Hypotonic Health Dictionary

A disorder of posture and movement resulting from damage to a child’s developing brain before, during, or immediately after birth, or in early childhood. Cerebral palsy is nonprogressive and varies in degree from slight clumsiness of hand movement and gait to complete immobility.

A child with cerebral palsy may have spastic paralysis (abnormal stiffness of muscles), athetosis (involuntary writhing movements), or ataxia (loss of coordination and balance). Other nervous system disorders, such as hearing defects or epileptic seizures, may be present. About 70 per cent of affected children have mental impairment, but the remainder are of normal or high intelligence.

In most cases, damage occurs before or at birth, most commonly as a result of an inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain. More rarely, the cause is a maternal infection spreading to the baby in the uterus. In rare cases, cerebral palsy is due to kernicterus. Possible causes after birth include encephalitis, meningitis, head injury, or intracerebral haemorrhage. Cerebral palsy may not be recognized until well into the baby’s 1st year. Initially, the infant may have hypotonic (floppy) muscles, be difficult to feed, and show delay in sitting without support.

Although there is no cure for cerebral palsy, much can be done to help affected children using specialized physiotherapy, speech therapy, and techniques and devices for nonverbal communication.... cerebral palsy

(Linn.) Nees & Eberm.

Family: Lauraceae.

Habitat: A tree native to China and Japan and often grown as a hedge plant.

English: Camphor tree.

Ayurvedic: Karpura, Ghanasaara, Chandra, Chandra Prabhaa, Sitaabhra, Hima-valukaa, Hi- mopala, Himakara, Shashi, Indu, Tushaara, Gandhadravya, Shital- raja.

Unani: Kaafoor.

Siddha/Tamil: Indu, Karupporam.

Action: Camphor taken internally in small doses (toxic in large doses) acts as a carminative, reflex expectorant and reflex stimulant of heart and circulation as well as respiration. Also used as a sedative and nervous depressant in convulsions, hysteria, epilepsy, chorea. Topically used as a rubefacient and mild analgesic.

Key application: Externally in catarrhal diseases of the respiratory tract and muscular rheumatism; internally in hypotonic circulatory regulation disorders, Catarrhal diseases of the respiratory tract. (German Commission E.)

The plant contains a volatile oil comprising camphor, safrole, linalool, eugenol and terpeneol. It also contains lignans (including secoisosolari- ciresinol dimethyl ether and kusunoki- ol). Safrole is thought to be carcinogenic.

The leaf oil is a natural source of linalool (94.9%); also contained cit- ronellal (2.4%).

Camphor in concentration of 500 mcg/ml completely inhibits the growth of vibro parahaemolyticus, one of the causative agents of diarrhoea and dysentery. Ethanolic extract (50%) of fruits show antibacterial activity against several Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The essential oil from the plant possesses antifungal activity against many fungi. Camphor is toxic at 2-20 g.

Dosage: Concentrate—125-375 mg (CCRAS.)... cinnamomum camphora

A term applied to solutions which have the same power of di?usion as one another. An isotonic solution used in medicine is one which can be mixed with body ?uids without causing any disturbance. An isotonic saline solution for injection into the blood, so that it may possess the same osmotic pressure (see OSMOSIS) as the blood SERUM, is one of 0·9 per cent strength – that is, containing 9 grams of sodium chloride to 1 litre of water. This is also known as normal or physiological salt solution. An isotonic solution of bicarbonate of soda for injection into the blood is one of 1·35 per cent strength in water. An isotonic solution of glucose for injection into the blood is one of 5 per cent strength in water.

Solutions which are weaker, or stronger, than the ?uids of the body with which they are intended to be mixed are known as hypotonic and hypertonic, respectively.... isotonic

Excessive limpness in infants, also known as floppy infant syndrome. Hypotonic babies cannot hold their limbs up against gravity and so tend to lie flat with their arms and legs splayed. Hypotonia may be caused by Down’s syndrome or hypothyroidism and may be

an early feature of cerebral palsy.

It occurs in disorders of the spinal cord, such as Werdnig–Hoffman disease, and in some children who have muscular dystrophy.... hypotonia in infants

(floppy baby syndrome) a former diagnosis for various conditions, present at birth, in which the baby’s muscles are weak and floppy (i.e. hypotonic). The term is becoming obsolete as more specific diagnoses are discovered to explain the cause of floppiness in babies.... amyotonia congenita

n. 1. the normal state of slight contraction, or readiness to contract, of healthy muscle fibres. 2. the effective osmotic pressure of a solution. See hypertonic; hypotonic; osmosis.... tonicity