Brainstem

When someone yawns, other people yawn after. It becomes contagious, but many people wonder if smiling becomes contagious too. People smile all of the time. They smile for various reasons too. Joy spreads when other people are happy or joyful. When you smile at someone, they will smile back. There are two types of smiles. One type of smile is the genuine smile. It is our normal everyday smile. We use this smile when we are happy, when someone makes us laugh, or when someone is having fun.…

How the Brain works... Have you ever wondered what an individual’s brain works before they begin to abuse different substances? The Brain is an organ in the body that is capable of many, many things in all reality the brain controls your every movement thought and everything that you do in life. You can’t even do a simple task without your brain telling you how to do it, things even such as breathing. Then to think how all of this can change just by deciding to abuse drugs or alcohol. It…

that can cause multiple brain tumors, and retina tumors. After years of having these infections, Craig came to Carson in need of surgery. This specific tumor needed special attention because it was in one of the most vital parts of the body, the brainstem. Not…

nonverbal on examination. Two days after admission, she underwent a sub-occipital craniotomy for stealth biopsy and was started on cytarabine and IVIG. Follow up imaging on the next day showed worsening cerebellar edema and increased compression of the brainstem. Due to her progressive deterioration, a midline sub-occipital craniectomy with C1 laminectomy and partial thickness dural scoring was performed for posterior fossa decompression. She experienced an upgaze palsy after this procedure.…

heartbeat and breathing. Just above the medulla is the Pons, a brainstem area that helps coordinate movements. It helps regulate sleep and wake cycle. At the top of the brain stem is the thalamus. It is the brain’s sensory control center. Thalamus receives information from all your senses except smell. Inside the brain stem, between the ears, lies your reticular formation. These neuron network extends upward from the spinal cord through the brainstem and into the thalamus. It acts as a filter…

Brain death implies the loss of not only all higher brain functions but also all brainstem functions, including pupillary light reflexes, reflex eye movements, respirations, and gag and corneal reflexes. Determination of brain death is straightforward and is generally accepted as a criterion for death. Coma is a complete state of unresponsiveness to stimuli, although the patient may have brainstem reflexes. Stupor and obtundation refer to state of reduced consciousness in which meaningful…

expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeat located in exon 3 of the ATXN7 gene (). The abnormal expansion results in the incorporation of a segment of polyglutamines into the mutant protein, which induces loss of neurons within the cerebellum, retina, and brainstem. This neuronal death leads to diverse clinical manifestations, which include progressive gait ataxia, pigmental macular dystrophy, dysmetria, dysarthria, dysdiadochokinesia, sensory loss, hyperreflexia, and postural tremor (). Despite…

Decreased LOC occurs when the heart can’t overcome the pressure in the brain to deliver blood and oxygen to the cerebral tissues. In a healthy individual, blood, oxygen, and nutrients such as glucose are brought to the brain through both the vertebral arteries and the internal carotid arteries, which branch off from the aorta. The brain requires about 20% of the body’s cardiac output. The internal carotid arteries branch off into the anterior and middle cerebral arteries, which form the anterior…

Migraine it is the most commonest type among the primary headache. It is one form of vascular headache. Vascular headache are throbbing and pulsating pain caused by the activation of nerve fibres that lies within the brain blood vessel walls which passes within the meninges. Which result in decrease in blood flow and oxygen to the brain and increase blood flow of other blood vessels. Migraine headaches are the repeated attacks of moderate to severe pain that is throbbing or pulsating pain…

The largest part of the brain is called the cerebrum. The cerebrum is divided into two cerebral hemispheres, which develop from the forebrain. The hemispheres have the cerebral cortex which contains ten billion nerve cells. Underneath is the brainstem, and behind that is where the cerebellum is. The outermost layer of the cerebrum is the cerebral cortex is divided…