| multiple sclerosis | <neurology> Neurodegenerative disease characterised by the gradual accumulation of focal plaques of demyelination particularly in the periventricular areas of the brain. Peripheral nerves are not affected. Onset usually in 3rd or 4th decade with intermittent progression over an extended period. Cause still uncertain. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| sclerosis, multiple | The National Multiple Sclerosis Society says of ms that it is a disease that randomly attacks your central nervous system, wearing away the control you have over your body. Symptoms may range from numbness to paralysis and blindness. The progress, severity and specific symptoms cannot be foreseen. You never know when attacks will occur, how long they will last, or how severe they will be. most people are diagnosed with ms between the ages of 20 and 40. In medical terms, ms involves demyelinization of the white matter sometimes extending into the gray matter. Demyelinization is loss of myelin, the coating of nerve fibres composed of lipids (fats) and protein that serves as insulation and permits efficient nerve fibre conduction. The white matter is the part of the brain which contains myelinated nerve fibres and appears white, whereas the gray matter is the cortex of the brain which contains nerve cell bodies and appears gray. When myelin is damaged in ms, nerve fibre conduction is faulty or absent. Impaired bodily functions or altered sensations associated with those demyelinated nerve fibres give rise to the symptoms of ms. Recent research (1998) has also identified nerve cell death as part of the nervous system injury in ms. (12 Dec 1998) |
| veterans disability claims | Disorders claimed as a result of military service. (12 Dec 1998) |
| developmental disability | Loss of function brought on by prenatal and postnatal events in which the predominant disturbance is in the acquisition of cognitive, language, motor, or social skills; e.g., mental retardation, autistic disorder, learning disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| disability | 1. State of being disabled; deprivation or want of ability; absence of competent physical, intellectual, or moral power, means, fitness, and the like. "Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted." (Milton) "Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability." (Bancroft) 2. Want of legal qualification to do a thing; legal incapacity or incompetency. "The disabilities of idiocy, infancy, and coverture." (Abbott) Synonym: Weakness, inability, incompetence, impotence, incapacity, incompetency, disqualification. Disability, Inability. Inability is an inherent want of power to perform the thing in question; disability arises from some deprivation or loss of the needed competency. One who becomes deranged is under a disability of holding his estate; and one who is made a judge, of deciding in his own case. A man may decline an office on account of his inability to discharge its duties; he may refuse to accept a trust or employment on account of some disability prevents him from entering into such engagements. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| disability evaluation | Determination of the degree of a physical, mental, or emotional handicap. The diagnosis is applied to legal qualification for benefits and income under disability insurance and to eligibility for social security and workmen's compensation benefits. (12 Dec 1998) |
| insurance, disability | Insurance designed to compensate persons who lose wages because of illness or injury; insurance providing periodic payments that partially replace lost wages, salary, or other income when the insured is unable to work because of illness, injury, or disease. Individual and group disability insurance are two types of such coverage. (12 Dec 1998) |
| learning disability | A disorder in one or more of the basic cognitive and psychological processes involved in understanding or using written or spoken language; may be manifested in age-related impairment in the ability to read, write, spell, speak, or perform mathematical calculations. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Alzheimer's sclerosis | Hyaline degeneration of the medium and smaller blood vessels of the brain. (05 Mar 2000) |
| amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | A serious neurologic disease that results from the progressive degeneration of the motor neurons. (27 Sep 1997) |
| amyotropic lateral sclerosis | A chronic progressive disease of motor neurons (the nerves that come from the spinal cord to supply electrical energy to the muscles). (12 Dec 1998) |
| arterial sclerosis | <cardiology, disease> Imprecise term for various disorders of arteries, particularly hardening due to fibrosis or calcium deposition, often used as a synonym for atherosclerosis. (17 Oct 1997) |
| arteriocapillary sclerosis | Arteriosclerosis, especially of the finer vessels. (05 Mar 2000) |
| arteriolar sclerosis | <cardiology, disease> Sclerosis and thickening of the walls of the smaller arteries (arterioles). Hyaline arteriolosclerosis, in which there is homogeneous pink hyaline thickening of the arteriolar walls, is associated with benign nephrosclerosis. Hyperplastic arteriolosclerosis, in which there is a concentric thickening with progressive narrowing of the lumina may be associated with malignant hypertension, nephrosclerosis and scleroderma. (17 Oct 1997) |
| bone sclerosis | <medicine> A condition of bone cartilage occurring in certain diseases of these tissues, in which they acquire an unnatural density, and come to resemble ivory. Origin: L. Eburnus of ivory, fr. Ebur ivory: cf. F. Eburnation. See Ivory. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |