corr-blimey!

At the beginning of this task I was a bit daunted by thinking of the right topic, audience and mode of communication.  I also found it interesting that we had to keep a record of our thougths throughout the task on a tumblr account. I had never used tumblr before and thought that to be able keep up with the posts I would have to stick to the weekly planner provided to us in the study guide.  I also believed when choosing a webpage as my mode of communication that it would not be very hard to complete.  

By the end of the task I believed I chose the right topic for me and the correct audience.  I found it difficult to stay on track with progress reports on tumblr, having to do a lot of posts on the basis of recall after forgetting to do it for a couple of weeks.  However so, I enjoyed the aspect of posting on tumblr as this is a unique way of planning out an assignment and also a place to keep record of references etc. Creating a website turned out to be quite a complex process.  I found it difficult to decide on the best design for the content I had.  The final design was a bit blank and boring for a webpage and if I were to know more skills in webpage design I may have been able to create a much more interactive and appealing website.

The majority of my understanding of the science behind the content on stroke was acquired when I had to write out the physiology in a 3rd year physiological way.  More specifically when searching through the literature.  

Stroke occurs when blood supply to the brain is slowed down or stopped altogether.  Normally the brain is supplied blood via two pairs of arteries, which branch off throughout brain tissue and supply the brain cells with a constant flow of oxygen, glucose and essential nutrients.  The interruption of blood supply to the brain may occur when an artery is blocked (ischaemic stroke) or bursts (hemorrhagic stroke). Brain cells die if they don’t get enough oxygen or nutrients.  This damaged area is known as a cerebral infarct.

Ischaemic strokes are usually caused by a blood clot in an artery supplying blood to the brain.  Blood clots usually develop in arteries that have been narrowed by a slow build up of fatty material called ‘atheroma’ or ‘plaque’.  This slow clogging process is known as ‘atherosclerosis’, and if bad enough, can cause a stroke by itself because it dramatically slows blood supply to the brain.  Pieces of blood clot can break off and travel further down the blood stream, where it becomes lodged in a smaller artery.  Blood clots can form in the heart when it pumps at an irregular or fast rate. These blood clots can also be transported to the brain to become lodged and cause brain damage.  Another way Ischaemic stroke can occur is when the small arteries in the brain become narrowed and weakened, largely due to an increased blood pressure.  The narrowing of these small arteries causes small areas of brain damage, called ‘lacunar infarcts’, and the fragile walls can potentially burst and cause bleeding in the brain.  

Hemorrhagic strokes occurs when an artery in the brain bursts.  This leads to bleeding in the brain which increases the pressure and squishes the tissue surrounding the damaged artery.  This tissue dies and causes a stroke to occur.  This type of stroke is mainly caused by an increased blood pressure.  

One of the major risk factors for stroke is a Transient Ischaemic Attack.  The reference I used to source information on this was within an online medical book called ‘Transient Ischemic Attack and Stroke: Diagnosis, Investigation and Management’, which has a great source of information.  

Other major risk factors include hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and advanced age (>55).  The reference I found to source this information was an E-book called ‘stroke’, which was very useful.

The references for both sources are:

Pendlebury, S.T., Giles, M.F., & Rothwell, P.M. (2009). Epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology and causes of transient ischemic attacks and stroke. Transient Ischemic Attack and Stroke: Diagnosis, Investigation and Management (pp. 1-10). Cambridge. Retrieved from: http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/35124/excerpt/9780521735124_excerpt.pdf 

I found a really good article on hemorrhagic stroke through google scholar called ‘ Intracerebral hemorrhage: pathophysiology, diagnosis and management’.  This gives me a great source of information on the mechanisms behind hemorrhagic stroke.

The reference for this is:

I found the mechanisms behind ischaemic stroke to be large artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolism and small-vessel occlusion.  The reference for  ‘pathophysiology of stroke’ was used again for this, however a few other references were required to get an adequate amount of detail on each mechanism. 

These additional references include:

Hossmann, K. A., & Heiss, W. D. (2010). Neuropathology and pathophysiology of stroke. In M. Brainin & WD. Heiss, Stroke Medicine (pp.1-10). Cambridge. Retrieved from: http://assets.cambridge.org/97805215/18260/excerpt/9780521518260_excerpt.pdf

I was able to find a good reference on google scholar, called ‘pathophysiology of stroke’, which had really good information on the two types of stroke.  

The reference for this is:

I found an E-book on the latrobe library website called, ‘Stroke pathophysiology and therapy’, that gives a good overview of what stroke is in advanced physiological terms.

The reference for this is:

My audience of focus is non-experts (lay people) who may have some interest in stroke, whether it be because they are at high risk of having one, are a family member or friend of someone who has had a stroke, or they may just have a general interest in learning about this topic.