The brain is the creator and regulator of personality, thought, conscious and unconscious action, and emotion. The brain is composed of nerves, which are specialized cells that "talk" to each other through electrical impulses. When these...
Many different things can affect brain function, from infection, to trauma, to metabolic imbalances, but only a few of them are deadly. Most of these deadly diseases are equal opportunity, infecting just as many people from First World countries...
Fish oil is the oil derived from the tissues of fish such as salmon, tuna and halibut. Fish oil is naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which may be beneficial in the treatment and prevention of brain diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar...
Small vessel disease---SVD---of the brain occurs when the small arteries and arterioles in the brain become damaged and deteriorate due to the buildup of plaque, the formation of small tears, or the arteries becoming hard and inflexible. This...
Your brain needs 15 percent of your total blood volume. It is through this precious blood that it gets the oxygen and glucose that is so vital for it to function. It is protected by a membrane, cushioned by fluid and protected, again, by bone....
The brain is made up of two major classifications of cells: neurons and glia. Neurons are the signaling cells of the brain; they interact with other neurons to control thought and bodily functions. The glia are supporting cells that help maintain...
The brain and spinal cord makeup a majority of the central nervous system and literally control every function in the body. The brain is responsible for speech, vision, thoughts, movement and controls many of the organs of the body. Most of the...
The brain, weighing about 3 lbs., is the most complex part of the body. It interprets sensory information, controls behavior, contains the mind and all intelligence, and it is the origin of all movements of the body. Degenerative diseases of the...
Aerobic exercise is any activity that increases your breathing and heart rate over a sustained period of time. Its benefits go far beyond maintaining or losing weight, which is often the main focus on aerobic exercise. Indeed, this rise in...
On any given day, millions of chemical processes occur in the brain. Chemical synapses occur between cells in the brain, called neurons. These neurons communicate with each other, or with other types of cells in the body, to form networks of...
The brain is located in a privileged position in the human body. It is protected from trauma by a hard skull and from blood-borne infections by the blood-brain barrier, an anatomical barricade to the passage of large bacteria or substances into...
The brain is the processing point for the nervous system. Nerves transmit messages from all parts of the body to the brain, and the brain responds by telling the body what to do. The brain also stores information and is the source of emotions. In...
The brain is a complex organ made up of two major cell types known as neurons and glia. Neurons are the nerve cells of the brain; they signal to each other within the brain, and signal to the body to control muscle movement, organ function,...
The brain and spinal cord form the human body's central nervous system. The spinal cord is the primary pathway by which the body conducts sensory information from the peripheral nervous system to the brain. The brain processes sensory input and...
Classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), or mad cow disease, is a prion disease. According to the CDC, prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), are a group of diseases that cause degeneration of the nervous system of...
The brain is covered by layers of membranes, known collectively as meninges, which function to protect the central nervous system and regulate the fluid pressure within the skull. There are three layers of meninges: the inner pia mater, the...
The white matter of the brain contains nerve fibers (axons), interstitial space and supporting cells. Most of these nerve fibers--specifically, axons--are covered with myelin, a type of fat that insulates nerve fibers and increases the speed of...
In atherosclerosis, fats, cholesterol, platelets and white blood cells can build up and form plaques in the arteries. Diseases that have plaques in the brain involve an accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins, which are formed through an abnormal...
Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, was first described in 1906 by Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor. According to a report by the Alzheimer's Association, approximately 5.1 million Americans over the age of 65 are currently...
Cerebral edema is the medical term for brain swelling. By definition, it is an increase in the amount of water in the brain, according to Dr. Jeffrey Frank in "Principles of Critical Care." It can cause part of the brain to shift, which leads to...
A brain atrophy is a breakdown of neurons or connections between them in an area of the brain. In rare cases, it affects the whole brain. A brain atrophy can cause loss of consciousness, impairment of the senses, centers for motor control or...
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is a widely used medical imaging method. This tool uses magnets and radio waves to create pictures of the soft tissue of the human brain. These images can be from any angle and direction. MRI is safe and...
The large and small blood vessels of the body are responsible for the circulation of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the brain and tissues of the body. Diseases of the small blood vessels in the brain results in a eduction in the flow of blood to...
Small vessel disease, a disease that affects the blood flow through the brain, describes the most prevalent neurological disorder of the brain, according to the American Stroke Association. The risk of developing small vessel disease increases...
Bipolar disorder causes intense mood swings that cause the person to move from deep depression into mania. Bipolar disorder causes both structural and functional abnormalities in the brain. Neuro-imaging tools such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging...
Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that leads to progressive nerve damage and brain cell death that affects more than 5.3 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's is characterized by aggregates of toxic...
Wilson's disease is a rare genetic disorder of copper metabolism; specifically, excess copper accumulates in the liver and can lead to death if not treated, According to Aftab Ala and colleagues in February 2007 in "The Lancet." Brain imaging...
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) was pioneered in the 1990s by neurosurgeons Benabid, Pollak, and Gao, et al., as a means to provide relief from Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms related to degeneration of body movements and tremor activity. A...
Crohn's disease belongs to a group of conditions known as inflammatory bowel diseases, or IBD. In patients with Crohn's disease, the digestive tract, also called the gastrointestinal or GI tract, becomes inflamed and swollen, causing pain,...
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