A functional motor deficit where individuals whose responses to the challenges of exercise fail to achieve levels considered normal for their age and gender.

Abnormal protrusion of the scapula away from the surface of the back.

Absence of the Achilles reflex (also known as the ankle jerk reflex), which can normally be elicited by tapping the tendon is tapped while the foot is dorsiflexed.

An increase in height of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot that does not flatten on weight bearing (i.e., a distinctly hollow form of the sole of the foot when it is bearing weight).

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy is a genetic form of heart disease. It occurs when heart (cardiac) muscle becomes thin and weakened in at least one chamber of the heart, causing the open area of the chamber to become enlarged (dilated). As a result, the heart is unable to pump blood as efficiently as usual. To compensate, the heart attempts to increase the amount of blood being pumped through the heart, leading to further thinning and weakening of the cardiac muscle. Over time, this condition results in heart failure.\n\nIt usually takes many years for symptoms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy to cause health problems. They typically begin in mid-adulthood, but can occur at any time from infancy to late adulthood. Signs and symptoms of familial dilated cardiomyopathy can include an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), shortness of breath (dyspnea), extreme tiredness (fatigue), fainting episodes (syncope), and swelling of the legs and feet. In some cases, the first sign of the disorder is sudden cardiac death. The severity of the condition varies among affected individuals, even in members of the same family.

An abnormality of the mitral valve characterized by insufficiency or incompetence of the mitral valve resulting in retrograde leaking of blood through the mitral valve upon ventricular contraction.

One or both of the leaflets (cusps) of the mitral valve bulges back into the left atrium upon contraction of the left ventricle.

Reduction of total body weight.

Difficulty in swallowing.

A functional rather than mechanical obstruction of the intestines, associated with manifestations that resemble those caused by an intestinal obstruction, including distension, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, in an individual in whom a mechanical blockage has been excluded.

Decreased strength of the muscle layer of stomach, which leads to a decreased ability to empty the contents of the stomach despite the absence of obstruction.

A type of hearing impairment in one or both ears related to an abnormal functionality of the cochlear nerve.

An abnormality of the functioning of the vestibular apparatus.

Cerebellar ataxia refers to ataxia due to dysfunction of the cerebellum. This causes a variety of elementary neurological deficits including asynergy (lack of coordination between muscles, limbs and joints), dysmetria (lack of ability to judge distances that can lead to under- or overshoot in grasping movements), and dysdiadochokinesia (inability to perform rapid movements requiring antagonizing muscle groups to be switched on and off repeatedly).

Frequently experiencing feelings of being down, miserable, and/or hopeless; struggling to recover from these moods; having a pessimistic outlook on the future; feeling a pervasive sense of shame; having a low self-worth; experiencing thoughts of suicide and engaging in suicidal behavior.

Dysarthric speech is a general description referring to a neurological speech disorder characterized by poor articulation. Depending on the involved neurological structures, dysarthria may be further classified as spastic, flaccid, ataxic, hyperkinetic and hypokinetic, or mixed.

Decreased ability to perceive touch.

Very brief, involuntary random muscular contractions occurring at rest, in response to sensory stimuli, or accompanying voluntary movements.

Upturning of the big toe (and sometimes fanning of the other toes) in response to stimulation of the sole of the foot. If the Babinski sign is present it can indicate damage to the corticospinal tract.

A seizure is an intermittent abnormality of nervous system physiology characterized by a transient occurrence of signs and/or symptoms due to abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain.

Unstable emotional experiences and frequent mood changes; emotions that are easily aroused, intense, and/or disproportionate to events and circumstances.

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by episodic attacks of headache and associated symptoms.

Fine, rapid twitching of individual muscle fibers with little or no movement of the muscle as a whole. If a motor neuron or its axon is destroyed, the muscle fibers it innervates undergo denervation atrophy. This leads to hypersensitivity of individual muscle fibers to acetyl choline so that they may contract spontaneously. Isolated activity of individual muscle fibers is generally so fine it cannot be seen through the intact skin, although it can be recorded as a short-duration spike in the EMG.

Absence of neurologic reflexes such as the knee-jerk reaction.

A type of ataxia characterized by the inability to carry out movements with the correct range and motion across the plane of more than one joint related to incorrect estimation of the distances required for targeted movements.

Being unable to focus one's attention or mental effort on a particular object or activity.

The patient stands with the feet placed together and balance and is asked to close his or her eyes. A loss of balance upon eye closure is a positive Romberg sign and is interpreted as indicating a deficit in proprioception.

Incoordination of movement caused by a deficit in the sensory nervous system. Sensory ataxia can be distinguished from cerebellar ataxia by asking the patient to close his or her eyes. Persons with cerebellar ataxia show only a minimal worsening of symptoms, whereas persons with sensory ataxia show a marked worsening of symptoms.

Abnormal cognition is characterized by deficits in thinking, reasoning, or remembering.

A loss of global cognitive ability of sufficient amount to interfere with normal social or occupational function. Dementia represents a loss of previously present cognitive abilities, generally in adults, and can affect memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior.

Reduction of neurologic reflexes such as the knee-jerk reaction.

A type of ataxia characterized by the impairment of the ability to coordinate the movements required for normal walking. Gait ataxia is characteirzed by a wide-based staggering gait with a tendency to fall.

An abnormal gait pattern in which persons stand and walk with their feet spaced widely apart. This is often a component of cerebellar ataxia.

An abnormality characterized by disruption of the normal functioning of peripheral axons.

An axonal neuropathy of peripheral sensory nerves.

A type of gait ataxia displaying progression of clinical severity.

A decrease in the ability to perceive vibration in the distal portions of the limbs.

A reduced sense of touch (tactile sensation) on the skin of the distal limbs. This is usually tested with a wisp of cotton or a fine camel's hair brush, by asking patients to say 'now' each time they feel the stimulus.

A loss or impairment of the sensation of the relative position of parts of the body and joint position occuring at distal joints.

A disorder of muscle unrelated to impairment of innervation or neuromuscular junction.

Reduced strength of muscles.

A lack of strength of the proximal muscles.

Reduced ability to climb stairs.

Reduced strength of one or more muscles innervated by the facial nerve (the seventh cranial nerve).

Reduced strength of the musculature of the distal extremities.

The presence of skeletal muscular atrophy (which is also known as amyotrophy).

Generalized weakness or decreased strength of the muscles, affecting both distal and proximal musculature.

Generalized (diffuse, unlocalized) amyotrophy (muscle atrophy) affecting multiple muscles.

An abnormality in which the nuclei of sarcomeres take on an abnormally central localization (or in which this feature is found in an increased proportion of muscle cells).

An abnormally high degree of muscle fiber size variation. This phenotypic feature can be observed upon muscle biopsy.

Abnormal cell death involving muscle fibers usually associated with break in, or absence of, muscle surface fiber membrane and resulting in irreversible damage to muscle fibers.

An abnormal appearance of muscle fibers observed on muscle biopsy. Ragged red fibers can be visualized with Gomori trichrome staining as irregular and intensely red subsarcolemmal zones, whereas the normal myofibrils are green. The margins of affect fibers appear red and ragged. The ragged-red is due to the accumulation of abnormal mitochondria below the plasma membrane of the muscle fiber, leading to the appearance of a red rim and speckled sarcoplasm.

An abnormal distribution of muscle fiber types in muscle tissue. Human skeletal muscle contains at least two fiber types recognizable by histochemical techniques. In transverse sections of normal skeletal muscle, type 1 and type 2 fibers are distributed in a random fashion. Grouping of fibers of the same type can be seen in certain peripheral neuropathies, thought to be due to reinnervation of denervated muscle fibers by sprouting axons. With grouping, motor units enlarge. The fibers of a motor unit, which are normally scattered, come to lie adjacent to one another. Histochemical examination shows groups of muscle fibers of the same histochemical type.

The presence of multiple deletions of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

An abnormally reduced activity of the enzyme cytochrome C oxidase in muscle tissue.

An abnormally increased number of mitochondria in the cytoplasma adjacent to the sarcolemma (muscle cell membrane), whereby the mitochondria also possess an abnormal morphology.

Impairment of gas exchange within the lungs secondary to a disease process, neoplasm, or trauma, possibly resulting in hypoxia, hypercarbia, or both, but not requiring intubation or mechanical ventilation. Patients are normally managed with pharmaceutical therapy, supplemental oxygen, or both.

Abnormally increased level of blood lactate (2-hydroxypropanoic acid). Lactate is produced from pyruvate by lactate dehydrogenase during normal metabolism. The terms lactate and lactic acid are often used interchangeably but lactate (the component measured in blood) is strictly a weak base whereas lactic acid is the corresponding acid. Lactic acidosis is often used clinically to describe elevated lactate but should be reserved for cases where there is a corresponding acidosis (pH below 7.35).

A type of speech characterized by the presence of an abnormally increased nasal airflow during speech associated with structural abnormality of the nasal passages.

The upper eyelid margin is positioned 3 mm or more lower than usual and covers the superior portion of the iris (objective); or, the upper lid margin obscures at least part of the pupil (subjective).

Rhythmic, involuntary oscillations of one or both eyes related to abnormality in fixation, conjugate gaze, or vestibular mechanisms.

A cataract is an opacity or clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye or in its capsule.

Paralysis of the external ocular muscles.

Progressive external ophthalmoplegia is a condition characterized by weakness of the eye muscles. The condition typically appears in adults between ages 18 and 40 and slowly worsens over time. The first sign of progressive external ophthalmoplegia is typically drooping eyelids (ptosis), which can affect one or both eyelids. As ptosis worsens, affected individuals may use the forehead muscles to try to lift the eyelids, or they may lift up their chin in order to see. Another characteristic feature of progressive external ophthalmoplegia is weakness or paralysis of the muscles that move the eye (ophthalmoplegia). Affected individuals have to turn their head to see in different directions, especially as the ophthalmoplegia worsens. People with progressive external ophthalmoplegia may also have general weakness of the muscles used for movement (myopathy), particularly those in the neck, arms, or legs. The weakness may be especially noticeable during exercise (exercise intolerance). Muscle weakness may also cause difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).\n\nWhen the muscle cells of affected individuals are stained and viewed under a microscope, these cells usually appear abnormal. These abnormal muscle cells contain an excess of cell structures called mitochondria and are known as ragged-red fibers.\n\nAlthough muscle weakness is the primary symptom of progressive external ophthalmoplegia, this condition can be accompanied by other signs and symptoms. In these instances, the condition is referred to as progressive external ophthalmoplegia plus (PEO+). Additional signs and symptoms can include hearing loss caused by nerve damage in the inner ear (sensorineural hearing loss), weakness and loss of sensation in the limbs due to nerve damage (neuropathy), impaired muscle coordination (ataxia), a pattern of movement abnormalities known as parkinsonism, and depression.\n\nProgressive external ophthalmoplegia is part of a spectrum of disorders with overlapping signs and symptoms. Similar disorders include ataxia neuropathy spectrum and Kearns-Sayre syndrome. Like progressive external ophthalmoplegia, the other conditions in this spectrum can involve weakness of the eye muscles. However, these conditions have many additional features not shared by most people with progressive external ophthalmoplegia.

Ophthalmoplegia is a paralysis or weakness of one or more of the muscles that control eye movement.

Mottling (spots or blotches with different shades) of the retinal pigment epithelium, i.e., localized or generalized fundal pigment granularity associated with processes at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium.