Physiological Psychology Flashcards
Achromatopsia-
inheirted form of of complete color blindness that is caused by lack of of functioning in the cone cells
Cerebral achromatopsia- complete color blindness by lesion in the brain in occipitotemporal region
Agnosia:
tactile agnosia- inability to recognize familiar objects by touch
Agranulocytosis
, is an acute condition involving a severe and dangerous leukopenia (lowered white blood cell count), most commonly of neutrophils, and thus causing a neutropenia in the circulating blood.
Akathisia
movement disorder characterized by a subjective feeling of inner restlessness accompanied by mental distress and an inability to sit still. Usually, the legs are most prominently affected. Those affected may fidget, rock back and forth, or pace, while some may just have an uneasy feeling in their body.
Anomia
a form of aphasia in which the patient is unable to recall the names of everyday objects.
Anticholingeric effects
Dry mouth. Blurred vision. Dry eyes. Constipation. Urinary retention. Dizziness due to drop in blood pressure on standing up Cognitive problems (confusion) Heart rhythm disturbance.
Aphasia
loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage.
Dysprosody
which may manifest as pseudo-foreign accent syndrome, refers to a disorder in which one or more of the prosodic functions are either compromised or eliminated completely
Gerstmanns Syndrome:
in parietal loe, involves a combination of finger agnosia, right left confusion, agraphia( inability to write) , and acalculia( inability to perform simple mathematical calculations)
Neuroleptic Maligant Syndrome
rare side effect of antipsychotic drugs, characterized by a rapid onset of motor, mental, and autonomic symptoms including muscle rigidity, tachycardia, hyperthermia and altered consciousness. drug must be stopped as soon as symptoms develop
Paresthesia
burning or prickling sensation that is usually felt in the hands, arms, legs, or feet, but can also occur in other parts of the body. The sensation, which happens without warning, is usually painless and described as tingling or numbness, skin crawling, or itching.
Tardive Dyskinesia
Side effects of traditional antipsychotic drugs, most serious, more common in females and older patients. similar to those of hungingtos disease and include involuntary rhythmic movements of the jaw, lips, tongue,
prosopagnosia
a neurological condition characterized by the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people.
synesthesia
Joining senses- rare condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality triggers another sensory modality , might hear a color or taste a shape
Tardive Dyskinesia
Side effects of traditional antipsychotic drugs, most serious, more common in females and older patients. similar to those of hungingtons disease and include involuntary rhythmic movements of the jaw, lips, tongue,
Visual Agnosia
Damage to the occipital lobe - apprerceptive visual agnosia occurs when a person is unable to perceive objects despite visual acuity,
Associative visual agnosia- person is unable to recognize an object that he or she is focusing on
Neuron- Three components
Dendrites- branch like, recieve information from other cells and conduct it toward the cell body
Cell body- several structures including, nucleusribosomes, golgi complex.
Axon- receives information from cell body to other cells,
covered by Myelin sheath- fatty substance that works an insulator
Action Potential
electrical impulse that travels quickly through the cell.
All or none principle
when the stimulation received by a neuron exceeds a given threshold, the resulting action potential will always be of the same intensity.
Acetylcholine
ACH- found in CNS and PNS
Myasthenia gravis- autoimmune disorder that attacks ACH receptors at neuromuscular junctions
ACH- involved in REM sleep, regulation of the sleep wake cycle and learning and memory.
**degeneration of ACH cells in areas that communicate with hippocampus are associated with Alzheimers disease.
Drugs that reduce the breakdown of ACH are used for alzheimers- tacrine ( cognex), donepezil( aricept) galantamine( Reminyl) and revastigmine( exelon)
Dopamine
classified as catecholamines- involved in personality, mood, memory and sleep ,
involved in movement and linked to disorders such as parkinsons and Tourettes disorder, oversensitivty to or excessive dopamine in the caudate nucleus contributes to Tourettes disorder.
Norepinephrine
important role in mood, attention, dreaming, learning and certain autonomic functions.
Catecholamine hypothesis- predicts that some forms of depression are due to lower than normal levels of tthis neurotransmitter.
Serotonin
inhibitory effect- mood, hunger, tempature regulation, sexual activity, arousal, sleep, aggression and migraine headache.
Elevated levels of serotonin contribute to schizophrenia, Autistic Disorder, and food restriction associated with Aneroxia Nervosa,
Low levels- play a role in aggression, depression, suicide, Bulimia Nervosa, PTSD and OCD.
Dopamine hypothesis of schizoprehnia:
disorder is due to elevated dopamine levels or oversensitivity of dopamine receptors
GABA
inhibitory - plays role in eating, seizure, anxiety disorders, motor control, vision and sleep.
Low levels of GABA have been linked to anxiety disorders and benzodiazepines and other CNS depressants reduce anxiety by enhancing the effects of GABA.
degeneration of cells that secrete GABA in the basal ganglia contribute to motor symptoms in hungingtons disease
Glutamate
excitatory neurotransmitter , plays role in learning and memory and in long term potential,
Excessive glutamate receptor activity( excitotoicity) can lead to seizures and may contribute to stroke related brain damage, huntingtons diease, Alzheimers disease,
Endorphin
inhibitory- analegesic properties and may be responsible for pain relief produced by accupunture, also involved in pleasurable experiences, memory, learning and sexual behavior.
Spinal Cord- Five groups
top to bottom: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, and coccyx
Quadriplegia vs Paraplegia
Quadriplegia- involves a loss of sensory and voluntary motor functioning in the arms and legs.
Paraplegia- damage at the thoracic level- entails a loss of sensory and voluntary functioning in the legs.
Meninges
brain and spinal cord are encased in three membranes: dura mater, arachnoid, and pia mater
Cerebral Ventricles/Hydrocephalus
caused by an obstruction of the flow of CSF that leads to a build up of fluid and some enlargements of the ventricles, and larger than normal ventricles have been found in individuals with schizophrenia
Somatic Nervous System
consists of sensory nerves that carry information from the bodys sense receptors to the CNS and motor nerves that carry information from the CNS to the skeletal muscles, voluntary movements
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic
Sympathetic Branch: associated with arousal and expenditure or energy, dialtion of pupils, dry mouth, increased blood pressure “fight or flight”
Parasympathetic Branch: conservation of energy and is active during digestion and periods of rest and relaxation.
Autonomic Nervous System:
sensory nerves that convey signals from receptors in the viscera to the CNS and motor nerves that carry signals from the CNS to the smooth muscles, cardiac muscles
unvoluntary movements, biofeedback, hypnosis, and have been found to bring some back to voluntary control
Development of the CNS
Five stages:
Proliferation: New cells are produced inside the neural tube beginning when the embryo is about 2.5 weeks old
Migration: immature neurons migrate to their final destination in the brain beginning at about 8 weeks.
Differentation: develop axons and dendrites
Myelination: axons of some nuerons myelinate, which occurs when gilal cells form an insulating sheath around cells axon
Synaptogensis: occurs postnatally, both genetic and experience factors
Evaluation of the spinal cord
Spinal X ray: initial diagnostic test,
followed by MRI- permits evaluation of soft tissue of the spinal column
Neuroimaging Techniques:
CT and MRI- structural neuroimaging techniques that provide information on the physical structure of the brain.
CT- utlizies x rays to obtain images of horiztional slices of brain tissue
CT- useful for diagnosing pathological conditions such as tumors, blood clots, and MS
MRI- uses magnetic fields and radio waves, better resolution, more detailed images
PET and FMRI - functional neuroimaging techniques
PET Scan- ( Positron emission tomography) and FMRI- provide information on brain activity
PET- individual is injected with a substance, provide information on cerebral blood flow, glucose metabolism, and oxygen consumption
PET- used for cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimers diease, and dementia, Schizophrenia.
Hindbrain
brain structure that contains medulla, pons, and cerebellum
Medulla
influences the flow of information between the spinal cord and and the brain,
Coordinates swallowing, coughing, sneezing, vital functions such as breathing, heartbeat and blood pressure.
Damage to the medulla is often fatal
Cerebellum
important for balance and posture, vital to performance of coordinated and refined motor movements
such as the timing and coordination of motor acts, and cognitive functioning
*abnormalities in cerebellum have been linked to autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD
damage to the cerebellum can cause ataxia-
Midbrain:
includes the superior and inferior colliculi, substanstia nigra and reticular formation
Thalamus
involved in motor activity, language, and memory and acts as a relay station for al incoming sensory information and transmits to the appropriate area for all the senses except **olfaction*
Hypothalamus /Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
- one of smallest brain structures involved in vital functions such as hunger, thirst, sex, sleep body tempature, movement and emotional reactions.
- damage to the hypothalmus can involve uncontrollable laughter or intense rage and aggression.
SCN- mediates the sleep wake cycle and other circadian rhythms, involved in seasonal affective disorder
Basal Ganglia
consists of three forebrain structures and one midbrain structure , caduate nuclues, putamen, globus pallidus, substantia nigra-
*involved in planning, organizing, and coordinating voluntary movement,
play a role in sensorimotor learning, and emotional states
**several disorders including Hungingtons disease, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette. OCD and ADHD
*problems linked to behavioral inhibition in ADHD have been linked to smaller than normal caudate nucleus
Amygdala
integrates, coordinates, and directs emotional activities, emotions to memory, recall of emotional charged events such as flashbulb memories
Hippocampus
involved with processing spatial, visual and verbal information and consolidating declarative memories,
*bilateral removal as a treatment for epilespy causes anterograde and retrograde amnsia for events occurring up to three years prior the surgeru
Limbic System:
Amygdala, Hippocampus, Cingulate Cortex
Klver Bucy Syndrome-
bilaterial leisons in amygdala reduce fear and aggression, alter dietary habits, produce hypersexuality, and psychic blindness
Cingulate Cortex:
surronds the corpus collusum and involved in attention, emotion, and perception and experience of pain.
Contralateral Representation
sensory and motor information, left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa
*exception is olfaction which right nostril goes directly r to right hemisphere
Brain Lateralization ( Left vs. Right Hemisphere Functions)
95 to 99% of right handed people an d50 to 60% of left handed people, written and spoken language, analytical thinking, are left hemisphere functions, while spatial relationships, creativity and facial recognition are right ( non dominant)
Corupus Callosum/ Split Brain Patients
study found that for split brain patients, when a picture of an object was projected to a split brains patients left visual field the pt could pick out the object out of ten objects hidden behind a screen using his or her left hand. However, the pt was unable to name the object or describe the object , and unable to pick object with his right hand.
in contrast when a picture was projected to pts right visual field, the patient could name the object and pick it out with his right hand
Frontal Lobe
involved in planning, organization and executive funtioning skills, includes primary motor cortex, supplemntary motor area, premotor area,
Brocas area and prefontal cortex
Brocas Area
major motor speech area- damage to this area produces Brocas ( expressive) aphasia which is characterized by difficulties in producing spoken and written language
Prefrontal Cortex
emotion, memory, attention, self awareness and high order executive functioning.
* abnormalities have been linked to schizophrenia, ADHD and dementia.
Damage to the dorsolateral area- impaired judgement, planning and organization, individuals have trouble learning from experience, reduced sexual interest and apathetic.
Damage to orbitofrontal area- ( pseudopsychopathy)- involves emotional lability, poor impulse control and impaired social insight, aggressive outburst,
Damage to mediofrontal area- pseudodepression- impaired spontaneity, reduced emotional reactioions, ppl with this often described themselves as bored, depressed but do not have vegetative symptom or negative cognitions
Parietal Lobe
includes the somatosensory cortex- governs pressure, temperature, pain,
*parietal lobe damage - include apraxia, tactile agnosia, gerstmann syndrome
Temporal Lobe
contains auditory cortex-
Leisons- may cause auditory agnosia, auditory hallunications
Wernickes Area
important for the comprehension of language and lesions produce wernickes aphasia( receptive) aphasia- severe deficits in language comprehension and abnormalities in language production
Occipital Lobe
visual cortex- visual perception, recognition, and memory.
Posterior- involved in high resolution vision
Anterior- peripheral vision
Primary Motor Cortex
part of frontal love and involved in movement- devoted to finger lips and jaw and precise control,
*damage to this area can result in loss of reflexes and flaccid hemiplegia( loss of muscle tone)
Supplementary Motor Area
involved in the planning and control of movement, important role in learning new motor sequences,
Trichromatic, Opponent Process Theories of Vision
trichromatic theory- three types of color receptors that are each receptive to a different primary color, red blue or green and all other colors are produced by variations in the activity
Opponent Process Theory- three types of bipolar receptors- red- green, yellow blue and white black. supports negative afterimages which involves seeing an image of an object in its complementary color after staring at it for a period of time
Color Blindness
genetic defect or caused by disease or injury , inheirted form is caused by gene on X chromosome, males are more prone to color blindness
Most common is inability to distinguish between red and green and 8 to 10% of male population
Depth Perception/Retinal Disparity
Depth perception- combination of binocular and monocular cues, convergence refers to the turning inward of the eyes as an object gets closer.
Retinal Disparity: our two eyes see objects in the world from two different view and the closer they are to an object, the greater disparity
Dermatomes
axons that carry information from receptors that gather together in nerves that enter the spinal cord through the dosral roots.
C 8- ring and little finger
Pain/Gate Control Theory:
nervous system can process only a limited amount of sensory information at one time. When too much information is being received, cells in the spinal cord act as a gate that blocks some incoming pain signals,
close the gate include massaging injured area, applying heat or cold, distracting self
Webers Law
more intense the stimulus, the greater the increase in stimulus intensity required for the increase to product a just noticeable difference.
Fechners Law
physical stimulus and the magnitude of the associated sensation, related to psycholgical sensations, persons experience of stimulus intensity increases arthimitecally as the stimulus intensity increases
Stevens Power Law
involves asking a participant to assign numbers to stimuli proportional to their relative sensations ,
doubling the intensity of a light less than doubles the sensation of the lights brightness,
Temporal Lobe- Learning and Memory-
essential for encoding, storage and retrieval of long term declarative memories
*removal of the right temporal lobe would bring deficits in nonverbal memory tasks, while removal of the left temporal lobe would impair performance of measures of verbal memory
Hippocampus- Memory
responsible for consolidating long term declarative memories, spatial memory, explicit memory( memory requiring conscious recollection).
- degeneration of neurons in hippocampus associated with normal aging, neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimers disease.
- chronic stress due to depression, poverty, may impair memory
Amygdala - Memory
key role in fear conditioning and emotional significane to memories, contribute to development of anxiety disorders and PTSD
Prefrontal cortex- Memory
plays a role in episodic memory and prospective memory, also constructive memory and false recognition .
Patients with damage to prefrontal cortex may incorrectly claim new information is familiar.
*dorosolateral prefrontal cortex is impairment in working memory, and impairments in working memory with pt with schizophrenia have been linked to abnormal activity in this area.
Thalamus- memory
involved in processing incoming information and transfering it to the cortex.
Damage to the thalamus produces anterograde anmenisa, retrograde amnesia and confabulation( Korsakoff’s syndrome)
Basal ganglia, Cerebellum, Motor cortex
play a role in procedural memory( memory for sensorimotor skills) and implicit( unconscious) memory
Long Term Potential
greater responsivity of a postsynaptic neuron to low intensity stimulation for hours days or weeks after.
* mediates long term memory by causing changes in the number and shape of the cells dendrite, promoting the formation of new synaptic connections, and increasing number of glutamate receptors
Protein Synthesis/RNA
Long term memory depends on enhanced protein synthesis during minutes or hours following learning or training. *training induces increased protein synthesis during post training period,
Brocas Aphasia
Also known as expressive, motor and non fluent aphasia, which is located in the dominant frontal lobe.
Individuals with this disorder speak slowly, speech is poorly articulated and lacks normal intonation, and frequently omit conjuctions, pronouns, prepositions. Often exhibit anomia, repeating phrases
*have trouble producing spoken and written language, their comprehension of language is only somewhat impaired. Aware of deficit, and experience frustration, anxiety and depression.
Wernickes Aphasia
receptive impressive sensory and fluent aphasia, located in dominant temporal love.
Trouble understanding written and spoken language, and generating meaningful language. Speech is rapid, seems effortless, has appropriate syntactical structure, it is void of content. exhbit anomia, paraphasia, and problems with repetition. Unaware that their speech is meaningless.
Conduction Aphasia
Wernickes and Brocas area are connected by the arcuate fasciculus and damage can produce condction aphasia.
**does not significantly affect language comprehension, but does result in anomia, paraphasia, and impaired repetition.
Transcortical Aphasia
Caused by leisons outside of Broca and Wernickes area that disconnect this area from other parts of the brain.
Transcortical motor aphasia: damage to only Broca’s area and charctrized by nonfluent effortful speech, anomia, with unimpaired repetition or comprehension
Transcortical sensory aphasia- damage to only wernickes area, deficits in comprehension, anomia and fluent but meaningless speech, with unimpaired repetition
Mixed Transcortical apahasia- when both areas are affected, able to talk with nothing to say, unable to understand written or spoken language. produce automatic response, repeat words or phrases spoke by others.
Global Aphasia
widespread brain injury involving both Wernickes and Brocas area as well as other areas in the left frontal, temporal and parietal lobes-
Characterized by extensive disruption in ability to produce and understand language. May be able to say a few words,and produce automatic speech.
** accompanied by right hemiplegia, right hemisensory loss, and right hemianopia
James- Lange
- stresses importance of peripheral factors and emotions represent perceptions of bodily reactions to sensory stimuli
“ you are afraid because your knees are shaking and your heart is pounding”
Cannon- Bard
greater emphasis on the brain mechanisms that mediate emotion. Proposes that emotional and bodily reactions occur simultaneously as a result of thalamic stimulation of the cortex and peripheral nervous system.
Two Factor Theory
Schacter and Singer- emotional experiences as the consequence of both physiological arousal and cogntiive interpretation of that arousal and the environmental context in which it occurs.
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
three types of cognitive appraisal
Primary: persons evaluation of a situation as irrelevant, , or stressful with regard to his own well being. Outcome of primary appraisal depends on individuals beliefs, values, and expectations.
Secondary: ;persons evaluation of the resources he or she has to cope with a situation that has been identified as stressful ( social support, level of energy)
Re appraisal- occurs when person monitors the situation and modifies his or her primary or secondary appraisal
Papez’s Circuit
first researcher to propose existence of a neural circuit that mediates the experience and expression of emotion.
* includes the hippocampus, mammilary bodies, cingulate nuclues and anterior nucluei
Cerebral Cortex - Emotion
left ( dominant) hemisphere- govern happiness and other positive emotions, damage to the left hemisphere especially frontal lobe can produce opposite emotions such as depression anxiety, aggression and paranoia
Right hemisphere- mediate sadness, fear and other negative emotions and damage to this area especially right parietal or temporal lobes results in indifference, apathy, undue cheerfulness.
Amgydala- Emotion
key role in attaching emotion to memory and evaluates incoming sensory information, mediates emotional response to that information.
* amgydala responsible for the immediate feeling of fear we experience when faced with a dangerous situation
Hypothalamus- Emotion
involved in the translation of emotions into physical responses, damage to certain areas produces a rage response, while other areas can produce uncontrollable laughter
General Adaption Syndrome:
Selye- three stages in which we respond to stress
Alarm- hypothalmus activates the adrenal medulla to increase its release of epinephrine, body glucose level rises and heart and respiration rates accelerate
Resistance: stress persists, breathing and heart rate return to normal levels but hypothalmus signals to the pituitary gland to release ACTH which activates the adrenal cortex to release cortisol,
Exhaustion- prolonged stress, pituitary gland and adrenal cortex lose their ability to maintain elevated hormone levels, and fatigue, depression and illness may occur.
Type A Behavior Pattern Stress:
people exhibiting this pattern are highly competitive, easily irritated and impatient.
** cycnical or hostility is most strongly associated with health problems specifically coronary heart disease in males.
Sexual Dimorphism
sex related differences in physical appearance,
related to different exposure to androgens during prenatal and early postnatal development and structural differences affect later brain functioning.
Secondary Sex Characteristics/Hypothalmus- Pitutary Gonadal Axis
hypothalmus secretes checmicals that stimulate the anterior pituitary gland, which releases the hromones that stimulate testoterone or ovulation and estrogen
Onset of puberty is affected by nutrition, physical exercise, family size and temperature
Menopause/Hormone Replacement Therapy
decreased estrogen levels produce “hot flashes”, mood swings, fatigue, nausea, loss of bone mass, vaginal dryness.
HRT- used to reduce the negative effects associated with menopause with some forms altering estrogen levels only and others altering both estrogen and progesterone levels.
*no clear evidence it improves sex drive but is effective for mood swings, vaginal dryness,
EEG pattrns
Beta Waves: Alert, fully awake state
Alpha Waves: Awake, rested, relaxed
Theta Waves, Deep relaxation, light sleep
Delta: Deep sleep
Sleep Stages REM vs NREM
Sleep stages 1-4 are NREM sleep,
starts with alpha waves then replaced by theta, delta waves appear in stage 3 and 4
REM- stage 5 of sleep and presence of rapid eye movements, most vivid and elaborate dreams occur,
sleeper passes through all five stages about every 90 to 100 minutes
Effects of Age:
first few months of life, infants begin sleep with REM sleep then gradually change to NREM sleep. sequence begins to reverse by 3 months and total sleep time, REM sleep all decrease from childhood to adulthood.
*older adults have more trouble falling alsleep, awake more often during the night, and experience an advanced sleep phase, shift in timing of sleep which involves going to bed and waking up earlier.
Closed vs Open Head Injuries:
Closed Head: nonpentrating blow to the head
may cause hemorrhage and edema. Causes alteration or loss of consciousness and some anterograde and retrograde amnesia
Open Head; skull is penetrated. does not cause loss of consciousness, produces more localized damage, and highly specific symptoms
Cognitive Consequences
Post traumatic and Retrograde Amnesia
Alteration of consciousness: many indiciduals experiences alteration or loss of consciousness from anywhere to a few seconds to longer.
Disorientation: most pts exhibiting disorientation show a similar pattern of recovery with orientation to person occurring first, followed by place, then time.
Postraumatic Amnesia: duration found to a good predictor of cognitive motor or perosnality injurty. one study showed that 80% of pts experienced good recovery compared to only 46% of pts with a PTA duration of 4 to 6 weeks.
Retrograde amenia:
Cognitive Consequences
Post traumatic and Retrograde Amnesia
Alteration of consciousness: many indiciduals experiences alteration or loss of consciousness from anywhere to a few seconds to longer.
Disorientation: most pts exhibiting disorientation show a similar pattern of recovery with orientation to person occurring first, followed by place, then time.
Postraumatic Amnesia: duration found to a good predictor of cognitive motor or perosnality injurty. one study showed that 80% of pts experienced good recovery compared to only 46% of pts with a PTA duration of 4 to 6 weeks.
Retrograde amnesia: recent memories being more affected than remote, most remote memories returning first
*greatest recovery occurs during first three months
Postconcussional Syndrome
pattern of somatic and physiological symptoms that occur in 50% of pts who have experienced a mild brain injury.
Symptoms include headache, dizziness, blurred vision, drowsiness.
both organic and psychological factors involved.
Majority of pts recover within 1-3 months of the head injury but those who have symptoms more than 1 year symptoms will be permanent.
Cerebrovascular Accident/Stroke
CVA/Stroke- sudden or gradual onset of neurological symptoms resulting in disruption of blood supply to the brain.
Three major causes:
Thrombosis( blockage of an artery)
Embolism( sudden blockage of an artery by material from part of the bloodstream)
Hemorrhage
Major risks include hypertension, cigarette smoking , increasing age
Symptoms include: contralateral hemianesthesia, aphasia,
Depression occurs in up to 40% of patients after a stroke
Huntington’s Disease
inherited degenerative disease due to autosomal dominant gene , offspring have 50% change of developin the disorder and usually diagnosed between ages 30 to 50
Huntington’s Disease
inherited degenerative disease due to autosomal dominant gene , offspring have 50% change of developing the disorder and usually diagnosed between ages 30 to 50
emotional and cogntive symptoms appear first- depression, apathy, anxiety, forgetfulness.
Motor symptoms include fidgeting, clusminess, followed by facial grimaces, piano playing movement of the fingers, dance like gate and slow writhing movements.
Been linked to loss of GABA secreting nuerons, and glutamate exitotoxicity in the basal ganglia
Parkinson’s Disease
progressive degeneration of dopamine containing cells in the substantia nigra,
Positive Symptoms- tremor at rest, muscle rigidity, akathisia,
Negative Symptoms- postural disturbances, speech difficulties, bradykinesia,
20% of individuals depression precedes motor signs, and 50% experience prominent depression during their illness.
Symtpoms alleviated by L - dopa, dopamine agnost,
Diagnosis of Seizure Disorder
due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain that cause an aura that signals the onset of the seizure, loss of consciousness, abnormal movement
Diagnosis involves an EEG, and a CT or MRI may be used as well
Types of Seizures:
Generalized Seizures
Generalized- bilateraly symmetrical do not have a focal onset
Tonic Clonic and Absence Seizures
Tonic Clonic( Grand Mal)- tonic stage in which muscles contract and body stiffens, clonic stage involves rhythmic shaking of the limbs and confusion with amnesia
Absence ( Petit mal) - brief attacks involving a loss of consciousness without prominent motor symptoms. exhibits blank stare, with eye blinking
Partial Seizures:
begin in one side of the brain and affect one side of the body
Simple partial- do not involve a loss of consciousness
Complexed partial seizures- alteration in consciounsess
Multiple Sclerosis
progressive disease that involves degeneration of myelin that surronds nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.
MS more common in women and onset between 20-40.
Common symptoms include optic neuritis, fatigue that worsens in the afternoon, motor impairments, sensory abnormalities, tremors, speech and swallowing problems, depression anxiety, cogntitive impiarment,
Hypertension
Primary essential hypertension- diagnosed when high blood pressure is not due to a known physiological cause
85 to 90% of all cases of high blood pressure are primary
Secondary Hypertension- diagnosed when elevated blood pressure is related to a known diease
several risk factors include, smoking, obseity, family history, stress and older age
Migraine Headache
severe recurrent throbbing headache that is limited to one side of the head and accompanied by nausea, diarrhea, sensitivity to light, noise and colors.
Hyperthyroidism
Graves disease- charcterized by speeded up metabolism, elevated body tempeture, heat intolerance, increased appetitie with weight loss, fatigue, insomnia,
Hypothyroidism
slowed metabolism, reduced appetite with weight gain, slowed heart rate, lethargy, depression, apathy
Hypoglycemia
pancreas releases insulin, low blood glucose- hunger, dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, anxiety, depression, confusion
Effects of Psychoactive drugs:
Agonists vs Antagonists
Agonists- produce effects similar to neurotransmitters,
direct agonists- exert effect by mimicking the effects of a neurotransmitter at receptor site while indirect- attach to a binding site on a receptor cell ,
Antagonists- produce no activity in the cell on their own but instead reduce or block the effects or neurotransmitter or agonists.
Effects of Age, Race/Ethnicity
Medication related problems common for hospital admission over 65. Changes in sensivity due to drug absorption, distrubiton, metabolism, an excretion.
**may extend the half life of some drugs such as benzodiazepines) resulting in an increased risk for toxicity.
Half life refers to time it takes for the plasma concentration of drug to reduce by 50%
Because of increased risk, general rule for prescribing for older adults is to start low and go slow
*higher proportions of African americans and asian americans are slower or poorer metabloizers of specific isoenzymes, more sensitive to theraputic and side effects of drugs such as benzodiazepines, lithium,
begin with a low dose
