Brain impairments

Delirium. Delirium, the waxing and waning of consciousness and lucidity, can be difficult to distinguish from dementia. Both affect multiple areas of intellectual functioning. Both tend to affect the same groups of people, namely, the elderly and those with brain injuries. And the two are not mutually exclusive. Patients with dementia can also become delirious in fact, the brain impairment of dementia increases vulnerability to delirium. 

CNS adverse effects can be the result of toxic serum levels, which may result from accidental or intentional patient ingestion of lithium doses exceeding clinical needs (334). Patients with organic brain impairment are also at increased risk of neurotoxicity. Toxicity may also be caused by reduced clearance of lithium from the body. 

Bixler EO, Kales A, Manfredi RL, et al. Triazolam-induced brain impairment frequent memory disturbances. EurJ Clin Pharmacol 1989 36 A171. 

Considerable evidence that endocannabinoid actions in the brain impair learning and memory has also been collected. Most of the evidence comes from studies in which CB 1 antagonists improve learning or memory (Lichtman 2000 Shiflett et al. 2004 Terranova et al. 2005 Wolf and Leander 2003). These antagonists can also reverse the amnestic effects of agents such as (3-amyloid and scopolamine (Mazzola et al. 2003 Takahashi et al. 2005). Thus, it appears that activation of CB1 receptors, presumably following release of brain endocannabinoids, has actions that counteract mechanisms involved in learning and memory. 

Lesne, S., Koh, M.T., Kotilinek, L., et al. (2006) A specific amyloid-beta protein assembly in the brain impairs memory. Nature 440, 352-357. 

In conclusion, there is considerable empirical evidence that ECT induces significant and to some extent lasting brain impairment. The studies cited above are but a few which suggest that ECT is potentially a harmful procedure, as indeed are most naturally occurring episodes of brain trauma resulting in concussion, unconsciousness and grand mal epileptic seizures. Accordingly, the continued use of ECT in psychiatry must be questioned very seriously, (p. 23)... 

Leplow B, Dierks C, Herrmann P, Pieper N, Annecke R, Ulm G (1997) Remote memory in Parkinson s disease and senile dementia. Neuropsychologia 35 547-555 Lesne S, Koh MT, Kotilinek L, Kayed R, Glabe CG, Yang A, Gallagher M, Ashe KH (2006) A specific amyloid-beta protein assembly in the brain impairs memory. Nature 440(7082) 352-357... 

Banks WA, Robinson SM, Verma S, Moriey JE (2003) Efflux of human and mouse amyloid 3 proteins 1 0 and 1 2 from brain Impairment in a mouse model of Alzheimer s disease. Neuroscience 121 487-492. 

A more recently developed and more sensitive measure of brain impairment is computerized axial tomography, better known as the CT or CAT scan. The CT scan involves passing X-rays through the head in a circular pattern to get a tliree-dimensional image of the brain. The focus can be changed to different depths of the brain to detect internal tumors, enlarged spaces or ventricles, and other internal abnormalities. 

Neurons arc responsible for the perception of sensory. stimuli and the coordination of cellular. ti.ssuc. and organis-mal responses to stimuli from the environment. Among the possible effects of neurotoxicants on neurons arc several general responses apopto.sis or necrosis of neuronal stem cells in both the developing and the mature brain, impaired... 

The cholinergic system in insects is the main target of insecticides. One class of molecules, the neonicotinoids, induces direct activation of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). In the honey bee these receptors are mainly distributed in the olfactory pathways that link sensory neurons to antennal lobes and mushroom bodies. These structures seem to play an important role in olfactory conditioning. We have previously shown that cholinergic antagonists injected in different parts of the brain impaired the formation and retrieval of olfactory memory. We then advanced the hypothesis that, through the activation of the nAChR, the neonicotinoid imidacloprid (IMI) would lead to facilitation of the memory trace. 

We use iodized salt to prevent goiters and mental retardation. In China, a country of 1.2 billion people, there are 10 million cases of retardation from lack of iodine. Although just trace amounts would prevent this, many people buy noniodized salt on the black market to save money. Maternal iodine deficiency results in growth and brain impairment in the child. 

Shankar GM, Li S, Mehta TH, et al. Amyloid-beta protein dimers isolated directly from Alzheimer s brains impair synaptic plasticity and memory. Nat Med. 2008 14(8) 837-842. 

An acute exposure may occur, for example, when we are exposed to ammonia while using another cleaning agent. Acute exposure may have both immediate and delayed effects on the body. Nitrogen dioxide poisoning can be followed by signs of brain impairment (such as confusion, lack of coordination, and behavioral changes) days or weeks after recovery. 

Neurological (courtship behavior disruption, altered metabolic rate, abnormal sexual differentiation in the brain, impaired/delayed intelligence, teratogenicity of the central nervous system)... 

Gangliosides Tay-Sachs disease Terminal A/-acetyl galactosamine cleavage enzyme Accumulation of an abnormal ganglioside in tissue especially brain impairment of mental and somatic function and vision eventually demyelination... 

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