The contributions of sex and drinking history to the CT brain scan changes in alcoholics

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Jacobson

SynopsisConsecutive series of male and female alcoholics, Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) members and controls were examined by interview and with a CT brain scan. Male controls were shown to have larger CT brain parameters than healthy females of the same age. Female alcoholics revealed equivalent CT scan abnormalities, apart from less sulcal widening, after a markedly shorter drinking history and at a lower estimated peak alcohol consumption than male alcoholics. The CT scan findings persisted after accounting for body weight and after matching for age and length of drinking history. The CT scan parameters of female AA members approached control values more completely and after briefer abstinence than did those of male AA members. Methodological problems and sex differences in selection and other processes are discussed. The findings are consistent with sex differences in the vulnerability of the brain to alcohol toxicity, and in its recovery with abstinence.

Author(s):  
Christopher R. Burton ◽  
Caroline Smith

The aim of this chapter is to provide nurses with the knowledge to be able to assess, manage, and care for people with stroke in an evidence-based and person-centred way. The chapter will provide a comprehensive overview of the seven stages of stroke, exploring best practice to deliver care, as well as to prevent or minimize further ill-health. Nursing assessments and priorities are highlighted throughout, and the nursing management of the symptoms and common health problems associated with stroke can be found in Chapters 23, 24, and 27, respectively. Stroke is defined as the rapid onset of focal neurological deficit lasting more than 24 hours (in which the patient survives the initial event), with no apparent cause other than disruption of blood supply to the brain (World Health Organization, 1978). As well as being the third commonest cause of death only in middle- and high-income countries (WHO, 1978) (along with cancer and heart disease), stroke is the largest cause of adult physical disability in the world (Bath and Lees, 2000). However, owing to advances in research and evidence synthesis, stroke is now a preventable and treatable disease (National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions (NCCC), 2008). Despite its relative small weight (approximately 2% of body weight), the brain requires 750 ml of bloodflow every minute, and consumes nearly 45% of arterial oxygen (Alexandrov, 2003). Bloodflow to the brain is assured through two circulatory systems (anterior and posterior), which are connected by the circle of Willis, and supplied by the internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Disruption of this bloodflow can be either in the form of a bleed (haemorrhagic stroke) or clot (ischaemic stroke), and the clinical presentation will vary depending on the location of the disruption in the brain. Ischaemic strokes are more common and account for almost 70% of all events (Wolfe et al., 2002). Whilst thorough clinical examination is essential, the only clear tool to identify the type of stroke is to perform a brain scan using either magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) technology. It is important to note that, often, when a CT brain scan is performed within the first few hours of an event, the scan may not show any significant tissue damage because the changes that occur may take several days to be clearly visible.


1978 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. O'Leary ◽  
Michael H. Lavyne

✓ A simple method is presented for localizing the anatomical site of vertex lesions seen on a computerized tomography (CT) brain scan, using the patient's plain lateral skull film.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-172
Author(s):  
K. S. Krishnamoorthy ◽  
R. A. Fernandez ◽  
K. J. Momose ◽  
G. R. DeLong ◽  
Fergus M. B. Moylan ◽  
...  

Computerized tomographic (CT) brain scan was performed on 28 infants with unexplained cardiorespiratory and neurologic deterioration and bloody lumbar cerebrospinal spinal fluid. Fourteen of 20 with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) died; the six infants with lesser degrees of IVH survived. Significant subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was demonstrable in three infants and three had negative scans despite bloody CSF. We have found that CT scans provide useful information about the size and extent of neonatal IVH and distinguishes it from SAH. It also confirms the diagnosis of post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus in these infants. Continued use of the CT scan will help us to understand the natural history and the effects of neonatal intracranial hemorrhage among the survivors of intensive care.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Berent ◽  
Melanie Platt

Recent results suggest that people hold a notion of the true self, distinct from the self. Here, we seek to further elucidate the “true me”—whether it is good or bad, material or immaterial. Critically, we ask whether the true self is unitary. To address these questions, we invited participants to reason about John—a character who simultaneously exhibits both positive and negative moral behaviors. John’s character was gauged via two tests--a brain scan and a behavioral test, whose results invariably diverged (i.e., one test indicated that John’s moral core is positive and another negative). Participants assessed John’s true self along two questions: (a) Did John commit his acts (positive and negative) freely? and (b) What is John’s essence really? Responses to the two questions diverged. When asked to evaluate John’s moral core explicitly (by reasoning about his free will), people invariably descried John’s true self as good. But when John’s moral core was assessed implicitly (by considering his essence), people sided with the outcomes of the brain test. These results demonstrate that people hold conflicting notions of the true self. We formally support this proposal by presenting a grammar of the true self, couched within Optimality Theory. We show that the constraint ranking necessary to capture explicit and implicit view of the true self are distinct. Our intuitive belief in a true unitary “me” is thus illusory.


Author(s):  
Aaishwarya Sanjay Bajaj ◽  
Usha Chouhan

Background: This paper endeavors to identify an expedient approach for the detection of the brain tumor in MRI images. The detection of tumor is based on i) review of the machine learning approach for the identification of brain tumor and ii) review of a suitable approach for brain tumor detection. Discussion: This review focuses on different imaging techniques such as X-rays, PET, CT- Scan, and MRI. This survey identifies a different approach with better accuracy for tumor detection. This further includes the image processing method. In most applications, machine learning shows better performance than manual segmentation of the brain tumors from MRI images as it is a difficult and time-consuming task. For fast and better computational results, radiology used a different approach with MRI, CT-scan, X-ray, and PET. Furthermore, summarizing the literature, this paper also provides a critical evaluation of the surveyed literature which reveals new facets of research. Conclusion: The problem faced by the researchers during brain tumor detection techniques and machine learning applications for clinical settings have also been discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 4982
Author(s):  
Archana Aher* ◽  
Satish Gore

This study was conducted to determine the clinical evaluation and various etiological factors of secondary seizures in patients admitted to Government Medical College, Nagpur. We evaluated 58 patients of secondary seizures from Dec 2011 to Oct 2013. Secondary seizures were defined as case of seizure with CT (brain) or MRI (brain) abnormality1. Out of 58 cases 35 were males and 23 were females. Mean age of study subjects was 34.85. The commonest presenting feature was generalized tonic clonic convulsions (42 patients) followed by focal seizures (16 patients).  Todd’s palsy was observed in 4 cases. Aura was present in 24 cases. According to CT brain scan the aetiology was – neurocysticercosis (34.48%), post stroke (27.59%), tuberculoma (24.14%). Space occupying lesions(SOLs) were present in 8 patients, out of whom 4 had brain tumour, 2 patients had brain abscess, 1 had hydatid cyst and 1 had metastasis. Majority of lesions were located in frontal region (58.62%), followed by in parietal region (44.83%), in temporal region (25.86%) and in occipital region (13.79 % patients). In our study neurocysticercosis was found to be the commonest cause of secondary seizures. As in a meta-analysis it was found that cysticidal drugs result in better outcome in patients of neurocysticecosis, we recommend that the patients of secondary seizures should be identified for the aetiology and treated at the earliest2.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hampson

Organizational and activational effects of sex steroids were first discovered in laboratory animals, but these concepts extend to hormonal actions in the human central nervous system. This chapter begins with a brief overview of how sex steroids act in the brain and how the organizational-activational hypothesis originated in the field of endocrinology. It then reviews common methods used to study these effects in humans. Interestingly, certain cognitive functions appear to be subject to modification by sex steroids, and these endocrine influences may help explain the sex differences often seen in these functions. The chapter considers spatial cognition as a representative example because the spatial family of functions has received the most study by researchers interested in the biological roots of sex differences in cognition. The chapter reviews evidence that supports an influence of both androgens and estrogens on spatial functions, and concludes with a glimpse of where the field is headed.


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