Diseases of the nervous system and brain injury Flashcards
What is Parkinson’s disease?
A disorder of the central nervous system which involves the degeneration of neurons within the brain in the regions, basal ganglia and substantia nigra (found deep in the midbrain).
Dopamine levels drop due to the damage to these neurons leading to symptoms of Parkinson’s.
What are some motor symptoms of Parkinson’s?
Tremors, muscle rigidity, slowness of movement, postural instability, speech problems
Describe what tremors are
Continuous uncontrollable shaking of the body.
‘Resting’ tremors are when the body is sitting or resting and limbs of the body begin to shake uncontrollably.
Describe what is meant by muscle rigidity
Muscles in the body not being able to relax and rest and are continuously tight.
Can lead to lack of movement and difficulty performing actions.
Describe what is meant by slowness of movement
The decrease in the patient’s ability to use fine motor coordination skills.
Describe what is meant by postural instability
Issues with balance and problems and struggles with walking independently.
Falls are common.
Loss of independence to look after themselves
Describe what is meant by speech problems
The muscles involved in speech are tight and cannot move as easily. This can affect the volume, clarity and sound of speech.
The muscles involved in swallowing are affected making it difficult to drink and eat.
What are some non-motor symptoms?
Pain and discomfort, disturbed sleep, problems urinating, anxiety and depression, impaired cognitive function, memory less
What is the current treatment for Parkinson’s?
There is no current cure for the disease only medication to improve quality of life.
L-dopa medication restores dopamine as well as increasing the effectiveness of dopamine receptors which help improve motor coordination issues.
Deep brain stimulation of the basal ganglia can also improve symptoms.
Which animal study for used to discover L-Dopa?
Arvid Carlsson used rabbits to test the drug. It showed that dopamine played an important role in Parkinson’s.
Which neuroimaging scans are most useful towards Parkinson’s?
fMRI and PET scans.
They show brain structure and activity.
What is motor neuron disease? Summarise.
A condition where motor neurons in the brain slowly degenerate and die.
It gradually impairs the abilities to move, speak, breathe and swallow.
There is no cure and only medication to slow the onset of the disease.
What is ABI?
Acquired Brain Injury.
It occurs as a result of injury or physical trauma to the brain and results in dysfunction of the brain.
eg. stroke, degenerative disease, substance abuse
What are some signs and symptoms of an injury to the frontal lobe?
Cognitive: concentration span is reduced, unable to think and process information rationally, inability to problem solve.
Emotional: change in mood, rapid mood swings, inability to detect emotions or regulate own emotions.
Voluntary movement: inability to control voluntary movement, inability to produce speech.
What are some signs and symptoms of damage to the occipital lobe?
Results in inability to see or disrupted vision.
Inability to recognise objects.
Problems with sensation and perception.
