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 Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials Main Article |  Glossary |  Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials Index 

Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials Glossary of Terms

The following are health and medical definitions of terms that appear in the Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials article.

Clinical: 1. Having to do with the examination and treatment of patients. 2. Applicable to patients. A laboratory test may be of clinical value (of use to patients).
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Clinical trial: See: Clinical trials. See also: Inconclusive clinical trial; Negative clinical trial; Non-inferior clinical trial; Positive clinical trial.

Clinical trials: Trials to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of medications or medical devices by monitoring their effects on large groups of people.
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Condition: The term "condition" has a number of biomedical meanings including the following:

  1. An unhealthy state, such as in "this is a progressive condition."
  2. A state of fitness, such as "getting into condition."
  3. Something that is essential to the occurrence of something else; essentially a "precondition."
  4. As a verb: to cause a change in something so that a response that was previously associated with a certain stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus; to condition a person, as in behavioral conditioning.

Disease: Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.

Genetics: The scientific study of heredity . Genetics pertains to humans and all other organisms. So, for example, there is human genetics, mouse genetics, fruitfly genetics, etc.
See the entire definition of Genetics

Guinea pig: 1.Cavia porcellus, also known as Cavia cobaya, a plump rodent native to South America brought to Europe by the Spanish conquistadors. Often kept as pets. And once very widely used aa a laboratory animal for research. 2.By extension, someone (or something) used as a subject of experimentation. In this sense, the term "guinea pig" may have negative connotations.
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Health: As officially defined by the World Health Organization, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Informed consent: A process in which a person learns key facts about a clinical trial, including potential risks and benefits, before deciding whether or not to participate in a study. Informed consent continues throughout the trial.

Laboratory: A place for doing tests and research procedures and preparing chemicals, etc. Although "laboratory" looks very like the Latin "laboratorium" (a place to labor, a work place), the word "laboratory" came from the Latin "elaborare" (to work out, as a problem, and with great pains), as evidenced by the Old English spelling "elaboratory" designating "a place where learned effort was applied to the solution of scientific problems."
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Medication: 1. A drug or medicine. 2. The administration of a drug or medicine. (Note that "medication" does not have the dangerous double meaning of "drug.")

Neurology: The medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the nervous system -- the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves.
See the entire definition of Neurology

Neuroscience: The study of the brain and nervous system, including molecular neuroscience, cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychophysics, computational modeling and diseases of the nervous system. See also: Neuroscientist.

Parkinson's disease: See: Parkinson disease.

Pill: In pharmacy, a medicinal substance in a small round or oval mass meant to be swallowed. Pills often contain a filler and a plastic substance such as lactose that permits the pill to be rolled by hand or machine into the desired form. The pill may then be coated with a varnishlike substance.
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Placebo: A "sugar pill" or any dummy medication or treatment.
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Sibling: A brother or sister.

Side effects: Problems that occur when treatment goes beyond the desired effect. Or problems that occur in addition to the desired therapeutic effect.
See the entire definition of Side effects

Sign: Any objective evidence of disease. Gross blood in the stool is a sign of disease. It can be recognized by the patient, doctor, nurse, or others. In contrast, a symptom is, by its nature, subjective. Abdominal pain is a symptom. It is something only the patient can know.
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Signature: 1) That part of the prescription that contains the doctor's directions to the patient. For example, the signature might say "take twice daily with food". Also known as the sig.. 2) The outward appearance of a natural object, which was once taken as a token of its special properties. This ancient doctrine of signatures led some to conclude that the walnut, which looks something like a tiny brain, could be used to heal brain problems; the liverwort plant, which has a three-lobed liver-like leaf, was useful in treating liver disease; and so on. Not too many physicians accept such fanciful ideas today.
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 Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials Main Article |  Glossary |  Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials Index 




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Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials

Introduction

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. It was first described in 1817 by James Parkinson, a British physician who published a paper on what he called "the shaking palsy." In this paper, he set forth the major symptoms of the disease that would later bear his name.

Researchers believe that at least 500,000 people in the United States currently have Parkinson's disease, although some estimates are much higher. Society pays an enormous price for Parkinson's disease. The total cost to the nation is estimated to exceed $6 billion annually. The risk of Parkinson's disease increases with age, so analysts expect the financial and public health impact of this disease to increase as the population gets older.

What is Parkinson's Disease?

Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. The four main symptoms are:

  • tremor,...

Read the Parkinson's Disease article »



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