The treatment of a disease or condition by several different means simultaneously or sequentially. Chemoimmunotherapy, RADIOIMMUNOTHERAPY, chemoradiotherapy, cryochemotherapy, and SALVAGE THERAPY are seen most frequently, but their combinations with each other and surgery are also used.
The relating of causes to the effects they produce. Causes are termed necessary when they must always precede an effect and sufficient when they initiate or produce an effect. Any of several factors may be associated with the potential disease causation or outcome, including predisposing factors, enabling factors, precipitating factors, reinforcing factors, and risk factors.
Unexplained symptoms reported by veterans of the Persian Gulf War with Iraq in 1991. The symptoms reported include fatigue, skin rash, muscle and joint pain, headaches, loss of memory, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms, and extreme sensitivity to commonly occurring chemicals. (Nature 1994 May 5;369(6475):8)
A progressive condition usually characterized by combined failure of several organs such as the lungs, liver, kidney, along with some clotting mechanisms, usually postinjury or postoperative.
A dissociative disorder in which the individual adopts two or more distinct personalities. Each personality is a fully integrated and complex unit with memories, behavior patterns and social friendships. Transition from one personality to another is sudden.
An autoimmune disorder mainly affecting young adults and characterized by destruction of myelin in the central nervous system. Pathologic findings include multiple sharply demarcated areas of demyelination throughout the white matter of the central nervous system. Clinical manifestations include visual loss, extra-ocular movement disorders, paresthesias, loss of sensation, weakness, dysarthria, spasticity, ataxia, and bladder dysfunction. The usual pattern is one of recurrent attacks followed by partial recovery (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, RELAPSING-REMITTING), but acute fulminating and chronic progressive forms (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE) also occur. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p903)
A form of multiple sclerosis characterized by a progressive deterioration in neurologic function which is in contrast to the more typical relapsing remitting form. If the clinical course is free of distinct remissions, it is referred to as primary progressive multiple sclerosis. When the progressive decline is punctuated by acute exacerbations, it is referred to as progressive relapsing multiple sclerosis. The term secondary progressive multiple sclerosis is used when relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis evolves into the chronic progressive form. (From Ann Neurol 1994;36 Suppl:S73-S79; Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp903-914)
A form of multiple sclerosis characterized by a progressive deterioration in neurologic function which is in contrast to the more typical relapsing remitting form. If the clinical course is free of distinct remissions, it is referred to as primary progressive multiple sclerosis. When the progressive decline is punctuated by acute exacerbations, it is referred to as progressive relapsing multiple sclerosis. The term secondary progressive multiple sclerosis is used when relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis evolves into the chronic progressive form. (From Ann Neurol 1994;36 Suppl:S73-S79; Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp903-914)
Infections of the brain caused by arthropod-borne viruses (i.e., arboviruses) primarily from the families TOGAVIRIDAE; FLAVIVIRIDAE; BUNYAVIRIDAE; REOVIRIDAE; and RHABDOVIRIDAE. Life cycles of these viruses are characterized by ZOONOSES, with birds and lower mammals serving as intermediate hosts. The virus is transmitted to humans by the bite of mosquitoes (CULICIDAE) or TICKS. Clinical manifestations include fever, headache, alterations of mentation, focal neurologic deficits, and COMA. (From Clin Microbiol Rev 1994 Jan;7(1):89-116; Walton, Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System, 10th ed, p321)
The amount of force generated by MUSCLE CONTRACTION. Muscle strength can be measured during isometric, isotonic, or isokinetic contraction, either manually or using a device such as a MUSCLE STRENGTH DYNAMOMETER.
