Deep Into The Folds

Can you imagine having to live with going through up to 40 seizures in one day due to a brain condition known as hemimegalencephaly or megalencephaly, in which one hemisphere of the brain grows larger than the other? Children with this condition may have a larger head than average and sometimes asymmetrical.  Malformations of cortical development (known sometimes as cortical dysplasias) occur during the development of the brain when neurons do not migrate and organize themselves normally. This can lead to intractable epilepsy. Because seizures may be difficult to control with anticonvulsant medicine or other therapies, surgery is often the most successful treatment to control the seizures. There are several different surgical treatment options considered, including focal resections and in some cases when these children are severely mentally challenged they may require a procedure called hemispherectomy, which is an extremely rare surgery where half of the brain is completely removed or disabled. If the affected side of the brain is surgically removed, the remaining healthy side of the brain may gradually take over the functions whose control has been lost. The ability for one area of the brain to take over the function of others is known as "plasticity" - the brain’s ability to change throughout life. I have added a video here that may help understand how the remaining healthy brain will recover and in a sense accommodate for the other missing part.

Depending on what half of the brain hemisphere is removed will determine the type of life a person can live since they each have different functions.

Amazing Development

 Expectant mothers are excited and curious to know about the growth of their little one inside the womb. Besides the physical growth, fetal brain development timeline is imperative, not only to know, but also to understand it better. The human CNS begins to develop when the embryo is about 2 weeks old. The dorsal surface thickens forming a neural tube surrounding a fluid filled cavity. The forward end enlarges and differentiates into the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain. The rest of the neural tube becomes the spinal cord.

 

Chemical processes develop the brain to an amazing degree even before the start of any experience with the world. Detailed changes in development continue to occur throughout life. The environmental, physical and emotional being of the mother, all have a profound effect on fetal brain development. The result of this is mental and cognitive disabilities. Throughout pregnancy, the fetus's brain is vulnerable to disruptions that may cause death, or mental disabilities and other physical developmental delays. It is incredible to know that all this goes on long before the mother even begins to have doubts about being pregnant. By the time the mother notices that she might be expecting, crucial days and weeks of brain development have passed and by when she visits her doctor for an accurate test another 2 weeks may have expired. By this time the fetus is already beginning its second or third month of development and may have been exposed to toxins like nicotine, alcohol, drugs or situations that could have exposed the fetus to some type of impairment.

Brain development in a fetus and its associated problems are still being researched. There are no specific answers to the how's and why's of brain development. However, what does not change is the wonder of a cell, an embryo that develops into a fetus, then a child and finally, an adult going through the passage of time, and physical, mental and cognitive development.



Rx Side Effects...

Drugs have different types of effects and side effects on people. It may depend on the physiological as well as the physical condition of the person taking them. Medically prescribed drugs from doctors may have a better or worse effect depending also on any other drugs being taken at the same time. Drugs almost always have more than one outcome on an organism. Aspirin for example is usually taken for pain but it can also be used to reduce a high fever and can irritate the stomach. When medications are taken for health reasons the importance is focused mainly on the positive properties it will have, while the negative side effects are ignored. It is interesting to see how many drugs are being used by so many people without even having the knowledge of how they will affect the body and brain. If I have a headache and ask anyone how many aspirin I should take, their response will probably be, take two. This knowledge is basic and can be obtained simply by reading the label but it is not always the same for other types of medications. For example the prescription drug Ambien. This drug is used to treat insomnia (inability to sleep), and anxiety. It is a type of imidazopyridine (sedative hypnotic). Also known as zolpidem. Ambien primarily interacts with a neurotransmitter known as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). GABA's primary job is to facilitate communication among brain cells. When GABA is not interacting with Ambien, it is actively increasing and decreasing the activity of your brain cells. When Ambien enters your system, GABA's job changes, it encourages GABA to basically "turn off" the electrical activity of nearby brain cells. These brain cells stay "asleep" until the drug has worked its way out of your system. Ambien encourages GABA to target a specific part of the brain cell, which is why the users are able to wake up without a serious drug-induced sleep hangover. What happens if a person wakes up before the drug is out of their system? You cannot simply take another pill. Many users of Ambien have reported memory loss, sleep walking, sleep talking and even sleep driving while under the effects of this medication. In almost all cases people have no memory of doing any of these things. For several years there have been reports of people with brain damage who have partially recovered from a coma or unconscious state just hours after being given this drug. It’s bizarre how a drug that is used to help someone sleep can also wake someone up from a coma. Research is currently being conducted to see if this drug really is working in other ways besides helping with insomnia. It would be great if a medication may perhaps provide a miracle for people who suffer from some form of brain disease or damage and that it may be used to restore a persons consciousness. The challenge would be to provide evidence of such occurrences since reports of changes in people who are in a coma for instance, will many times be dismissed by doctors as being caused by other natural factors.

In Simple Terms... Ouch!

A paper cut, how annoying! Especially on the index finger and on a day that involves a lot of typing. You can barely see the cut but the sting is so strong it almost feels like it will never go away. Even hours after it has happened you go to wash your hands and there it is again, Ouch! So we know that our brain tells us when something hurts. The brain processes the message received from the spinal cord which receive its message from nerve endings. Our pain receptors are found on these nerve endings located all throughout our body. These receptors are activated by a stimulus; let’s say a hammer to your thumb for example. When enough input is detected the nerves will allow positively charged ions in, therefore sending an electrical impulse at the speed of light to the central nervous system. In order for the spinal cord to send a message to the brain the threshold of the input must be recognized as a danger (the touch of a feather on your cheek would not be recognized as a danger). The brain will then send a coordinated reaction response back to the affected area (your thumb) which you will then feel throbbing. The brain sends a reaction signal so that you may then kiss your boo-boo, or seek medical attention if needed. The whole thing seems to happen in an instant and it would seem as if our sensory nerves have super powers. Well maybe not super powers but they are super because they help keep us from any further danger/tissue damage (stop hammering your thumb). The process is a lot more technical than I have tried to explain, so here is an image that might give you a better idea of it all.

 

Now after we have jumped around, kissed and sucked our thumb the pain magically starts to disappear, just wish the same thing happened when I find myself giving in to the pain in my leg muscles during the last 3 minutes of jogging, which almost always leave my legs feeling like two spaghetti noodles.

Who Is Smarter?

I find myself one day talking with a great friend who is a male college graduate in his late thirties and considers himself the smartest man alive. I accidently leave my keys locked up in my car and he quickly remarks "and all because you were born a girl!" Could he possibly be insinuating that something like this happens because I have a female brain? I am not very good with comebacks so all I can think of saying is "yes, and you are my knight in shining armor so get my keys!" The textbook on Psychological Biology very interestingly explains that the male brain is relatively larger than the female brain but it also recognizes that studies have shown the brain size is due to the higher amount of grey matter in the male brain. I can accept this as a fact and not feel disadvantaged because my male friend's brain has more grey matter than mine. Although, I must admit that this does make me wonder if maybe this contributes in some way to a person’s intelligence. The book gives an example of boys being better than girls at playing chess. The research on this topic shows that one reason why boys could be better is because they show interest in the game and play more frequently than girls. If we were to assume that the size of our brain is an indicator of our “smartness”, then what role would our interests and special abilities play? Scores on IQ tests have also proved that both men and women are about equal in intellect, but let’s say that a test to fix a car motor was applied instead? I imagine it would give a totally different result since a lot of women are not very interested in learning about this subject. All of this leads me to another question. Could the changes in generations also contribute to these differences among males and females? In the past almost all women dedicated themselves to the daily chores of their homes, tend to the needs of the children and husband, very rarely to their personal interests.  An article posted on ABC News titled “Women Beat Men on IQ Tests for First Time” makes me think that maybe the changes in opportunity and education have proven beneficial since recent studies show women scoring up to a point higher on IQ tests than their male counterparts.  This does not in any way make me feel that I am smarter than anyone else but I will admit it does give me a sense of encouragement and a lot to think about.