Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Balance is a partly involuntary and unconscious business, dependent on "spinal reflexes." When provided with appropriate context, these reflexes go into oscillation that is called "clonus," a phenomenon that is familiar to everybody and which is easily produced. (While sitting, place the leg with thigh horizontal and foot supported on the floor.
The patellar reflex, also called the knee reflex or knee-jerk, is a stretch reflex which tests the L2, L3, and L4 segments of the spinal cord. Many animals, most significantly humans, have been seen to have the patellar reflex, including dogs, cats, horses, and other mammalian species.
A list of reflexes in humans. Abdominal reflex; Accommodation reflex — coordinated changes in the vergence, lens shape and pupil size when looking at a distant object after a near object. Acoustic reflex or attenuation reflex — contraction of the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles in the middle ear in response to high sound intensities.
The patellar reflex (knee jerk) is an example of the stretch reflex and it is used to determine the sensitivity of the stretch reflex. Reflexes can be tested as part of a neurological examination, often if there is an injury to the central nervous system. To test the reflex, the muscle should be in a neutral position.
Eclampsia, like pre-eclampsia, tends to occur more commonly in first pregnancies than subsequent pregnancies. [38] [39] [40] Women who have long term high blood pressure before becoming pregnant have a greater risk of pre-eclampsia. [38] [39] Patients who have gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia have an increased risk of eclampsia. [41]
The definitive treatment for pre-eclampsia is the delivery of the baby and placenta, but danger to the mother persists after delivery, and full recovery can take days or weeks. [13] The timing of delivery should balance the desire for optimal outcomes for the baby while reducing risks for the mother. [15]
The startle reflex is present in half of all fetuses by week 24 and in all fetuses by week 28. [19] Movement is restricted around this time because the fetus has grown so large it has little space for kicking or changing body position.
Westphal's sign is the clinical correlate of the absence or decrease of patellar reflex or knee jerk. Patellar reflex or knee jerk is a kind of deep or stretch reflex where an application of a stimulus to the patellar tendon such as strike by a solid object or hammer caused the leg to extend due to such stimulus causes the quadriceps femoris muscle to contract.