Bilateral Spastic Paraparesis Frequently Asked Questions

What are the causes of spastic paraparesis?
Youth:
· Trauma.
· Multiple sclerosis.
· Friedreich's ataxia.
· HIV.

Adults':
· Multiple sclerosis.
· HIV (Neurology 1989; 39: 892).
· Trauma (motor vehicle or diving accident).
· Spinal cord tumour (meningioma, neuroma).
· Motor neuron disease.
· Syringomyelia.
· Subacute combined degeneration of the cord (associated peripheral neuropathy).
· Tabes dorsalis.
· Transverse myelitis.
· Familial spastic paraplegia.

Elderly:
· Osteoarthritis of the cervical spine.
· Vitamin deficiency.
· Metastatic carcinoma.
· Anterior spinal artery thrombosis.
· Atherosclerosis of spinal cord vasculature

What do you know about transverse myelitic syndrome?
· Causes include: trauma, compression by bony changes or tumour, vascular disease.
· All the tracts of the spinal cord are involved.
· The chief clinical manifestation is spastic or flaccid paralysis.
· The lesion can be incomplete cord compression or total cord transection:

What do you know about hereditary spastic paraplegia?
This is an autosomal dominant condition, first described by Seeligmuller and Strumpell, in which spasticity is more striking than muscular weakness. The age of onset is variable and the condition has a relatively benign course. When the onset is in childhood, there may be shortening of the Achilles tendon, often requiring surgical lengthening. There is usually no sensory disturbance.

What are the clinical features of spinal cord compression from epidural metastasis?
The initial symptom is progressive axial pain, referred or radicular, which may last for days to months. Recumbency frequently aggravates the pain, unlike the pain of degenerative joint disease where it is relieved. Weakness, sensory loss and incon-tinence typically develop after the pain. Once a neurological deficit appears, it can evolve rapidly to paraplegia over a period of hours to days. In suspected cases MR! of the spine must be done by the next day. About 50% of cases in adults arise from breast, lung or prostate cancer. Compression usually occurs in the setting of dis-seminated disease. It is at the thoracic level in 70% of cases, lumbar in 20% and cervical in 10%, and occurs at multiple, non-contiguous levels in less than half of the cases. The tumour usually occupies the anterior or anterolateral spinal canal. CSF findings are non-specific in metastatic epidural compression. The cell count is usually normal, bu! protein levels may be raised because the flow of CSF is impeded. Lumbar puncture has been known to worsen the neurological deficit, presumably due to impaction of the cord.

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20 Most Funny Things to do in the Exams

1. If it is a math/science exam, answer in essay form. If it is long answer/essay form, answer with numbers and symbols. Be creative. Be sure to use plenty of symbols such as Pi.


2. On the answer sheet find a new interesting way to refuse to answer every question. For example: I refuse to answer this question due to the fact that I was absent from the lesson.


3. Run into the exam room looking about frantically. Breathe a sigh of relief. Go to the instructor, say “They’ve found me, I have to leave the country” and run off.

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A Chinese teenager survive after a dreadful accident in which a sword got embedded in his head

Zhang Bin, 15, a Chinese teenager got that ‘once in a life’ moment that phenomenally collared him back from the wide open jaws of death.

He held his share of luck at the right flash to survive after a dreadful accident in which a Japanese style sword got embedded in his head.

The blade ended up 5 cm into Bin's forehead after he and his friends started playing with the toxic weapon.

The 15-year-old had to linger close to four hours before receiving treatment after the first hospital he was hurried to was apparently unable to battle the injury.

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Left coronary artery, the widow maker

The heart pumps blood throughout the body through vessels, but it also has its own circulation system. The blood from these coronary arteries supplies the heart with the energy it needs to contract.

One of these vessels is called the left anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery, or the Widowmaker. This artery supplies a large portion of the heart, particularly the section responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of the body (left ventricle).

The reason it's earned its name is that blockage of this vessel is a serious emergency that requires acting within minutes and happens more often in males. Blockage usually causes the heart to pump irregularly or not at all, placing the entire body at risk.

The most sensitive organ is the brain, which, if not oxygenated properly, begins dying within five minutes.

This was, unfortunately, the cause of death of Tim Russert earlier this year.

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The most iconic component of medical education may be dissection of the cadaver for anatomy

In short, an intact body preserved in formaldehyde is systematically opened to inspect organs, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels, literally from head to toe.

A top concern of the premedical student is contemplating his tolerance of the sometimes gruesome process of dissection. Early in the semester we, too, split off into groups of four for each cadaver and nervously peeked within the black body bags, the pale lifeless body covered by a damp cloth. But it's true, one becomes quickly inured to the frankness with which we (respectfully) explore the body.

Dissection is a long process, taking roughly 3-4 hours three days a week over a dozen weeks, resulting in roughly four hundred hours total. Each day's dissection covers a specific part of the body - we might study the rib cage and the lungs one day and the heart another. Slowly we move throughout the body, placing organs in plastic bags and exposing muscles until what remains is a far cry from the intact human at the beginning of the term.

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Effects of Insomnia On Both Mind and Body

When someone is suffering the effect of insomnia on a consistent basis the well being of both mind and body suffer greatly. The damage caused by sleeplessness extends beyond just feeling tired and sluggish the next day. Real damage can be done if you have a habit of not getting enough rest or if you suffer from chronic insomnia.

Insomnia effects a number of systems within the body and mind. The obvious effect is that it reduces your energy levels and keeps you from performing at your best the next day. However, the effects of lack of sleep are more than that. Sleeplessness sets you up for increased illness. The body recharges more than our energy when we sleep. It recharges the immune system for one. Sleep is when the body helps restore the immune system to full efficiency...the less sleep we get the harder it is for our bodies to fight off germs. It also prevents the body from dealing with illness effectively resulting in illnesses that take longer to get over.

Insomnia effects our body's ability to heal itself. While the body does perform some healing and restorative functions during the day, it is at night that it really gets busy. Sleep allows the body to focus on the task of repair and replacement for cells and tissue that are damaged or need replacement. When we don't sleep we interrupt that process and make it harder for the body to do this repair work.

Another effect of insomnia is dysfunction in the brain. Brain chemicals can get out of balance as the brain often uses sleep as a time to regenerate. People who suffer from insomnia often suffer from depression or stress to begin with, but a lack of sleep can also create an increase in depression and lower our resistance to stress...which in turn produces more insomnia.

Insomnia effects our ability to perform critical tasks such as drive. Each year thousands if not tens of thousands of accidents happen on the road due to driver fatigue or people falling asleep at the wheel. Studies have shown that driving while lacking sleep produces a similar result in the brain as being under the influence. The effect of insomnia also extends to memory. Sleeplessness retards the ability to form and recall items from memory.

Sleeplessness is not something to take lightly. The effect of insomnia is serious both for the person suffering it and for those around them. The cost to society is nearing $100 million annually. Over 80 million people (between 25% and 30% of the US population) struggle with insomnia. This is a societal problem. We need to encourage people to get lasting help. Changes in diet, sleep habits, stress, etc. are important steps in dealing with the problem. Using dietary supplements to help the body get the nutrients and compounds it needs to properly reduce stress and produce sleep can be helpful and less problematic than drugs. However you go about it, addressing insomnia is critical for the long term health of your body and mind.

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Ultrasound scan is one of the safest and most economical means of monitoring your health

This article will provide you with all the information that you need about this non-invasive procedure so that you can make use of this method in caring for your well being.

In order to complete this method, an instrument called a sonography machine is needed. This medical equipment transmits high frequency waves through the stomach so as to see the organs inside the body. Videos and images can then be recorded so that a more detailed diagnosis can be made to identify the problem that a particular patient has.

If an ultrasound test is being requested by a pregnant woman, then there are 3 options to choose from. The procedure can be 4D, 3D or 2D although the 2D scans are no longer being employed much these days because of its limiting features.

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