parts of speech

Small Circuits! This is one of the many wonderfully-presented lessons from Harvard’s Fundamentals of Neuroscience free and open online course (or MOOC). While the video’s terminology can be technical at times, the simple presentation style and painterly illustrations by Grace Helmer help translate each idea in a very approachable way.

So, how do neurons integrate signals in small circuits?

DID YOU KNOW that everyone has an Adam’s Apple, regardless of gender? The thyroid cartilage of the laryngeal skeleton forms a mound under the skin called the laryngeal prominence. In adults, the laminae of the cartilage meets at a 90-degree angle in males and a 120-degree angle in females, causing the prominence to commonly be more pronounced in males.

I’m thinking maybe I should stick to all caps…

The masseter is one of several muscles of mastication. It is a thick, quadrilateral muscle, and its function is to elevate the mandible (jaw).  The masseter consists of two parts: a superficial and deep muscle.  It originates from the zygomatic arch and maxilla and inserts along the angle, ramus and lateral surface of the coronoid process of the mandible.  The masseter muscle is innervated (nerve supply) by the mandibular nerve and receives its blood supply from the masseteric artery.

Too see the masseter muscle and all the other muscles of mastication you can download Anomalous Medical for free.

More Progress:

Sagittal section of the oral cavity/pharynx

Deep brain stimulation: A fix when the drugs don’t work

Neurological disorders can have a devastating impact on the lives of sufferers and their families.

Turning off tremors

Perhaps the most documented success of DBS is in the control of tremors and motor coordination in Parkinson’s disease. This is caused by the degeneration of neurons in an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. These neurons secrete the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Deterioration of these neurons reduces the amount of dopamine available to be released in a brain area involved in movement, the basal ganglia.

Drug therapy for Parkinson’s disease involves the use of levodopa (L-DOPA), a form of dopamine that can cross the blood brain barrier and then be synthesised into dopamine. The administration of L-DOPA temporarily reduces the motor symptoms by increasing dopamine concentrations in the brain. However, side effects of this treatment include nausea and disordered movement. DBS has been shown to provide relief from the motoric symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremors.