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Stupor

 

 
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Stupor
 
 
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Stupor is the lack of critical cognitive function and level of consciousness
Level of consciousness

Level of consciousness is a measurement of a person's arousal and responsiveness to Stimulus from the environment. A mildly depressed level of consciousness may be classed as lethargy; someone in this state can be aroused with little difficulty....
 wherein a sufferer is almost entirely unresponsive and only responds to base stimuli such as pain. The word derives from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 stupure, meaning insensible. Being characterised by impairments of reactions to external stimuli
Stimulus

Stimulus may refer to:*Stimulus , something external that influences an activity*Stimulus , a concept in behaviorism*Input to a system in other fields...
, it usually appears in infectious disease
Infectious disease

An infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, Mycosis, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions....
s, complicated toxic states, severe hypothermia
Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which an organism's temperature drops below that required for normal metabolism and bodily functions. In warm-blooded animals, core body temperature is maintained near a constant level through biologic homeostasis....
, mental illness
Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture....
es (e.g. schizophrenia
Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia , from the Ancient Greek Root schizein and phren, phren- is a psychiatry diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality....
, severe clinical depression), vascular
Vascular

In zoology, "vascular" means "related to blood vessels", which are part of the Circulatory system. An organ or tissue that is vascularized is heavily endowed with blood vessels and thus richly supplied with blood....
 illnesses (e.g.






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Stupor is the lack of critical cognitive function and level of consciousness
Level of consciousness

Level of consciousness is a measurement of a person's arousal and responsiveness to Stimulus from the environment. A mildly depressed level of consciousness may be classed as lethargy; someone in this state can be aroused with little difficulty....
 wherein a sufferer is almost entirely unresponsive and only responds to base stimuli such as pain. The word derives from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 stupure, meaning insensible. Being characterised by impairments of reactions to external stimuli
Stimulus

Stimulus may refer to:*Stimulus , something external that influences an activity*Stimulus , a concept in behaviorism*Input to a system in other fields...
, it usually appears in infectious disease
Infectious disease

An infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, Mycosis, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions....
s, complicated toxic states, severe hypothermia
Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which an organism's temperature drops below that required for normal metabolism and bodily functions. In warm-blooded animals, core body temperature is maintained near a constant level through biologic homeostasis....
, mental illness
Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture....
es (e.g. schizophrenia
Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia , from the Ancient Greek Root schizein and phren, phren- is a psychiatry diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality....
, severe clinical depression), vascular
Vascular

In zoology, "vascular" means "related to blood vessels", which are part of the Circulatory system. An organ or tissue that is vascularized is heavily endowed with blood vessels and thus richly supplied with blood....
 illnesses (e.g. hypertensive encephalopathy), neoplasms (e.g. brain tumor
Brain tumor

A brain tumor is an abnormal growth of cells within the brain or inside the skull, which can be cancerous or non-cancerous .It is defined as any cranium tumor created by abnormal and uncontrolled Mitosis, normally either in the brain itself , in the cranial nerves , in the brain envelopes , skull, pituitary and pineal gland, or spread from...
s), vitamin D deficiency and so on.

Symptoms

If not stimulated externally, a patient with Stupor will be in a sleepy
Sleep

Sleep is the natural state of bodily rest observed in humans and other animals. It is common to all mammals and birds, and is also seen in many reptiles, amphibians and fish....
 mode most of the time. Short periods of restricted responsivity
Responsivity

Responsivity measures the input?output gain of a detector system. For a system that responds linearly to its input, there is a unique responsivity....
 can be achieved by intense stimulation
Stimulation

Stimulation is the action of various agents on muscles, nerves, or a sensory end organ vyv, by which activity is evoked; especially, the nervous impulse produced by various agents on nerves, or a sensory end organ, by which the part connected with the nerve is thrown into a state of activity....
 (e.g. pain, bright light, loud noise).

Localisation of brain lesions

Lesions of the Ascending Reticular Activation System
Reticular activating system

The reticular activating system is the name given to the part of the brain believed to be the center of arousal and motivation in mammals ....
 on height of the Pons
Pons

The pons is a structure located on the brain stem. It is cranial to the medulla oblongata, caudal to the midbrain, and ventral to the cerebellum....
 and Metencephalon
Metencephalon

The metencephalon is a Morphogenesis categorization of portions of the central nervous system. The metencephalon is composed of the pons and the cerebellum; contains a portion of the fourth ventricle; and the trigeminal nerve , abducens nerve , facial nerve , and a portion of the vestibulocochlear nerve ....
 have been shown to cause Stupor. The incidence is higher after left-sided lesion
Lesion

A lesion is any abnormal tissue found on or in an organism, usually damaged by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury....
s.

See also

  • Torpor
    Torpor

    Torpor, sometimes called temporary hibernation is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate of metabolism....