Who even knows
What is grey matter and white matter?
Grey matter = cell bodies
White matter = axons, connections between neurons
Describe the process of an action potential
1. Sent down axon, reaches presynaptic terminal
2. Depolarization, Ca2+ enters cell
3. Triggers release of NT from vesicles
4. NT enter synaptic cleft and bind to receptor sites
5. Open/close channels to change postsynaptic membrane potential
6. Axon potential propagates through next cell
7. Neurotransmitter inactivated/transported back
Main excitatory neurotransmitter
Glutamate
What percentage of people are left-hemisphere dominant?
95%
What are the three main types of agnosia?
Visual, auditory, and tactile
What is the difference between sensitivity and specificity?
Sensitivity = how accurate a test is in identifying disease in people who really have the disease
Specificity = ability to designate an individual who does not have a disease as negative
Name two possible results of damage to the right hemisphere
language deficits in prosody and articulation, difficulty with abstract concepts, acalculia, difficulty with facial recognition
(there are more, this is just from the slides)
What produces the neurotransmitter responsible for our fight-flight responses?
Adrenal glands (produce adrenaline/epinephrine)
Non-fluent aphasia where the output of spontaneous speech is markedly diminished. Speech may be telegraphic (take away grammar but leave content words) and agrammatic (slow, effortful, reduced phrase length).
Broca's aphasia
Name two rule outs for a differential diagnosis for agnosia
Dementia, aphasia, delirium, disturbance of attention, unfamiliarity with stimuli, sensory impairment
Define schwann cells
type of glial cell that surrounds neurons, keeping them alive and sometimes covering them with a myelin sheath, and are the major glial cell type in the peripheral nervous system
Name the three parts of the meninges (layers that protect the brain)
Dura matter, arachnoid membrane, and pia matter
Schizophrenia has been linked with excess
Dopamine.
Nigrostriatal dopamine track: associated with motor disorders
Mesolimbic dopamine track: associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia
Cognitive deficits (often in attention) are seen prior to first psychotic episode
1. Phonological/phonemic
2. Verbal Paraphasia/Semantic Paraphasia
3. Neologisms
Dorsal Simultagnosia
Why might you avoid prescribing Topamax to a patient with cognitive concerns?
Topamax is an antiepileptic med, can be cognitively blunting at high doses, impacting working memory and verbal fluency
What are the dorsal and ventral pathways of the visual system?
Dorsal = visual perception of where objects are located
Ventral = visual analysis of what objects are
What neurotransmitter is primarily affected by benzodiazepines and barbiturates?
GABA
Rare type of aphasia in which comprehension and expression remain intact but patient shows isolated impairment in the ability to repeat phrases
Conduction aphasia
What is the difference between associative agnosia and apperceptive agnosia?
Associative agnosia refers to failure in recognition despite no deficit in perception. Apperceptive agnosia refers to a failure in recognition due to deficits in the early stages of perceptual processing
Define the three types of validity: predictive, criterion, and content
Predictive = degree to which test predicts scores on another measure
Criterion = degree to which test agrees with a gold standard
Content = how well an instrument covers all relevant parts of the construct it aims to measure
What might be the result of a left MCA stroke?
Disfluent speech, anomia (intact comprehension/reading), right hemiplegia (paralysis on the right side of the body) or right hemiparesis (weakness on the right side of the body)
Why might nausea be a primary side effect during the first few weeks of taking an SSRI?
Serotonin is highly involved in digestive track, increased serotonin leads to feelings of fullness, excess serotonin makes you feel nauseous and queasy (your serotonin levels increase when taking an SSRI)
Result of damage to the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus
Wernicke's Aphasia
Anomia is also the inability to name objects, but the person cannot name an object despite using other sensory modalities like touch and smell. Agnosia patients may rely on other senses to name objects