
Levosimendan
Levosimendan: Calcium sensitizer (novel inotrope, also considered an inodilator like milrinone)

Levosimendan: Calcium sensitizer (novel inotrope, also considered an inodilator like milrinone)

Lignocaine: local anaesthetic and membrane stabilising anti-arrhythmic; binds selectively to refractory Na+ channels -> preferentially when cells are depolarised (ie. in ischaemia)

Linezolid: oxazolidinone; blocks ribosomal function required for translation

Lithium: mood stabiliser; element of the alkali metal group; exact mechanism of action in mania is unknown

Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH): anticoagulant; potentiates the action of antithrombin III on Xa

Pseudocoma is the term used for a patient feigning a comatose state, however it is sometimes also used for conditions like locked-in syndrome where patients may involuntarily appear unconscious but are actually self aware

References and Links

Spinal cord syndromes

Status epilepticus: continuous seizure activity for 5 minutes or more without return of consciousness, or recurrent seizures (2 or more) without an intervening period of neurological recovery

Transverse Myelitis: myelitis is a rare inflammatory condition of spinal cord characterised by pyramidal (motor), sensory, and/or autonomic dysfunction to varying degrees. The term “transverse” originally referred to the clinical finding of a band-like horizontal area of altered sensation usually at the dermatomal level of the lesion within the cord, more recently it is used simply describes the position of the inflammation, that is, across the width of the spinal cord

Watershed infarcts result from severe hypotensive insults. They occur in areas with relatively poor blood supply at the boundaries between territories of cerebral arteries or their branches.

** See Thiamine deficiency