Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A hereditary disorder of which there are several forms caused by an anomalies in the protein component of the haemoglobin, leading to severe anaemia. It is found especially in people from Mediterranean countries, the Middle East and East Asia. Also known as Cooley’s anaemia, this is a condition characterized by severe anaemia, due to an…

A surgical operation to make an incision into the thalamus to treat intractable pain. An operation on the brain in which a lesion is made in a precise part of the thalamus. It has been used to control psychiatric symptoms of severe anxiety and distress, in which cases the lesion is made in the dorsomedial…

A tract containing nerve fibres, running from the thalamus to the sensory cortex.  

A condition in which someone is extremely sensitive to pain, caused by a disorder of the thalamus. Damage to the optic thalamus due to thrombosis leads to hemiparesis accompanied by involuntary movements on the side of the body opposite the brain injury. Additionally, there’s a loss of sensation (hemianesthesia) and an increased sensitivity to pain…

A group of structures in the brain linked to the brain stem, formed of the epithalamus, hypothalamus and thalamus. The structures, collectively, at the anterior end of the brainstem, comprising the epithalamus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and subthalamus, all of which are concerned with the reception and processing of information entering from sensory nerve pathways.  

A case which shows symptoms which are exactly like those described in a textbook, a very typical case.  

A congenital condition in which a child has only four fingers or toes. A congenital abnormality in which there are only four digits on a hand or foot.  

Referring to tetanus. Related to or causing tetanus.  

A baby conceived through in vitro fertilisation in which the mother’s ova are removed from the ovaries, fertilised with a man’s spermatozoa in a laboratory, and returned to the mother’s uterus to continue developing in the usual way. A baby born to a woman as a result of fertilization of one of her ova by…

A test to check the secretion of gastric juices, no longer much used. A standard meal given to stimulate secretion of digestive juices, which can then be withdrawn by tube and measured as a test of digestive function. A fractional test meal was a gruel preparation to stimulate gastric secretion, whose acid content was measured.…