Glossary

A clinical assessment tool designed to define the degree of disability present after a stroke or other neurologic injury.  The scale runs from 0-6 with 0=no disability and 6=dead.  1-2 is a mild disability, 3-4 a moderate disability and 5 a severe disability,.

sirolimus (Trade name Rapamune) – a mTOR pathway inhibitor that suppresses the growth of SEGAs.

reticular activating system or reticular system – the system within the brain responsible for arousal. It consists of the reticular formation within the midbrain and its connections to modulating relays going through the hypothalamus and thalamus to the cortex of the cerebrum.

Red blood cell (aka erythrocyte).  The predominant cell in blood whose main function is to carry oxygen from the lungs throughout the body.

Recombinant: Refers to genetic material (DNA, RNA, protein, etc.), cell or organism that results from the combination of DNA segments from different organisms.

Rigid External Device – descriptive term referring to an external frame fixed to the skull and midface. This apparatus is used to pull the midface out to the desired location after it has been surgically detached from the skull’s base.

Rheumatoid factor

Rostral interstitial nucleus of medial longitudinal fasciculus – a portion of the medial longitudinal fasciculus which controls vertical gaze.

Ribonucleic acid – is a ubiquitous family of large biological molecules that perform multiple vital roles in the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes.

RNA interference – this is a process where RNA molecules inhibit (interfere) gene expression, usually by destroying the mRNA involved in the expression.