| 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) |
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| psychotherapy, multiple | The use of more than one therapist at one time in individual or group psychotherapy. (12 Dec 1998) |
| neoplasms, multiple primary | Two or more abnormal growths of tissue occurring simultaneously. The neoplasms are histologically different and may be found in the same or different sites. (12 Dec 1998) |
| drug resistance, multiple | Simultaneous resistance to a broad spectrum of structurally and functionally distinct drugs following exposure to a single agent. It is thought to result from the overexpression of genes encoding an integral plasma membrane protein, p-glycoprotein. (12 Dec 1998) |
| exostoses, multiple hereditary | Hereditary disorder transmitted by an autosomal dominant gene and characterised by multiple exostoses (multiple osteochondromas) near the ends of long bones. The genetic abnormality results in a defect in the osteoclastic activity at the metaphyseal ends of the bone during the remodeling process in childhood or early adolescence. The metaphyses develop benign, bony outgrowths often capped by cartilage. A small number undergo neoplastic transformation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| familial multiple endocrine adenomatosis | The presence of functioning tumours in more than one endocrine gland, commonly the pancreatic islets and parathyroid glands, which may be associated with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome; dominant inheritance. Synonym: multiple endocrine adenomatosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| law of multiple proportions | The relative weights in which two substances form a chemical union singly with a third are the same as, or simple multiples of, those in which they unite with each other; a corollary of the law of definite proportions. Synonym: law of multiple proportions. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lipomatosis, multiple symmetrical | Multiple circumscribed or encapsulated lipomas which may be distributed symmetrically or haphazardly or which may form a collar around the neck. (12 Dec 1998) |
| anterior auricular branches of superficial temporal artery | <anatomy, artery> Distribution, auricle, earlobe and external acoustic meatus. Synonym: rami auriculares anteriores arteriae temporalis superficialis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anterior superficial cervical lymph nodes | The lymph nodes in the subcutaneous tissue of the anterior region of the neck. Synonym: nodi lymphatici cervicales anteriores superficiales. (05 Mar 2000) |
| parietal branch of superficial temporal artery | <anatomy, artery> Branches coursing in relationship to and/or supplying the parietal lobe of the brain. Synonym: ramus parietalis arteriae temporalis superficialis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| medial crus of the superficial inguinal ring | Portion of the external oblique aponeurosis which passes medial to the superficial inguinal ring forming the medial boundary of the ring. Synonym: crus mediale annuli inguinalis superficialis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| membranous layer of superficial fascia | The membranous layer of the subcutaneous tissue in the urogenital region attaching posteriorly to the border of the urogenital diaphragm, at the sides to the ischiopubic rami, and continuing anteriorly onto the abdominal wall. Synonym: fascia perinei superficialis, Colles' fascia, Cruveilhier's fascia, membranous layer of superficial fascia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| greater superficial petrosal nerve | <anatomy, nerve> The parasympathetic root of the pterygopalatine ganglion; a branch from the genu of the facial nerve exiting via the hiatus of the facial canal and running in a groove on the anterior surface of the petrous part of the temporal bone beside the foramen lacerum to join the deep petrosal nerve, thus forming the nerve of the pterygoid canal, which passes through the pterygoid canal to reach the pterygopalatine ganglion. Synonym: nervus petrosus major, greater petrosal nerve. (05 Mar 2000) |
| polymorphic superficial keratitis | Epithelial degeneration occurring in starvation. (05 Mar 2000) |