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Dementia Paralytica
General paresis, also known as general paralysis of the insane (GPI), paralytic dementia, or syphilitic paresis is a severe neuropsychiatry, neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as an organic mental disorders, organic mental disorder and is caused by late-stage syphilis and the chronic meningoencephalitis and cerebral atrophy that are associated with this late stage of the disease when left untreated. GPI differs from mere paresis, as mere paresis can result from multiple other causes and usually does not affect cognitive function. Degenerative changes caused by GPI are associated primarily with the frontal and temporal lobar cortex. The disease affects approximately 7% of individuals infected with syphilis, and is far more common in third world countries where fewer options for timely treatment are available. It is more common among men. GPI was originally considered to be a type of madness due to a dissolute character, when first identified in the early 19th century. The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurasthenia
Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after neurologist George Miller Beard reintroduced the concept in 1869. As a Psychopathology, psychopathological term, the first to publish on neurasthenia was Michigan Psychiatrist, alienist E. H. Van Deusen of the Kalamazoo asylum in 1869, followed a few months later by New York neurologist George Beard, also in 1869, to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue (physical), fatigue, anxiety, headache, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, neuralgia, and depression (mood), depressed mood. Van Deusen associated the condition with farm wives made sick by isolation and a lack of engaging activity, while Beard connected the condition to busy society women and overworked busi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebral Atrophy
Cerebral atrophy is a common feature of many of the diseases that affect the brain. Atrophy of any tissue means a decrement in the size of the cell, which can be due to progressive loss of cytoplasmic proteins. In brain tissue, atrophy describes a loss of neurons and the connections between them. Brain atrophy can be classified into two main categories: generalized and focal atrophy. Generalized atrophy occurs across the entire brain whereas focal atrophy affects cells in a specific location. If the cerebral hemispheres (the two lobes of the brain that form the cerebrum) are affected, conscious thought and voluntary processes may be impaired. Some degree of cerebral shrinkage occurs naturally with the dynamic process of aging. Structural changes continue during adulthood as brain shrinkage commences after the age of 35, at a rate of 0.2% per year. The rate of decline is accelerated when individuals reach 70 years old. By the age of 90, the human brain will have experienced a 15% l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myoclonus
Myoclonus is a brief, involuntary, irregular (lacking rhythm) twitching of a muscle or a group of muscles, different from clonus, which is rhythmic or regular. Myoclonus (myo "muscle", clonic "jerk") describes a medical sign and, generally, is not a diagnosis of a disease. These myoclonic twitches, jerks, or seizures are usually caused by sudden muscle contractions (''positive myoclonus'') or brief lapses of contraction (''negative myoclonus''). The most common circumstance under which they occur is while falling asleep (hypnic jerk). Myoclonic jerks occur in healthy people and are experienced occasionally by everyone. However, when they appear with more persistence and become more widespread they can be a sign of various neurological disorders. Hiccups are a kind of myoclonic jerk specifically affecting the diaphragm. When a spasm is caused by another person it is known as a ''provoked spasm''. Shuddering attacks in babies fall in this category. Myoclonic jerks may occ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dysarthria
Dysarthria is a speech sound disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor–speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes. In other words, it is a condition in which problems effectively occur with the muscles that help produce speech, often making it very difficult to pronounce words. It is unrelated to problems with understanding language (that is, dysphasia or aphasia), although a person can have both. Any of the speech subsystems (respiration, phonation, resonance, prosody, and articulation) can be affected, leading to impairments in intelligibility, audibility, naturalness, and efficiency of vocal communication. Dysarthria that has progressed to a total loss of speech is referred to as anarthria. The term ''dysarthria'' is from New Latin, ''dys-'' "dysfunctional, impaired" and ''arthr-'' "joint, vocal articulation". Neurological injury due to damage in the central or peripheral nervous system may result in weakness ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delusion
A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other misleading effects of perception, as individuals with those beliefs ''are'' able to change or readjust their beliefs upon reviewing the evidence. However: "The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity." Delusions have been found to occur in the context of many pathological states (both general physical and mental) and are of particular diagnostic importance in psychosis, psychotic disorders including schizophrenia, paraphrenia, Mania, manic episodes of bipolar disorder, and psychotic depression. Types Delusions are categorized into four d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argyll Robertson Pupil
Argyll Robertson pupils (AR pupils) are bilateral small pupils that reduce in size on a near object (i.e., they accommodate), but do ''not'' constrict when exposed to bright light (i.e., they do not react). They are a highly specific sign of neurosyphilis; however, Argyll Robertson pupils may also be a sign of diabetic neuropathy. In general, pupils that accommodate but do not react are said to show light-near dissociation (i.e., it is the absence of a miotic reaction to light, both direct and consensual, with the preservation of a miotic reaction to near stimulus (accommodation/convergence). AR pupils are extremely uncommon in the developed world. There is continued interest in the underlying pathophysiology, but the scarcity of cases makes ongoing research difficult. Pathophysiology The two different types of near response are caused by different underlying disease processes. ''Adie's pupil'' is caused by damage to ''peripheral'' pathways to the pupil (parasympathetic neuro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apathy
Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical, virtual, or physical life and the world. Apathy can also be defined as a person's lack of goal orientation. Apathy falls in the less extreme spectrum of diminished motivation, with abulia in the middle and akinetic mutism being more extreme than both apathy and abulia.Marin, R. S., & Wilkosz, P. A. (2005)Disorders of diminished motivation. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 20(4), 377-388. The apathetic may lack a sense of purpose, worth, or meaning in their life. People with severe apathy tend to have a lower quality of life and are at a higher risk for mortality and early institutionalization. They may also exhibit insensibility or sluggishness. In positive psycho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Depression (mood)
Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity, which affects more than 280 million people of all ages (about 3.5% of the global population). Classified medically as a mental and behavioral disorder, the experience of depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, motivation, feelings, and sense of well-being. The core symptom of depression is said to be anhedonia, which refers to loss of interest or a loss of feeling of pleasure in certain activities that usually bring joy to people. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments. It may feature sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentration and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping. People experiencing depression may have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mania
Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a mental and behavioral disorder defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together with lability of affect." During a manic episode, an individual will experience rapidly changing emotions and moods, highly influenced by surrounding stimuli. Although mania is often conceived as a "mirror image" to depression, the heightened mood can be either euphoric or dysphoric. As the mania intensifies, irritability can be more pronounced and result in anxiety or anger. The symptoms of mania include elevated mood (either euphoric or irritable), flight of ideas and pressure of speech, increased energy, decreased need and desire for sleep, and hyperactivity. They are most plainly evident in fully developed hypomanic states. However, in full-blown mania, they undergo progressively severe exacerbations and become more and more obscured by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphoria
Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and dancing, can induce a state of euphoria. Euphoria is also a symptom of certain neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders, such as mania. Romantic love and components of the human sexual response cycle are also associated with the induction of euphoria. Certain drugs, many of which are addictive, can cause euphoria, which at least partially motivates their recreational use. Hedonic hotspots – i.e., the pleasure centers of the brain – are functionally linked. Activation of one hotspot results in the recruitment of the others. Inhibition of one hotspot results in the blunting of the effects of activating another hotspot. Therefore, the simultaneous activation of every hedonic hotspot within the reward system is believed to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurasthenia
Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after neurologist George Miller Beard reintroduced the concept in 1869. As a Psychopathology, psychopathological term, the first to publish on neurasthenia was Michigan Psychiatrist, alienist E. H. Van Deusen of the Kalamazoo asylum in 1869, followed a few months later by New York neurologist George Beard, also in 1869, to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue (physical), fatigue, anxiety, headache, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, neuralgia, and depression (mood), depressed mood. Van Deusen associated the condition with farm wives made sick by isolation and a lack of engaging activity, while Beard connected the condition to busy society women and overworked busi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penicillin
Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using deep tank fermentation and then purified. A number of natural penicillins have been discovered, but only two purified compounds are in clinical use: penicillin G (intramuscular or intravenous use) and penicillin V (given by mouth). Penicillins were among the first medications to be effective against many bacterial infections caused by staphylococci and streptococci. They are still widely used today for different bacterial infections, though many types of bacteria have developed resistance following extensive use. 10% of the population claims penicillin allergies but because the frequency of positive skin test results decreases by 10% with each year of avoidance, 90% of these patients can tolerate penicillin. Additionally, those with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
