Diseases of the Brain
This research topic guide explores diseases of the brain. According to the American Brain Foundation, 1 in 6 people worldwide are affected by brain disease. This guide includes links to research, books, and films on specific diseases.
- Brain Diseases: MedlinePlusThe brain is the control center of the body. It controls thoughts, memory, speech, and movement. It regulates the function of many organs. When the brain is healthy, it works quickly and automatically. However, when problems occur, the results can be devastating.
- Brain Diseases from A-Z: American Brain FoundationA to Z list of brain diseases from the American Brain Foundation.
- Brain Disorders: HealthlineYour brain is your body’s control center. It’s part of the nervous system, which also includes the spinal cord and a large network of nerves and neurons. Together, the nervous system controls everything from your senses to the muscles throughout your body.
- Neurological Disorders: Johns Hopkins MedicineThere are many nervous system disorders that require clinical care by a physician or other healthcare professional. Listed in the directory below are some, for which we have provided a brief overview.
Databases
- CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
CINAHL is a comprehensive source of full-text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed in CINAHL. This authoritative database contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index.
- MEDLINE Complete This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE Complete provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. You will find full-text coverage 5,400 journals, as well as indexing of an additional 1,700 titles.
- Natural Medicines This link opens in a new window
Natural Medicines is an authoritative resource on dietary supplements, natural medicines, and complementary, alternative, and integrative therapies. You will find over 1,100 monographs, 90,000 dietary supplement products, as well as checkers and tools, patient handouts, and reporting systems.
- PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window
PsycARTICLES provides full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology.
Streaming Media
- Aging and Brain StructureSee how the cognitive changes of aging relate to the biological changes discussed in the previous lectures. It turns out that regions of the brain associated with processing speed, executive function, and episodic memory are more susceptible to aging, which may explain why these cognitive functions are particularly susceptible to decline.
- Protein Folding, Misfolding, and DisorderDiscover how proteins fold into complex shapes, often with the help of molecular chaperones. Then learn the deadly consequences of proteins that do not fold properly, leading to degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and prion diseases. Also look at intrinsically disordered proteins, which lack a fixed structure, permitting flexible interactions with other biomolecules.
Perspectives
The Disordered Mind
A Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist's probing investigation of what brain disorders can tell us about human nature Eric R. Kandel, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his foundational research into memory storage in the brain, is one of the pioneers of modern brain science. His work continues to shape our understanding of how learning and memory work and to break down age-old barriers between the sciences and the arts. In his seminal new book,The Disordered Mind, Kandel draws on a lifetime of pathbreaking research and the work of many other leading neuroscientists to take us on an unusual tour of the brain. He confronts one of the most difficult questions we face: How does our mind, our individual sense of self, emerge from the physical matter of the brain? The brain's 86 billion neurons communicate with one another through very precise connections. But sometimes those connections are disrupted. The brain processes that give rise to our mind canbecome disordered, resulting in diseases such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. While these disruptions bring great suffering, they can also reveal the mysteries of how the brain produces our most fundamental experiences and capabilities--the very nature of what it means to be human. Studies of autism illuminate the neurological foundations of our social instincts; research into depression offers important insights on emotions and the integrity of the self; and paradigm-shifting work on addiction has led to a new understanding of the relationship between pleasure and willpower. By studying disruptions to typical brain functioning and exploring their potential treatments, we will deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behavior, memory, and creativity. Only then can we grapple with the big question of how billions of neurons generate consciousness itself.
Neurodegenerative Disorders
Your readers are provided with essential information on Neurodegenerative Disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, Huntington's, and multiple sclerosis. This book also serves as a historical survey, by providing information on the controversies surrounding its causes. Compelling first-person narratives by people coping with Neurodegenerative Disorders give readers a first-hand experience. Patients, family members, or caregivers explain the condition from their own experience. The symptoms, causes, treatments, and potential cures are explained in detail. Essential to anyone trying to learn about diseases and conditions, the alternative treatments are explored. Student researchers and readers will find this book easily accessible through its careful and conscientious editing and a thorough introduction to each essay.
Genetic Twists of Fate
How tiny variations in our personal DNA can determine how we look, how we behave, how we get sick, and how we get well. News stories report almost daily on the remarkable progress scientists are making in unraveling the genetic basis of disease and behavior. Meanwhile, new technologies are rapidly reducing the cost of reading someone's personal DNA (all six billion letters of it). Within the next ten years, hospitals may present parents with their newborn's complete DNA code along with her footprints and APGAR score. In Genetic Twists of Fate, distinguished geneticists Stanley Fields and Mark Johnston help us make sense of the genetic revolution that is upon us. Fields and Johnston tell real life stories that hinge on the inheritance of one tiny change rather than another in an individual's DNA: a mother wrongly accused of poisoning her young son when the true killer was a genetic disorder; the screen siren who could no longer remember her lines because of Alzheimer's disease; and the president who was treated with rat poison to prevent another heart attack. In an engaging and accessible style, Fields and Johnston explain what our personal DNA code is, how a few differences in its long list of DNA letters makes each of us unique, and how that code influences our appearance, our behavior, and our risk for such common diseases as diabetes or cancer.