Lecture 19 - Neurological Problems Flashcards
What is Anomia aphasia?
- Symptom of damage in frontal lobe —> struggle to find the right word to say.
Can you learn new words if you cannot repeat words?
It is extremely difficult because you can’t sound things out.
Normally, you say the word in your head even if you don’t say it out loud.
With an aphasia, there is recovery after a stroke and they have the ability to learn again
What influences recovery after a stroke?
- Age they got the stroke
- motivation tor recover
- Social support by the people around them
What is the main problem with strokes and recovery?
It usually happens in old age. People are already suffering the effects of age on their body, they are stressed about their life and independence and they are already losing their support network, sometimes because their friends or family die of old age. Therefore, they lack the motivation to recover when they have a stroke and they give up.
Name the concept:
- When we talk to ourselves, there are very slight movements of the muscles involved in speech that do not actually cause obvious movement.
Subvocal articulations
What are subvocal articulations?
Very slight movements of the muscles involved in speech that do not actually cause obvious movement.
Which area of the brain shows increased activation when people “say” words subvocally (in their head)?
Broca’s area
What is trouble with writing called?
Dysgraphia
Spelling a word can be accomplished by two manners. Which are they?
- Phonetically sounding out the word
- Visually imagining the word
What is phonological dysgraphia?
A condition where people cannot spell words by sounding them out.
- Common in Broca’s aphasia.
They can only write words by imagining how they look. They cannot write non-words like Val or blint.
What is orthographic dysgraphia?
A condition where people cannot spell words by visualizing them.
- Common in people with damage to the visual form area in the visual association cortex.
How common are stroke and what are they related to?
Incidence of strokes is about 750 000 a year.
It’s associated with age. It doubles each decade after 45 years and reaches 1/2% every year by age 75.
Name the process:
- Process in which linings of arteries develop a layer of plaque, deposits of cholesterol, fats, calcium and cellular waste products.
Atherosclerosis
What are the risk factors of atherosclerosis?
High blood pressure, cigarette smoking, diabetes and high blood levels of cholesterol.
Where do atherosclerosis plaques often form?
In the internal carotid artery, which supplied most of the blood flow to the cerebral hemisphere.
What are the two main kinds of strokes?
1) Ischemic stroke
- The occlusion of a blood vessel (87% of strokes)
2) Hemorrhagic stroke
- Rupture of a cerebral blood vessel
What is a thrombus?
A blood clot that forms within a blood vessel, which may block it and reduce blood flow to the affected area.
What is an embolus?
It’s a piece of matter (blood clot, bacterial debris) that dislodges from its site of origin and occludes and artery.
In the brain, an embolus can lead to a stroke.
What is the approach to minimize the amount of brain damage caused by strokes?
One approach is to administer drugs that dissolve blood clots in an attempt to reestablish circulation to an ischemic brain region.
(Time window of 3 to 4 hours after stroke has happened)
What are the main treatments after the stroke?
- Drugs that reduce swelling and inflammation
- Physical, speech and or occupational therapy
- Exercise and sensory stimulation
where do mutations have to occur for it to start to divide uncontrollably?
Within the cell
When can mutation occur?
- Any time a cell divides, or get radiation or gets damaged
Which cells in the body are the only ones to never divide?
Neurons
Where do we see cancer occur?
Where there is cell division
What does it take for a cell to become cancerous?
It has to suddenly decide it wants to divide and replicate itself uncontrollably.
They need to have mutation to protect themselves from the Immune system.
They will have a mutation that increases blood flow to the regions its in to promote the cell division
What is a tumour?
Mass of cells whose growth is uncontrolled and that serves no useful function.
What is a non-malignant tumour?
Non cancerous, benign tumour. It has a distinct border and cannot metastasize.