| acute African sleeping sickness | A disease of humans caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in eastern Africa from Ethiopia and Uganda south to Zimbabwe; it is clinically similar to Gambian trypanosomiasis but of shorter duration and more acute in form; patients suffer repeated episodes of pyrexia, become anaemic, and die commonly from cardiac failure. Synonym: acute African sleeping sickness, acute trypanosomiasis, East African sleeping sickness, East African trypanosomiasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| african sleeping sickness | <infectious disease> A disease affecting humans and other mammals in central Africa that is caused by the parasitic protozoans Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and is transmitted by the tsetse fly. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, vomiting, pain in the extremities, lymph gland enlargement, anaemia, depression, fatigue, coma, and eventually death if left untreated. The trypanosome is able to evade the host's immune system by frequently changing the proteins on its outer surface, by which the immune system identifies intruders. (05 Feb 1998) |
| chronic African sleeping sickness | A chronic disease of humans caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in northern and sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal east to Sudan and Uganda; characterised by splenomegaly, drowsiness, an uncontrollable urge to sleep, and the development of psychotic changes; basal ganglia and cerebellar involvement commonly lead to chorea and athetosis; the terminal phase of the disease is characterised by wasting, anorexia, and emaciation that gradually leads to coma and death, usually from intercurrent infection. Synonym: chronic African sleeping sickness, chronic trypanosomiasis, West African sleeping sickness, West African trypanosomiasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| West African sleeping sickness | A chronic disease of humans caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in northern and sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal east to Sudan and Uganda; characterised by splenomegaly, drowsiness, an uncontrollable urge to sleep, and the development of psychotic changes; basal ganglia and cerebellar involvement commonly lead to chorea and athetosis; the terminal phase of the disease is characterised by wasting, anorexia, and emaciation that gradually leads to coma and death, usually from intercurrent infection. Synonym: chronic African sleeping sickness, chronic trypanosomiasis, West African sleeping sickness, West African trypanosomiasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sleeping | From Sleep. Sleeping car, a railway car or carrriage, arranged with apartments and berths for sleeping. Sleeping partner, a dormant partner. See Dormant. <chemical> Sleeping table, a stationary inclined platform on which pulverized ore is washed; a kind of buddle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sleeping pill | <pharmacology> Sedative medications used to promote sleep. The benzodiazepines and barbiturates are commonly used. Examples include: diazepam, flurazepam, triazolam, chlordiazepoxide, secobarbital, amobarbital, talbutal and pentobarbital. (27 Sep 1997) |
| sleeping sickness | <protozoa> Genus of Protozoa that causes serious infections in humans and domestic animals. African trypanosomes, of the brucei group, are carried by Tsetse flies and, when they enter the bloodstream of the mammalian host go through a complex series of stages. Perhaps the most interesting feature is that there are recurrent bouts of parasitaemia as the parasite alters its surface antigens to evade the immune response of the host (see antigenic variation). The repertoire of antigenic variation is considerable. The s.American trypanosomes (of which T. Cruzi is the best known) are carried by reduviid bugs and cause a chronic and incurable disease. Other interesting features of trypansomes are the kinetoplast DNA and glycosomes (organelles containing enzymes of the glycolytic chain). (18 Nov 1997) |
| East African sleeping sickness | A disease of humans caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense in eastern Africa from Ethiopia and Uganda south to Zimbabwe; it is clinically similar to Gambian trypanosomiasis but of shorter duration and more acute in form; patients suffer repeated episodes of pyrexia, become anaemic, and die commonly from cardiac failure. Synonym: acute African sleeping sickness, acute trypanosomiasis, East African sleeping sickness, East African trypanosomiasis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| abstracting and indexing | Shortening or summarizing of documents; assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| academies and institutes | Organizations representing specialised fields which are accepted as authoritative; may be non-governmental, university or an independent research organization, e.g., national academy of sciences, brookings institution, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accounts payable and receivable | Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| aged, 80 and over | A person 80 years of age and older. (12 Dec 1998) |
| algae and fungi | Algae represent a group of spore-propagating plants, unicellular or undifferentiated into root, stem, and leaf. They include seaweed and many unicellular fresh water plants, most of which contain chlorophyll. They account for about 90% of the earth's photosynthetic activity. Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live as saprobes or parasites and include mushrooms, yeasts, smuts, molds, etc. They lack chlorophyll. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl and aryl transferases | <enzyme> A somewhat heterogeneous class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of alkyl or related groups (excluding methyl groups). Registry number: EC 2.5 (12 Dec 1998) |
| allergy and immunology | A medical specialty concerned with the hypersensitivity of the individual to foreign substances and protection from the resultant infection or disorder. (12 Dec 1998) |