Nervous system

Drugs are chemicals that affect the brain by tapping into its communication system and interfering with the way neurons normally send, receive, and process information. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter. Drugs that enter the blood stream have faster and definitely more intense effects. The more directly the drug enters the bloodstream determines how fast and intense the drug will take effect.…

dvancements in Neuroscience How the brain works has been a topic that has interested me for many years. I have been intrigued by how thought patterns and behavior can be changed through retraining the brain. Even with the knowledge of how to retrain the brain, little has been known about what the brain looks like as it is working, but that is changing. Neuroscientists are performing research to discover exactly what the inner workings of the brain look like. One of the…

Maria D. Rodriguez Investigation of the potential TNT transmission of α-syn between neurons in PD pathogenesis A.SPECIFIC AIMS Parkinson’s disease (PD) is defined on a molecular level as an abnormal level of Lewy-body formation, as well as the loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia-nigra in the midbrain . The major protein component found in Lewy-bodies is α-synuclein. This protein is most commonly found in synaptic clefts of neurons in the brain. In familial cases, the excess…

Spinal muscular atrophy is a disorder that takes away the ability to walk, eat, or breathe. The major causes of this disorder are caused by a mutation in the survival motor cell neuron gene. The symptoms of this disorder are having breathing difficulties, leading to a lack of oxygen. Also if you have a poor muscle tone like a floppy infant. You cannot cure or treat this disorder. Nothing else contributes to this disease, and they have not found anything for it. Basically if you have Spinal…

In 1906, Alois Alzheimer described the pathological features of presenile dementia. He noted the presence of military foci (Plaques) and fibrils in the brain of one of his cases, although he was not the first to describe the clinical features nor was he the first to describe the plaques. He was, however, the first to describe the fibrils. This disease was named after him by his senior colleague because of his statement that he was describing a new disease entity. (Hardy 2006).…

Patients who recover from chronic stroke and other brain-related problems such as surgery on brain cancer tend to lose balance and gait abilities. This includes involuntary movements of some voluntary muscles in parts of the body. Lack of Coordination between the brain and the muscles when impaired lead to the involuntary muscular movement, a condition that affects many post-stroke patients. There have been a number of mechanisms to help post-stroke patients continue with their usual activities…

Alzheimer's disease usually develops through several steps and stages slowly and progressively gets worse over the years. It eventually affects most parts of your brain, including the memory, thinking, judgment, language, problem-solving, personality and movement[1]. The rate of progression for Alzheimer's disease differs extensively. On average, people with Alzheimer's disease live 8 to 10 years after diagnosis, but some people can survive 25 years[2]. There are Three important stages of…

Parkinson’s is the second leading disorder affecting older adults; Alzheimer’s being the first. This disease is characterized by motor irregularities that include tremors, slowness, and rigidness. There are not only motor symptoms associated with the disease; there are also non-motor symptoms that include difficulties in the area of cognition, emotions, and sleeping (Eccles, Murray, and Simpson, 2011). Unfortunately, this disease is also a progressive disorder, meaning that as time goes on the…

Dr. Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran was born in 1951, in Tamil Nadu, India. Ramachandran moved around India and Asia with his family. Dr. Ramachandran is “Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Distinguished Professor with the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute”. Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran is “best known for work on visual perception and experiments in behavioral…

There are damages in the brain that can be genetic or born with. These are very dangerous because that means that it can develop anytime form tha age of twenty to eighty. A well-known disease that one is born with is epilepsy. the brain losses cells everytime a seizure hits someone. If seizures have been occurring since birth, the development of the brain is harmed because of the loss of brain cells during the brains “maturing” ages. Psychopathy is also a disease that an individual can be born…