scholarly journals Pregnancy History, Hypertension, and Cognitive Impairment in Postmenopausal Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen B. Miller ◽  
Virginia M. Miller ◽  
Jill N. Barnes

Abstract Purpose of Review Risks for developing cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline increase with age. In women, these risks may be influenced by pregnancy history. This review provides an integrated evaluation of associations of pregnancy history with hypertension, brain atrophy, and cognitive decline in postmenopausal women. Recent Findings Atrophy in the occipital lobes of the brain was evident in women who had current hypertension and a history of preeclampsia. Deficits in visual memory in women with a history of preeclampsia are consistent with these brain structural changes. The blood velocity response to chemical and sympathoexcitatory stimuli were altered in women with a history of preeclampsia linking impairments in cerebrovascular regulation to the structural and functional changes in the brain. Summary Having a history of preeclampsia should require close monitoring of blood pressure and initiation of anti-hypertensive treatment in perimenopausal women. Mechanisms by which preeclampsia affects cerebrovascular structure and function require additional study.

2021 ◽  
pp. practneurol-2021-002942
Author(s):  
Yue Hui Lau ◽  
Ahmad Shahir Mawardi ◽  
Norzaini Rose Zain ◽  
Shanthi Viswanathan

A 33-year-old man with a history of chronic toluene abuse through glue sniffing, developed tremors, cerebellar signs and cognitive decline. MR scan of the brain showed global cerebral and cerebellar atrophy with symmetrical T2-weighted hypointensities in the basal ganglia, thalami and midbrain. After stopping glue sniffing, his tremors, ataxia of gait, speech and cognition partially improved. Early recognition and intervention of toluene-induced leukodystrophy could prevent ongoing morbidity and premature mortality.


Author(s):  
Dharnaben A. Patel ◽  
Dhruv J. Patel ◽  
N. D. Kantharia

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia, polyuria, hyperlipidemia etc, resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. It affects various organs of the body including the brain. Cognitive function is the thinking process of the brain. In any chronic disease evaluation of cognitive function is justified as it may affect various common day to day activities.Methods: It is a prospective, observational and non-interventional study. Thirty diabetic patients who were recently started on insulin i.e. within 7 days were enrolled in the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty non diabetic healthy individuals served as a control. Cognitive function was accessed by Adenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE III) at the time of enrollment.Results: The results were analysed using paired t-test. Attention, Memory and Visiospatial ability was significantly reduced in diabetic patients compared to control. Verbal fluency and language was also reduced but the change was not significant. Total ACE III score was significantly reduced in diabetic patients compared to control.Conclusions: Cognitive function is significantly reduced in Diabetic patients recently started on insulin. Hyperglycemia could be the possible reason of cognitive decline. Proper understanding of the natural history of Diabetes and the pathogenesis of cognitive decline as well as control of Diabetes can help to prevent development of cognitive dysfunction.


2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Kolb ◽  
Robbin Gibb ◽  
Terry E. Robinson

Although the brain was once seen as a rather static organ, it is now clear that the organization of brain circuitry is constantly changing as a function of experience. These changes are referred to as brain plasticity, and they are associated with functional changes that include phenomena such as memory, addiction, and recovery of function. Recent research has shown that brain plasticity and behavior can be influenced by a myriad of factors, including both pre- and postnatal experience, drugs, hormones, maturation, aging, diet, disease, and stress. Understanding how these factors influence brain organization and function is important not only for understanding both normal and abnormal behavior, but also for designing treatments for behavioral and psychological disorders ranging from addiction to stroke.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Dolan

✓Anatomical and physiological understandings of the structure and function of the brain have worked to establish it as the “seat of the soul.” As an organ of reflection, meditation, and memory, the brain becomes synonymous with what defines the “self” through the existence of consciousness—of mind. Thus, the brain has been associated with a range of transcendent concepts—the soul, spirit, mind, and consciousness—that all relate in fundamental ways to each other both in terms of their perceived location within the brain and because of the way each works ultimately to define the person to whom the brain belongs. In this article, the author provides a brief exploration of how interrelated these categories have been when seen in the context of ancient, Renaissance, early modern, and modern philosophical and medical concerns; how the brain has variously been perceived as home to these intimate states of being; and how practitioners from the neurosciences have reflected on these questions. The author provides novel insights into the interrelationships of philosophy, theology, and medicine by examining these issues through the lens of the history of neuroscience.


1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
L W Elzinga ◽  
S Rosen ◽  
W M Bennett

In addition to its well-recognized ability to provoke acute renal dysfunction by promoting intense renal vasoconstriction, cyclosporine produces a chronic tubulointerstitial nephropathy characterized by striped interstitial fibrosis in humans. With a model of chronic cyclosporine nephropathy in which striped fibrosis develops in the uninephrectomized salt-depleted rat, the relationship between renal functional impairment and structural changes was studied during cyclosporine treatment and after its withdrawal in order to ascertain the natural history of this lesion. Groups of uninephrectomized rats maintained on a salt-depleted (-NaCl) or salt-replete (+NaCl) diet were treated with cyclosporine, 15 mg/kg per day, or vehicle by sc injection. GFR and morphology were assessed at 14 and 28 days of treatment and at intervals up to 28 days after drug withdrawal. Although GFR was similarly depressed in cyclosporine-treated animals on either diet (P < 0.001 versus vehicle), tubulointerstitial injury was largely confined to cyclosporine-treated rats on the -NaCl diet (P < 0.001 versus cyclosporine/+NaCl and vehicle). At 28 days after the withdrawal of cyclosporine, there was a marked discordance between renal structure and function in the cyclosporine/-NaCl group as GFR returned toward normal (P > 0.05 versus cyclosporine/+NaCl) but prominent tubulointerstitial injury persisted and, in some instances, even progressed (P < 0.001 versus cyclosporine/+NaCl and vehicle). Thus, sodium intake emerges as an important determinant of structural tubulointerstitial changes, whereas reductions in GFR during cyclosporine therapy are equivalent in sodium-depleted or sodium-replete animals.


1942 ◽  
Vol 88 (371) ◽  
pp. 328-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Anderson

This paper is concerned with a group of cases presenting certain psychiatric symptoms following exposure to the detonation of a nearby high-explosive bomb. These cases show features and present problems which appear from the current literature in this country to have received insufficient attention, or none at all. The cases to be presented are not all of equal significance, but in each there are certain common features which, from the psychiatric angle, have a definite and unmistakable organic stamp, and indicate a relationship, direct or indirect, of the syndromes to structural changes in the brain. These symptoms are characteristic in fact of a slight or moderate degree of cerebral trauma. This relationship is prone to be too easily overlooked. The reasons for this are :(1) The absence in many cases of a definite history of head injury.(2) The absence as a rule of at least a long period of unconsciousness.In consequence, when the patient is seen perhaps some considerable time later this possibility is not considered, and the reaction is dismissed as psychogenic. That this can be done even by trained observers was demonstrated in three of the cases about to be described. All the patients except one were Naval personnel who were exposed to blast in air-raids either ashore or at sea.


Circulation ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 116 (suppl_16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Basavarajaiah ◽  
Mathew Wilson ◽  
Agnes Chlebinska ◽  
Arash Yavari ◽  
Gordon Jackson ◽  
...  

Objectives: The prevalence of HCM in the general population is estimated to be around 1 in 500. The exact prevalence of HCM in athletes has never been reported and has important implications with regards to potential future national pre-participation screening programme in countries such as United Kingdom, where currently there is no such programme for junior athletes. Methods: Between 1996 and 2006, 3500 asymptomatic and normotensive elite athletes (70% males) aged between 14–35 years (mean: 20.5±5.80) and a mean body surface area of 1.86±0.16 m 2 (range1.36–2.29) underwent 12-lead EKG and 2D-echocardiography. Cardiac dimensions and function were measured using conventional methods. Results: Of the 3500 athletes, 53 (2%) had maximal left ventricular wall thickness (LVWTd) > 12 mm (mean: 13.6 ± 0.9, range: 13–16). All 53 were male athletes and all except 3 of them had associated dilated LV cavity (58.5 ± 5.14 mm, range 52– 65) implying physiological left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). This was also supported by normal indices of diastolic function and absence of family history of HCM or sudden cardiac death (SCD). However, there were 3 athletes with LVWT > 12mm who had a relatively non-dilated LV cavity (range:45– 46) and bizarre EKG changes (deep T-wave inversion) that that raised the suspicion of HCM. But none of them exhibited any other phenotypic feature of HCM on further testing with 48-hour EKG recording, cardiopulmonary exercise testing and assessment of their first-degree family members. Only one of the 3 athletes agreed to detrain for 12-weeks, which resulted in regression of LVH and complete resolution of EKG changes. Conclusion: In our study, only 3 athletes had echocardiographic findings that could have been consisted with the diagnosis of HCM but further investigations failed to support the diagnosis. These results indicate that the prevalence of HCM in highly trained athletes is extremely rare. The structural and functional changes associated with HCM precludes generation of large amounts of cardiac output that are required during exercise selecting out most of these individuals from competitive sports. Our findings also questions the validity of previous data which proposes that HCM is the commonest cause of exercise related SCD in young athletes.


Author(s):  
Rosemary A. Cowell ◽  
Timothy J. Bussey ◽  
Lisa M. Saksida

The authors present a series of studies in which computational models are used as a tool to examine the organization and function of the ventral visual-perirhinal stream in the brain. The prevailing theoretical view in this area of cognitive neuroscience holds that the object-processing pathway has a modular organization, in which visual perception and visual memory are carried out independently. They use computational simulations to demonstrate that the effects of brain damage on both visual discrimination and object recognition memory may not be due to an impairment in a specific function such as memory or perception, but are more likely due to compromised object representations in a hierarchical and continuous representational system. The authors argue that examining the nature of stimulus representations and their processing in cortex is a more fruitful approach than attempting to map cognition onto functional modules.


Author(s):  
Sudhansu Chokroverty ◽  
Sushanth Bhat

The importance of sleep is well recognized today, among both the academic and clinical communities. Advancements and refinement of functional neuroimaging have led to the ability to map various areas of the brain in different stages of sleep, and neurophysiological techniques have allowed researchers to study changes at the cellular level. However, there remain several unanswered fundamental questions about the nature and function of sleep. This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of sleep medicine and the latest theories about the function of sleep. Also discussed are sleep patterns across various age groups, circadian rhythms, sleep architecture, and the glymphatic system as it pertains to sleep.


Author(s):  
Randolf Menzel

AbstractReflections about the historical roots of our current scientific endeavors are useful from time to time as they help us to acknowledge the ideas, concepts, methodological approaches, and idiosyncrasies of the researchers that paved the ground we stand on right now. The 50-year anniversary of Apidologie offers the opportunity to refresh our knowledge about the history of bee research. I take the liberty of putting the founding year of Apidologie in the middle of the period I cover here. The nascent period of behavioral biology around the late 19th to the early twentieth century was intimately connected with a loss of concepts related to the mental functions of the brain, concepts that were rooted in Darwin’s theory of gradualism in the living world including cognition in animals. This loss was celebrated both in ethology and behaviorism as the gateway to scientific impartiality. Using this apparently strict scientific approach, impressive discoveries were made by observing and strictly quantifying the behavior of bees. The first forays into the brain, however, uncovered a richness of structure and function that reached far beyond stereotypical input/output connections and opened the way to compensating the conceptual restrictions imposed on us by traditional ethology. Honeybee research provides us with a particularly exciting story in this context. The cognitive turn in behavioral biology is intimately connected to the increasing knowledge of how the brain works, also in honeybee research. What has been achieved so far is just the beginning, but it gives us a glimpse of a promising future. Teamwork between neuroscientists and behavioral biologists is needed to elucidate brain functions such as the expectation of future outcomes and intentionality as an entry to animal intelligence reflecting the flexibility and adaptability in behavior also seen in honeybees.


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