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Opisthotonus
Opisthotonus or opisthotonos (from grc, ὄπισθεν, translit=opisthen, lit=behind and grc, τόνος, translit=tonos, lit=tension, label=none) is a state of severe hyperextension and spasticity in which an individual's head, neck and spinal column enter into a complete "bridging" or "arching" position. This extreme arched pose is an extrapyramidal effect and is caused by spasm of the axial muscles along the spinal column. It has been shown to occur naturally in birds, snakes suffering from advanced boid inclusion body disease, and placental mammals, among existing animals; it is observed in some articulated dinosaur fossils. Causes Opisthotonus is a symptom of some cases of severe cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury or as a result of the severe muscular spasms associated with tetanus. It can be a feature of severe acute hydrocephalus, poisoning, and drowning. Infants Opisthotonus is more pronounced in infants. Opisthotonus in the neonate may be a symptom of mening ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maple Syrup Urine Disease
Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting branched-chain amino acids. It is one type of organic acidemia. The condition gets its name from the distinctive sweet odor of affected infants' urine and earwax, particularly prior to diagnosis and during times of acute illness. Signs and symptoms The disease is named for the presence of sweet-smelling urine, similar to maple syrup, when the person goes into metabolic crisis. The smell is also detected in ear wax of an affected individual during metabolic crisis. In populations to whom maple syrup is unfamiliar, the aroma can be likened to fenugreek, and fenugreek ingestion may impart the aroma to urine. Symptoms of MSUD varies between patients and is greatly related to the amount of residual enzyme activity. Classic MSUD Infants with classic MSUD will display subtle symptoms within the first 24–48 hours. Subtle symptoms include poor feeding, either bottle or breast, lethargy, and irrita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetanus
Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually lasts a few minutes. Spasms occur frequently for three to four weeks. Some spasms may be severe enough to fracture bones. Other symptoms of tetanus may include fever, sweating, headache, trouble swallowing, high blood pressure, and a fast heart rate. Onset of symptoms is typically three to twenty-one days following infection. Recovery may take months. About ten percent of cases prove to be fatal. ''C. tetani'' is commonly found in soil, saliva, dust, and manure. The bacteria generally enter through a break in the skin such as a cut or puncture wound by a contaminated object. They produce toxins that interfere with normal muscle contractions. Diagnosis is based on the presenting signs and symptoms. The disease does not spread between pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abnormal Posturing
Abnormal posturing is an involuntary flexion or extension of the arms and legs, indicating severe brain injury. It occurs when one set of muscles becomes incapacitated while the opposing set is not, and an external stimulus such as pain causes the working set of muscles to contract.AllRefer.com. 200"Decorticate Posture". Retrieved January 15, 2007. The posturing may also occur without a stimulus.WrongDiagnosis.com(Alarming Signs and Symptoms: Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice Series). Retrieved on September 15, 2007. Since posturing is an important indicator of the amount of damage that has occurred to the brain, it is used by medical professionals to measure the severity of a coma with the Glasgow Coma Scale (for adults) and the Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (for infants). The presence of abnormal posturing indicates a severe medical emergency requiring immediate medical attention. Decerebrate and decorticate posturing are strongly associated with poor outcome in a variety ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abnormal Posturing
Abnormal posturing is an involuntary flexion or extension of the arms and legs, indicating severe brain injury. It occurs when one set of muscles becomes incapacitated while the opposing set is not, and an external stimulus such as pain causes the working set of muscles to contract.AllRefer.com. 200"Decorticate Posture". Retrieved January 15, 2007. The posturing may also occur without a stimulus.WrongDiagnosis.com(Alarming Signs and Symptoms: Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice Series). Retrieved on September 15, 2007. Since posturing is an important indicator of the amount of damage that has occurred to the brain, it is used by medical professionals to measure the severity of a coma with the Glasgow Coma Scale (for adults) and the Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (for infants). The presence of abnormal posturing indicates a severe medical emergency requiring immediate medical attention. Decerebrate and decorticate posturing are strongly associated with poor outcome in a variety ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kernicterus
Kernicterus is a bilirubin-induced brain dysfunction. The term was coined in 1904 by Christian Georg Schmorl. Bilirubin is a naturally occurring substance in the body of humans and many other animals, but it is neurotoxic when its concentration in the blood is too high, a condition known as hyperbilirubinemia. Hyperbilirubinemia may cause bilirubin to accumulate in the grey matter of the central nervous system, potentially causing irreversible neurological damage. Depending on the level of exposure, the effects range from clinically unnoticeable to severe brain damage and even death. When hyperbilirubinemia increases past a mild level, it leads to jaundice, raising the risk of progressing to kernicterus. When this happens in adults, it is usually because of liver problems. Newborns are especially vulnerable to hyperbilirubinemia-induced neurological damage, because in the earliest days of life, the still-developing liver is heavily exercised by the breakdown of fetal hemoglobin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensation, vision, hearing, and speaking. Often, babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children of their age. Other symptoms include seizures and problems with thinking or reasoning, which each occur in about one-third of people with CP. While symptoms may get more noticeable over the first few years of life, underlying problems do not worsen over time. Cerebral palsy is caused by abnormal development or damage to the parts of the brain that control movement, balance, and posture. Most often, the problems occur during pregnancy, but they may also occur during childbirth or shortly after birth. Often, the cause is unknown. Risk factors include preterm birth, being a twin, certain infections during pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phenothiazine
Phenothiazine, abbreviated PTZ, is an organic compound that has the formula S(C6H4)2NH and is related to the thiazine-class of heterocyclic compounds. Derivatives of phenothiazine are highly bioactive and have widespread use and rich history. The derivatives chlorpromazine and promethazine revolutionized the fields of psychiatry and allergy treatment, respectively. An earlier derivative, methylene blue, was one of the first antimalarial drugs, and derivatives are under investigation as possible anti-infective drugs. Phenothiazine is a prototypical pharmaceutical lead structure in medicinal chemistry. Uses Phenothiazine itself is only of theoretical interest, but its derivatives revolutionized psychiatry, other fields of medicine, and pest management. Other derivatives have been studied for possible use in advanced batteries and fuel cells. Phenothiazine-derived drugs In 1876, methylene blue, a derivative of phenothiazine, was synthesized by Heinrich Caro at BASF. The str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithium Pharmacology
Certain lithium compounds, also known as lithium salts, are used as psychiatric medication, primarily for bipolar disorder and for major depressive disorder. In these disorders, it sometimes reduces the risk of suicide. Lithium is taken orally. Common side effects include increased urination, shakiness of the hands, and increased thirst. Serious side effects include hypothyroidism, diabetes insipidus, and lithium toxicity. Blood level monitoring is recommended to decrease the risk of potential toxicity. If levels become too high, diarrhea, vomiting, poor coordination, sleepiness, and ringing in the ears may occur. Lithium is teratogenic, especially during the first trimester of pregnancy and at higher dosages. The use of lithium while breastfeeding is controversial; however, many international health authorities advise against it, and the long-term outcomes of perinatal lithium exposure have not been studied. The American Academy of Pediatrics lists lithium as contraindicate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandifer Syndrome
Sandifer syndrome (or Sandifer's syndrome) is an eponymous paediatric medical disorder, characterised by gastrointestinal symptoms and associated neurological features. There is a significant correlation between the syndrome and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD); however, it is estimated to occur in less than 1% of children with reflux. Symptoms and signs Onset is usually confined to infancy and early childhood, with peak prevalence at 18–36 months. In rare cases, particularly where the child is severely mentally impaired, onset may extend to adolescence. The classical symptoms of the syndrome are spasmodic torticollis and dystonia. Nodding and rotation of the head, neck extension, gurgling, writhing movements of the limbs, and severe |
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with loss of consciousness ( tonic-clonic seizure), to shaking movements involving only part of the body with variable levels of consciousness (focal seizure), to a subtle momentary loss of awareness ( absence seizure). Most of the time these episodes last less than two minutes and it takes some time to return to normal. Loss of bladder control may occur. Seizures may be provoked and unprovoked. Provoked seizures are due to a temporary event such as low blood sugar, alcohol withdrawal, abusing alcohol together with prescription medication, low blood sodium, fever, brain infection, or concussion. Unprovoked seizures occur without a known or fixable cause such that ongoing seizures are likely. Unprovoked seizures may be exacerbated by stress or sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speech Production
Speech production is the process by which thoughts are translated into speech. This includes the selection of words, the organization of relevant grammatical forms, and then the articulation of the resulting sounds by the motor system using the vocal apparatus. Speech production can be spontaneous such as when a person creates the words of a conversation, reactive such as when they name a picture or read aloud a written word, or imitative, such as in speech repetition. Speech production is not the same as language production since language can also be produced manually by signs. In ordinary fluent conversation people pronounce roughly four syllables, ten or twelve phonemes and two to three words out of their vocabulary (that can contain 10 to 100 thousand words) each second. Errors in speech production are relatively rare occurring at a rate of about once in every 900 words in spontaneous speech. Words that are commonly spoken or learned early in life or easily imagined are quick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or altered consciousness, nausea, vomiting, and an inability to tolerate light or loud noises. Young children often exhibit only nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability, drowsiness, or poor feeding. A non-blanching rash (a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it) may also be present. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms. Non-infectious causes include malignancy (cancer), subarachnoid haemorrhage, chronic inflammatory disease (sarcoidosis) and certain drugs. Meningitis can be life-threatening because of the inflammation's proximity to the brain and spinal cord; therefore, the condition is classified as a medical emergency. A lumbar puncture, in which a needle is inserte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
