A structurally and mechanistically diverse group of drugs that are not tricyclics or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The most clinically important appear to act selectively on serotonergic systems, especially by inhibiting serotonin reuptake.
Loss of the ability to comprehend the meaning or recognize the importance of various forms of stimulation that cannot be attributed to impairment of a primary sensory modality. Tactile agnosia is characterized by an inability to perceive the shape and nature of an object by touch alone, despite unimpaired sensation to light touch, position, and other primary sensory modalities.
Acquired or developmental cognitive disorders of AUDITORY PERCEPTION characterized by a reduced ability to perceive information contained in auditory stimuli despite intact auditory pathways. Affected individuals have difficulty with speech perception, sound localization, and comprehending the meaning of inflections of speech.
Electronic hearing devices typically used for patients with normal outer and middle ear function, but defective inner ear function. In the COCHLEA, the hair cells (HAIR CELLS, VESTIBULAR) may be absent or damaged but there are residual nerve fibers. The device electrically stimulates the COCHLEAR NERVE to create sound sensation.
Equipment that provides mentally or physically disabled persons with a means of communication. The aids include display boards, typewriters, cathode ray tubes, computers, and speech synthesizers. The output of such aids includes written words, artificial speech, language signs, Morse code, and pictures.
A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313)
