Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0026838 (spasticity)
 6,471 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

HIV-related encephalopathy is an important problem in vertically infected children with HIV. Infected infants may manifest early, catastrophic encephalopathy, with loss of brain growth, motor abnormalities, and cognitive dysfunction. Even without evidence of AIDS, infected infants score lower than serorevertors on developmental measures, particularly language acquisition. Children with perinatal or later transfusion-related infection generally are roughly comparable developmentally to their peers until late in their course. Symptoms similar to adult AIDS dementia complex are occasionally seen in adolescents with advanced AIDS, including dementia, bradykinesia, and spasticity. Opportunistic CNS infections such as toxoplasmosis and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy are less common in children and adolescents than in adults. Increasing evidence suggests that aggressive antiretroviral treatment may halt or even reverse encephalopathy. Neuroimaging changes may precede or follow clinical manifestations, and include early lenticulostriate vessel echogenicity on cranial ultrasound, calcifying microangiopathy on CT scan, and/or white matter lesions and central atrophy on MRI. Differential diagnosis of neurological dysfunction in an HIV-infected infant includes the effects of maternal substance abuse, other CNS congenital infections, and other causes of early static encephalopathy. Initial entry of HIV into the nervous system occurs very early in infection. The risk of clinical HIV encephalopathy increases with very early age of infection and with high viral loads. Virus is found in microglia and brain derived macrophages, not neurons. The neuronal effect of HIV is probably indirect, with various cytokines implicated. Apoptosis is the presumed mechanism of damage to neurons by HIV.
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PMID:Neurological and developmental effects of HIV and AIDS in children and adolescents. 1155 37

The main pharmacological effects of marijuana, as well as synthetic and endogenous cannabinoids, are mediated through G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), including CB(1) and CB(2) receptors. The CB(1) receptor is the major cannabinoid receptor in the central nervous system and has gained increasing interest as a target for drug discovery for treatment of nausea, cachexia, obesity, pain, spasticity, neurodegenerative diseases and mood and substance abuse disorders. Evidence has accumulated to suggest that CB(1) receptors, like other GPCRs, interact with and are regulated by several other proteins beyond the established role of heterotrimeric G-proteins. These proteins, which include the GPCR kinases, beta-arrestins, GPCR-associated sorting proteins, factor associated with neutral sphingomyelinase, other GPCRs (heterodimerization) and the novel cannabinoid receptor-interacting proteins: CRIP(1a/b), are thought to play important roles in the regulation of intracellular trafficking, desensitization, down-regulation, signal transduction and constitutive activity of CB(1) receptors. This review examines CB(1) receptor-interacting proteins, including heterotrimeric G-proteins, but with particular emphasis on non-G-protein entities, that might comprise the CB(1) receptosomal complex. The evidence for direct interaction with CB(1) receptors and potential functional roles of these interacting proteins is discussed, as are future directions and challenges in this field with an emphasis on the possibility of eventually targeting these proteins for drug discovery.
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PMID:Cannabinoid CB1 receptor-interacting proteins: novel targets for central nervous system drug discovery? 2059 May 57

Cannabis legalization has led to significant health consequences, particularly to patients in emergency departments and hospitals in Colorado. The most concerning include psychosis, suicide, and other substance abuse. Deleterious effects on the brain include decrements in complex decision-making, which may not be reversible with abstinence. Increases in fatal motor vehicle collisions, adverse effects on cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, inadvertent pediatric exposures, cannabis contaminants exposing users to infectious agents, heavy metals, and pesticides, and hash-oil burn injuries in preparation of drug concentrates have been documented. Cannabis dispensary workers ("budtenders") without medical training are giving medical advice that may be harmful to patients. Cannabis research may offer novel treatment of seizures, spasticity from multiple sclerosis, nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, chronic pain, improvements in cardiovascular outcomes, and sleep disorders. Progress has been slow due to absent standards for chemical composition of cannabis products and limitations on research imposed by federal classification of cannabis as illegal. Given these factors and the Colorado experience, other states should carefully evaluate whether and how to decriminalize or legalize non-medical cannabis use.
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PMID:Legalized Cannabis in Colorado Emergency Departments: A Cautionary Review of Negative Health and Safety Effects. 3173 11

Baclofen is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for spasticity and is also used off-label for trigeminal neuralgia, cluster headache, and substance abuse dependency. Baclofen is 90% renally excreted and has a variable threshold for toxicity in patients with chronic kidney disease. We present a case of accidental overdose of baclofen in a 58-year-old woman with intractable trigeminal neuralgia. She presented with baclofen neurotoxicity symptoms including confusion and tremors and had a morbilliform rash in the dorsum of both hands. This simultaneous presentation is rare and has never been reported. Her symptoms resolved after hemodialysis treatment.
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PMID:Baclofen-induced toxicity in renal disease with neurotoxicity and skin rash. 3138 9