Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder which begins during childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by tics (video shown) such as blinking, coughing, sniffing, or facial movements that are a somewhat suppressible response to an unwanted urge. Once considered rare, Tourette's occurs in about 1% of people under eighteen, although many go undiagnosed or never seek medical care. There is no specific test for diagnosis and Tourette's is not always correctly identified because most cases are mild. Extreme cases in adulthood are rare and Tourette's does not affect intelligence or life expectancy. Education is an integral part of management of the syndrome, and explanation and reassurance are often sufficient. The cause is believed to involve environmental and unknown genetic factors. The condition was named for Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who published an account of nine patients in 1885.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1820:
The U.S. Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, which balanced the admission of Missouri as a slave state with that of Maine as a free state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Compromise
1891:
Shoshone National Forest, in the U.S. state of Wyoming, was established as the country's first national forest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshone_National_Forest
1945:
A Polish Home Army unit massacred at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawłokoma, Poland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw%C5%82okoma_massacre
1972:
The British rock band Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick, a concept album supposedly adapted from an epic poem by an eight-year-old boy named Gerald Bostock. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
triangulation: 1. (uncountable, surveying) A technique in which distances and directions are estimated from an accurately measured baseline and the principles of trigonometry; (countable) an instance of the use of this technique. 2. (countable, surveying) The network of triangles so obtained, that are the basis of a chart or map. 3. (countable, chess) A delaying move in which the king moves in a triangular path to force the advance of a pawn. 4. (countable, geometry) A subdivision of a planar object into triangles, and by extension the subdivision of a higher-dimension geometric object into simplices. 5. (uncountable, navigation, seismology) A process by which an unknown location is found using three known distances from known locations. 6. (uncountable, politics) The practice of repositioning one's group or oneself on the political spectrum in an attempt to capture the centre. 7. (uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more) researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triangulation
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Persuasion, indeed, is a kind of force. It consists in showing a person the consequences of his actions. It is, in a word, force applied through the mind. --James Fitzjames Stephen https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Fitzjames_Stephen