P8: Neurological Diseases Flashcards
Which techniques can be used to detect Parkinson’s disease?
PET: shows global decrease in glucose metabolism
PET: detect abnormal functions of dopamine/ can’t distinguish between diseases
fMIR: blood flow and thus metabolism reduced
PET/SPECT: extensive decrease in cortical binding of acetylcholine –> parkinsonian dementia
What are pathological markers of Parkinson?
- Lewy-body-type degeneration
What can be used to treat Parkinson?
levodopa: for low Dopamine level/Neurotransmitters –> increase the activity in whatever dopamine synapses remaining
Deep brain stimulation: targeting basal ganglia: increasing activity of Dopaminergic Neurons
Cholinesterase inhibitors: prevents breakdown of acetylcholine: improves cognitive and behavioral symptoms in dementia. but increases tremors
Atropine: against tremors but negative, positive and neutral effects on parkinsonian dementia
What is the difference between dementia and Parkinsonian dementia?
- dementia: acquired and persistent syndrome of intellectual impairment. (1) memory and other cognitive deficits and (2) impairment in social and
occupational functioning - Parkinsonian dementia: mainly due to an impairment of the executive functioning like planning, abstract thinking, flexibility and behavioral control due to an impairment of the working memory system.
What is the difference between a benign and a malignant tumor?
benign: not likely to reoccur
malignant: likely to reoccur
What are meningiomas (tumors)?
meningiomas: tumors that grow between the meninges, the three membranes that cover the central nervous system. All meningiomas are encapsulated tumors—
tumors that grow within their own membrane. mostly benign tumors –> not likely to reoccur.
What are Gliomas (tumors)?
Infiltrating tumors are those that grow diffusely through surrounding tissue. As a result, they are usually malignant tumors; that is, it is difficult to remove or destroy them completely, and any cancerous tissue that remains after surgery continues to grow. Gliomas (brain tumors that develop from glial cells) are infiltrating, rapidly growing, and unfortunately common
What is Parkinson and which brain areas does it affect?
Is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system.
Degeneration of substantia nigra and loss of Neurotransmitter Dopamine (structure of the basal ganglia: Mesencephalon/midbrain).
Describe positive and negative symptoms of Parkinson:
Positive symptoms: behaviors not seen in normal people; are released from inhibition; Tremor at rest, muscular rigidity: the slowness of movement is conscious but not willed, involuntary movement: Treatment for involuntary movement: lesions to the global pallidus – part of basal ganglia.
Negative symptoms: absence of a behavior or by the inability to engage
in an activity; disorders of: posture, righting(korrigieren), locomotion(Fortbewegung),
and disturbance of speech: absence of tone, Akinesia:
What is the Cholinergic system?
involved in the regulation of attention and higher-order cognitive processing. Cholinergic = acetylcholine
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease? Which brain regions are affected?
Symptoms and Progression: slow onset and steady progress, which gradually rob a person, first, of recent memory, then, of more remote memory, and, finally, of the abilities to recognize family members and to function independently.
Cognitive impairment: concentration, recent and past memory, orientation, social functioning, and self-care.
What are pathological markers of Alzheimer?
- Paired Helical Filaments: filamentary protein structures (fadenförmig)
- Neocortical Changes: losing one-third of its volume.
- Paralimbic Cortex Changes: The entorhinal cortex show cell loss. It is the major relay between neocortex and hippocampus –>memory loss
- showing reduction in two or more Neurotransmitters
- now compensation of decline in bloow flow as patients get older
What is the Wada test?
Testing how much speech/language and cognitive functions one hemisphere of the brain is capable of when the other hemisphere is sedated. Is done before brain operations for seizure patients when doctors plan to remove parts of the brain to see whether this removement will impair the patient’s brain functions severely.
