Physio/Psychopharm Flashcards
Naltrexone
Opioid antagonist that helps reduce craving for alcohol. Some GI, insomnia, and pain side effects
General Adaptation Syndrome
Human response to stress is mediated by adrenal-pituitary secretions (cortisol). 3 Stages: alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion
Types of genetic screening
Look chromosome structure, protein function, and DNA sequence. Cytogenetic, biochemic, and molecular
Gate control theory of pain
Mechanisms in spinal cord mediate or block perception of pain.
Reticular Activating System (RAS)
Network of nerves involved in wakefulness, arousal, and consciousness
Methylphenidate
psychostimulants for ADHD. Side effects: insomnia, decreased appetite, dysphoria, growth suppression.
Hypertension
2 types: primary (no known cause) and secondar (related to known disease). Primary accounts for 85-90% of cases, can lead to cardiovascular issues. Higher rates for older people, men, and african americans, generally. Higher for african american older women.
Neuroimaging Techniques
Structural: CT and MRI
Functional: PET, fMRI, and SPECT
Spinal cord damage
At cervical (top level)–> quadripilegia
Thoracic (2nd to top)–> paraplegia (just legs)
Weber’s Law
Perception and sensation. A just noticeable difference in intensity is a constant proportion of initial intensity.
Fechner’s Law
Perception and sensation. Physical stimulus changes are logarithmically related to psych sensations
Steven’s Power Law
Perception and sensation. Magnitude of sensation is equal to physical magnitude of sitmulus producing sensation raised to a certain power, which varies.
Hormone Replacement therapy
For menopause, estrogen levels dip. Helps alter estrogen and progesterone levels which eliminates hot flashes, mood swings, dryness, and reduces risk of bone loss.
Hydrocephalus
Ventricles in brain contain cerebrospinal flueid. If there is a blockage, fluid builds up.
Color vision theories
Trichromatic: red, blue, green receptors.
Opponent-process: red-green, yellow-blue, black-white. Cells excited by red, inhibited by green, for example.
Retinal disparity
Our two eyes see the world from diff views. The closer an object is to us, the greater the disparity is between these two views.
Hypoglycemia symptoms
Low blood glucose caused by excessive insulin. Hunger, dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, palpitations, anxiety, depression, confusion.
Secondary sex characteristics
Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Hypothalamus secretes chemicals that stimulate anterior pituitary gland. Then gonadotropic hormones are released.
Wernicke-Korsakoff
Alcoholism–>thiamine dificiency–>atrophy in thalamus and parts of hypothalamus–>Wernicke’s encephalopathy–>Korsakoff’s
Wernicke’s: mental confusion, ataxia, abnormal eye movements
Korsakoff: severe anterograde and retrograde amnesia, confabulation.
Parietal lobe damage
Lobe contains somatosensory cortex. Can cause apraxia (can’t perform skilled motor movements, no motor impairment), anosognosia, or gerstmann’s (finger agnosia, left-right confusion, agraphia, and acalculia).
Atypical antipsychotics
Clozapine. Affect dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate. Effect for positive and negative symptoms. Less likely to lead to tardive dyskinesia. Can produce blood issues and neuroleptic malignant syndrome
Temporal lobe and Wernicke’s area
Lone contains primary auditory cortex and wernicke’s area. Damage–> auditory agnosia, cortical deafness, issues with long-term memory, and wernicke’s aphasia (receptive issues)
Seizure types
Tonic-clonic or grand mal: muscle contraction and shaking
Petit mal or absence: brief attacks, loss of consciousness without big motor symptoms.
Partial: one side of brain and affect one side of body.
Papez’s Circuit
Brain mechanism for expression of emotion. Hippocampus, mammilary bodies, anterior nuclei of thalamus, and cingulate gyrus.
MS
progressive nervous system disease. Degeneration of myelin surrounding nerve fibers in central nervous system.
Early symptoms: motor impairment, sensory abnormalities, fatigue.
Later symptoms: tremors, speech issues, cog impairment
Memory in the brain
Temporal lobes: encode, store, retrieve long-term declarative
Hippocampus: consolidates long-term declarative (short to long term)
Amygdala: add emotional significance to memory
Prefrontal: short-term, episodic, and prospective
Thalamus: process info and transfer to neocortex
Cerebrovascular Accident
cerebral stroke–damage from blood clot or other obstruction or hemorrhage. Disrupts flow of blood to brain. Common symptoms: contralateral hemiplegia, hemianesthesia, visual field loss
Medulla
hind brain structure. communication between spine and brain. Vital functions like breathing, heartbeat, and BP.
Cerebellum
Hindbrain structure. Extrapyrimidal control of motor activities (balance, posture, coordination). Damage–>ataxia, slurred speech, tremors, and loss of balance.
Hippocampus
Limbic system structure. Important for spatial and explicit memory and consolidation of declarative memories.
Huntington’s
Inherited degenerative disease. Believed to be due to loss of GABA-secreting neurons. Connected to basal ganglia, caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus.
Early: depression, apathy, anxiety, forgetfulness, antisocial tendencies, fidgeting, clumsiness
Later: facial grimaces and “piano playing” movements with fingers
Aphasia
Impaired production and/or comprehension of language
Broca: production
Wernicke’s: trouble understanding
Conduction: no comprehension issues, but issues with repetition, anomia, and paraphasia
