2 diseases inhibit the release of ACh from the presynaptic terminal. The obvious one is the botulinum toxin. The other disease is Eaton Lambert syndrome which is an autoimmune process in which antibodies develop to the voltage-gated calcium channels and impair the release of ACh from the presynaptic terminal. Eaton Lambert syndrome is often a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with small cell lung cancer.
Myasthenia gravis and Eaton Lambert often appear in the same question. The key difference to look for in the question stem is whether or not the weakness gets better or worse throughout the day. Myasthenia gravis gets worse as the day progresses. Eaton Lambert gets better.
What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: The Pope Opening the Tomb of
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21 hours ago
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I'm really loving your blog. It breaks up the monotony of qbanks and first aid. Thank you for putting this site together. Also, I'm working my way thru your "on crack" series. It's perfect for the "board-exam-in-20-days-and-needing-to-review-everything" era! In fact, I think I'm picking up more when it's *cracked out* because I listen more intensely. Muy bueno. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome Lisa! I agree with the crack lectures. I did most of my studying for step 1 without books or notes, just listening and making my own diagrams and pictures in my head.
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