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Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
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Counter-jihad or Counterjihad or Counter-jihad movement is a political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by a common belief that the Western world is being subjected to takeover by Muslims. Several academic accounts have presented conspiracy theory as a key component of the counter jihad movement.
While the roots of the movement go back to the 1980s, it did not gain significant momentum until after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the 7 July 2005 London bombings. As far back as 2006, online commentators such as Fjordman were identified as playing a key role in forwarding the nascent counter-jihad ideology. The movement received considerable attention following the 2011 Breivik murders whose manifesto extensively reproduced the writings of prominent counter-jihad bloggers, and following the emergence of prominent street movements such as the English Defence League (EDL). The movement has been variously described as pro-Israel, anti-Islamic, Islamophobic, inciting hatred against Muslims, or far-right.
The movement has adherents both in Europe and in North America, which according to some vary in tone. The European wing is more focused on the alleged cultural threat to European traditions stemming from immigrant Muslim populations, whereas the American wing emphasizes an alleged external threat, essentially terrorist in nature.
The 969 Movement () is a nationalist movement opposed to what they see as Islam’s expansion in predominantly-Buddhist Burma. The three digits of 969 "symbolise the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist community". The first 9 stands for the nine special attributes of the Lord Buddha and the 6 for the six special attributes of his Dharma, or Buddhist Teachings, and the last 9 represents the nine special attributes of Buddhist Sangha (monastic community). Those special attributes are the Three Jewels of the Buddha. In the past, the Buddha, Sangha, Dhamma, the wheel of Dhamma, and "969" were Buddhist signs.
The movement has inspired strong reactions within and beyond Myanmar. In the international media it has received criticism. "The Straits Times" reported that Ashin Wirathu, the movement's leader, responded to recent anti-Muslim violence with pledges to work for peace but critics remain sceptical.
Various media organizations have described the movement as being anti-Muslim or "Islamophobic". The movement's Myanmar Buddhist supporters deny it is anti-Muslim, with Bhikkhu Wirathu stating it is a protective movement about targeting "Bengalis who are terrorizing ethnic Rakhine (Buddhists)". Alex Bookbinder, in "The Atlantic", links the movement's origins in a book written in the late 1990s by Kyaw Lwin, a functionary in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and its precepts are rooted in a traditional belief in numerology. Across South Asia, Muslims represent the phrase "In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful" with the number 786, and businesses display the number to indicate that they are Muslim-owned. 969's proponents see this as a Muslim plot to conquer Burma in the 21st century, based on the premise that 7 plus 8 plus 6 is equal to 21. The number 969 is intended to be 786's cosmological opposite.
In medicine, a stinger, also called a "burner" or "nerve pinch injury", is a neurological injury suffered by athletes, mostly in high-contact sports such as ice hockey, rugby, American football, and wrestling. The spine injury is characterized by a shooting or stinging pain that travels down one arm, followed by numbness and weakness. Many athletes in contact sports have suffered stingers, but they are often unreported to medical professionals.
Anyone who experiences significant trauma to his or her head or neck needs immediate medical evaluation for the possibility of a spinal injury. In fact, it's safest to assume that trauma victims have a spinal injury until proven otherwise because:
- The time between injury and treatment can be critical in determining the extent of complications and the amount of recovery
- A serious spinal injury is not always immediately obvious. If it is not recognized, more severe injury may occur
- Numbness or paralysis may develop immediately or come on gradually as bleeding or swelling occurs in or around the spinal cord
Counter-jihad is a transatlantic "radical right" wing movement which, via "the sharing of ideas between Europeans and Americans and daily linking between blogs and websites on both sides of the Atlantic" "calls for a counterjihad against the supposed Islamisation of Europe".
While the roots of the movement go back to the 1980s, it did not gain significant momentum until after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The authors of "Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse" describe the movement as heavily relying on two key tactics. "The first is arguing that the most radical Muslims – men like Osama bin Laden – are properly interpreting the Quran, while peaceful moderate Muslims either do not understand their own holy book or are strategically faking their moderation. The second key tactic is to relentlessly attack individuals and organizations that purport to represent moderate Islam...painting them as secret operatives in a grand Muslim scheme to destroy the West."
Benjamin Lee describes the "counter-jihad scene" as one where "Europe and the United States are under threat from an aggressive and politicized Islamic world that is attempting to take over Europe through a process of "Islamification" with the eventual aim of imposing Sharia law. In this process, the threat is characterized by the perceived removal of Christian or Jewish symbols, the imposition of Islamic traditions, and the creation of no-go areas for non-Muslims. The construction of mosques in particular is seen as continued reinforcement of the separation of the Muslim population from the wider populous. As strong as the threatening practices of Muslims in descriptions of the counter jihad are images of a powerless Europe in decline and sliding into decadence, unable to resist Islamic takeover. The idea that European culture in particular is in a state of decline, while a spiritually vigorous East represented by Islam is in the ascendancy in civil society, is a common sentiment in some circles."
Two central Counter-jihad themes have been identified:
- the notion that Islam poses a threat to "Western civilisation" with a particular focus on "Muslims living in Europe", that is, within the European Counterjihad Movement (ECJM), "seen predominantly in terms of immigration" particularly Muslim immigration.
- a lack of trust in regional, political and economic "elites", with a particular focus against the European Union (EU).
Tullio phenomenon, sound-induced vertigo, dizziness, nausea or eye movement (nystagmus) was first described in 1929 by the Italian biologist Prof. Pietro Tullio. (1881–1941) During his experiments on pigeons, Tullio discovered that by drilling tiny holes in the semicircular canals of his subjects, he could subsequently cause them balance problems when exposed to sound.
The cause is usually a fistula in the middle or inner ear, allowing abnormal sound-synchronized pressure changes in the balance organs. Such an opening may be caused by a barotrauma (e.g. incurred when diving or flying), or may be a side effect of fenestration surgery, syphilis or Lyme disease.
Patients with this disorder may also experience vertigo, imbalance and eye movement set off by changes in pressure, e.g. when nose-blowing, swallowing or when lifting heavy objects.
Tullio phenomenon is also one of the common symptoms of superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS), first diagnosed in 1998 by Dr. Lloyd B. Minor, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States.
A stinger is an injury that is caused by restriction of the nerve supply to the upper extremity via the brachial plexus. The brachial plexus is formed by the anterior rami of the nerves at the 5th cervical level of the spinal cord all the way to the nerves at the 1st thoracic level of the spinal cord. The brachial plexus innervates the upper extremity as well as some muscles in the neck and shoulder. Damage to the brachial plexus can occur when the nerves are stretched too far from the head and neck; specifically the upper trunk of the plexus –nerve roots at the 5th and 6th cervical level –are primarily affected. The upper trunk provides part of the nerve to supply to the upper extremity via the Musculocutaneous, Axillary, Radial and Median nerves. It is for this reason that stingers do not affect both arms simultaneously, however it is possible for both arms to accrue injuries. Repeated nerve trauma can cause recurring stingers, chronic pain, and muscle weakness, while recovery can take weeks to months in severe cases.
Scoliosis, is a medical condition where a person's spine has several irregular curves that are located between the neck and the pelvis. Symptoms of scoliosis in mild cases usually exhibit abnormal posture, back pain, tingling or numbness in the legs and in worse cases can exhibit breathing problems, fatigue, permanent deformities and in rare cases heart problems.
Classic symptoms of muscle imbalances are usually pain associated with the affected joint. Symptoms can vary depending on what stage their muscular imbalance is, functional or pathological, but commonly exhibit small tissue damage or lesions accompanied by a change in muscle movement patterns. Symptoms may occur after injury or surgery, where the recuperation of the joint affected is left untreated causing either tension or restriction to flexibility and strength of the prime movers.
Karak syndrome is a neurological degenerative disorder involving excess cerebral iron accumulation. The family who the disease was discovered in their siblings lived in Karak, a town in southern Jordan. It is characterized by ataxia, inverted feet (talipes calcaneovarus), dysarthric scanning speech with dystonic features, dystonic movement of the tongue and facial muscles and choreiform movement was present in both upper and lower limbs, being more marked in the lower limbs, along with dystonic posture of the distal feet, bradykinesia
present in both upper and lower limbs, dysmetria, dysdiadochokinesia, and intentional tremor were bilateral and symmetrical.
"Alien behavior" can be distinguished from reflexive behavior in that the former is flexibly purposive while the latter is obligatory. Sometimes the sufferer will not be aware of what the alien hand is doing until it is brought to his or her attention, or until the hand does something that draws their attention to its behavior. There is a clear distinction between the behaviors of the two hands in which the affected hand is viewed as "wayward" and sometimes "disobedient" and generally out of the realm of their own voluntary control, while the unaffected hand is under normal volitional control. At times, particularly in patients who have sustained damage to the corpus callosum that connects the two cerebral hemispheres (see also split-brain), the hands appear to be acting in opposition to each other.
A related syndrome described by the French neurologist François Lhermitte involves the release through disinhibition of a tendency to compulsively utilize objects that present themselves in the surrounding environment around the patient. The behavior of the patient is, in a sense, obligatorily linked to the "affordances" (using terminology introduced by the American ecological psychologist, James J. Gibson) presented by objects that are located within the immediate peri-personal environment.
This condition, termed "utilization behavior", is most often associated with extensive bilateral frontal lobe damage and might actually be thought of as "bilateral" alien hand syndrome in which the patient is compulsively directed by external environmental contingencies (e.g. the presence of a hairbrush on the table in front of them elicits the act of brushing the hair) and has no capacity to "hold back" and inhibit pre-potent motor programs that are obligatorily linked to the presence of specific external objects in the peri-personal space of the patient. When the frontal lobe damage is bilateral and generally more extensive, the patient completely loses the ability to act in a self-directed manner and becomes totally dependent upon the surrounding environmental indicators to guide his behavior in a general social context, a condition referred to as "environmental dependency syndrome".
In order to deal with the alien hand, some patients engage in personification of the affected hand. Usually these names are negative in nature, from mild such as "cheeky" to malicious "monster from the moon". For example, Doody and Jankovic described a patient who named her alien hand "baby Joseph". When the hand engaged in playful, troublesome activities such as pinching her nipples (akin to biting while nursing), she would experience amusement and would instruct baby Joseph to "stop being naughty". Furthermore, Bogen suggested that certain personality characteristics, such as a flamboyant personality, contribute to frequent personification of the affected hand.
Neuroimaging and pathological research shows that the frontal lobe (in the frontal variant) and corpus callosum (in the callosal variant) are the most common anatomical lesions responsible for the alien hand syndrome. These areas are closely linked in terms of motor planning and its final pathways.
The callosal variant includes advanced willed motor acts by the non-dominant hand, where patients frequently exhibit "intermanual conflict" in which one hand acts at cross-purposes with the other "good hand". For example, one patient was observed putting a cigarette into her mouth with her intact, "controlled" hand (her right, dominant hand), following which her alien, non-dominant, left hand came up to grasp the cigarette, pull the cigarette out of her mouth, and toss it away before it could be lit by the controlled, dominant, right hand. The patient then surmised that "I guess 'he' doesn't want me to smoke that cigarette." Another patient was observed to be buttoning up her blouse with her controlled dominant hand while the alien non-dominant hand, at the same time, was unbuttoning her blouse. The frontal variant most often affects the dominant hand, but can affect either hand depending on the lateralization of the damage to medial frontal cortex, and includes grasp reflex, impulsive groping toward objects or/and tonic grasping (i.e. difficulty in releasing grip).
In most cases, classic alien-hand signs derive from damage to the medial frontal cortex, accompanying damage to the corpus callosum. In these patients the main cause of damage is unilateral or bilateral infarction of cortex in the territory supplied by the anterior cerebral artery or associated arteries. Oxygenated blood is supplied by the anterior cerebral artery to most medial portions of the frontal lobes and to the anterior two-thirds of the corpus callosum, and infarction may consequently result in damage to multiple adjacent locations in the brain in the supplied territory. As the medial frontal lobe damage is often linked to lesions of the corpus callosum, frontal variant cases may also present with callosal form signs. Cases of damage restricted to the callosum however, tend not to show frontal alien-hand signs.
Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a condition in which a person experiences their limbs acting seemingly on their own, without control over the actions. The term is used for a variety of clinical conditions and most commonly affects the left hand. There are many similar names used to describe the various forms of the condition but they are often used inappropriately. The afflicted person may sometimes reach for objects and manipulate them without wanting to do so, even to the point of having to use the controllable hand to restrain the alien hand. While under normal circumstances, thought, as intent, and action can be assumed to be deeply mutually entangled, the occurrence of alien hand syndrome can be usefully conceptualized as a phenomenon reflecting a functional "disentanglement" between thought and action.
Alien hand syndrome is best documented in cases where a person has had the two hemispheres of their brain surgically separated, a procedure sometimes used to relieve the symptoms of extreme cases of epilepsy and epileptic psychosis, e.g., temporal lobe epilepsy. It also occurs in some cases after brain surgery, stroke, infection, tumor, aneurysm, migraine and specific degenerative brain conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Other areas of the brain that are associated with alien hand syndrome are the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes.
Most RMD symptoms are relatively passive and do not cause any pain. Many patients are often unaware that an episode is occurring or has occurred. The rhythmic movements may produce some bodily injury via falls or muscle strains, but this is not reported in all patients
. In unique cases, RMD sufferers hum or moan while asleep during an episode. Some patients describe the repetitive movements as relaxing and are only occasionally awakened by an RMD episode. Often, it is the sufferer’s partner or parent who first notes the symptoms. Additionally, it is often the partner or parent who led patients to seek medical attention.
The characteristic symptom of Costeff syndrome is the onset of progressively worsening eyesight caused by degeneration of the optic nerve (optic atrophy) within the first few years of childhood, with the majority of affected individuals also developing motor disabilities later in childhood. Occasionally, people with Costeff syndrome may also experience mild cognitive disability.
It is type of 3-methylglutaconic aciduria, the hallmark of which is an increased level in the urinary concentrations of 3-methylglutaconic acid and 3-methylglutaric acid; this can allow diagnosis as early as at one year of age.
Those with Costeff syndrome typically experience the first symptoms of visual deterioration within the first few years of childhood, which manifests as the onset of progressively decreasing visual acuity. This decrease tends to continue with age, even after childhood.
The majority of people with Costeff syndrome develop movement problems and motor disabilities later in childhood, the two most significant of which are choreoathetosis and spasticity. The former causes involuntary erratic, jerky, and twisting movements (see chorea and athetosis), whereas the latter causes twitches and spastic tendencies.
These two symptoms are often severe enough to seriously disable an individual; among 36 people with Costeff syndrome, 17 experienced major motor disability as a result of choreoathetosis, and 12 experienced spasticity-related symptoms severe enough to do the same.
Ataxia (loss of muscle coordination) and speech impairment caused by dysarthria also occur in roughly 50% of cases, but are rarely seriously disabling.
Some individuals with Costeff disease also display mild cognitive impairment, though such cases are relatively infrequent.
Rhythmic Movement Disorder (or RMD) is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary (however may sometimes be voluntary), repetitive movements of large muscle groups immediately before and during sleep often involving the head and neck. It was independently described first in 1905 by Zappert as jactatio capitis nocturna and by Cruchet as rhythmie du sommeil. The majority of RMD episodes occur during NREM sleep, although REM movements have been reported. RMD is often associated with other psychiatric conditions or mental retardation. The disorder often leads to bodily injury from unwanted movements. Because of these incessant muscle contractions, patients’ sleep patterns are often disrupted. It differs from Restless Legs Syndrome in that RMD involves involuntary muscle contractions before and during sleep while Restless Legs Syndrome is the urge to move before sleep. RMD occurs in both males and females, often during early childhood with symptoms diminishing with age. Many sufferers also have other sleep related disorders, like sleep apnea. The disorder can be differentially diagnosed into small subcategories, including sleep related bruxism, thumb sucking, hypnagonic foot tremor, and rhythmic sucking, to name a few. In order to be considered pathological, the ICSD-II requires that in the sleep-related rhythmic movements should “markedly interfere with normal sleep, cause significant impairment in daytime function, or result in self-inflicted bodily injury that requires medical treatment (or would result in injury if preventive measures were not used)”
Akinetopsia can be separated into two categories based on symptom severity and the amount the akinetopsia affects the patient's quality of life.
Unlike ataxias of cerebellar origin, Bruns apraxia exhibits many frontal lobe ataxia characteristics, with some or all present.
- Difficulty in initiating movement
- Poor truncal mobility
- Falls due to minor balance disturbances
- Greatly hindered postural responses
- Characteristic magnetic gait, the inability to raise one's foot off of the floor.
- Wide base, poor balance control when in stance
- Short stride
- En bloc turns
Often patients with frontal lobe ataxia may experience minute cognitive changes that accompany the gait disturbances, such as frontal dementia and presentation of frontal release signs (Plantar reflex). Urinary incontinence may also be present.
Bruns apraxia can be distinguished from Parkinsonian ataxia and cerebellar ataxia in a number of ways. Patients typically afflicted with Parkinsonian ataxia typically have irregular arm swing, a symptom not typically present in frontal ataxia. Walking stride in cerebellar ataxia varies dramatically, accompanied by erratic foot placement and sudden, uncontrolled lurching, not generally characteristic of Bruns apraxia.
Spinal osteoarthropathy (Charcot's Disease) is a rare disease affecting reptiles (including snakes and lizards) which causes abnormal bone growth on vertebrae, giving the reptile a lumpy appearance. The growth of animals with this disease is limited (a python may only grow long), and their life spans are greatly shortened.
The movement of reptiles with this ailment appears jittery and wooden, and the head movement will be greatly restricted. The condition worsens as the patient ages; the end result is a reptile fused together by its own bones. They are usually euthanized well before this stage, but in general these animals can live their short lives comfortably with little pain.
Spinal osteoarthropathy can also occur in humans.
Inconspicuous akinetopsia is often described by seeing motion as a cinema reel or a multiple exposure photograph. This is the most common kind of akinetopsia and many patients consider the stroboscopic vision as a nuisance. The akinetopsia often occurs with visual trailing (palinopsia), with afterimages being left at each frame of the motion. It is caused by prescription drugs, hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), and persistent aura without infarction. The pathophysiology of akinetopsia palinopsia is not known, but it has been hypothesized to be due to inappropriate activation of physiological motion suppression mechanisms which are normally used to maintain visual stability during eye movements (e.g. saccadic suppression).
Maroteaux–Lamy syndrome (also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type VI, MPS VI, or polydystrophic dwarfism) is a form of mucopolysaccharidosis caused by a deficiency in arylsulfatase B (ARSB). It is named after Pierre Maroteaux (1926–) and his mentor Maurice Emil Joseph Lamy (1895–1975), both French physicians.
The most common first sign of MSA is the appearance of an "akinetic-rigid syndrome" (i.e. slowness of initiation of movement resembling Parkinson's disease) found in 62% at first presentation. Other common signs at onset include problems with balance (cerebellar ataxia) found in 22% at first presentation, followed by genito-urinary problems (9%). For men, the first sign can be erectile dysfunction (inability to achieve or sustain an erection). Women have also reported reduced genital sensitivity. Both men and women often experience problems with their bladders including urgency, frequency, incomplete bladder emptying, or an inability to pass urine (retention). About 1 in 5 MSA patients will fall in their first year of disease.
Riddoch syndrome (also known as the "Riddoch phenomenon") is an ocular affectation often caused by lesions in the occipital lobe which limit the sufferer's ability to distinguish objects. Only moving objects in a blind field are visible, static ones being invisible to the patient. The moving objects are not perceived to have color or detail. The subject may only have awareness of the movement without visual perception of it (gnosanopsia), or the general shape of a moving object may be perceivable as a shadow like outline.
At least one patient was able to use a rocking chair—putting non-moving surroundings in relative motion to her head—to improve her motion perception. She eventually was able to do the same with just voluntary movement of her head.
The 'core' neuroacanthocytosis syndromes are chorea acanthocytosis and McLeod syndrome. Acanthocytes are nearly always present in these conditions and they share common clinical features. Some of these features are also seen in the other neurological syndromes associated with neuroacanthocytosis.
A common feature of the core syndromes is chorea: involuntary dance-like movements. In neuroacanthocytosis, this is particularly prominent in the face and mouth which can cause difficulties with speech and eating. These movements are usually abrupt and irregular and present during both rest and sleep.
Individuals with neuroacanthocytosis also often suffer from parkinsonism, the uncontrolled slowness of movements, and dystonia, abnormal body postures. Many affected individuals also have cognitive (intellectual) impairment and psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, paranoia, depression, obsessive behavior, and pronounced emotional instability. Seizures may also be a symptom of neuroacanthocytosis.
Onset differs between individual neuroacanthocytosis syndromes but is usually between ages 20 and 40. Affected individuals usually live for 10–20 years after onset.
As the disease progresses one of three groups of symptoms predominate.
These are:
1. Parkinsonism (slow, stiff movement, writing becomes small and spidery)
2. Cerebellar dysfunction (difficulty coordinating movement and balance)
3. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction (impaired automatic body functions) including:
Other symptoms such as double vision can occur.
Not all patients experience all of these symptoms.
Some patients (20% in one study) experience significant cognitive impairment as a result of MSA.
Symptoms vary according to the kind of dystonia involved. In most cases, dystonia tends to lead to abnormal posturing, in particular on movement. Many sufferers have continuous pain, cramping, and relentless muscle spasms due to involuntary muscle movements. Other motor symptoms are possible including lip smacking.
Early symptoms may include loss of precision muscle coordination (sometimes first manifested in declining penmanship, frequent small injuries to the hands, and dropped items), cramping pain with sustained use, and trembling. Significant muscle pain and cramping may result from very minor exertions like holding a book and turning pages. It may become difficult to find a comfortable position for arms and legs with even the minor exertions associated with holding arms crossed causing significant pain similar to restless leg syndrome. Affected persons may notice trembling in the diaphragm while breathing, or the need to place hands in pockets, under legs while sitting or under pillows while sleeping to keep them still and to reduce pain. Trembling in the jaw may be felt and heard while lying down, and the constant movement to avoid pain may result in the grinding and wearing down of teeth, or symptoms similar to temporomandibular joint disorder. The voice may crack frequently or become harsh, triggering frequent throat clearing. Swallowing can become difficult and accompanied by painful cramping.
Electrical sensors (EMG) inserted into affected muscle groups, while painful, can provide a definitive diagnosis by showing pulsating nerve signals being transmitted to the muscles even when they are at rest. The brain appears to signal portions of fibers within the affected muscle groups at a firing speed of about 10 Hz causing them to pulsate, tremble and contort. When called upon to perform an intentional activity, the muscles fatigue very quickly and some portions of the muscle groups do not respond (causing weakness) while other portions over-respond or become rigid (causing micro-tears under load). The symptoms worsen significantly with use, especially in the case of focal dystonia, and a "mirror effect" is often observed in other body parts: Use of the right hand may cause pain and cramping in that hand as well as in the other hand and legs that were not being used. Stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, sustained use and cold temperatures can worsen symptoms.
Direct symptoms may be accompanied by secondary effects of the continuous muscle and brain activity, including disturbed sleep patterns, exhaustion, mood swings, mental stress, difficulty concentrating, blurred vision, digestive problems, and short temper. People with dystonia may also become depressed and find great difficulty adapting their activities and livelihood to a progressing disability. Side-effects from treatment and medications can also present challenges in normal activities.
In some cases, symptoms may progress and then plateau for years, or stop progressing entirely. The progression may be delayed by treatment or adaptive lifestyle changes, while forced continued use may make symptoms progress more rapidly. In others, the symptoms may progress to total disability, making some of the more risky forms of treatment worth considering. In some cases with patients who already have dystonia, a subsequent tramatic injury or the effects of general anethesia during an unrelated surgery can cause the symptoms to progress rapidly.
An accurate diagnosis may be difficult because of the way the disorder manifests itself. Sufferers may be diagnosed as having similar and perhaps related disorders including Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, carpal tunnel syndrome, TMD, Tourette's syndrome, conversion disorder or other neuromuscular movement disorders. It has been found that the prevalence of dystonia is high in individuals with Huntington's disease, where the most common clinical presentations are internal shoulder rotation, sustained fist clenching, knee flexion, and foot inversion. Risk factors for increased dystonia in patients with Huntington's disease include long disease duration and use of antidopaminergic medication.
There are multiple symptoms that can help this disease to be diagnosed, this disease is marked by the presence of acanthocytes in blood (these acanthocytes can sometimes be absent or even make a late appearance in the course of the disease.) and neurodegeneration causing a choreiform movement disorder.
Another one of them would be that this disease should be considered in patients who have elevated levels of acanthocytes in a peripheral blood film.
The serum creatine kinase is often elevated in the body of the people who are affected by this disease.
People afflicted by this disease also experience a loss of neurons. Loss of neurons is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. Due to the generally non-regenerative nature of neuronal cells in the adult central nervous system, this results in an irreversible and fatal process of neurodegeneration. There is also the presence of several movement related disorders including chorea, dystonia and bradykinesia, one of the more incapacitating ones includes Truncal spasms.