Dyskinesias

Front 1

Dyakinesias

Back 1

A group of disorders often involving the basal nuclei in which unwanted, superfluous movements occur. Defects in the basal nuclei may result in brisk, jerky, purposeless movements that resemble fragments of voluntary movements.

Front 2

Sydenham chorea

(also called St. Vitus dance)

Back 2

A disease usually associated with a toxic or an infectious disorder that apparently causes temporary dysfunction of the corpus striatum. It usually affects children.

Front 3

Huntington chorea

Back 3

A dominant hereditary disorder that begins in middle life, causing mental deterioration and progressive degeneration of the corpus striatum in affected individuals.

Front 4

Cerebral palsy

Back 4

A general term referring to defects in motor functions or coordination resulting from several types of brain damage, which may be caused by abnormal brain development or birth-related injury. Some symptoms of cerebral palsy, such as increased muscle tension, are related to basal nuclei dysfunction.

Front 5

Athetosis

(often one of the features of cerebral palsy)

Back 5

Characterized by slow, sinuous, aimless movements. When the face, neck, and tongue muscles are involved, grimacing, protrusion, and writhing of the tongue and difficulty in speaking and swallowing are characteristics.

Front 6

Damage to the subthalamic nucleus can result in:

Hemiballismus

Back 6

An uncontrolled, purposeless, and forceful throwing or flailing of the arm. Forceful twitching of the face and neck may also result from subthalamic nuclear damage.

Front 7

Parkinson disease

Back 7

Characterized by muscular rigidity; loss of facial expression; tremor; a slow, shuffling gait; and general lack of movement--is caused by a dysfunction in the substantia nigra. The disease usually occurs after the age of 55 and is not contagious or inherited.

Front 8

Resting tremor

"pill-rolling"

Back 8

Characteristic of Parkinson disease; it consists of circular movement of the opposed thumb and index fingertips.

Front 9

levodopa (L-dopa)

Back 9

a precursor to dopamine; used to treat Parkinson disease

long term side effects include dyskinesias

Front 10

Sinemet

Back 10

a combination of L-dopa and carbidopa; used to treat Parkinson disease, more effective than L-dopa

Front 11

carbidopa

Back 11

a decarboxylase inhibitor which prevents the breakdown of L-dopa before it can reach the brain

Front 12

Increased muscular rigidity in PD results from:

Back 12

defective inhibition of some of the basal nuclei by the substantia nigra.

Front 13

dopamine

Back 13

an inhibitory neurotransmitter

in PD, the production of it from the substantia nigra is deficient.

Front 14

PD: loss of pigment in the substantia nigra is due to

Back 14

degeneration of its melanin-containing cells

Front 15

ropinirole and pramipexole

Back 15

dopamine agonists

being examined for use in treatment of PD

Front 16

glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)

Back 16

a protein discovered that selectively promotes the survival of dopamine-secreting neurons

Front 17

other treatments of PD:

Back 17

chronic stimulation of the globus pallidus (part of the lentiform nucleus) with an electric pulse generator has shown some success and
transplanting fetal tissues, or stem cells from adult tissues, capable of producing dopamine is also under investigation..

Front 18

cerebellar lesions result in a spectrum of characteristic functional disorders..

Back 18

ataxic movements - jerky
dysmetric movements - overshooting
clumsy alternating movements
nystagmus - constant motion of the eyes

Front 19

cerebellar tremor

Back 19

an intention tremor: the more carefully one tries to control a given movement, the greater the tremor becomes.

Front 20

basal nuclei tremor

Back 20

the resting tremor largely or completely disappears during purposeful movement