Brain Disorders

What Is Chorea? Chorea is a movement disorder characterized by brief, jerky, purposeless or writhing involuntary movements of the distal limbs, head, and face that may occur during voluntary movement or at rest. Chorea has a large number of causes, ...

What Is Gluten Ataxia? Gluten ataxia is a degeneration of the cerebellum (lower brain) caused by an immune reaction to gluten that is characterized by positive anti-gliadin antibodies, motor abnormalities including upper or lower limb ataxia, gait ataxia, and dysarthria ...

What Is Gait Ataxia? Gait ataxia is a cerebellar (lower brain) disorder characterized by defective muscular coordination of skeletal muscles used for locomotion (walking). Q: What is defective muscle coordination for walking? A: The cerebellum does not initiate movements but ...

What Is Increased Appetite? Increased appetite is the increased desire for food. Q: What causes appetite. A: Appetite is caused by hunger. The brain monitors nutritional needs and employs a hunger mechanism to alert us when fresh food is needed. Hunger is ...

What Is Anorexia? Anorexia or loss of appetite is a reduced desire to eat which can cause unintentional weight loss. Anorexia is a feature of many disorders caused by malutrition such as celiac disease and aging or gastrointestinal problems such ...

What Is Hypocupremia? Hypocupremia, or low plasma copper, means the level of copper is too low to meet metabolic needs of the body for copper and is characterized by these many features: Impaired energy production causing weakness. Impaired ability as ...