Nervous System

Question 1

Affect

Answer 1

A person’s external expression of his/her inner emotional state

Question 2

Afferent pupillary defect (Marcus-Gunn pupil)

Answer 2

Continued pupillary dilation instead of constriction in the eye with a pre-chiasmic optic pathway lesion (optic neuritis) in response to shining a light in the damaged eye after first shining it in the normal eye

Question 3

Agraphia

Answer 3

Loss of ability to express oneself in writing due to a central lesion, or to muscular incoordination

Question 4

Akathisia (acathisia)

Answer 4

Inability to sit down because the thought of doing so causes severe anxiety; patient has a feeling of restlessness and an urgent need of movement and complains of a feeling of muscular quivering

Question 5

Akinesia

Answer 5

Complete or partial loss of muscle movement

Question 6

Antalgic

Answer 6

Refers to a behavior used to limit pain

Question 7

Aphasia

Answer 7

Inability to express oneself properly through speech, or loss of verbal comprehension; it is considered to be complete or total when both sensory and motor areas are involved

Question 8

Ataxia

Answer 8

Impaired ability to coordinate muscular movement usually associated with staggering gait and postural imbalance

Question 9

Athetosis

Answer 9

Slow, twisting, writhing movements, with larger amplitude than chorea, commonly involving the hands

Question 10

Bell palsy

Answer 10

An acute paralysis or weakness of one side of the face that is temporary

Question 11

Cerebral palsy

Answer 11

A general name for a large group of persisting, non-progressive motor disorders appearing in young children and resulting from brain damage caused by birth trauma or intrauterine pathology

Question 12

Chorea

Answer 12

Dance-like, involuntary, rapid movements; can be associated with Huntington disease, rheumatic fever, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other conditions

Question 13

Clonus

Answer 13

Rapidly alternating involuntary contraction and relaxation of skeletal muscles

Question 14

Dementia

Answer 14

Irrecoverable deteriorative mental state, the common end result of many entities; loss of memory and other intellectual functions that is of sufficient severity to interfere with daily functioning

Question 15

Diplopia

Answer 15

Double vision caused by defective function of the extraocular muscles or a disorder of the nerves that innervate the muscles

Question 16

Dysarthria

Answer 16

Defective articulation secondary to a motor deficit involving the lips, tongue, palate, or pharynx; inability to pronounce or articulate words

Question 17

Dysdiadochokinesia

Answer 17

Inability to quickly substitute antagonistic motor impulses to produce antagonistic muscular movements; inability to perform rapid alternating movements (pronation/supination of hands); indicates cerebellar dysfunction

Question 18

Dysesthesia

Answer 18

Sensations, as of the pricks of pins and needles, or crawling

Question 19

Dyskinesia

Answer 19

Defect in voluntary movement; term usually used in relation to various extrapyramidal disorders

Question 20

Dysphasia

Answer 20

Impairment of speech resulting from a brain lesion

Question 21

Dysphonia

Answer 21

Difficulty in speaking; hoarseness; often related to weakness of laryngeal muscles, in which sound production is impaired

Question 22

Dystonia

Answer 22

Impaired or disordered tonicity, especially muscle tone (involuntary muscle spasms)

Question 23

Encephalitis

Answer 23

Acute inflammation of the brain and spinal cord

Question 24

Fasciculations

Answer 24

Localized, uncoordinated twitching of a single muscle group innervated by a single motor nerve filament; visible or palpable (involuntary)

Question 25

Fluent aphasia (Wernicke’s or receptive aphasia)

Answer 25

Fluent, effortless speech; words are malformed, may be totally incomprehensible; can hear words but cannot relate them to previous experiences; impairment of language comprehension including impaired repetition due to lesion of the posterior left superior temporal gyrus

Question 26

Graphesthesia

Answer 26

Ability to recognize symbols, shapes, numbers, and letters traced on the skin

Question 27

Hemianopia

Answer 27

Blindness for half the field of vision in one or both eyes (indicating a pathological process posterior to the optic chiasm)

Question 28

Hemiballismus

Answer 28

Jerking and twitching movements of one side of the body (involuntary violent flinging or jerking of a limb or limbs in an uncoordinated manner caused by a lesion of the contralateral subthalamus)

Question 29

Meningitis

Answer 29

Inflammation of the meninges

Question 30

Multiple sclerosis

Answer 30

Progressive autoimmune disorder which causes a degeneration of the myelin sheath of the brain’s white matter

Question 31

Myelitis

Answer 31

Inflammation of the spinal cord or of bone marrow

Question 32

Myelomeningocele (spina bifida)

Answer 32

Congenital defect of the spine that allows the spinal contents to protrude

Question 33

Myelopathy

Answer 33

Any pathological condition of the spinal cord

Question 34

Myoclonus

Answer 34

Twitching or clonic spasm of a muscle or group of muscles

Question 35

Myopathy

Answer 35

Any disease or abnormal condition of striated muscle (weakness that is usually proximal > distal)

Question 36

Non-fluent aphasia (Broca’s or expressive aphasia)

Answer 36

Cannot express oneself using language; few words; laborious effort; primarily uses nouns and verbs (eat pie, get mail); fair to good word comprehension (due to a lesion of the left inferior frontal lobe)

Question 37

Nuchal rigidity

Answer 37

Stiff neck

Question 38

Paralysis

Answer 38

Temporary suspension or permanent loss of function (especially loss of sensation or voluntary motion)

Question 39

Paresis

Answer 39

Partial or incomplete paralysis

Question 40

Paresthesia

Answer 40

Unusual sensation such as numbness, tingling, or burning

Question 41

Peripheral neuropathy

Answer 41

Condition commonly seen in diabetes of the peripheral nervous system resulting in a decrease in both motor and sensory function

Question 42

Stereognosis

Answer 42

Ability to recognize form of solid objects by touch

Question 43

Stroke (cerebrovascular accident - CVA)

Answer 43

Sudden disruption of blood flow to the brain

Question 44

Tremor

Answer 44

Involuntary movement of a part or parts of the body resulting from alternate contractions of opposite muscles; trembling may be fine or coarse, rapid or slow, may appear on movement (intention tremor) or improve when the part is employed