Brain Injury Terms and Definitions

Spina bifida
Is a condition that often has disabling consequences. With severe spina bifida, a person’s legs and feet are paralyzed, and there are problems with bowel and bladder control. Learning disabilities are common, and mental retardation sometimes occurs

Genitourinary Birth Defect
Renal agenesis (bilateral), hypospadias (2nd or 3rd degree)

stroke
A condition produced by a blood clot that lodges in an artery and blocks the flow of blood to a portion of the brain, producing symptoms ranging from paralysis of limbs and loss of speech to unconsciousness and death. Less commonly, a stroke may be the result of bleeding into the substance of the brain.

brain plasticity
Theories based on the idea that the brain may have the ability to use surviving brain cells in a different way to make up for those brain cells that are damaged.

Parkinson's disease
A progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the part of the brain that helps control muscle movement.

NCEH
National Center for Environmental Health

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS causes degeneration of the nerve cells in certain regions of the brain and spinal cord that control the muscles.

hypothalamus
The part of the brain that controls body functions such as eating, sleeping and sexual behavior, maintains body temperature and chemical balance, and regulates many hormones.

Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration
Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (formerly called Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome) is a disorder of the nervous system. The condition is characterized by progressive difficulty with movement and speech

Crouzonodermoskeletal syndrome
Crouzonodermoskeletal syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by the remature joining of certain bones of the skull (craniosynostosis) and a skin disorder called acanthosis nigricans.