sarnsrun/medquad huggingface dataset:
Topic: Cardiomyopathy
Question: What is (are) Cardiomyopathy ?
Answer: Cardiomyopathy refers to diseases of the heart muscle. These diseases have many causes, signs and symptoms, and treatments.
                
In cardiomyopathy, the heart muscle becomes enlarged, thick, or rigid. In rare cases, the muscle tissue in the heart is replaced with scar tissue.
                
As cardiomyopathy worsens, the heart becomes weaker. It's less able to pump blood through the body and maintain a normal electrical rhythm. This can lead to heart failure or irregular heartbeats called arrhythmias. In turn, heart failure can cause fluid to build up in the lungs, ankles, feet, legs, or abdomen.
                
The weakening of the heart also can cause other complications, such as heart valve problems.
                
Overview
                
The types of cardiomyopathy are:
                
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
                
Dilated cardiomyopathy
                
Restrictive cardiomyopathy
                
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia
                
Unclassified cardiomyopathy
                
Cardiomyopathy can be acquired or inherited. "Acquired" means you aren't born with the disease, but you develop it due to another disease, condition, or factor. "Inherited" means your parents passed the gene for the disease on to you. Many times, the cause of cardiomyopathy isn't known.
                
Cardiomyopathy can affect people of all ages. However, people in certain age groups are more likely to have certain types of cardiomyopathy. This article focuses on cardiomyopathy in adults.
                
Outlook
                
Some people who have cardiomyopathy have no signs or symptoms and need no treatment. For other people, the disease develops quickly, symptoms are severe, and serious complications occur.
                
Treatments for cardiomyopathy include lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, implanted devices to correct arrhythmias, and a nonsurgical procedure. These treatments can control symptoms, reduce complications, and stop the disease from getting worse.
Source: NHLBI
Topic: Cardiomyopathy
Question: What causes Cardiomyopathy ?
Answer: Cardiomyopathy can be acquired or inherited. Acquired means you arent born with the disease, but you develop it due to another disease, condition, or factor.
                
Inherited means your parents passed the gene for the disease on to you. Researchers continue to look for the genetic links to cardiomyopathy and to explore how these links cause or contribute to the various types of the disease.
                
Many times, the cause of cardiomyopathy isnt known. This often is the case when the disease occurs in children.
                
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
                
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy usually is inherited. Its caused by a mutation or change in some of the genes in heart muscle proteins. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy also can develop over time because of high blood pressure, aging, or other diseases, such as diabetes or thyroid disease. Sometimes the cause of the disease isnt known.
                
Dilated Cardiomyopathy
                
The cause of dilated cardiomyopathy often isnt known. About one-third of the people who have dilated cardiomyopathy inherit it from their parents.
                
Certain diseases, conditions, and substances also can cause the disease, such as:
                
Alcohol, especially if you also have a poor diet
                
Certain toxins, such as poisons and heavy metals
                
Complications during the last months of pregnancy
                
Coronary heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid disease, viral hepatitis, and HIV
                
Illegal drugs, such as cocaine and amphetamines, and some medicines used to treat cancer
                
Infections, especially viral infections that inflame the heart muscle
                
Restrictive Cardiomyopathy
                
Certain diseases, conditions, and factors can cause restrictive cardiomyopathy, including:
                
Amyloidosis: A disease in which abnormal proteins build up in the bodys organs, including the heart
                
Connective tissue disorders
                
Hemochromatosis: A disease in which too much iron builds up in the body. The extra iron is toxic to the body and can damage the organs, including the heart.
                
Sarcoidosis: A disease that causes inflammation and can affect various organs in the body. Researchers believe that an abnormal immune response may cause sarcoidosis. This abnormal response causes tiny lumps of cells to form in the bodys organs, including the heart.
                
Some cancer treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy
                
Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia
                
Researchers think that arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia is an inherited disease.
Source: NHLBI
Topic: Cardiomyopathy
Question: Who is at risk for Cardiomyopathy? ?
Answer: People of all ages and races can have cardiomyopathy. However, certain types of the disease are more common in certain groups.
                
Dilated cardiomyopathy is more common in African Americans than Whites. This type of the disease also is more common in men than women.
                
Teens and young adults are more likely than older people to have arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, although it's rare in both groups.
                
Major Risk Factors
                
Certain diseases, conditions, or factors can raise your risk for cardiomyopathy. Major risk factors include:
                
A family history of cardiomyopathy, heart failure, or sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)
                
A disease or condition that can lead to cardiomyopathy, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, or a viral infection that inflames the heart muscle
                
Diabetes or other metabolic diseases, or severe obesity
                
Diseases that can damage the heart, such as hemochromatosis, sarcoidosis, or amyloidosis
                
Long-term alcoholism
                
Long-term high blood pressure
                
Some people who have cardiomyopathy never have signs or symptoms. Thus, it's important to identify people who may be at high risk for the disease. This can help prevent future problems, such as serious arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) or SCA.
Source: NHLBI
Topic: Cardiomyopathy
Question: What are the symptoms of Cardiomyopathy ?
Answer: Some people who have cardiomyopathy never have signs or symptoms. Others don't have signs or symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
                
As cardiomyopathy worsens and the heart weakens, signs and symptoms of heart failure usually occur. These signs and symptoms include:
                
Shortness of breath or trouble breathing, especially with physical exertion
                
Fatigue (tiredness)
                
Swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, abdomen, and veins in the neck
                
Other signs and symptoms may include dizziness; light-headedness; fainting during physical activity; arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats); chest pain, especially after physical exertion or heavy meals; and heart murmurs. (Heart murmurs are extra or unusual sounds heard during a heartbeat.)
Source: NHLBI
Topic: Cardiomyopathy
Question: How to prevent Cardiomyopathy ?
Answer: You can't prevent inherited types of cardiomyopathy. However, you can take steps to lower your risk for diseases or conditions that may lead to or complicate cardiomyopathy. Examples includecoronary heart disease,high blood pressure, andheart attack.
                
Your doctor may advise you to make heart-healthy lifestyle changes, such as:
                
Avoiding the use of alcohol and illegal drugs
                
Getting enough sleep and rest
                
Heart-healthy eating
                
Physicalactivity
                
Quitting smoking
                
Managing stress
                
Your cardiomyopathy may be due to an underlying disease or condition. If you treat that condition early enough, you may be able to prevent cardiomyopathy complications. For example, to control high blood pressure,high blood cholesterol, and diabetes:
                
Follow your doctors advice about lifestyle changes.
                
Get regular checkups with your doctor.
                
Take all of your medicines as your doctor prescribes.
Source: NHLBI
Topic: Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia
Question: What is (are) Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia ?
Answer: Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GN) is a rare pain syndrome that affects the glossopharyngeal nerve (the ninth cranial nerve that lies deep within the neck) and causes sharp, stabbing pulses of pain in the back of the throat and tongue, the tonsils, and the middle ear. The excruciating pain of GN can last for a few seconds to a few minutes, and may return multiple times in a day or once every few weeks. Many individuals with GN relate the attacks of pain to specific trigger factors such as swallowing, drinking cold liquids, sneezing, coughing, talking, clearing the throat, and touching the gums or inside the mouth. GN can be caused by compression of the glossopharyngeal nerve, but in some cases, no cause is evident. Like trigeminal neuralgia, it is associated with multiple sclerosis. GN primarily affects the elderly.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia
Question: What are the treatments for Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia ?
Answer: Most doctors will attempt to treat the pain first with drugs. Some individuals respond well to anticonvulsant drugs, such as carbamazepine and gabapentin. Surgical options, including nerve resection, tractotomy, or microvascular decompression, should be considered when individuals either dont respond to, or stop responding to, drug therapy. Surgery is usually successful at ending the cycles of pain, although there may be some sensory loss in the mouth, throat, or tongue.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia
Question: What is the outlook for Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia ?
Answer: Some individuals recover from an initial attack and never have another. Others will experience clusters of attacks followed by periods of short or long remission. Individuals may lose weight if they fear that chewing, drinking, or eating will cause an attack.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia
Question: what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia ?
Answer: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and other institutes at the National Institutes of Health conduct research related to GN and support additional research through grants to major research institutions across the country. Much of this research focuses on finding better ways to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure disorders such as GN.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arteriovenous Malformation
Question: What is (are) Arteriovenous Malformation ?
Answer: Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are abnormal, snarled tangles of blood vessels that cause multiple irregular connections between the arteries and veins. These malformations most often occur in the spinal cord and in any part of the brain or on its surface, but can develop elsewhere in the body. AVMs can damage the brain and spinal cord by reducing the amount of oxygen reaching neurological tissues, bleeding into surrounding tissue (hemorrhage) that can cause stroke or brain damage, and by compressing or displacing parts of the brain or spinal cord. Many people with an AVM experience few, if any, significant symptoms, which can include headache, weakness, seizures, pain, and problems with speech, vision, or movement. Most often AVMs are congenital, but they can appear sporadically. In some cases the AVM may be inherited, but it is more likely that other inherited conditions increase the risk of having an AVM. The malformations tend to be discovered only incidentally, usually during treatment for an unrelated disorder or at autopsy.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arteriovenous Malformation
Question: What are the treatments for Arteriovenous Malformation ?
Answer: Treatment options depend on the type of AVM, its location, noticeable symptoms, and the general health condition of the individual. Medication can often alleviate general symptoms such as headache, back pain, and seizures caused by AVMs and other vascular lesions. The definitive treatment for AVMs is either surgery to either remove the AVM or to create an artificial blood clot to close the lesion or focused irradiation treatment that is designed to damage the blood vessel walls and close the lesion. The decision to treat an AVM requires a careful consideration of possible benefits versus risks.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arteriovenous Malformation
Question: What is the outlook for Arteriovenous Malformation ?
Answer: The greatest potential danger posed by AVMs is hemorrhage. Most episodes of bleeding remain undetected at the time they occur because they are not severe enough to cause significant neurological damage. But massive, even fatal, bleeding episodes do occur. Whenever an AVM is detected, the individual should be carefully and consistently monitored for any signs of instability that may indicate an increased risk of hemorrhage. Individuals who are treated require brain imaging afterwards to evaluate if the AVM has been completely removed or destroyed. The risk of hemorrhage remains if some of the AVM persists despite treatment.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arteriovenous Malformation
Question: what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Arteriovenous Malformation ?
Answer: The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system, and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. The NINDS has established an Arteriovenous Study Group to learn more about the natural causes of AVMs and to improve surgical treatment of these lesions. An NINDS study at Columbia University, A Randomized Trial of Unruptured Brain AVMs (ARUBA), showed that medical management alone is superior to medical management and interventional therapy (conventional surgery, endovascular procedures, and radiosurgery) for improving the long-term outcome of individuals with unruptured brain arteriovenous malformations. Data from a recently closed observational phase will show if the disparities continued over the additional five years of follow-up.
                
Among other NINDS-funded research, scientists are testing a class of drugs called beta-blockers to see if they may lead to the development of new treatments for people with vascular malformations. Other NINDS-funded investigators hope to develop biomarkers (signs that may indicate risk of a disease) for AVM that may improve risk assessment and aid in the choice of therapy that may provide maximize benefit with minimal risk to the individual. Additional NINDS-funded research hopes to determine molecular pathways fundamental to the formation of brain AVMs.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Myotonia
Question: What is (are) Myotonia ?
Answer: Myotonia is a medical term that refers to a neuromuscular condition in which the relaxation of a muscle is impaired. It can affect any muscle group. Repeated effort will be needed to relax the muscle, although the condition usually improves after the muscles have warmed-up. Individuals with myotonia may have trouble releasing their grip on objects or may have difficulty rising from a seated position. They may walk with a stiff, awkward gait. Myotonia is caused by an abnormality in the muscle membrane, and is often associated with inherited neurological disorders. Myotonia is commonly seen in individuals with myotonic muscular dystrophy, myotonia congenita, and in people who have one of a group of neurological disorders called the channelopathies, which are inherited diseases that are caused by mutations in the chloride sodium or potassium channels that regulate the muscle membrane. Myotonia may also be triggered by exposure to cold.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Myotonia
Question: What are the treatments for Myotonia ?
Answer: Treatment for myotonia may include mexiletine, quinine, phenytoin, and other anticonvulsant drugs. Physical therapy and other rehabilitative measures may help muscle function.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Myotonia
Question: What is the outlook for Myotonia ?
Answer: Myotonia is a chronic disorder. Symptoms may improve later in life.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Myotonia
Question: what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Myotonia ?
Answer: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke supports and conducts an extensive research program on neuromuscular disorders. The goals of this research are to learn more about these disorders and to find ways to treat, prevent, and cure them.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Locked-In Syndrome
Question: What is (are) Locked-In Syndrome ?
Answer: Locked-in syndrome is a rare neurological disorder characterized by complete paralysis of voluntary muscles in all parts of the body except for those that control eye movement. It may result from traumatic brain injury, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases that destroy the myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells, or medication overdose. Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and can think and reason, but are unable to speak or move. The disorder leaves individuals completely mute and paralyzed. Communication may be possible with blinking eye movements
Source: NINDS
Topic: Locked-In Syndrome
Question: What are the treatments for Locked-In Syndrome ?
Answer: There is no cure for locked-in syndrome, nor is there a standard course of treatment. A therapy called functional neuromuscular stimulation, which uses electrodes to stimulate muscle reflexes, may help activate some paralyzed muscles. Several devices to help communication are available. Other treatment is symptomatic and supportive.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Locked-In Syndrome
Question: What is the outlook for Locked-In Syndrome ?
Answer: While in rare cases some patients may regain certain functions, the chances for motor recovery are very limited.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Locked-In Syndrome
Question: what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Locked-In Syndrome ?
Answer: The NINDS supports research on neurological disorders that can cause locked-in syndrome. The goals of this research are to find ways to prevent, treat, and cure these disorders.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arachnoid Cysts
Question: What is (are) Arachnoid Cysts ?
Answer: Arachnoid cysts are cerebrospinal fluid-filled sacs that are located between the brain or spinal cord and the arachnoid membrane, one of the three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. Primary arachnoid cysts are present at birth and are the result of developmental abnormalities in the brain and spinal cord that arise during the early weeks of gestation. Secondary arachnoid cysts are not as common as primary cysts and develop as a result of head injury, meningitis, or tumors, or as a complication of brain surgery. The majority of arachnoid cysts form outside the temporal lobe of the brain in an area of the skull known as the middle cranial fossa. Arachnoid cysts involving the spinal cord are rarer. The location and size of the cyst determine the symptoms and when those symptoms begin. Most individuals with arachnoid cysts develop symptoms before the age of 20, and especially during the first year of life, but some people with arachnoid cysts never have symptoms. Males are four times more likely to have arachnoid cysts than females.
                
Typical symptoms of an arachnoid cyst around the brain include headache, nausea and vomiting, seizures, hearing and visual disturbances, vertigo, and difficulties with balance and walking. Arachnoid cysts around the spinal cord compress the spinal cord or nerve roots and cause symptoms such as progressive back and leg pain and tingling or numbness in the legs or arms. Diagnosis usually involves a brain scan or spine scan using diffusion-weighted MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) which helps distinguish fluid-filled arachnoid cysts from other types of cysts.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arachnoid Cysts
Question: What are the treatments for Arachnoid Cysts ?
Answer: There has been active debate about how to treat arachnoid cysts. The need for treatment depends mostly upon the location and size of the cyst. If the cyst is small, not disturbing surrounding tissue, and not causing symptoms, some doctors will refrain from treatment. In the past, doctors placed shunts in the cyst to drain its fluid. Now with microneurosurgical techniques and endoscopic tools that allow for minimally invasive surgery, more doctors are opting to surgically remove the membranes of the cyst or open the cyst so its fluid can drain into the cerebrospinal fluid and be absorbed.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arachnoid Cysts
Question: What is the outlook for Arachnoid Cysts ?
Answer: Untreated, arachnoid cysts may cause permanent severe neurological damage when progressive expansion of the cyst(s) or bleeding into the cyst injures the brain or spinal cord. Symptoms usually resolve or improve with treatment.
Source: NINDS
Topic: Arachnoid Cysts
Question: what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Arachnoid Cysts ?
Answer: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) conducts research related to brain abnormalities and disorders of the nervous system such as arachnoid cysts in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and supports additional research through grants to major medical institutions across the country. Much of this research focuses on finding better ways to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure neurological disorders such as arachnoid cysts.
Source: NINDS