| 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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| multiple self-healing squamous epithelioma | <tumour> Multiple skin tumours, most frequently on the head, each resembling a well-differentiated squamous carcinoma or keratoacanthoma; individual tumours resolve spontaneously after several months, leaving deep-pitted scars with irregular crenellated borders, and are usually replaced by additional new tumours; autosomal dominant inheritance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple serositis | Chronic inflammation with effusions in several serous cavities resulting in fibrous thickening of the serosa and constrictive pericarditis. Synonym: Bamberger's disease, Concato's disease, multiple serositis. Origin: poly-+ L. Serum, serum, + G. -itis, inflammation Familial paroxysmal polyserositis, transient recurring attacks of abdominal pain, fever, pleurisy, arthritis, and rash; the condition is asymptomatic between attacks; autosomal recessive inheritance. There is an autosomal dominant recessive in which amyloidosis in common. Synonym: benign paroxysmal peritonitis, familial Mediterranean fever, familial recurrent polyserositis, Mediterranean fever, periodic peritonitis, periodic polyserositis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple sleep latency test | A test of the propensity to fall asleep, done by performing polysomnography during multiple brief opportunities to sleep. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple stain | <technique> A mixture of several dyes each having an independent selective action on one or more portions of the tissue. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple sulfatase deficiency | An inherited disorder (autosomal recessive) in which there is a failure to hydrolyze sulfatides and sulfated mucopolysaccharides; this failure leads to their accumulation in neural and extraneural tissues causing demyelination, sulfatiduria, facial and skeletal dysmorphism, etc. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple symmetric lipomatosis | Accumulation and progressive enlargement of collections of adipose tissue in the subcutaneous tissue of the head, neck, upper trunk, and upper portions of the upper extremities; seen primarily in adult males and of unknown cause. Synonym: Launois-Bensaude syndrome, Madelung's disease, symmetric adenolipomatosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| multiple system atrophy | A name grouping together the four cerebral degenerative diseases of olivopontocerebellar atrophy, shy-drager syndrome, striatonigral degeneration, and one form of parkinson disease, considering them different forms of the same disease process. (12 Dec 1998) |
| multiple trauma | Physical insults or injuries occurring simultaneously in several parts of the body. (12 Dec 1998) |
| multiple vision | polyopia |
| hamartoma syndrome, multiple | A hereditary disease characterised by multiple ectodermal, mesodermal, and endodermal nevoid and neoplastic anomalies. Papules of the face and oral mucosa are the most characteristic lesion. Other changes occur in the skin, in the thyroid, the breast, the gastrointestinal system, and the nervous system. (12 Dec 1998) |
| pregnancy, multiple | The condition of bearing two or more foetuses simultaneously. (12 Dec 1998) |
| hereditary multiple exostoses | A disturbance of enchondral bone growth in which multiple, generally benign osteochondromas of long bones appear during childhood, commonly with shortening of the radius and fibula; the ill-effects are usually mechanical but malignant change is rare; autosomal dominant inheritance. Synonym: diaphysial aclasis, hereditary deforming chondrodystrophy, multiple exostosis, osteochondromatosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| hereditary multiple trichoepithelioma | <tumour> Multiple small benign nodules, occurring mostly on the skin of the face, derived from basal cells of hair follicles enclosing small keratin cysts; frequent autosomal dominant inheritance. Synonym: acanthoma adenoides cysticum, Brooke's tumour, epithelioma adenoides cysticum, hereditary multiple trichoepithelioma. Origin: tricho-+ epithelioma (05 Mar 2000) |
| 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) |