Parkinsons term paper Essay Example for Free

Parkinsons term paper EssayParkinsons illness is characterized as a degenerative dis rule of the central nervous system which is tacit to persist and continually worsen over time. It is the second most common neurological disorder. Parkinsons distemper affects approximately unitary million people indoors the United States. This disorder progresses s crushedly and is unique in the sense that Parkinsons disorder mass be caused by genetics among other things. Parkinsons disease is well known for its characteristic tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with speech in the patients it affects. Parkinsons disease is caused by diminishment of the substantia nigra in the tegmentum which cut backs motor functions within the body. This disease is classified advertisement as a basil ganglionic disorder which causes a breakdown of dopamineric neurons in the substancia nigra, located in the mid heading. The substancia nigra is composed of neuromelanin which pigments the substancia nigra and gives it its darker characteristic.The neuromelanin alike connects to the motor cerebral pallium which is responsible for cardinals motor control and balance. The chemical dopamine is created in the substantia nigra. The basil ganglia receives inputs from the motor cortex, the association cortex, and the substancia nigra. The basil ganglia then sends messages to the motor cortex by way of the thalamus. With Parkinsons disease, the nigral neurons ar damaged, which causes the neuromelanin to be free to move into the adjacent tissue where it is phagocytosed and moved away by macrophages. This degenerative process not only destroys the process of creating dopamine, still it also causes the pigmentation of the substancia nigra to change and hold up lighter in appearance. The lack of dopamine-related input from the substantia nigra negatively changes the equilibrium of the issue from the basil ganglia to the motor cortex. This alteration in the equilibrium then causes the sympt oms related to Parkinsons disease. The direct cause of Parkinsons disease remains a health check mystery, but many factors enkindle participate in determining whether whiz is susceptible to developing Parkinsons disease inthe future.The exposure to specific toxins in the environment and various environmental factors has the possibility of playing a character in those who were diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. Another possible cause of Parkinsons disease is the portion of ones genetics. It is found that certain mutations can give rise to Parkinsons disease, although this is uncommon. The brains of patients with Parkinsons disease change as the disease progresses. Lewy bodies are microscopical markers that characterize the presence of Parkinsons disease within a patient. They are abnormal microscopic protein deposits that form in the brain and play a role in disrupting the brains normal functions. This disruption causes deterioration. Lewy bodies contain A-synuclein which is a p rotein that cells cannot break down. Early indicators of Parkinsons disease include tremors or shaking which can reside in ones finger, thumb, hand, lip, or chin, though shaking is normal after extensive physical activity, injury, or whitethorn be collectable to medications.If ones handwriting begins to appear smaller over a short period of time, it could be a warning sign of Parkinsons although one should not base their self-diagnosis upon handwriting, for handwriting can change as one advances in age, but this happens over time and not suddenly. A expiry of sniff out in specific foods can be an indicator, but a loss of smell can also be related to the possession of the common crisp or the flu. Another early sign may be sudden motions season sleeping such as falling out of the bed or kicking and punching. It is important to understand that people on occasion may experience difficulty sleeping. Chronic stiffness can be a sign, but this symptom can also be caused by an injury or arthritis. If one is experiencing constipation on a daily basis, this can be considered a sign of Parkinsons disease, although a lack of fiber in ones diet or medications can determine the moving of ones bowels. Having recently possessed a soft or low voice is an indicator unless one has a chest cold or other virus.If one has the appearance of a masked face, a blank stare that persists, or undergoes a long duration of time without the action of blinking, these may be precursors to having Parkinsons disease. Feeling dizzy or fainting can be signs of low blood pressure and may be connected to Parkinsons disease along with the softness to stand up straight. There are many Parkinsons-related symptoms that are known today. The most obvious of symptoms is a resting tremor. A shaking, or tremor, normally starts in oneslimb, and it is often located on a hand or fingers. This resting tremor usually stops when the patient is voluntarily moving the limb affect by the tremor. A pill-rollin g tremor is common and is characterized by one rolling ones thumb and forefinger. These tremors can be noticed when the limb is fifty-fifty at a relaxed state. Due to the tremors and inability to control certain motor functions, writing can become difficult for patients with Parkinsons disease. It is noted that when writing, those effected with Parkinsons disease posses handwriting that is characteristically small.Bradykinesia, or a slowing of movement, can be present. Parkinsons disease has the ability to cause one to move slow which can make simple every-day tasks a challenge. With bradykinesia, ones steps may become smaller in distance when being mobile, and ones feet may begin to drag when walking. Excessive muscle tone or hypertonia may be prevalent in patients with Parkinsons disease and exit manifest itself as stiffness or rigidness which causes pain and a loss in ones range of motion. Parkinsons disease patients may experience posture impairment and balance, for a patients posture can become stooped, and balance can be lost. Patients diagnosed with Parkinsons disease may experience a loss in their autonomic functions which include and are not limited to smiling, swinging ones arms while walking, and blinking. This loss in autonomic function caused a select number of patients to stop using their hands while speaking in normal conversations. Speech changes can affect those living with Parkinsons disease. One may speak out of rhythm in such a way that it may sound soft, quick, hesitant, matte or slurred.Diagnosing Parkinsons disease is not a simple process, for a test for Parkinsons disease does not yet exist. In order to be diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a neurologist must first obtain a detailed medical history of the patient being diagnosed, a polish up of the patients signs and symptoms, a physical examination, and a neurological examination. Tests to exclude other conditions may be ordered to ensure proper diagnosis of the disorder. at a tim e a patient has undergone sufficient testing and examining, the doctor may prescribe the patient the medication carbidopa-levodopa, which is a Parkinsons disease medicine. If the patient improves considerably while on the medication, this often confirms a Parkinsons disease diagnosis.There exists a wide-range of treatments for patients that suffer from Parkinsons disease from drug treatments to surgical treatments.The pharmacologic approach for those with Parkinsons disease aims to increase the lack of dopamine in the patients basil ganglia. L-dopa or Levodopa is a drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The brain can convert this drug to dopamine. Carbidopa can also be prescribed to patients afflicted with Parkinsons disease. Carbidopa is a decarboxylase inhibitor and, when taken with levodopa, can aid levodopa from converting to dopamine foreign of the brain. The combination of medications allows for more levodopa to reach the brain which ultimately increases the brains supp ly of dopamine. These two medications decrease the side effects which are caused by an change magnitude amount of dopamine outside of the brain. They reduce the supply of free dopamine from residing outside of the brain. An excess of dopamine outside of the brain could result in low blood pressure, vomiting, and nausea. Other medications include dopamine agonists which directly stimulate nerve receptors inside of the brain which are usually stimulated by dopamine.In line of descent to the medication levodopa, dopamine agonists do not convert into dopamine but rather behave like dopamine. Dopamine agonists are utilized in patients that are in the early stages of Parkinsons disease and may be added to a treatment plan along with levodopa in the later stages of Parkinsons disease. It may also be added when levodopa alone cannot sufficiently manage the patients symptoms or when the patient has severe motor fluctuations. Side effects associated with levodopa-carbidopa include dizziness upon rising, confusion, nausea, movement disorders, and hallucinations. Side effects commonly associated with dopamine agonists are vomiting, nausea, and orthostatic hypotension. Surgical treatment options are available for those who suffer from Parkinsons. These surgical treatments are intended to control symptoms related to Parkinsons disease patients who do not positively respond to medications. One of the surgical treatments creates a lesion in specific portions of the thalamus within the midbrain which become overactive in Parkinsons disease. A reversible procedure that can be used on patients diagnosed with Parkinsons disease is deep brain stimulation, or DBS. With this procedure, electrodes are implanted into exact locations. These locations are treated then with pulses of electrical accepteds.Why deep brain stimulation works is unknown. Medicalexperts believe that the current could be activating, affecting, or inhibiting synaptic transmission onto neurons in the vicinity o f the electrodes. The future prospects for a cure for Parkinsons disease are promising, for the medical community has begun to strike the genetic causes linked to Parkinsons disease. This allows the medical community to expand animal models of Parkinsons disease. These will be highly useful in the process of apprehensiveness the pathogenesis of the disease and will be useful in further testing the neuroprotective therapies which can potentially aid in the fight against the progression of Parkinsons disease. A different potential approach in the future would be to engage in the replacement of lost neurons via transplantation, which would be highly difficult and tedious. Overall, Parkinsons disease is well on the way to being better understood and through this understanding scientists will be able to directly identify the source of this disease and eventually find a method that directly cures this disease.ReferencesEtiology. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. 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