Epilepsy: A Stigma More than Disease

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that occurs from ancient times and accompanying with convulsions or seizures. Epilepsy has revealed a genetic basis. Epilepsy which is considered as a neurodevelopmental disorder has reduced the life expectancy and associated with various stigmatized attitudes or beliefs. Epilepsy and seizures can develop in any person both in male and female at any age. Head trauma and brain strokes are the major causes of epilepsy in adults. Epilepsy accompanied by changes in behavior, personality, and cognition. Several aspects of epilepsy can affect the brain and behavior. Stigma is a reality for a lot of people with a mental disorder. It is a mark of disgrace which sets a person apart from others. Negative attitudes and beliefs create prejudice which leads to negative actions and discrimination. Stigma and social exclusions are stereotyped characteristics of epilepsy. Someone with a mental illness known to be a dangerous and senseless rather than saying in poor health conditions. There are no effective cures for an epileptic people. Besides, many epileptic therapies or cures are still available for the diagnosis and prevention of people with epilepsy. Epilepsy treatment entails how epilepsy is treated and which techniques and antiepileptic drugs are used.

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NEUROBIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF LANGUAGE IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0267190508080021 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 128-149 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Inge-Marie Eigsti ◽

Jillian M. Schuh

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Task ◽

Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Behavioral Differences ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Communicative Skills ◽

Complex Cognitive Task ◽

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

As a neurodevelopmental disorder, autism is characterized by impairments and differences at the levels of both brain and behavior. Communicative impairments in autism are a core feature of the disorder, and a rapidly expanding literature is exploring language in autism using the tools of cognitive neuroscience, particularly electroencephalography and brain imaging. Recent research indicates consistent differences in the degree to which language-specific processes are lateralized in the brain, and it also suggests that language impairments are linked to differences in brain structure that may lead to inefficient coordination of activity between different neural assemblies to achieve a complex cognitive task, defined as functional connectivity. We review findings from current work and suggest that neurobiological data are critical in our ability to understand the mechanisms underlying behavioral differences in communicative skills. Going beyond simple dichotomies between delayed versus deviant development, we can use such data to ask whether behavior reflects processes that are merely inefficient or, instead, whether impairments at the behavioral level reflect fundamental differences in brain organization and the networks involved in various tasks.

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Post-weaning Social Isolation in Male and Female Prairie Voles: Impacts on Central and Peripheral Immune System

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnbeh.2021.802569 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Meghan L. Donovan ◽

Eileen K. Chun ◽

Yan Liu ◽

Zuoxin Wang

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Forced Swim Test ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Prairie Voles ◽

Male And Female ◽

Bed Nucleus ◽

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

The socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) offers a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of adolescent social isolation on the brain, immune system, and behavior. In the current study, male and female prairie voles were randomly assigned to be housed alone or with a same-sex cagemate after weaning (i.e., on postnatal day 21–22) for a 6-week period. Thereafter, subjects were tested for anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and Forced Swim Test (FST), respectively. Blood was collected to measure peripheral cytokine levels, and brain tissue was processed for microglial density in various brain regions, including the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), Medial Amygdala (MeA), Central Amygdala (CeA), Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis (BNST), and Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus (PVN). Sex differences were found in EPM and FST behaviors, where male voles had significantly lower total arm entries in the EPM as well as lower latency to immobility in the FST compared to females. A sex by treatment effect was found in peripheral IL-1β levels, where isolated males had a lower level of IL-1β compared to cohoused females. Post-weaning social isolation also altered microglial density in a brain region-specific manner. Isolated voles had higher microglial density in the NAcc, MeA, and CeA, but lower microglial density in the dorsal BNST. Cohoused male voles also had higher microglial density in the PVN compared to cohoused females. Taken together, these data suggest that post-weaning social housing environments can alter peripheral and central immune systems in prairie voles, highlighting a potential role for the immune system in shaping isolation-induced alterations to the brain and behavior.

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Review of Self-regulation of the Brain and Behavior.

Contemporary Psychology ◽

10.1037/023440 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 30 (12) ◽

pp. 999-999

Author(s):

Gerald S. Wasserman

Keyword(s):

Self Regulation ◽

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

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Song competition changes the brain and behavior of a male songbird

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.028456 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 212 (15) ◽

pp. 2411-2418 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

K. W. Sockman ◽

K. G. Salvante ◽

D. M. Racke ◽

C. R. Campbell ◽

B. A. Whitman

Keyword(s):

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

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The brain and behavior of the fowl

General Pharmacology The Vascular System ◽

10.1016/0306-3623(84)90107-1 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 175

Keyword(s):

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

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Müllerian inhibiting substance contributes to sex-linked biases in the brain and behavior

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.0902253106 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 106 (17) ◽

pp. 7203-7208 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Pei-Yu Wang ◽

Anna Protheroe ◽

Andrew N. Clarkson ◽

Floriane Imhoff ◽

Kyoko Koishi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Neurons ◽

Reproductive Tract ◽

Behavioral Traits ◽

Spinal Motor Neurons ◽

Müllerian Inhibiting Substance ◽

Males And Females ◽

Brain And Behavior ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain ◽

Mullerian Inhibiting Substance

Many behavioral traits and most brain disorders are common to males and females but are more evident in one sex than the other. The control of these subtle sex-linked biases is largely unstudied and has been presumed to mirror that of the highly dimorphic reproductive nuclei. Sexual dimorphism in the reproductive tract is a product of Müllerian inhibiting substance (MIS), as well as the sex steroids. Males with a genetic deficiency in MIS signaling are sexually males, leading to the presumption that MIS is not a neural regulator. We challenge this presumption by reporting that most immature neurons in mice express the MIS-specific receptor (MISRII) and that male Mis−/− and Misrii−/− mice exhibit subtle feminization of their spinal motor neurons and of their exploratory behavior. Consequently, MIS may be a broad regulator of the subtle sex-linked biases in the nervous system.

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Sex differences in neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation revealed by fNIRS hyperscanning

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep26492 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

Joseph M. Baker ◽

Ning Liu ◽

Xu Cui ◽

Pascal Vrticka ◽

Manish Saggar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Behavioral Signatures ◽

Computer Based ◽

Males And Females ◽

Brain And Behavior ◽

The Right ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Brain

Abstract Researchers from multiple fields have sought to understand how sex moderates human social behavior. While over 50 years of research has revealed differences in cooperation behavior of males and females, the underlying neural correlates of these sex differences have not been explained. A missing and fundamental element of this puzzle is an understanding of how the sex composition of an interacting dyad influences the brain and behavior during cooperation. Using fNIRS-based hyperscanning in 111 same- and mixed-sex dyads, we identified significant behavioral and neural sex-related differences in association with a computer-based cooperation task. Dyads containing at least one male demonstrated significantly higher behavioral performance than female/female dyads. Individual males and females showed significant activation in the right frontopolar and right inferior prefrontal cortices, although this activation was greater in females compared to males. Female/female dyad’s exhibited significant inter-brain coherence within the right temporal cortex, while significant coherence in male/male dyads occurred in the right inferior prefrontal cortex. Significant coherence was not observed in mixed-sex dyads. Finally, for same-sex dyads only, task-related inter-brain coherence was positively correlated with cooperation task performance. Our results highlight multiple important and previously undetected influences of sex on concurrent neural and behavioral signatures of cooperation.

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