre-definition of specific deliverables and artifacts that are created and completed by a project team to develop or maintain an application.

Common methodologies include waterfall, prototyping, iterative and incremental development, spiral development, rapid application development, extreme programming and various types of agile methodology. Some people consider a life-cycle "model" a more general term for a category of methodologies and a software development "process" a more specific term to refer to a specific process chosen by a specific organization. For example, there are many specific software development processes that fit the spiral life-cycle model.

SDM

SDM may refer to:

Technology

Transportation