Vocab 5

Question 1

• Afferent

Answer 1

toward the center; e.g. , afferent nerves carry impulses toward the central nervous system.

Question 2

Amnesia

Answer 2

Loss of memory

Question 3

• Anencephaly

Answer 3

congenital condition where most of the brain and skull are absent.

Question 4

• Anomalies

Answer 4

• an abnormal structure, often congenital

Question 5

• Aphasia

Answer 5

loss of the ability to communicate, speak coherently, or understand speech

Question 6

• Athetoid

Answer 6

involuntary writhing movement of limbs and body.

Question 7

Atresia

Answer 7

blind-end to a tube; loss of the lumen.

Question 8

Aura

Answer 8

a sensation, e.g., visual or auditory, usually preceding a seizure or migraine headache

Question 9

Bifurcation

Answer 9

the division of a tube or vessel into two channels or branches.

Question 10

Choreiform

Answer 10

repetitive and rapid, jerky, involuntary movement that appears to be well-coordinated; often seen in Huntington’s disease.

Question 11

CLonic

Answer 11

consisting of rapid, alternating contraction and relaxation of skeletal muscle.

Question 12

Cognitive

Answer 12

intellectual abilities, e.g., memory, thinking, problem solving, judgment, initiative.

Question 13

Coma

Answer 13

unconscious state; person cannot be aroused.

Question 14

Contralateral

Answer 14

opposite side of the body.

Question 15

Disorientation

Answer 15

mental confusion with inadequate or incorrect awareness of time, place, and person.

Question 16

Efferent

Answer 16

moving away from the center; e.g., efferent nerve fibers carry motor impulses to muscles.

Question 17

Fissure

Answer 17

a crack or split in the surface of skin or mucous membrane.

Question 18

Flaccid

Answer 18

Absent of tone in the muscles

Question 19

Foramina

Answer 19

Openings

Question 20

Fulminant

Answer 20

rapid, severe, uncontrolled progress of a disease or infection.

Question 21

Ganglion

Answer 21

a collection of nerve cell bodies, usually outside the central nervous system.

Question 22

Gyri

Answer 22

a ridge or fold between two clefts on the cerebral surface in the brain.

Question 23

Hyperreflexia

Answer 23

excessive reflex response

Question 24

Infratentorial

Answer 24

a lesion located in the brain stem, or below the tentorium

Question 25

Ipsilateral

Answer 25

same side of the body

Question 26

• Labile-

Answer 26

Unstable, changing

Question 27

Nuchal rigidity

Answer 27

a stiff neck, often associated with meningitis or brain hemorrhage.

Question 28

Paralysis

Answer 28

elevations on the outer surface of the cerebral hemispheres.

Question 29

Paresis

Answer 29

Muscle weakness or mild paralysis

Question 30

Paresthesia

Answer 30

Abnormal sensations

Question 31

Photophobia

Answer 31

increased sensitivity of the eyes to light.

Question 32

Postical

Answer 32

the person is confused and fatigued, with aching muscles, and falls into a deep sleep.

Question 33

Precursor

Answer 33

a substance that can be used to form other materials

Question 34

Pressoreceptors

Answer 34

also called baroreceptors; includes the carotid sinus.

Question 35

Prodromal

Answer 35

the initial period in the development of disease before acute symptoms occur.

Question 36

Ptosis

Answer 36

drooping eyelid

Question 37

Retina

Answer 37

a layer at the back of the eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to light and that trigger nerve impulses that pass via the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is formed.

Question 38

Scotoma

Answer 38

A defect in the visual field

Question 39

Spastic

Answer 39

related to or affected by a muscle spasm; a person with cerebral palsy.

Question 40

Stupor

Answer 40

a state of extreme lethargy, unawareness, and unresponsiveness.

Question 41

Sulcus, sulci

Answer 41

Separated by the gyro by grooves

Question 42

Supratentorial

Answer 42

• lesions that occur in the cerebral hemispheres above the tentorium cerebelli.

Question 43

Sutures

Answer 43

connects the cranial and facial bones; they are relatively immovable joints consisting of fibrous tissue.

Question 44

Tetraplegia

Answer 44

paralysis of all four extremities.

Question 45

Tonic

Answer 45

muscle contraction resulting briefly in flexion, is followed by extension of the limbs and rigidity in the trunk (ictal phase).

Question 46

• Transillumination-

Answer 46

the passage of light through a structure to determine if an abnormality is present.