Essays on Blood Brain

Discuss the relationship between the cognitive and the biological features of Alzheimer's disease

In order to know the relationship between the cognitive and the biological features of Alzheimer’s disease, it is very important to know the definition of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer is defined as the developed form of dementia that usually begins at the age of 40 years onwards. It usually begins when a person has problems speaking and remembering things and eventually the patients becomes very helpless and dies (Jon et al., 2013). According to its history, in 1906 the first person to talk about this disease was Alois Alzheimer. Following his discovery, the disease was later named after him ( ...

Introduction

Bacterial meningitis is an infection that affects the meninges, the cerebrospinal fluid and the spinal cord that causes death and disability in a number of people worldwide. This is a highly contagious airborne disease that is spread through the transmission of three organisms present in the respiratory secretions: Neisseria meningitides, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The onset or origins of the disease varies among different age groups and geographic locations. According to estimates, 200,000 people die annually of meningitis. Case fatality rates vary with age at time of illness and also depend on the particular bacterial strain causing the infection ( ...

BBB functions and physiology: The central nervous system (CNS) necessitates a highly controlled environment for its proper functioning. Blood brain barrier is the system which maintains the homeostasis of the CNS. It works by separating and shielding the brain from the constant changes in the nutrient and chemical composition of systemic blood. It protects the brain tissue from harmful chemicals that might be present in the blood. The key functions of the BBB are transport of nutrients from the blood to brain and metabolites in opposite direction to systemic circulation. Only a small number of molecules are allowed access through the ...

Parkinson’s disease is the 2nd most common degenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. It is the most common disorder that affects movement. Its symptoms include tremors while at rest, slowness, stiffness and impaired balance. Progression of the disease may affect speech, walking and the performance of simple tasks. The Progression and the severity of the disease vary from one person to another. While most patients live long productive lives, the disease progresses much faster in other patients leading to disability. About one million people have Parkinson’s disease in the United States and about 5 million around the ...

Parkinson’s disease was first described by James Parkinson in 1817 as the “shaking palsy”. A person with Parkinson’s disease suffers from continuous shaking tremors while they are at rest, a phenomenon known as “pill rolling” (Jankovic, 2008). There are several public figures that live with Parkinson’s disease including the actor Michael J. Fox, the boxer Muhammad Ali, and former Attorney General Janet Reno. While tremendous research efforts have uncovered many important aspects of this disease, it is still unclear what determines the onset of this disease. The majority of Parkinson disease cases are idiopathic, meaning that there ...

The movement of cholesterol, which is unestrified, is largely due to the activation of the NPC 1 protein. In cases where inactivation of mutation of this protein occurs, one may be suffering from Niemann-Pick type C disease. So what is this disease? Niemann-Pick Type C disease is a serious but rare nuerogenerative disorder. It is very common to children at or approaching adolescence. The disease is estimated to infect one out of every 160,000 children (Patterson 2009). NPC is regarded as a malfunction in the body’s cholesterol metabolism. NPC is also is sometimes referred to as childhood Alzheimer. This ...

Introduction

The information provided by pharmacokinetics is important in the discovery of new drugs and in screening drug candidates. It helps in drug research and can determine the concentration of a drug present in the body. The discovery of new medicines not only depends on pharmacological activity but on pharmacokinetic parameters as well. Pharmacokinetics includes absorption, distribution, metabolism and execration (ADME). Absorption is the absorbing of a drug in the blood stream. There are two types of absorption, passive and active. The physico-chemical properties are responsible for passive transportation while the active transportation determines the binding of a molecule to the target site. ...

1.0 Introduction

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neural degenerative condition involving the progressive degeneration of the myelin sheath (the protecting cover to the nerve fibres (axons)) around the nerve cell leading to a break down in transmission of nerve impulses. The impairment of the transmission results in loss of the body’s ability to control and coordinate muscle movement. The disease progresses through a complex and diverse symptoms making it challenging to diagnose, treat and manage. The symptoms of MS may range from gentle to severe weakness, impaired body movement, lack of ordered senses, uncontrolled bowel and bladder, damaged cognition, impaired vision and a variety ...

Introduction

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neural degenerative condition involving the progressive degeneration of the myelin sheath (the protecting cover to the nerve fibres (axons)) around the nerve cell leading to a break down in transmission of nerve impulses. The impairment of the transmission results in loss of the body’s ability to control and coordinate muscle movement. The disease progresses through a complex and diverse symptoms making it challenging to diagnose, treat and manage. The symptoms of MS may range from gentle to severe weakness, impaired body movement, lack of ordered senses, uncontrolled bowel and bladder, damaged cognition, impaired vision and a variety ...