Eclampsia

Eclampsia, an acute and life-threatening complication of pregnancy, is characterized by the appearance of tonic-clonic seizures in a patient who had developed preeclampsia; rarely does eclampsia occur without preceding preeclamptic symptoms. Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and toxemia of pregnancy are terms used to encompass both preeclampsia and eclampsia.

Seizures and coma that happen during pregnancy but are due to preexisting or organic brain disorders are not eclampsia.The term is derived from the Greek and refers to a flash, a term used by Hippocrates to designate a fever of sudden onset.

Quadriceps Femoris Muscle

The quadriceps femoris (Latin for "four-headed [muscle] of the femur"), also called simply the quadriceps, quadriceps extensor, or quads, is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the great extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large fleshy mass which covers the front and sides of the femur. It is the strongest and leanest muscle in the human body.

It is subdivided into four separate portions or 'heads', which have received distinctive names:

* Rectus femoris occupies the middle of the thigh, covering most of the other three quadriceps muscles. It originates on the ilium. It is named from its straight course.

* The other three lie deep to rectus femoris and originate from the body of the femur, which they cover from the trochanters to the condyles:
o Vastus lateralis is on the lateral side of the femur (i.e. on the outer side of the thigh).
o Vastus medialis is on the medial side of the femur (i.e. on the inner part thigh).
o Vastus intermedius lies between vastus lateralis and vastus medialis on the front of the femur (i.e. on the top or front of the thigh).

Cardiac

Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found in the walls of the heart, specifically the myocardium. Cardiac muscle cells are known as cardiac myocytes (or cardiomyocytes). Cardiac muscle is one of three major types of muscle, the others being skeletal and smooth muscle. The cells that comprise cardiac muscle are sometimes seen as intermediate between these two other types in terms of appearance, structure, metabolism, excitation-coupling and mechanism of contraction.

Cardiac muscle shares similarities with skeletal muscle with regard to its striated appearance and contraction, with both differing significantly from smooth muscle cells. Coordinated contraction of cardiac muscle cells in the heart propel blood from the atria and ventricles to the blood vessels of the circulatory system. Cardiac muscle cells, like all tissues in the body, rely on an ample blood supply to deliver oxygen and nutrients and to remove waste products such as carbon dioxide.

Muscle

Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse") is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to produce force and cause motion.

Muscles can cause either locomotion of the organism itself or movement of internal organs. Cardiac and smooth muscle contraction occurs without conscious thought and is necessary for survival. Examples are the contraction of the heart and peristalsis which pushes food through the digestive system. Voluntary contraction of the skeletal muscles is used to move the body and can be finely controlled. Examples are movements of the eye, or gross movements like the quadriceps muscle of the thigh. There are two broad types of voluntary muscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers contract for long periods of time but with little force while fast twitch fibers contract quickly and powerfully but fatigue very rapidly.