scholarly journals ON MENTAL ILLNESS AND BROKEN BRAINS

Think ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (58) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Anneli Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Brain Cancer ◽  
World View ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Empirical Question ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTWe often hear that certain mental disorders are disorders of the brain, but it is not clear what this claim amounts to. Does it mean that they are like classic brain diseases such as brain cancer? I argue that this is not the case for most mental disorders. Neither does the claim that all mental disorders are brain disorders follow from a materialist world-view. The only plausible way of understanding mental disorders as brain disorders is a fairly modest one, where we label brain differences we find in mental illness as pathological based on their link to mental dysfunction. How many mental disorders will turn out to be brain disorders on this understanding is an empirical question.

Synaptic Mechanisms of Psychotic Disorders

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth G. N. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychotic Disorders ◽  
Common Mental Disorders ◽  
Cell Activity ◽  
Molecular Machines ◽  
Synaptic Proteins ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Molecular Anatomy ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Synaptic Mechanisms

Synapses are the hallmark of the neuroanatomy of the brain. The million billion synapses of the human brain connect the nerve cells into the networks that underpin all behavior. The molecular anatomy of synapses is also remarkably complicated with ~2000 proteins in the synapse proteome. The proteins are physically organized into a hierarchy of molecular machines that control synapse biology. These proteins integrate and compute the information in patterns of nerve cell activity. Mutations in hundreds of genes that encode synaptic proteins contribute to over one hundred brain diseases, including common mental disorders. The synapse proteome is of fundamental importance to mental illness.

scholarly journals Neuronanomedicine: An Up-to-Date Overview

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Mihai Teleanu ◽  
Cristina Chircov ◽  
Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu ◽  
Raluca Ioana Teleanu
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Brain Cancer ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Therapeutic Agents ◽  
Brain Parenchyma ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Central Nervous System Disorders ◽  
Improve Life Expectancy ◽  
The Brain

The field of neuronanomedicine has recently emerged as the bridge between neurological sciences and nanotechnology. The possibilities of this novel perspective are promising for the diagnosis and treatment strategies of severe central nervous system disorders. Therefore, the development of nano-vehicles capable of permeating the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and reaching the brain parenchyma may lead to breakthrough therapies that could improve life expectancy and quality of the patients diagnosed with brain disorders. The aim of this review is to summarize the recently developed organic, inorganic, and biological nanocarriers that could be used for the delivery of imaging and therapeutic agents to the brain, as well as the latest studies on the use of nanomaterials in brain cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and stroke. Additionally, the main challenges and limitations associated with the use of these nanocarriers are briefly presented.

scholarly journals Neuroscience and the future for mental health?

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Rose
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Living Organism ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Diagnostic Systems ◽  
Social Adversity ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Brain

Psychiatry is in one of its regular crises. It is a crisis of its diagnostic systems despite – perhaps because – of the recurrent claims about the extent of diagnosable ‘brain disorders’. It is a crisis of its explanatory systems despite – perhaps because – of its current wager on the brain as the ultimate locus for explanations of mental disorders. It is a crisis of its therapeutic capacities despite – perhaps because – more and more people are making use of its primary mode of intervention focussed on the brain – psychiatric drugs. In this editorial, I will suggest that this triple crisis of diagnosis, explanation and therapeutics arises from the dominant reductionist approaches to the role of neurobiology in psychiatry that priorities the analysis of brain mechanisms, at the expense of an understanding of the whole living organism in its milieu, and the processes which social experience shapes neurobiology from the moment of conception if not before. I shall suggest a different approach that starts from the experience of persons coping with adversity in their forms of life. This approach does not require giving up on our search for plausible explanations of mental health problems that engage neurobiological mechanisms, but it begins from a commitment to understanding, and hence intervening in, the ways in which social adversity shapes and blights the lives of so many of our fellow citizens.

‘They accused me of strangling her’: epilepsy and violence debate in Croatia at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-472
Author(s):  
Martin Kuhar ◽  
Stella Fatović-Ferenčić
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Biological Theory ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Violent Behaviour ◽  
Theory Of Crime ◽  
The Brain

Nineteenth-century psychiatry shifted its focus to the brain as the seat of mental disorders. With a new understanding of mental disorders arose the need to consult forensic psychiatrists in cases of criminal acts committed by persons with mental illness. This article focuses on three murders committed by ‘epileptics’ at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries in Croatia. An analysis of these cases will help to situate forensic psychiatry at the turn of the century within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and reveal the authority that forensic experts wielded in the courts. We will argue that Cesare Lombroso’s biological theory of crime, as well as the influence of eugenicists and pharmaceutical companies, shaped the long-standing relationship between epilepsy and violent behaviour.

scholarly journals The volume of changes in the cells of the brain under the influence of carbon monoxide poisoning

2020 ◽  
Vol VII (4) ◽  
pp. 198-242
Author(s):  
I. Spirtov
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning ◽  
Sense Organ ◽  
Healthy People ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
The Brain

The effect of carbon monoxide on the nervous system, obvious and in everyday, not particularly severe cases of poisoning with this gas, is illustrated by the extensive literature, growing from year to year, of cases where, after poisoning with carbon monoxide, severe pathological phenomena from the nervous system developed; At the same time, in one number of cases, such phenomena constituted a direct continuation of the poisoning, in other cases they developed after the first aftermath of poisoning passed and proceeded more or less prolonged, so to speak, a light difference, during which the subjects were poisoned, who were not healthy people in all relations. These post-mortem pathological phenomena capture both the intellectual sphere, as well as the motor and sensitive areas, namely, they were observed: ammesia, aphasia, stupor, dementia, further: general agitation, mental illness, similar to primary mental disorders and contractions, weakening of the sensitivity of one or another sense organ.

Psychiatry between Psyche and Brain

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Thomas Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
The Other ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Since its development around 1800, psychiatry has been moving between the poles of the sciences and the humanities, being directed toward subjective experience on the one hand and toward the neural substrate on the other hand. Today, this dualism seems to be overcome by a naturalism which identifies subjective experience with neural processes—according to the slogan “mental disorders are brain diseases.” Psychiatry thus tends to isolate mental illnesses from the patients’ social relationships and to neglect subjectivity and intersubjectivity in their explanation. What should be searched for instead is a paradigm that can establish psychiatry as a relational medicine in an encompassing sense: as a science and practice of biological, psychological and social relations, and their disorders. Within such a paradigm, the brain may be grasped and researched as the central “relational organ” without reductionist implications.

Mitochondrial function and inflammation pathways in the neuroprogression of mental disorders

2019 ◽  
pp. 35-62
Author(s):  
Ana C. Andreazza ◽  
Rajas P. Kale ◽  
Angela Duong ◽  
Fabio Molina ◽  
Susannah J. Tye
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mitochondrial Function ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Cellular Debris ◽  
Efficient Communication ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Over Time

Stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation are key pathophysiological processes contributing to neuroprogression in mental illness. These factors independently and collectively impact critical cellular mechanisms essential for healthy brain development and function. As these damaging processes continue, cellular debris (damaged DNA and proteins) accumulates, and neuronal integrity is impaired. In addition to this, the myelin sheath that encapsulates neurones to enable smooth and efficient communication throughout the brain is impaired. This chapter outlines how these factors are impacted by stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial function and how they work independently, and together, to increase risk for the development of mental illness, as well as to promote neuroprogression of the illness over time. We discuss how targeting these pathophysiological processes through interdependent factors such as the NLRP3 inflammasome, which sits at the intersection of these mechanistic pathways, may unlock opportunities to limit neuroprogression in the future.

scholarly journals Peptide Mediated Brain Delivery of Nano- and Submicroparticles: A Synergistic Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (13) ◽  
pp. 1366-1376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark McCully ◽  
Macarena Sanchez-Navarro ◽  
Meritxell Teixido ◽  
Ernest Giralt
Keyword(s):  
High Loading ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Brain Delivery ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Delivery Vehicle ◽  
Vehicle Type ◽  
Current State ◽  
Synergistic Approach ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Gain Access

The brain is a complex, regulated organ with a highly controlled access mechanism: The Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). The selectivity of this barrier is a double-edged sword, being both its greatest strength and weakness. This weakness is evident when trying to target therapeutics against diseases within the brain. Diseases such as metastatic brain cancer have extremely poor prognosis due to the poor permeability of many therapeutics across the BBB. Peptides can be designed to target BBB receptors and gain access to the brain by transcytosis. These peptides (known as BBB-shuttles) can carry compounds, usually excluded from the brain, across the BBB. BBB-shuttles are limited by poor loading of therapeutics and degradation of the peptide and cargo. Likewise, nano- submicro- and microparticles can be fine-tuned to limit their degradation and with high loading of therapeutics. However, most nano- and microparticles’ core materials completely lack efficient targeting, with a few selected materials able to cross the BBB passively. Combining the selectivity of peptides with the high loading potential of nano-, microparticles offers an exciting strategy to develop novel, targeted therapeutics towards many brain disorders and diseases. Nevertheless, at present the field is diverse, in both scope and nomenclature, often with competing or contradictory names. In this review, we will try to address some of these issues and evaluate the current state of peptide mediated nano,-microparticle transport to the brain, analyzing delivery vehicle type and peptide design, the two key components that must act synergistically for optimal therapeutic impact.

scholarly journals Histamine N-Methyltransferase in the Brain

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yoshikawa ◽  
Tadaho Nakamura ◽  
Kazuhiko Yanai
Keyword(s):  
High Specificity ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Histamine Concentration ◽  
Brain Histamine ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Brain Barrier Permeability ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Brain

Brain histamine is a neurotransmitter and regulates diverse physiological functions. Previous studies have shown the involvement of histamine depletion in several neurological disorders, indicating the importance of drug development targeting the brain histamine system. Histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) is a histamine-metabolising enzyme expressed in the brain. Although pharmacological studies using HNMT inhibitors have been conducted to reveal the direct involvement of HNMT in brain functions, HNMT inhibitors with high specificity and sufficient blood–brain barrier permeability have not been available until now. Recently, we have phenotyped Hnmt-deficient mice to elucidate the importance of HNMT in the central nervous system. Hnmt disruption resulted in a robust increase in brain histamine concentration, demonstrating the essential role of HNMT in the brain histamine system. Clinical studies have suggested that single nucleotide polymorphisms of the human HNMT gene are associated with several brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Postmortem studies also have indicated that HNMT expression is altered in human brain diseases. These findings emphasise that an increase in brain histamine levels by novel HNMT inhibitors could contribute to the improvement of brain disorders.

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