In the early twentieth century, during the end of the First World War, the puzzling illness of Encephalitis Lethargica (EL) swept the world. Millions of people were left to die and others less fortunate continued to live, trapped within their frozen and emotionless bodies. EL causes an inflammation of the brain, targeting the brain stem, which is home to critical motor components like the Basal Ganglia and Substantia Nigra. As it progresses, patients feel rigidity, muscle twitching and tremors similar to Parkinsonism. The current theory on the cause of EL is due to an immune reaction to a streptococcus like bacteria. The film “Awakenings” is a good representation of the physiological effects of the disorder but lacks at depicting the seriousness of psychological issues surrounding EL.
Patients who survived the acute affects of the illness, developed major chronic symptoms in there later years. Such was the case with the main patient in the film, Leonard Lowe, who had the misfortune of acquiring the illness at a young age. The symptoms progressed and left him in a catatonic state along with other survivors. Near the beginning of the film most patients including Leonard are seen motionless in their wheelchairs with a lack of expression on their faces. This accurately resembles the state in which most patients of that disorder are left under. One of the key components damaged in EL is the Basal Ganglia (BG). A major structure in the BG is the Caudate Putamen, which extends into the temporal lobe and amygdala. If the caudate putamen is damaged there is unwanted choreiform (writhing and twitching). Damage to the substantia nigra results in hyperkinetic symptoms seen with EL patients as well as Parkinsonism. Likewise a major projec...
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...could be greatly improved by depicting some patients having forgotten who they are. In one study, it suggests that “short –term memory loss is common but underestimated because psychiatric symptoms and speech problems often interfere with the assessment of memory.
Another major role of the basal ganglia as mentioned in the lecture notes is its importance in speech production. We clearly get a glimpse of this as Leonard is slowly regressing back to his previous stage, he no longer can formulate speech and has trouble clearly pronouncing each word.
Works Cited
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3930727.stm http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17675021 http://courses.washington.edu/conj/bess/parkinsons/parkinsons.html http://www.encephalitis.info/files/1113/3993/2124/encephalitis_lethargica.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987703003189
Walton, Sir John. Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System. Oxford University Press. New York, 1955, pp. 365.
In the movie Awakenings, The main characters are Leonard Lowe(Robert De Niro) and his neurologist, Dr. Malcolm Sayer(Robin Williams) In the movie Dr. Sayer’s patients seem to be what they call “frozen” thinking that it was caused from parkinson's disease. With Dr. Sayer’s first patient, Lucy, He works with her to see what he can do then he notices that when he drops something in front of her her instinct is to catch it. Other doctors seem to think it’s a reflex but Dr. Sayer knows it’s not or else she would have hit it away. He starts to observe other patients like this then does the practice with them and they show the same signs. The instinct to catch the things. Like when Dr. Sayer throws a ball at them they catch it. He practiced
She wrote, “His case was extreme. Not until the coroner's report, 3 months after his death, would I learn that it was diffuse LBD that took him. All 4 of the doctors I met with afterwards and who had reviewed his records indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen. He had about 40% loss of dopamine neurons and almost no neurons were free of Lewy bodies throughout the entire brain and brainstem.” She tells us that his fear and anxiety had skyrocketed and later discovered it is an early indication of LBD. “Robin had been under his doctors' care. He had been struggling with symptoms that seemed unrelated: constipation, urinary difficulty, heartburn, sleeplessness and insomnia, and a poor sense of smell—and lots of stress. He also had a slight tremor in his left hand that would come and go.” (Schneider-Williams)
The basal ganglia are part of the extrapyramidal system and work in conjunction with the motor cortex in providing movement and serve as the relay center. Damage to this area results in Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, the second most common form of cerebral palsy. Involuntary purposeless movements, particularly in the arms, hands, and facial muscles, characterize Athetosis. In addition, the individual can become “stuck” in abnormal positions or postures and require specific positioning to maintain more normal tome and
Chamberlin, Stacey L., and Brigham Narins. The Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. Print.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by resting tremor, slowed movements, rigidity and postural instability (Casey G, 2013). It is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s (Martin and Mills, 2012). There is a great variability in reported incidence rates, probably due to difference in diagnostic criteria and case ascertainment, with reported rates in Australia and in Western countries ranging from 8.6 to 19.0 per 100,000 population (J Macphee and D Stewart, 2012). The two main brain structures affected by Parkinson’s are the substantia nigra pars compacta, which is located in the midbrain and other parts of the basal ganglia, w...
The purpose of this essay is to provide a general overview, as well as neurological overview, of the neurodegenerative disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. In doing so, it will show how the brain proves to be the center of behavior and creates the individual's sense...
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Amnesia. What is it? For some, it is simply the partial or total loss of memory. Something that one wouldn’t think too much about. However, it is a very real and present problem. Unlike other mental disorders, amnesia can be experienced at any age.(S. Wood, E. Wood, and D. Boyd 200) Amnesia isn’t as severe as it is commonly shown in the media, but can still have major emotional impact on the people around an amnesia patient. Thankfully, there is plenty of research that better helps us understand what amnesia is and what causes it. From that research, we know that there are several forms of amnesia; anterograde, retrograde, and transient global amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is the inability to store new memories. Retrograde amnesia is the inability
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Walton, Sir John. Brain’s Diseases of the Nervous System. 9th ed. Oxford University Press. Oxford: 1985.
The disease was commonly called as shaking palsy. In the year 1817, it was Dr. James Parkinson wh...
Parkinson’s disease, a chronic, progressive, and neurodegenerative brain disorder affecting body movement, known to have no cure, yet has treatments that will help in managing the disease. This disease is named after James Parkinson, an English physician who described this illness. Approximately one million people in the United States are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (What is Parkinson’s, n.d.). This disease is identified to be slow in progression and symptoms of this will only worsen as time goes on. Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease (Simpson, Murray, & Eccles, 2010).
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