Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Double-blind clinical study
A study in which none of the participants, including experimental subjects, examining doctors, attending nurses, or any other research staff, know who is taking the test drug and who is taking a control or placebo agent. The purpose of this research design is to avoid inadvertent bias of the test results. In all studies, procedures…
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Combined dysfunction
A type of neurogenic bladder dysfunction in MS (also called detrusor-external sphincter dyssynergia [DESD]). Simultaneous contractions of the bladder’s detrusor muscle and external sphincter cause urine to be trapped in the bladder, resulting in symptoms of urinary urgency, hesitancy, dribbling, and incontinence.
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Cognitive impairment
Changes in cognitive function caused by trauma or disease process. Some degree of cognitive impairment occurs in approximately 50-60 percent of people with MS, with memory, information processing, and executive functions being the most commonly affected functions.
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Clinically isolated syndrome
A first neurologic event that is suggestive of demyelination, accompanied by multiple, clinically “silent” (asymptomatic) lesions on MRI that are typical of MS. Individuals with this syndrome are at high risk for developing clinically definite MS.
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Clinical finding
An observation made during a medical examination indicating change or impairment in a physical or mental function.
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Blinding
An attempt to eliminate bias in the interpretation of clinical trial outcomes. It indicates that at least one party involved in the clinical trial is unaware of which patients are receiving the experimental treatment and which are receiving the control substance. Trials may be either single blind (patients do not know which treatment they are…
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Axonal damage
Injury to the axon in the nervous system, generally as a consequence of trauma or disease. This damage may involve temporary, reversible effects or permanent severing of the axon. Axonal damage usually results in short-term changes in nervous system activity, or permanent inability of nerve fibers to send their signals from one part of the…
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Assistive devices
Any tools that are designed, fabricated, and/or adapted to assist a person in performing a particular task (e.g., cane, walker, shower chair).
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Afferent pupillary defect
An abnormal reflex response to light that is a sign of nerve fiber damage due to optic neuritis. A pupil normally gets smaller when a light is shined either into that eye (direct response) or the other eye (indirect response). In an afferent pupillary defect (also called Marcus Gunn pupil), there is a relative decrease…
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Affective release
Also called pseudo-bulbar affect or pathological laughing and crying; a condition in which episodes of laughing and/or crying occur with no apparent precipitating event. The person’s actual mood may be unrelated to the emotion being expressed. This condition is thought to be caused by lesions in the limbic system, a group of brain structures involved…
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