| complement membrane attack complex | The assembly of complement plasma glycoproteins c5b, c6, c7, c8, and polymeric c9 as a group on biological membranes. The complex forms transmembrane channels which displace lipid molecules and other constituents, thus disrupting the phospholipid bilayer of target cells leading to cell lysis by osmotic leakage. The formation of the membrane attack complex is the terminal step in the complement cascade. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| heart attack | This refers to that damage that occurs to the heart when one of the coronary arteries becomes occluded. Common symptoms include crushing, substernal chest pain that may radiate to the jaw or the left arm, accompanied by nausea, sweating and shortness of breath. Fainting is a more uncommon presentation. (27 Sep 1997) |
| salaam attack | In infants, a drop of the head on the chest due to loss of tone in the neck muscles as in epilepsia nutans, or to tonic spasm of anterior neck muscles as in West's syndrome, in adults, a nodding of the head from clonic spasm's of the sternomastoid muscles. Synonym: salaam attack, salaam spasm, spasmus nutans. (05 Mar 2000) |
| transient ischaemic attack | A transient ischaemic attack is a temporary paralysis, numbness, speech difficulty or other neurologic symptoms that start suddenly and recovers within 24 hours (typically resolve over several hours). See: neurologic symptoms, stroke. Acronym: TIA (26 Mar 1998) |
| transient ischemic attack | A sudden focal loss of neurological function with complete recovery usually within 24 hours; caused by a brief period of inadequate perfusion in a portion of the territory of the carotid or vertebral basilar arteries. (05 Mar 2000) |