Transcript Neuroscience Jeopardy

Created by:
Beven Livingston, Becky Huot, & Wendy Hasenkamp
Graduate Students
Emory University Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Edited by:
Jordan Rose
Outreach Coordinator
Center for Behavioral Neuroscience
Please send questions or comments to [email protected]
Instructions
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On the Jeopardy selection screen, contestant chooses one of
the dollar amounts in a category (cannot select those previously
chosen - darker color)
An answer will be presented and contestants must formulate
the correct question to the answer presented
Once a contestant has formulated a question, click the ENTER
key to move ahead
The correct question is presented in the next slide; Click the
ENTER key to move ahead
More information on the topic is presented in slides following
the slide with the correct question
When the BACK key appears in the bottom right of the slide
screen, click BACK to return to the Jeorpardy selection screen
and continue the game.
Common
Bonds
Potpourri
What’s that
for?
When it goes
wrong
$200
$200
$200
$200
$400
$400
$400
$400
$600
$600
$600
$600
$800
$800
$800
$800
COMMON BONDS - 200
A disease affecting the following people:
 Vincent
van Gogh
 Kurt Cobain
 Ted Turner
 Jim Carrey
 Winston Churchill
 Harrison Ford
 Charles
Dickens
 Robin Williams
 Monica Seles
 Emily Dickinson
 Sting
 Roseanne
What is Depression?
There are two major types of depression:
 UNIPOLAR
– major depression
– Affects 17.6 million
Americans/year
– Affects 1/5 women
– Affects 1/15 men
– Treatment cost $30
billion in 1990
 BIPOLAR
– manic depression
– Affects 2-3 million
Americans/year
– men and women
equally affected
– treated with Lithium
Symptoms of Depression
 Unipolar
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
(major)
persistent sadness
loss of interest
loss of energy
changes in appetite
low self-esteem
changes in sleep
poor concentration
school/work absences
 Bipolar
(manic)
– Recurrent episodes
of mania and
depression
– euphoric mood
– irritability
– racing thoughts
– excessive spending
– decreased sleep
Causes of Depression
 GENETIC
– most important
predisposing factor
vulnerability to
depression
 vulnerability to
environmental
factors

 ENVIRONMENTAL
–
–
–
–
–
stress (major/chronic)
serious loss
chronic illness
separation
chemical dysfunction
Back >
COMMON BONDS - 400
A disease affecting the following people:
 Michael
J. Fox
 Muhammad Ali
 Pope John Paul
 Janet Reno
What is Parkinson’s Disease?
movement disorder
 slowly progressive
 tremor at rest
 Akinesia: inability to
move
 Bradykinesia: slow
movements
 postural reflex
impairment

affects over 1 million
Americans
 Avg. age of onset: 58
 40% of PD patients
are under age 60
 Decrease in
neurotransmitter
dopamine

Back >
COMMON BONDS - 600
 disease
of aging
 gradual memory loss
 dementia
 affects 1 million
Americans
 Ronald Reagan
What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
 EPIDEMIOLOGY
– Usually does not
occur before age 45
– rare before age 65
– affects 11% of
people over 65
– unknown cause
 DIAGNOSIS
– Memory loss
– Rule out other
possible factors

Head injury, PD,
Huntington’s, Stroke,
tumor, infection, metabolic
diseases
– Post mortem histology
Alzheimer’s Histology
 Loss
of neurons
 Change in neuronal morphology
 Accumulation of ß-amyloid protein
“plaques” (extracellular)
 Cytoskeletal abnormalities (intracellular),
“neurofibrillary tangles”
Normal Aging - T1 axial
Normal Young Adult Brain
normal
Normal 88-yr old Brain
enlarged
Compare ventricular volumes
relative to the whole brain mass
Periventricular white
matter hyperintensity
Alzheimer’s Disease - T1 coronal
Normal
88 yr. old w/ moderately
advanced Alzheimer’s Disease
*
Hippocampal shrinkage
Ventricular enlargement
Cortical shrinkage (increased space
around the brain)
Back >
COMMON BONDS - 800
A disease affecting the following people:
 Drew
Barrymore
 Mickey Mantle
 Ernest Hemingway
 William Faulkner
 John Steinbeck
What is Alcoholism?
 SYMPTOMS
–
–
–
–
depressed mood
appetite disturbance
memory deficits
psychomotor
agitation
– self deprecation
 COMORBIDITY
– mood disorder
– anxiety
– antisocial
personality disorder
Lifetime Prevalence
 ALCOHOL
– 10-20%
– 5:1 male:female
– 1/10 drinkers
develops problem
 OTHER
–
–
–
–
–
–
DRUGS
Marijuana 4%
Stimulants 2%
Sedatives 1%
Heroin 0.7%
Hallucinogens 0.4%
Cocaine 0.2%
Questions about Drug Abuse
 Why
certain drugs?
– Reinforcing
properties
– Reward pathway in
the brain
 Why
–
–
–
–
certain people?
Genetics
Personality
Environment (stress)
Comorbidity
Back >
POTPOURRI - 200
 The
major cell type of the nervous system
What is the Neuron?
a neuron consists of a cell body (C), an axon (B),
dendrites (D) and a myelin sheath (A)
 message transmission between neurons occurs
through neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine)
 learning occurs as connections between neurons
are strengthened

Back >
POTPOURRI - 400
 The part of the body injured by
actor Christopher Reeves.
What is the Spinal Cord?
 When
the spinal cord is damaged,
information travelling along descending
motor tracts and ascending sensory tracts is
blocked.
 Motor
and sensory deficits can be predicted
from the level and location of the lesion in
the spinal cord.
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI):
The Big Picture
 Estimated
250,000 SCI people in the U.S.
 11,000 new injuries reported annually
 Paraplegia (paralysis of legs) affects 55% of
the SCI population
 Quadriplegia (paralysis of all extremities)
affects 44% of the SCI population
Causes of SCI in the U.S.
 Vehicular Accidents
 Violence
 Falls
 Diving
accidents
 Work/Sports Related
40%
25%
21%
10%
4%
Age Distribution of SCI Population
 Approximately
60% of SCI population were
injured between 15-30 years of age
 Most frequently occurring age is 19 years.
 Male 70%
 Female 30%
 Ninety percent of SCI population lives normal
lifespan
Costs Associated with SCI
 In
1992, approximately 10,000 SCI’s were
reported.
 Estimated lifetime costs associated with these
SCI’s are $10 Billion.
 Individual suffering and loss to society are
impossible to calculate.
Back >
POTPOURRI - 600
An
immediate muscular response
to a specific stimulus. Like when
the doctor hits your kneecap with a
hammer.
What is a
Reflex?
Tapping a tendon to
elicit a contraction
of the muscle can
determine the status
of the nerve that
supplies that
muscle.
Back >
POTPOURRI - 800
The
part of the retina that has no
photoreceptors. (optic _______ )
What is the Optic Disc?
Blind Spot
Back >
WHAT’S THAT FOR? - 200
The
largest structure of the brain, it
is divided into two hemispheres
and each containing four lobes.
What is the Cerebral Cortex?
Cerebral Cortex
 Frontal
Lobe = Motor
 Parietal Lobe = Sensory
 Temporal Lobe = Hearing, Language
 Occipital Lobe = Vision
Back >
WHAT’S THAT FOR? - 400
The
part of the brain that is
composed of the midbrain, the
pons, and the medulla.
What is the Brain Stem?
 Controls
heart beat and respiration
(breathing).
 Contains the major ascending and descending
pathways.
 It is a link between the cerebral cortex, the
cerebellum, and the spinal cord.
 Contain the cranial nerve nuclei
12 C.N.
Midbrain
Pons
Medulla
Back >
WHAT’S THAT FOR? - 600
 A tennis
ball-sized
structure at the base
of the brain that is
important for
coordination of
movement and
balance.
What is the Cerebellum?
2
main functions:
– Coordinates skilled voluntary movements
by influencing muscle activity
– Helps to control equilibrium and muscle
tone through connections with the
vestibular system
Cerebellum
 When
the cerebellum is damaged (commonly
from tumors, trauma or alcohol), patients
exhibit:
–
–
–
–
Hypotonia (diminished muscle tone)
Ataxia (loss of coordinated, smooth movements)
balance
Intention tremor (a tremor that arises when
voluntary movements are attempted)
Back >
WHAT’S THAT FOR? - 800
 The
part of the brain that controls
HOMEOSTASIS:
Thermoregulation
 Circadian rhythms
 Appetite control
 Stress Response
 Reproduction

What is the Hypothalamus?
 Fight
or Flight
Response
 Blood pressure control
 Endocrine Control
– Reproduction
– Stress
Back >
WHEN IT GOES WRONG - 200
 The
mental disorder portrayed by Dustin
Hoffman as Raymond in Rain Man
What is Autism?
 Developmental
–
–
–
–
–
–
Disorder
Impaired communication (verbal/nonverbal)
Impaired social interactions
Behavior - stereotyped, self injury
Hypersensitivity of senses (light, touch)
Large variability in symptoms
Not a mental illness
Autism
 PREVALENCE
– 1/500 children
– 3-4 times more
common in boys
– >1/2 million people
in US today
– 3rd most common
developmental
disorder
 CAUSE
–
–
–
–
Not known
Not psychological
Genetic link
Major area of research
Autistic Savant
10% of autistics have spectacular abilities (like Rain
Man’s ability to count the number of toothpicks that
fell on the floor just by looking at the mess for a
second).
 Skills like math, music, memory, and art are
extremely advanced while social skills remain
impaired.
 less than 1% of non-autistic population has these
abilities
 underlying changes in brain unknown; major area of
research

Back >
WHEN IT GOES WRONG - 400
The neuromuscular disease named
after an older baseball player for
the New York Yankee’s. It is fatal
and has no known cause or cure.

What is
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(Lou Gehrig’s disease)?
 EPIDEMIOLOGY
– uncommon
– 4 to 6/100,000
– men and women
equally
– age 40-70
 SIGNS
& SYMPTOMS
– degeneration of motor
neurons in the brain and
spinal cord
– muscle weakness and
atrophy
– doesn’t affect intellect,
or sensory
Neurons in ALS
Back >
WHEN IT GOES WRONG - 600
The mental disorder characterized by
disturbances in thinking, emotional reactions,
and social behavior, as well as delusions and
hallucinations.
What is SCHIZOPHRENIA?
 Commonly
misunderstood as “multiple
personality disorder”
 Devastating psychiatric disease that affects 1%
of the population
– 1/3 of homeless in America are afflicted
 ‘Positive’ symptoms:
delusions,
hallucinations, disorganized speech & thoughts
 ‘Negative’ symptoms: flattened affect, apathy,
social withdrawal, poverty of speech
SCHIZOPHRENIA
 Age
of onset is generally from 16-25, but
males tend to develop the disorder earlier than
females
 Excessive dopamine neurotransmission within
the brain is hypothesized to be the cause of
schizophrenia
 As you might expect, the most common drugs
used to treat schizophrenia are dopamine
antagonists (block dopamine
neurotransmission)
Back >
WHEN IT GOES WRONG - 800
 The
disease characterized by irrational fear
of open spaces. Sigourney Weaver’s
character had this condition in Copycat.
What is Agoraphobia?
 Often
accompanies panic disorder, fear of
having an attack in an unsafe place
 PANIC
DISORDER = sudden, unpredictable
onset of terror
– people believe they are having a heart attack or
dying
– average length of attack is 10 minutes
Phobias
 Specific
Phobia (of particular object or situation)
– affects 1 in 10 people
 Social
Phobia (of becoming humiliated in social
situations)
– runs in families, begins in early adolescence
– associated with depression or alcoholism
Back >