Malnutrition, unclean water, faulty or non-existent sewer systems, air pollution, tobacco abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, unsafe sexual activity, low physical activity, occupational hazards, and hypertension can cause diseases {disease}.
Diseases have observable signs {complex, disease}. Treatment can eliminate symptoms and/or cause.
People can be sick {malady}.
Parasitic organisms can cause diseases {infection}| {infectious disease}.
Bacteria, viruses, and toxins {pathogen}| can cause disease.
Diseases {epidemic} can be widespread.
Organisms {pestilence}| can be widespread and destructive.
Diseases {plague}| can be widespread and typically fatal.
Diseases {contagion, disease} can spread from person to person.
Dehydration can cause weakness and high body temperature {heat exhaustion, disease}|.
In moving vehicles that change direction, people can experience nausea and headache {motion sickness}. Dramamine can reduce motion-sickness symptoms. People can focus on outside objects.
People can be physically too tired to move {prostration}|.
blows to body {trauma}|.
Sexually transmitted diseases {venereal disease}| {social disease} include syphilis and gonorrhea.
Genes that regulate cell growth and division can have mutations or expression errors that cause tissues to grow too rapidly {cancer}|.
cell division
Normal cells can have 70 replications. Cancer cells make, or react to growth-promoting chemicals and make, molecules that trigger cell division. Cancer cells have no cell-division limits. Cancer cells do not respond to molecules from adjacent tissues that normally stop growth and cell division.
cell death
Cell mechanisms for killing cells in response to DNA damage do not affect cancer cells.
steps
Common progression to cancer is inflammation, metaplasia or hyperplasia, dysplasia or neoplasia, and carcinoma or other cancer types. Perhaps, inflammation is from bacteria or toxins. Cancer starts with oncogene activation, followed by transformed-cell proliferation, immune-system-mechanism evasion, and tumor angiogenesis-factor release. Cancer cells have chemokine receptors.
types
Tissue cancers are carcinoma, sarcoma, leukemia, and lymphoma.
Organ cancers are mostly in lung, large intestine, colon, rectum, and breast. Organ cancers have lower frequency in pancreas, prostate, stomach, and brain.
types: immune system
In immune system, genes that regulate transpositions that make antibodies can have mutations or expression errors that express protein {c-myc protein} that can cause leukemia, lymphoma, B-cell tumor, and T-cell tumor.
blood vessels
Tumors can secrete angiogenesis factors that make blood vessels grow.
aneuploidy
Perhaps, cancerous cells first change chromosome number or arrangement {aneuploidy, cancer} and later become cancerous. Chromosome parts duplicate, transfer, switch, join, and become lost, so genes that control cell division {master genes} can mutate or change epigenetically. Perhaps, centrosome RNA genes have master genes. Chromosomes can also add or subtract histone proteins and acidic nuclear proteins. Enediynes break DNA apart.
contagious cancer
Canine venereal tumor disease and devil facial tumor disease are contagious cancers.
Cells can transform from one type to another type {metaplasia}, as when cartilage becomes bone, or cells become cancerous.
Cancer cells can migrate {metastases} {metastasis}|. Migrating cancer cells go through blood-vessel walls and travel in blood and lymph {metastasize} until trapped in small blood vessels or lymph nodes. Cancer cells pass through capillary linings and start secondary tumors.
effects
Tumor cells can invade and destroy cell-cell adhesions, stromal extracellular matrix, basement membrane, and parenchymal cells. Cells deform. Cell motility increases. Cell receptors alter.
factors
Serine proteinase, cysteine proteinase, metalloproteinase can assist cancer invasion.
Gene mutations that alter cell-proliferation repressors start cancer {carcinogenesis}.
If cells have broken DNA or low oxygen, TP53 gene makes p53 protein, which kills cells {apoptosis}. Bcl-x gene regulates apoptosis by making protein in two alternatively spliced forms, Bcl-x(L) and Bcl-x(S).
Tumors, follicle cells, and sperm make antigens {cancer testis antigens}.
Viruses {oncovirus} can cause leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and other cancers. The first oncovirus discovered was Rous sarcoma virus, which has src oncogene and is in all higher animals. Human papilloma virus {papillomavirus} (HPV) causes cervical cancer and suppresses tumor-suppressor genes. Epstein-Barr virus causes mononucleosis and prevents cell suicide. Retroviruses can cause sarcoma. Perhaps, cytomegalovirus causes glioblastoma.
Tumor angiogenesis factors released by solid tumors start blood-vessel formation {vascularization}, which allows cancers to spread by supplying more oxygen.
Tumors can secrete peptides {angiogenesis factor} that make blood vessels grow.
Cancer-causing chemicals {carcinogen}| mutate DNA. Radioactivity, electromagnetic radiation, air pollutants, chloramine, x-rays, ultraviolet radiation, vinyl chloride, asbestos, arsenic, nickel, coal, benzene, PCB, tris phosphate, perchloroethylene (perc), dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA), tar in cigarette smoke, high fat diet, saccharin, cyclamate, diethylstilbesterol (DES), nitrites, red food dye, yellow food dye, chloroform, and excess estrogen mutate DNA.
Perhaps, genes {master gene} that control cell division mutate or change epigenetically. Perhaps, centrosome RNA genes have master genes.
Genes {tumor-suppressor gene} {anti-oncogene} {recessive oncogene} can control oncogenes. Tumor-suppressor genes mutate and no longer make enough tumor suppressors, and this allows cancer to begin. For example, p53 gene protein suppresses growth, but p53-gene mutation allows growth. Tumor-suppressor genes {retinoblastoma gene} {Rb gene} {p53 gene} {APC gene} {MYC gene} {BCL-2 gene} {RAS gene} number 15 or more and regulate cell division.
Host cells have genes {proto-oncogene} that regulate cell growth. Chromosome rearrangements can activate proto-oncogenes. In human chronic myelogenous leukemia, chromosome-9 ends, with abl genes, are on chromosome 22 {Philadelphia chromosome}. Retroviruses incorporate proto-oncogenes from normal cells to make oncogenes by transduction.
Tumor-virus genes {oncogene} can make host cells cancerous. Viral oncogenes are SV40 and polyoma T-antigen gene, adenovirus E1A and E1B genes, and papillomavirus E6 and E7 genes. Testicular germ-cell tumor (TGCT) gene, prostate-cancer-susceptibility gene, and familial male breast-cancer gene are on X-chromosomes. Src gene, BRAF gene, c-fos gene, and c-erbb3 are other oncogenes. Oncogenes number more than 100.
transformation
Oncogenes change host genomes by transformation. Oncogene products repress genes that stop cell growth and control oncogenes. Oncogene products start DNA replication, cell growth, and viral gene transcription. Viruses typically affect non-growing cells. Cancer daughter cells are cancerous, too.
mutation
Oncogenes mutate to activate. Perhaps, some cells are more susceptible to mutation.
cell death
Oncogenes send cell-death signals, which survival signals from other genes suppress. Perhaps, oncogenes protect against viruses.
transcription factors
fos gene, myc gene, rel gene, and other oncogenes can be transcription factors. B-cell tumors activate c-myc genes. Neuroblastomas have N-myc-gene over-replication. Avian leukosis virus goes into host genomes and then activates cellular myc proto-oncogene, so it transforms slowly.
signal transduction
Oncogenes can be in signal-transduction pathways. Oncogenic src-gene, abl-gene, and lck-gene protein-tyrosine kinases send signals even if they have not received initiation. Rous-sarcoma-virus src gene transforms quickly.
growth factor
Monkey-retrovirus sis genes encode platelet-derived growth factors that stimulate cells. Viral erbB genes make epidermal growth factor receptors without EGF initiation.
retrovirus
Cancer genes are similar to retrovirus genes. Cancer genes make protein kinases for protein phosphorylation. Phosphorylation cascades phosphorylate tyrosine in ATPase and trigger cell malignancy.
G protein
Harvey-sarcoma-virus ras gene products act like G proteins, but do not remove GTP. Ras-gene proteins associate with proteins {GTPase activating protein} {GAP protein}. IRA-gene products are similar to GAP proteins.
Philadelphia-chromosome BCR and ABL gene fusions {BCR-ABL fused gene} can cause leukemia {chronic myelogenous leukemia}.
Melanoma and moles have human cancer gene {B-RAF gene} mutations. First, cells proliferate. Later, B-RAF-gene products enhance p16 genes, which turn off cell division.
Genes {EGFR gene} can mutate or duplicate in lung and colon tumors.
Genes {HER2 gene} can be in breast and lung cancers.
Genes {HNPCC gene} can be in colon cancers and endometrial-cancer DNA repair.
Mutated genes {P13K gene} can be in solid tumors.
B-RAF-gene products enhance genes {p16 gene} that turn off cell division. p53 genes make proteins that prevent p16 enhancement and so allow cancerous cell division.
Genes {Pop1 gene} can affect breast cancer.
Human genes {PTEN gene} can be in prostate and prevent uncontrolled cell division. When PTEN gene mutates, cancer starts. p53 can activate PTEN gene, so cell division stops.
Genes {ras gene} can repress cell division. Ras-gene product regulates other genes to stop cell division {oncogene-induced cell senescence}. Ras-gene mutation turns on cancerous cell division to make immortalized cells. Human cancer genes {H-RAS gene} can be in bladder cancers [discovered 1982]. Genes {K-ras gene} can code tumor-growth signaling proteins.
Oncogenes {retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene} {RB1 gene} can be in eye.
Cancer-causing genes {src gene} can be in all higher animals.
Tumor-causing genes {testicular germ-cell tumor gene} {TGCT gene} can be on X-chromosomes.
Cancer cells continuously divide to make masses {tumor}| that can be benign or malignant.
Cancerous regions {benign tumor}| can stay in well-defined areas and stop proliferating.
Cancer cells can keep proliferating and spread to other body parts {malignant tumor}|.
Cancers {dysplasia} can have abnormal cell growth.
Cancers {hyperplasia} can be abnormally high numbers of cells in organs or tissues.
Cancers {hypoplasia} can be abnormally low number of cells in organs or tissues.
Cancers {neoplasm} {neoplasia} can be tumors.
Mucosa can have growths {polyp, mucosa}|.
Cancers {adenoma} can be benign gland tumors.
Cancers {prostate cancer}| can make enzymes {prostatic acid phosphatase} (PAP). Gleason scale measures severity. Prostate-cancer cells have SDC1 protein.
Tissue cancers {carcinoma} can be in epithelium. Epithelium has cell-adhesion molecules {epithelial cell adhesion molecule} (EpCAM).
Tissue cancers {leukemia}| can be in bone marrow. Leukemia and organ cancers have low rate.
Tissue cancers {lymphoma}| can be in lymph nodes.
Tissue cancers {sarcoma}| can be in fibrous tissue and blood vessels. Sarcoma is rarest.
Development diseases {developmental disease} include cleft palate, club foot, and spina bifida.
Development diseases {cleft palate}| {harelip} can be incomplete midline face-bone fusion.
Development diseases {club foot}| can be feet at wrong angle to legs.
Development diseases {spina bifida}| can be spine malformations.
High temperature {fever} can cause brain damage.
People can have fever {febrile}|.
Fever can cause shivering {ague}|.
Chemicals {pyretic}| can cause fever.
Chemicals {pyrogen}| can cause fever.
Human altered genes can cause diseases {genetic disease} {human inherited disease}.
tests
DNA analysis can identify more than 200 inherited diseases. Genetic-disease testing can use amniotic-fluid cells, chorionic-villi cells on placenta fetal side, umbilical-cord blood cells, or cheek cells.
chromosomal abnormalities
Chromosomal abnormalities cause inherited diseases, such as Becker muscular dystrophy, Burkitt's lymphoma, chronic granulomatous disease, DiGeorge syndrome, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Lowe syndrome, chronic myelogenous leukemia, neurofibromatosis learning disorder, Prader-Willi, retinoblastoma, and Wilm's tumor.
Fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) tests for aneuploidy, BCR/ABL translocation or Philadelphia chromosome, cryptic translocation, Down's syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome, Miller-Dieker syndrome, PML/RARA translocation, steroid sulfatase deficiency or X-linked ichthyosis, Turner's syndrome, velocardiofacial/DiGeorge syndrome, and William's syndrome.
gene probe
PCR followed by electrophoresis can make many genes for testing and sequencing. Mutant alleles can hybridize to allele-specific oligonucleotides. Tests can use mutated-gene-region genetic probes: adenosine deaminase deficiency, alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, cystic fibrosis, Fabry disease, familial hypercholesterolemia, Gaucher's disease, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, hemophilia A, hemophilia B, Lesch-Nyan, maple syrup urine disease, ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency, phenylketonuria, retinoblastoma, Sandhoff disease, sickle-cell anemia, Tay-Sachs disease, alpha-thalassemia, beta-thalassemia, and von Willebrand disease. Sickle-cell anemia alters restriction-enzyme sites. Alpha1-antitrypsin inhibits elastase.
gene probe: oncogenes
Cancer oncogenes include colon-cancer gene, myc gene, ras gene, neu gene, int-2 gene, BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 gene, and retinoblastoma gene. myc gene causes lung cancer and neuroblastoma. BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes cause breast cancer.
gene product
Tests can check gene products. Hemophilia has altered Factor VII. Lesch-Nyan syndrome has altered hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase. Thalassemias have altered globin.
protein
Enzyme and protein assays can identify over 40 inherited diseases, such as Angelman syndrome, breast cancer (BRCA-1) (BRCA-2), citrullinemia, Canavan disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Factor V Leiden mutation, familial polyposis coli, familial Mediterranean fever, Gaucher's disease, hemochromatosis, Hunter's syndrome, Kennedy disease or spinal and bulbar muscular dystrophy, Lesch-Nyan syndrome, Machado-Joseph disease, metachromatic leukodystrophy, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, phenylketonuria, Pompe's disease, Sanfilippo B, spinal muscular atrophy, spinocerebellar ataxia, Tay-Sachs disease, von Hippel-Lindau disease, Waardenburg syndrome type 1, Wilson's disease, and x-linked lymphoproliferative disease. Antibodies can detect mutant proteins, such as BRCA-1, BRCA-2, and Fragile X. Sickle-cell anemia changes protein mobility.
RFLP markers
Tests can use linked RFLP markers: alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Factor X deficiency, Friedreich's ataxia, hemophilia, Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, and phenylketonuria.
Southern blotting
Southern blotting can test for sequence changes, as in sickle-cell anemia. Southern blotting can test for RFLPs, VNTRs, or triplet repeats, as in Huntington's disease and JFOM's disease. In Fragile X syndrome, FMR1-gene amplification causes Xq27 X-chromosome structural defect, which causes mental retardation.
Myotonic dystrophy and other human inherited diseases {autosomal dominant disease} can depend on one mutant allele. Familial hypercholesterolemia has few low-density lipoprotein receptors, which bind membrane cholesterol. Huntington's disease has too many Huntington-gene CAG repeats and damages neurons. Marfan's syndrome affects connective-tissue fibrillin.
Human inherited diseases {autosomal recessive disease} can have non-sex-chromosome homozygous mutant alleles. Carboxylase-enzyme deficiency requires biotin. Cystic fibrosis requires cystic-fibrosis transmembrane-conductance regulator (CFTR). Gout requires urate oxidase. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome requires hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). Phenylketonuria requires phenylalanine hydroxylase. Neurofibromatosis requires NF1. Sickle-cell anemia requires beta-globin. Tay-Sacks disease requires hexosaminidase A. Beta-thalassemia requires beta-globin.
Skin and hair can have no pigmentation {albinism}|.
Urine can have dark color, because homogentistic oxidase is missing {alkaptonuria}.
Young children can have poor night vision and then become blind by age five to ten {Bardet-Biedl syndrome}. They can be obese and have diabetes and kidney disease. Primary cilia have damage.
Damaged kidney-cell primary cilia do not bend, blocking filtration and causing cell proliferation, so kidneys can have cysts {polycystic kidney disease}.
In inherited diseases {sprue} {celiac sprue} {celiac disease}|, gluten can inflame intestinal lining.
Sleep-disorder genes can be on chromosome 4 {essential hypersomnia syndrome} (EHS). Perhaps, EHS uses circadian locomotor output-cycle kaput gene {CLOCK gene} and gamma-aminobutyric-acid beta-1-receptor gene {gamma-aminobutyric acid beta-1 receptor} (GABRB1 receptor).
One genetic change {founder mutation} can pass to descendants. More than 1000 human diseases arose from founder mutations. Founder mutations are typically recessive but have benefits in special circumstances, so they can persist.
types
Hereditary hemochromatosis persists because HFE-gene mutation can prevent anemia.
Sickle-cell anemia persists because Hb5-gene mutation can prevent malaria. Sickle-cell anemia has five founders.
Cystic fibrosis persists because CFTR-gene mutation reduces diarrhea.
Factor V Leiden persists because FV-Leiden mutation causes thrombosis but protects against sepsis from blood bacteria.
GJB2-gene mutation causes deafness.
ABCA4-gene mutation causes blindness.
ALDH2-gene mutation causes inability to detoxify alcohol but can prevent alcoholism and possibly hepatitis B.
LCT-gene mutation allows lactose conversion. It began [-3500] in Funnel Beaker culture in north Europe.
For 75% of people, chemicals {phenylthiocarbamide} (PTC) can taste bitter. 25% of people have three changes in one gene, do not taste bitter, and can taste another toxin. Mutation arose 100,000 years ago in Africa. Because there is no variation over those years, it suggests that Homo sapiens did not interbreed with hominins in Mideast, Asia, or Europe.
Another founder mutation suggests that Basques and Celts are similar.
region
DNA regions that contain mutations can be long, for recent founding, or short, for ancient founding. Regions are originally whole chromosomes but shorten at each generation by repeated crossing over.
no founder
Hemophilia results from factor-VII-gene mutations and so has no founder.
Chromosome-4 FGFR3-gene base-pair 1138 and other DNA locations can have high mutation rate and cause achondroplasia. Such DNA diseases have no founder.
Lacking galactosidase genes, which make enzymes to metabolize galactose, causes liver damage, cataracts, and retardation {galactosemia}.
Glycogen can accumulate in muscles, heart, and lungs, because lysozymes lack enzymes {glucosidase} {acid maltase} to break down glycogen {glycogen storage disease}.
glycogen
After translation, glycogen-cleaving-enzyme precursors attach mannose at species-specific glycosylation sites. Precursors lose signal peptides after leaving endoplasmic reticulum. Mannose phosphorylation allows protein uptake into lysosomes, where enzymes split precursors into other enzymes and glycogen-cleaving enzymes.
mutation
Gene-intron mutations can cause incorrect mRNA splicing, so lysosomes have no glycogen-cleaving enzymes. Heterozygotes are only carriers, but people with two mutated genes have varying illness degrees.
types
Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, Tay-Sachs disease, and mucopolysaccharide storage diseases are glycogen storage diseases. Glycogen storage diseases {glycogen storage disease type II} include Pompe's disease and muscular dystrophy.
Males can lack blood-clotting factors and cannot stop wound bleeding {hemophilia}|.
People can be unable to metabolize histidine amino acid {histinuria}.
People can be unable to metabolize cysteine amino acid {homocystinuria}.
Gene and environment interactions can cause inherited diseases {multifactorial disease}.
Several interacting genes can cause inherited diseases {polygenic disease}.
Diseases {sex-linked recessive disorder}| can be only in males.
Deficient lysozyme proteins can lessen ganglioside production {Tay-Sachs disease}| {Niemann-Pick disease} {Hunter-Hurler syndrome}.
Chromosome 18 can have three copies {trisomy 18} {trisomy E} {Edward's syndrome} (John H. Edwards) [1960]. Fetus typically dies from heart, kidney, and other internal organs, but some live up to one year after birth and have mental retardation. Incidence is one in 3000 embryos.
People can be unable to metabolize tyrosine amino acid {tyrosinuria} {maple syrup urine disease}.
Gene {WRN gene} products, similar to DNA and RNA helicases, can cause autosomal-recessive diseases {Werner's syndrome} {Werner syndrome}, which have aging symptoms.
Color blindness, Duchenne muscular dystropy, hemophilia, and other male human-inherited diseases {X-linked disease}| can require X-chromosome mutant alleles. Duchenne muscular dystropy alters dystrophin. Hemophilia alters Factor VII.
Chromosome numbers and shapes can be abnormal {aneuploidy, chromosome}| {chromosome instability}. Almost all cancer cells have aneuploidy, perhaps from gene mutations or carcinogens that affect dividing cells. Different cancers have different chromosome-disruption patterns.
Homologous-pair chromosomes can fail to separate in second meiotic division {non-disjunction}.
Chromosomes can flip segments {chromosome inversion}.
Chromosomes can have segment deletion, duplication, or transfer {chromosome, translocation} {translocation, chromosome}.
In early cell-division stages, cells can have too few or too many chromosomes {chromosome abnormality}, such as in Down's syndrome. One birth in 250 has chromosome abnormality. New strain 0139 flourished in 1993.
Human #21 chromosome can have three copies {mongolism} {Down's syndrome} {Down syndrome}, rather than two, resulting in mental retardation. Symptoms are flattened face, thick and large tongue, extra eyelid folds, uncoordinated movements, and IQ between 20 and 60. Down's syndrome patients over 35 years have same pathological brain changes as Alzheimer's patients. Extra 21st chromosomes relate to infectious hepatitis.
Extra chromosome 13 causes mental retardation {Patau syndrome}.
Having two X-chromosomes and one Y-chromosome results in male features but with enlarged breasts and few sperm {Klinefelter's syndrome} {Klinefelter syndrome}.
Having only one X-chromosome results in immature female features {Turner's syndrome} {Turner syndrome}|.
Iodine lack lowers growth and energy levels and enlarges thyroid gland {goiter}|.
Tissues can have too much iron {hemosiderosis}.
If carbohydrate level is too low, ketones {ketone bodies} can accumulate {ketosis}|, as body stops using them for energy. Ketosis depletes cell electrolytes, blood pH rises, tissues lose water, blood loses water, blood pressure goes down, breath has acetone smell, and people feel nauseous and have mild depression.
People can have protein deficiency {kwashiorkor}| {marasmus}.
More than one-sixth of people are overweight {obesity}|. For women, normal height and weight are 1.5 meter = 45 to 54 kilograms, 1.6 meter = 51 to 60 kilograms, 1.7 meter = 57 to 66 kilograms, and 1.8 meter = 64 to 75 kilograms. Animals regulate food intake to maintain weight. Animals have higher weight if food tastes good. Animals on low-calorie diets eat more.
Bone diseases {osteoporosis}| can involve calcium and protein loss.
Father chromosome-15 gene makes people want to keep eating {Prader-Willi syndrome}.
Teeth and bones can have low calcium and phosphorus {rickets}|. Low vitamin D causes soft bones.
If food intake is not enough {starvation}|, body uses first glycogen, then fat, and then protein. In ketosis, blood pH can go below 7.4 in acidosis, resulting in rapid breathing.
Low calcium can increase nerve and muscle irritability {tetany}|.
Mother chromosome-15 gene {thinness gene}, near Angelman-syndrome gene, makes thin people.
People can have vitamin deficiency {avitaminosis}.
Thiamine deficiency causes nerve damage, cardiovascular damage, and edema {beriberi}|.
Niacin deficiency causes skin lesions, indigestion, and nerve problems {pellagra}|.
Vitamin-B12 malabsorption causes indigestion, spinal-cord lesions, and large red blood cells {pernicious anemia}|.
Vitamin-C deficiency can cause weakness and skin and gum bleeding {scurvy}|.
Protein shape and conformation disorders {protein conformation diseases} include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease, and frontotemporal dementia. Germline mutations cause 5 to 20% of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, fronto-temporal dementia, and prion diseases. Age is a major risk factor.
Protein-polysaccharide fragments {A-beta protein} can link hydrophobic ends to form extracellular plaques {amyloid plaque}|, create free radicals, or attract microglia. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) helps A-beta protein form plaques. APOE-4 slows A-beta protein removal. Perhaps, A-beta protein disrupts calcium regulation.
Protofibrils and then plaques can be in lungs and pancreas {cystic fibrosis}|. Sodium-ion-channel and chloride-ion-channel proteins change.
Chromosome-4-tip autosomal dominant gene can cause Huntington's chorea and related diseases {polyglutamine disease, protein}. Gene has middle cytosine-adenine-guanine repeats {CAG repeat, polyglutamine} that repeat too many times, making too many glutamine amino acids, and this causes proteins to clump. Cytosine-anything-guanine regions {CxG region, polyglutamine} have many DNA hairpins, and copies often have even longer CxG repeats. Huntington's disease and polyglutamine diseases first have many protofibrils and then plaques.
Misfolded cell-surface glycoproteins {Proteinaceous Infectious Particle} {prion}| can be in vertebrates [Prusiner, 1982].
gene
All vertebrates have protease-resistant protein (PrP) genes, whose sequence controls transmissibility.
prion protein
PrP proteins can have normal forms {cellular prion protein} (PrPC), which are in neurons. PdPSc refolds PrPC and makes clumps. PrPC can change into sticky clumps if affected by other prions, especially in B cells and brain.
amyloid
Prion proteins of size 27 to 30 kilodaltons, PrP 27-30, polymerize into amyloid fibrils. Prion-disease amyloid plaques have PrP.
radiation
Prions are more stable than anthrax spores. Irradiation does not end them.
diseases
Prion brain diseases {chronic wasting disease} (CWD) can be in sheep {scrapie}, Papua New Guinea Kore tribeswomen {kuru} {laughing sickness}, people {Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease} (CJD), and cows {spongiform encephalopathy} {bovine spongiform encephalopathy} (BSE) {mad-cow disease}. Prion diseases are sporadically infectious and can inherit.
Scrapie is in sheep and so is ovine neurodegenerative disease. Scrapie PrP has altered cellular PrP.
Chronic Wasting Disease affects deer and elk herds in west USA and Canada.
Mad Cow disease caused 1990s new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD) outbreak. Europe and Japan screen cattle for BSE.
Inherited CJD is 10% to 15% of human prion-disease cases. Altered cellular PrP causes human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome and familial CJD. Typical cases have no sequence changes or chemical differences between normal PrP and disease PrP, but they fold into different shapes. Proteinase K digests normal PrP completely, but aggregated disease PrP resists digestion. Disease PrP prompts normal PrP refolding into disease PrP.
Disease PrP can be protease-sensitive precursors in blood, unlike normal PrP [Safar et al., 1998].
Orifices can close, or ovarian follicles can be absent {atresia}.
Tissues can have fluid-containing sacs {cyst}|.
Larynx can have inflammation {laryngitis}|.
Abdomen can have excess fluid {ascites}.
In babies, abdomen distension, pained look, and crying indicate bad digestion {colic}|.
Large-intestine lining can have inflammation {colitis}|.
Bladders can have infections {cystitis}.
Stomach can have indigestion {dyspepsia}.
Intestine can have inflammation {enteritis}|.
People can have urge to vomit {nausea, disease}|.
Organs, typically uterus, can slide down or to side {prolapse}.
Women can have pregnancy symptoms {pseudopregnancy}.
Organs, typically uterus, can tilt or turn backward {retroversion}|.
Stomach or small intestine can have mucosa damage {peptic ulcer} {ulcer}|.
Stomach or large intestine can twist {volvulus}.
Low blood flow can cause tissue breakdown {infarct}| {infarction}. Five-sixths of cases involve artery blockage, causing brain-tissue death.
Penis can have prolonged erection {priapism}|.
Expanded muscles can reduce blood flow {exertional compartment syndrome} {shin splint}|. Shin bones can have small fractures.
Blood vessels can dilate {aneurysm}|.
Arteries can widen {embolism}| and weaken, leading to bleeding.
Swellings {hematoma}| can contain blood.
Anal-area swollen veins {hemorrhoid}| can cause pain or itching.
Arteries can have inflammation {arteritis}.
Veins can have inflammation {phlebitis}|.
Blood vessels can have inflammation {vasculitis}.
Fatty substances can stick to blood-vessel walls {atheroma}, eventually causing artery narrowing stenosis.
Arterial-wall smooth-muscle-cell fibrous plates can catch fatty debris, clotted blood, and connective tissue {atherosclerosis}| {arteriosclerosis}, to make blobs {plaque}. If blobs break, blood clots can form, which later can stay or break off and block blood flow.
Statins decrease LDL.
Molecules {vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1} (VCAM-1) can attract monocytes and lymphocytes to epithelia and cause inflammation. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate anti-oxidant represses VCAM-1 gene. Lipid peroxide activates VCAM-1 gene.
Coronary arteries can have blockage {coronary}| {coronary thrombosis}.
Blood-vessel obstruction or constriction can cause low blood supply {ischemia}| in organs and tissues.
Arteries can have blockage {occlusion, artery}|.
Leg arteries can have blockage {peripheral artery disease} that causes calf pain. Ankle-brachial index measures leg-artery clogging.
Arteries can narrow {stenosis}|.
Brain blood vessels can burst, or emboli can block blood vessels {stroke}| {apoplexy}. One-sixth of strokes involve cerebral-hemorrhage bleeding. Five-sixths of cases involve artery blockage, causing brain-tissue infarction.
causes
Main cause is hypertension. Atheroma can cause stenosis. Occlusion or embolism can weaken vessels, leading to breaking and bleeding.
effects
First, one body side has arm and leg weakness {hemiplegia, stroke}. Brainstem pressure coning can cause drowsiness, unconsciousness, respiratory paralysis, and ultimately death. Low oxygen can cause consciousness loss. About one-third of patients die within three weeks. Stroke is third major death cause in USA and Europe, in 0.2% of people each year, three quarters in seniors. Survivors often have partial arm or leg paralysis.
Blood-clot thrombi can block blood vessels {thrombosis}|.
One-sixth of circulation cases involve brain bleeding {cerebral hemorrhage}|.
Blood vessels can have bleeding {hemorrhage}|.
Blood diseases can cause bruising or bleeding under skin {purpura}|. Blood transfusions can cause bruising.
When heart muscle does not receive enough blood {angina pectoris} {angina}|, chest pain results.
Abnormal heart rhythms {arhythmia}| include ectopic beats, electrical alternations, torsades de pointes, high-grade blocks, escape rhythms, Wenckebach rhythms, tachycardia, and fibrillation.
Heart and other muscles can twitch {fibrillation}|.
Emboli can block cardiac blood vessels {heart attack}|. Blood-plasma transthyretin makes amyloid.
Heart can beat too slow {bradycardia}|.
Heart can beat too fast {tachycardia}|.
Blood pH can go below 7.4 {acidosis}|, resulting in rapid breathing.
Low blood oxygen and high blood carbon dioxide result from decrease in hemoglobin and red-blood-cell number {anemia}|. Snake venom, malaria, burns, chemicals, blood loss, bone-marrow disease, vitamin-B12 deficiency, folic-acid deficiency, iron deficiency, blows, or shock can cause anemia.
Blood vessels can have blocks {embolus}| to blood flow.
People can absorb iron efficiently {hemochromatosis}.
Poisons, toxins, and immune reactions can break red blood cells {hemolysis}|.
Blood can have too-high pressure {hypertension}|.
Diarrhea can increase red-blood-cell number {polycythemia}|, causing poor blood flow.
Organisms or toxins can be in blood {septicemia}.
Different hemoglobins can make different-shaped red blood cells {sickle cell anemia}|.
Hemoglobin synthesis can be faulty {thalessemia}.
Molecules {thrombospondin} can bind to red blood cells, which then secrete molecules that make red blood cells stick to blood-vessel walls.
appendix inflammation {appendicitis}|.
dry feces and too-slow movement {constipation}|.
watery feces and too-fast movement {diarrhea}|.
Precipitated cholesterol {gallstone}| can be in bile ducts.
High growth-stimulating hormone can cause excessive hand, feet, and face growth {acromegaly}|.
Woman can have no menstruation {amenorrhea}|.
Castrated males {eunuch}| have low male hormones.
Too much parathyroid activity {hyperparathyroidism}| can cause soft bones.
At pregnancy beginning, women can have morning nausea {morning sickness}|.
Too much thyroxin {hyperthyroidism}| can cause high heat, overeating, nervousness, high blood pressure, and eyeball protrusion.
Thyroid hormone deficiency {hypothyroidism}| causes low energy.
Hypothyroidism can cause bloating {myxedema}|.
Low adrenal-gland hormone production {hypoadrenocorticism} causes weakness, weight loss, low blood pressure, GI tract problems, and brown skin {Addison's disease} {Addison disease}.
Pituitary gland can make high ACTH, resulting in increased hormone production by adrenal glands and obesity {Cushing's disease} {Cushing disease}.
Insulin lack makes blood glucose stay high {diabetes}| {diabetes insipidus}.
Blood glucose can be too high {hyperglycemia}|.
Blood glucose can be too low {hypoglycemia}|.
Immune system can attack pancreas beta cells and cause diabetes {type 1 diabetes} {insulin-dependent diabetes}.
Pancreas islet cells make proteins {islet amyloid polypeptide} (IAPP) that can clump {Type 2 diabetes}. Genes {TCF7L2 gene} can affect glucose metabolism. Sulfonylureas, such as glimeperide and glipizide, are effective drugs. Metformin is effective.
Uric-acid or calcium-phosphate stones {kidney stone}| can form in ureter.
Glomeruli can have bacterial infections {nephritis}|.
Injured kidneys make chemicals {renin}, which constrict blood vessels.
Nitrogen wastes can accumulate in blood {uremia}|.
Addison's disease, anti-phospholipid syndrome, type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus have antibodies {autoantibody} to body tissues {autoimmune disease}|. T-cell antibodies start to attack cells up to 10 years before symptoms appear. B cells can make autoantibodies used in diagnosis.
Enzymes can break down cells {autolysis}.
Adenosine-deaminase (ADA) gene damage prevents making immune system cells {immunodeficiency}|. HIV virus destroys helper T cells and causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Bacteria chemicals can dilate arteries, causing reddening and high temperature {inflammation}|. Inflammation allows white blood cells to leave blood and attack foreign tissues. Leukocytes pass through artery walls, locate bacteria chemically, and phagocytize bacteria. Inflamed tissues increase white-cell production. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) indicates inflammation amount. Blood-vessel inflammation starts and assists atherosclerosis. LDL can cause vessel inflammation.
Oxygen activates protein complexes {inflammasome} {Nalp3 inflammasome} that cause inflammation.
Enzymes that lyse dead-cell molecules can not work well and leave DNA pieces, to which antibodies develop, causing inflammation {lupus}| {systemic lupus erythremosis}. Lupus patients have low DNAase-1. LymphoStat-B monoclonal antibody inhibits B-cell stimulators {B-lymphocyte stimulator} (BLyS). Lupus affects 200,000 to 500,000 people each year in USA.
Diseases can prevent calcium ions from passing into T cells {severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome} (SCIDS).
Autoimmune diseases {Sjögren's syndrome} {Sjögren syndrome} can attack secretory-gland tissues, causing dry mouth and eyes, plus teeth and eye problems. Sjögren's syndrome is in about 1% of people and affects women most. It can lead to lymphoma.
Cells can react to chemical substances {allergy}|. Chemical substances release muscle-constricting and blood-vessel-relaxing chemicals {histamine, allergy}. Antihistamines can block histamine chemical reactions and treat allergies. Food allergans include gluten and soybean p34 protein. Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, shellfish, and fish have allergans. Gluten causes celiac sprue. Allergies can involve tens of genes.
Histamines can cause hives, eye burning, shock, breath shortness, hard breathing, and edema {allergic reaction}|.
Histamines can cause nausea, weakness, low temperature, and convulsions {anaphylaxis}|.
Lungs can have allergic reactions {atopy} {asthma}|. Eczema, hay fever, anaphylaxis to bee sting or peanuts, and other allergies involve immunoglobulin and histamine.
causes
Dust-mite dung, pollen, feathers, molds, foods, metal vapor, plastics, wood, cigarette smoke, paint, sprays, aspirin, heart drugs, and exhaust gases can cause asthma. Immunization can activate Th1 cells. Mycobacteria can activate Th2 cells. Perhaps, virus exposure, isocyanate, trimellitic anhydride, and phthalic anhydride cause asthma.
biology
Immunoglobulin-E release signals mast cells, which release histamines. Asthma can cause smooth muscle to contract uncontrollably.
Pollen allergies {hay fever}| affect eye, throat, and lung mucous membranes.
Allergic reactions {hives}| can cause itching skin welts.
Liver can have diseases {liver disease}. Fatty liver can result if people are starving, have diabetes, eat many fats, have alcoholism, have vitamin deficiency, or ingest toxins.
Liver can scar and fill with fat {cirrhosis}|.
Liver diseases {jaundice}| can cause brain damage.
Degenerative diseases {muscle degeneration}| include Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.
Strains and contusions can cause quadriceps soreness and stiffness {charley horse}|.
Reflex muscle contractions can cause leg shaking or jerking {clonus}|.
Degenerative diseases {Duchenne's muscular dystrophy} {Duchenne muscular dystrophy} can harm muscle tissue.
Muscle mass or circumference can increase {hypertrophy}|.
Muscle mass or circumference can decrease {hypotrophy}|.
Lower-back muscles and tendons can have rheumatism {lumbago}|.
Smoking, excessive alcohol, poor prenatal care, malnutrition, failure to breathe properly, baby battering, and falls can damage brains {brain damage} [Gershan and Rieder, 1992].
Congenital cerebral-cortex defects can cause inability to add two numbers to sums greater than ten {adding problem}. Children can learn digits but cannot carry to next column when adding.
Brainstem pressure can cause drowsiness {coning}, unconsciousness, respiratory paralysis, and ultimately death.
Animals with no cortex {cortical absence} cannot discriminate well but can learn and remember.
Cerebral-hemisphere damage can cause opposite-body-side arm and leg weakness {hemiplegia, cerebrum}.
Hypothalamus damage can affect sexual development and smell {Kallman syndrome}.
Inferior prefrontal lobe controls planning and action. After inferior-prefrontal-lobe stroke or lesion, external stimuli can start automatic behavior, with no inhibition {Lhermitte syndrome}.
Nerves can have inflammation {neuritis}|.
People can have general nerve problems {neuropathy}.
Brain-half anatomy and function differ {lateralization, cerebral}. Brain halves integrate by cross connections.
split brain
After corpus-callosum surgery {callosotomy} {split brain}, patients feel the same as before, with one self and same consciousness [Akelaitis, 1941] [Akelaitis, 1944] [Bogen, 1986] [Bogen, 1993] [Bogen, 1997] [Bogen and Gazzaniga, 1965] [Bogen and Gordon, 1970] [Bogen et al., 1965] [Gazzaniga, 1995] [Gazzaniga, 2004] [Geschwind and Galaburda, 1987] [Gordon and Bogen, 1974] [Greenblatt, 1997] [Kinsbourne, 1982] [Kohler et al., 2000] [Luck et al., 1989] [Luck et al., 1994] [Mark, 1996] [Miller et al., 2000] [O'Shea and Corballis, 2001] [Pettigrew and Miller, 1998] [Schiffer, 2000] [Schmitt and Worden, 1974] [Sperry, 1961] [Sperry, 1974] [Wigan, 1844].
However, experiments that detect what hemispheres know show that split-brain patients can have two consciousnesses. Consciousness can be only or mainly in left side, be only reportable from left side, be always both sides, or automatically switch back and forth between two selves.
right brain
Right brain has minimal attention, consciousness, emotion, imagery, memory, perception, verbal ability, and will.
connections: corpus callosum
Corpus callosum carries high-level information, mostly excitation. People can have impaired corpus callosum from birth {callosal agenesis} and develop integrative and substitute processing.
connections: other
Information about existence and spatial and temporal locations can pass between brain halves through smaller interhemispheric pathways and by relay through brainstem and thalamus.
self
Self or mind integrates brain modules through corpus callosum, brainstem, thalamus, and other pathways, by inhibition and excitation.
interpreter
Patients with severed commissures have no information exchange, but hemisphere with language ability {the interpreter} invents explanations. Only that hemisphere is highly conscious [Gazzaniga, 1992].
drugs
Amobarbitol can anesthetize either hemisphere.
locations: arousal
Arousal mechanisms affect both hemispheres equally.
locations: attention
Attention from brainstem and midbrain goes to both hemispheres, each of which can try to control attention.
locations: hearing
Ear sound information mostly goes to other side.
locations: language
Broca's area semantic-and-syntactic language processing is typically only in left hemisphere. However, both sides have vocabulary and perception processing.
locations: pain
Pain information goes to both hemispheres.
locations: proprioception
Proprioception information goes to both hemispheres.
locations: space and time
Right hemisphere seems better at high-level spatiotemporal processing.
locations: touch
Touch information goes to both sides, though less to same side.
locations: vision
Visual information from right or left visual field goes to left or right hemisphere, but patients have unified visual fields.
locations: voluntary movement
Eye-saccade initiation and monitoring and voluntary large-muscle movement are on both sides.
factors: age
With age, corpus callosum has more myelination.
factors: gender
Men have more language lateralization.
ear ringing {tinnitus}|.
Vestibular-system damage can cause dizziness {vertigo}|.
Excess cerebrospinal fluid {hydrocephaly} can cause larger than normal brain cavities and skulls.
People can have larger than normal heads and brains {macrocephaly}.
People can have smaller than normal heads and brains {microcephaly}.
Acetylcholine and serotonin brain neurons can degenerate {Alzheimer's disease} {Alzheimer disease}, with intracellular tangled protein fibers {neurofibrillary tangle} and extracellular protein amyloid plaques.
plaque
Amyloid plaques can disrupt calcium regulation, create free radicals, or attract microglia. Presenilin gene makes gamma-secretase, which cuts cell-membrane protein {amyloid-beta precursor protein} (APP) inside membranes, and beta-secretase {secretase} cuts APP outside membranes, to make short A-beta proteins, which can be signal proteins. A-beta proteins can link hydrophobic ends to form plaques. Apolipoprotein E {apolipoprotein} (APOE-4) helps A-beta protein form plaques and slows A-beta protein removal. APP gene is on chromosome 21.
incidence
In USA, five million people have Alzheimer's disease. At age 60, 1 in 10,000 people develops Alzheimer's disease. By age 85, one in three people have dementia, typically Alzheimer's disease.
causes
Gene {presenilin gene} mutations can cause early-onset inherited Alzheimer's disease.
Apolipoprotein-E-gene isotype can modulate familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease onset age.
Proteins {tau protein} can bind to tubulin, change, and increase in Alzheimer's disease. Tau proteins then make helical pairs, disrupting tubulin binding and microtubules.
Small proteins {amyloid beta-derived diffusible ligand} (ADDL) can come from amyloid-beta precursor proteins, can diffuse, do not make plaques, and attach to neuron receptors.
Brain proteins {clusterin} can increase in Alzheimer's disease.
Brain or brain blood-vessel degeneration {dementia}| {senile dementia} can be chronic and progressive.
symptoms
Recent-event memory loss is first symptom. People have intellect, memory, and personality impairment, but no consciousness or basic-skill impairment. People have unreal and slow thinking. People have slowness of, and disinterest in, activity. People forget goals, do not compensate for changes, live in present only, are emotionally sensitive, and are susceptible to bulbar palsy. At end, people lose basic personality and social skills.
causes
About 10% of older dementia patients have benign brain tumors and hypothyroidism.
types
Subnormality, old-age dementias, and remitting and relapsing psychoses are milder. Acute, primary, and curable dementias are harsher. Chronic, secondary, and incurable dementias are harsher.
recovery
Dementia reverses in 10% of patients.
Tau-protein buildup causes slowly developing dementia {Pick's disease} {frontotemporal dementia} in people 50 to 60 years old.
Repeated closures of small or large blood vessels, as in minor or major strokes, causes brain-cell loss {multi-infarct dementia}.
After pneumonia, heart attack, or hypothermia, older people can enter delirious states {pseudodementia}. Antidepressants reduce pseudodementia.
Old-age organic psychosis {senility}| can involve memory loss and poor thinking ability.
Fever, alcohol intoxication, drugs, withdrawal from barbiturates, withdrawal from alcohol, disturbances in body chemistry, and brain infections can cause delirium {delirium tremens}| (DTs). Most delirious patients recover completely after removing cause.
People can have desire to drink alcohol {dipsomania}.
Addicts that take MPTP destroy dopamine neurons and cannot move {frozen addict}, though conscious.
Alcohol can damage corpus callosum and anterior commissure {Marchhiafava-Bignami disease}.
Metal toxins {metal poisoning}, such as mercury or lead, can damage brains.
Drugs or anesthetics can cause stupor {narcosis, stupor}|.
People can starve themselves, fear becoming fat, think about being thin, have distorted body perception, overestimate size, and have abnormal hypothalamus, which controls appetite {anorexia nervosa}|.
After strong desire {compulsive eating} {binge eating} causes eating large quantities, people can vomit or use laxatives {bulimia nervosa}|.
Herpes simplex and other viruses can cause brain inflammation {encephalitis}| {aseptic encephalitis} {acute viral encephalitis}.
A 1920s epidemic viral disease {encephalitis lethargica} destroyed same brain cells as idiopathic Parkinsonism.
Bacteria or viruses can cause meninges inflammation {meningitis}|.
Though sense organs and nerves are normal, people can interpret sense information incorrectly {agnosia}. Agnosias can be for objects, colors in achromatopsia, faces in prosopagnosia, motions in akinetopsia, or imposters in Capgras syndrome [Bauer and Demery, 2003] [Bridgeman et al., 1997] [Damasio et al., 2000] [Farah, 1990] [Goodale, 2000] [Goodale and Milner, 2004] [Goodale et al., 1994] [Grüsser and Landis, 1991] [Heilman and Valenstein, 2003] [Hu and Goodale, 2000] [Mesulam, 2000] [Milner and Goodale, 1995] [Milner et al., 1991].
People with right-brain damage can deny that they have problems with, or paralysis of, left hand and arm {anosagnosia, disease} {anosodiaphoria}.
People with right-parietal damage think that objects on left reflected in mirrors on right are behind mirrors on right {mirror agnosia} {looking-glass syndrome}.
Left angular-gyrus damage {Gertsmann's syndrome} {Gertsmann syndrome} can cause anomia, finger agnosia, and left/right problems.
Non-dominant, usually right, posterior-parietal-lobe damage can cause ignorance {neglect, vision}| {visuo-spatial hemi-neglect} {hemi-neglect} of stimulus that normally stimulates V1 in opposite, usually left, space half {hemifield}, including opposite body half. Patients do not realize that they cannot see that space side. Right or left Brodmann-area-7 damage can cause neglect of opposite-space half [Berti and Rizolatti, 1992] [Bisiach, 1988] [Bisiach, 1992] [Bisiach and Luzzatti, 1978] [Driver and Mattingley, 1998] [Heilman and Valenstein, 2003] [Heilman et al., 2003] [Husain and Rorden, 2003] [Karnath, 2001] [Karnath et al., 2001] [Marshall and Halligan, 1988] [Mattingley, 1998] [Payne et al., 1996] [Rafal, 1997] [Rees et al., 2000] [Robertson and Marshall, 1993] [Schiller et al., 1979] [Sprague, 1966] [Swick and Knight, 1998] [Vuilleumier et al., 1996] [Vuilleumier et al., 2002].
Non-dominant posterior-parietal-lobe damage can cause neglect when stimulus is in same space half as lobe {extinction, neglect}. In extinction, if something is on one side, people can see object, typically on right side, but they cannot see anything on other side, though brain activity is same in both cases (Geraint Rees).
agnosia
People with neglect can not recognize that they are neglecting space half {anosagnosia, neglect}. People with right-parietal-lobe damage can have paralysis but not know that they have it [Damasio, 1999] [Weiskrantz, 1997]. Perhaps, they have no information receptors for that part. Perhaps, they cannot direct attention there.
realization
People realize that they cannot see that space side if expected information is not available.
People can not know that body parts belong to them {somatoparaphrenia}.
Agnosia can be for faces {prosopagnosia}. Inability to recognize faces involves more than one brain part [Benton and Tranel, 1993] [Perrett et al., 1992] [Tranel and Damasio, 1985] [Wada and Yamamoto, 2001].
After damage to both parietal lobes, people can not perceive more than one object {simultagnosia}, as in Balint syndrome.
People can be unable to retrieve memories {amnesia, disease}|. Amnesias can have long-term memory loss but retain short-term memory. People typically cannot remember events from when amnesia started up to recent times in the past.
duration
Amnesias can last several years. Over time, people remember earlier memories, as well as independent episodes. People typically can never remember time just before amnesia started.
types
People can be unable to identify people whom they know in other contexts {restricted paramnesia}. Autobiographical memory loss {fission, memory} can cause personal identity loss and inability to use first person.
causes
Electroconvulsive shock, potassium chloride, fluorothyl, barbiturates, and RNA, DNA, and protein synthesis-inhibiting drugs can cause forgetting and retrograde amnesia but can be offset by stimulants.
Head blows can cause memory loss with no other effects {postconcussion syndrome}.
Medial-temporal-lobe ischemia causes disorientation and recent-memory loss {transient global amnesia}.
Removing both temporal lobes and both hippocampuses, to treat epilepsy, causes orthograde amnesia.
recovery
Amnesias can heal but not if brain damage is permanent.
People can be unable to make long-term memories {anterograde amnesia}.
Amnesias {Korsakoff syndrome}| can have inattentiveness, poor recent memory, retrograde amnesia, anterograde amnesia, and time and place disorientation. Chronic alcoholics with poor nutrition can have Korsakoff syndrome. It affects third-ventricle floor, thalamus dorsomedial nucleus, hippocampal region, mamillary bodies, and frontal lobes [Korsakoff, 1887] [Korsakoff, 1890].
Hippocampus damage can cause loss of recently stored memories {retrograde amnesia}. Time lost depends on memory type and strength.
People can be unable to concentrate and can have high activity {attention deficit disorder}| (ADD) {attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain} (ADHD). Perhaps, it involves dopamine receptors. Ritalin is a treatment.
Both-hemisphere parietal-lobe damage causes attention on only one thing {Balint's syndrome} {Balint syndrome} [Feinberg and Farah, 1997] [Rafal, 1997] [Robertson, 2003] [Robertson et al., 1997].
Organic psychoses can involve shaking convulsions {epilepsy}| {seizure, epilepsy} {convulsion} [Elger, 2000] [Fried, 1997] [Oxbury et al., 2000] [Penfield and Jasper, 1954] [Salloway et al., 1997].
cause
Strong electrical signals can cause altered consciousness, altered perception, and poor opposite-body-side muscle control.
types
Whole brain can become electrically abnormal {primary generalized seizure}. Cerebral-cortex regions can become electrically abnormal in focal seizure.
start
Seizures can begin with abdominal sensations, altered thoughts, or altered perceptions, which people can remember afterwards.
symptoms
Epileptic states {epileptic automatism} can involve large brain regions, unconsciousness, chewing, lip smacking, organized but purposeless arm or hand movements, laughing, being scared, and using isolated words. States can last for several minutes, mostly in temporal lobe. Normal function, deep sleep, or disoriented state follows. People have no memory of automatisms.
incidence
6% of people have at least one epileptic seizure.
factors: age
Seizures are more likely in early childhood, adolescence, and old age. Petit-mal seizures happen mostly in childhood and adolescence.
factors: genetics
Epilepsy is hereditary, especially temporal-lobe epilepsy.
drugs
Gamma-aminobutyric acid treats epilepsy.
In petit-mal epilepsy, tonic phase and consciousness loss can last several seconds, and people can stare blankly {absence, epilepsy} with eyelid flickering and/or facial and arm muscle twitching [Crunelli and Leresche, 2002]. Large repeated currents between thalamus and cortex cause absence. People do not fall to ground.
Seizures can begin with abdominal sensations, altered thoughts, or altered perceptions, which people can remember afterwards {aura, epilepsy}. Electrically stimulating brains elicits images and sense qualities that are like the dream-like sense qualities that patients experience when epileptic, and removing brain tissue does not delete the sense qualities [Penfield, 1958] [Penfield, 1975] [Penfield and Perot, 1963].
Epilepsy can have upward arm jerk, head nod, and forward trunk bend {myoclonic jerk}.
Epilepsy {petit mal seizure} can involve one brain region and have twitching, consciousness, and weird feelings, tastes, or smells. Focal epilepsy can have a déja vu "dreamy state" experience.
Epilepsy {grand mal seizure} {grand-mal convulsion} {tonic-clonic convulsion} can involve whole brain, whole-body seizures, consciousness loss, and repeated muscle tightening and relaxing [Canger et al., 1980] [Ebner et al., 1995] [Gloor, 1986] [Gloor et al., 1980] [Inoue and Mihara, 1998] [Lux et al., 2002] [Pedley and Guilleminault, 1977] [Reeves, 1985]. Muscles can stiffen symmetrically, people can cry out, breathing can stop briefly, and people can lose consciousness {tonic phase}. Then people can fall to ground and have muscle jerking {clonic phase}. Cyanosis blue color can develop around lips or face, bladder can empty, bowels can empty, and people can bite tongue. Left-hemisphere seizures more often result in consciousness loss.
People can lose ability to write {agraphia}. If lexically impaired, people can correctly write words spelled phonologically, but not words spelled non-phonologically {lexical agraphia}. If phonologically impaired, people can write words correctly {phonological agraphia} but write non-words incorrectly.
Frontal-temporal-borderline damage can cause lexical problems, circumlocutions, and incorrect words, without losing language comprehension, syntax, or phonemes. People can be unable to name objects {anomia} {anomic aphasia}, though they can see, read, and recognize.
People can have impaired speaking {aphasia}|. Sometimes, speech does not connect {jargon aphasia}. Frontal-temporal borderline damage can cause phoneme-usage errors {conduction aphasia}, without comprehension or fluency loss.
Patients can have good language but lack emotional responses {Asperger's syndrome} {Asperger syndrome}.
Broca's area damage {Broca's aphasia} {Broca aphasia} causes slow, slurred, hesitant, and non-fluent speech, with preposition, conjunction, and auxiliary-verb omissions and incorrect verb or noun endings. Damage still allows people to write, read, listen, and sing.
People can lose ability to classify objects by name {classifying disorder}.
People can read with difficulty, spell badly, and have other problems with written language {dyslexia}|. Dyslexics cannot identify sounds, use phonemes together, or identify complex-figure parts. Dyslexics typically do not have strong right-handedness or left-handedness. Maturation delay, not brain damage or emotional problems, can cause resistance to learning and so dyslexia. People can have trouble only with grammar {grammar-specific language impairment}.
Strokes can cause speaking, writing, reading, or listening impairments {dysphasia}.
Dominant gene mutant can cause people not to use grammatical rules {familial dysphasia}.
Large left-hemisphere damage can cause normal-language loss {global aphasia} but does not affect automatic language.
Changed chromosome-7 gene can cause poor grammar with normal intelligence {specific language impairment} (SLI).
Though sense organs and nerves are normal, people can be unable to identify objects by touch {tactile agnosia}.
Chromosome 7 or 11 deletions can cause voluble language but mental retardation {Williams syndrome}.
Wernicke's area damage can cause inability to read {alexia}. Brain can block phonology {deep alexia} and/or block lexical stage {surface alexia}.
Wernicke's area damage can cause incorrect words {paraphasia}.
Wernicke's area damage can cause inability to name objects by palpating {tactile aphasia}.
Wernicke's area damage can cause non-existent words {neologism, aphasia}.
Wernicke's area damage {Wernicke's aphasia} {Wernicke aphasia} can cause bad semantics, paraphasia, imprecise words, circumlocutions, and neologisms, but speech is fluent, rapid, articulated, and grammatical.
Wernicke's area damage can cause inability to understand spoken words {word-meaning deafness} {word deafness}, though people can hear and speak them.
People can have mental disorders {mental illness}.
types
Brain diseases and physical illnesses can cause mental disorders. Psychoses, neuroses, personality disorders, and mental retardation {functional disorder} can show no definite physical problem. People cannot simulate mental illness consistently.
causes
Family-member or other-loved-person loss, job loss, illness, or development changes can cause mental illness.
mental health
People can affect mental illness {mental health}. People can have ability to cooperate with others and have close, loving relationships. People can make sensitive critical appraisals of themselves and world. People can cope with everyday problems.
Healthy personality has the following traits: good self-concept, self-knowledge, strong self-attitudes, self-acceptance, reality sense, active involvement in society, no inferiority feelings, good sexual attitudes, independence, objectivity, low aggression, low submissiveness, ability to give and accept love, average competitiveness, and continuous growth.
incidence
0.05% of people have neuroses. Ten percent of doctor visits are mostly about mental problems. 10% of such patients go to psychiatrists. Psychiatric patients use nearly half of all hospital beds.
Mental states {aboulia} {abulia} can have little will and inability to make decisions, such as akinetic mutism.
Mental states {apathy}| can have little emotion, listlessness, self-preoccupation, and detachment from environment.
Damage in connections between visual and emotional centers can cause people to believe that imposters have replaced familiar people {Capgras syndrome} [Ramachandran, 2004].
People can feel that they are not perception agents {Cotard syndrome} {Cotard's syndrome}. They can feel that they are dead. They have no emotional responses to experiences.
Frustration can cause fixed and unusual beliefs {delusion}|. Delusions protect against anxiety by explaining away facts that cause anxiety. If someone challenges their delusions, people have small or inappropriate emotional responses. Delusions and hallucinations are major symptoms of several mental illnesses.
People can have perceptions like in dreams, in which everything is vague or unreal and familiar things have no meaning {derealization}|. People can feel either that they have been changed or that world is unreal. They can have unreal and strange feelings.
Destroying fibers connecting cerebral hemispheres {disconnection syndrome} can cause inability to understand written language {pure alexia} {pure word-blindness} {alexia without agraphia}, comprehend spoken language {pure word-deafness}, or write correct language {pure agraphia} without paralysis. People can be unable to make purposeful skilled movements {apraxia, disconnection} and to move in response to verbal commands, though they can comprehend words.
People can have two personalities, each with amnesia for the other {dissociative identity disorder} (DID).
Stress can initiate old stereotyped responses {fixation, obsession}|, such as obsessive or compulsive actions, to new stimuli.
People can believe that known people are impersonating other people {Fregoli phenomenon}.
Schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder, and other diseases show abnormal identity experience {Ich-Störungen}.
People can like to hurt themselves {Lesch-Nyhan syndrome} [Ramachandran, 2004].
Severe mental illnesses {lunacy}| require intervention by society, which must infringe civil rights.
People can show uncontrolled excitement, feel self-important, have well-being and elation, be over-active, make grandiose pronouncements, and perform obsessive behaviors {mania}|. Mania is much less common than depression. Drugs that raise monoamine levels can cause mania.
Depressive illness {melancholia}| can include loss and guilt, and loss has symbolic significance.
Women can have sexual promiscuity {nymphomania}|.
People can have delusions {paranoia}| {paranoid state} of grandeur and/or persecution.
symptoms
They are suspicious, are highly sensitive, project fears, believe that their beliefs are correct and justified, and do not believe that they are ill. They attack people that they think persecute them, quarrel with neighbors, accuse people of trespassing, or accuse spouses of infidelity.
factors
Paranoics have no intellectual deficits, hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, or disrupted syntax.
causes
Paranoia is a disorder of self-esteem and stress. Narcissistic self-overestimation is a typical reaction to humiliation during infancy and childhood. Paranoic ideas and anxieties are impulse projections.
treatment
Paranoia is not treatable now.
comparisons
Artists, and political and religious leaders, can mimic paranoia.
Frontal-lobe damage can cause repeated behaviors {perseveration, behavior}|. Wisconsin card-sorting test diagnosis it.
People can be unable to resist compulsion, obsession, or phobia {psychasthenia}.
Personal behavior can violate group moral code {psychopathic personality}.
Organic diseases {psychosomatic disease}| can associate with psychological factors.
types
Psychosomatic diseases include psychosomatic atopic dermatitis, anorexia nervosa, bronchial asthma, essential hypertension, gastric and duodenal ulcer, myocardial infarction, and ulcerative colitis. Heart disease, cancer, gastro-intestinal-tract disease, pulmonary tuberculosis, suicide, and accidents can also be psychosomatic.
cause
Stress caused by confinement, restraint, and frustration can affect organs.
individual
No disease is distinctively psychosomatic. Psychosomatic disease is peculiar to each patient and re-occurs.
age
Psychosomatic disease symptoms begin before age six and are real physiological disturbances.
People can ignore other's feelings or treat people as objects or things {depersonalization reaction}|. They can feel identity loss and body separation. They can have out-of-body experiences. Depersonalization can happen in relaxed periods after intense excitement and danger.
Depersonalization causes loss of perspective of outside world {Angstvolle Ich-Auflösung} {ego-dissolution}.
People can have maladaptive, socially unacceptable, or personally distressing habits {neurosis}| {psychoneurosis}.
symptoms
Neurosis symptoms include avoidance of others, self-indulgence, turning against others, self-deprivation, and turning against self. Neurosis symptoms are similar to normal-people feelings and thoughts but stronger.
onset
People can learn neurotic behaviors in early childhood.
persistence
Neurosis resists modification through learning. It persists because it protects against overt or hidden anxiety.
gender
Women outnumber men neurotics two to one.
types
Neuroses include functional disorders, such as limb paralysis or erectile impotence. They include alcohol dependence, anxieties, compulsions, drug dependence, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive disorders, personality disorders, phobias, sexual deviations, and disorders specific to childhood and adolescence.
neurotic personality types
Neurotic personality types include abnormal, cyclothymic, hysterical, obsessional, paranoid, schizoid, sociopathic, and vulnerable. Abnormal personalities have overreactions to anxiety. Cyclothymic personalities alternate in energy level. Hysterical personalities use repression and dissociation, especially in classic conversion hysteria. Obsessional personalities have rigid mental structures, possibly defenses against strong instinctual drives. Paranoid personalities use projection in behavior and thinking. Schizoid personalities use different personalities to hide anxieties. Anxiety and frustration can cause sociopathic personalities, likely to harm others. Vulnerable personalities cannot cope with everyday stresses, feel inadequate, seek attention, and are histrionic.
The most common neurosis {anxiety reaction}| {anxiety state} involves acute fear, triggered by stimulus or conflict. People can have recurring or persistent fears or panic and have active autonomic nervous systems, with sweating, tremors, faintness, choking, breathlessness, and stomach queasiness.
Neurosis {character disorder} can involve behavior or personality alterations.
Neurosis {hysteria} {conversion reaction}| {conversion hysteria} can be defense against stress.
symptoms
Hysteria can involve speech abnormalities, multiple personalities, histrionic behaviors, attention-seeking behaviors, manipulative behaviors, flirtatious behaviors, little self-criticism, susceptibility to suggestion, paralyzed limbs, convulsions, sensation loss, blindness, ataxic gait, throat constriction, fugue, dissociation, twilight states, amnesias, and shallow and labile emotions.
brain
Two-thirds of hysteria patients have brain injury or neurological disease.
Neurosis {depression, psychology}| {depressive neurosis} {depressive reaction} {unipolar affective disorder} can involve hopelessness, helplessness, despair, suicidal ideas, feelings of no control, edginess, irritability, and guilt. People tire easily, have low concentration, have poor appetite, lose weight, have constipation, have low sex drive, have light non-REM sleep, have low interest in things, and have earlier, longer, and more intense first REM sleep.
drugs
Drugs that deplete brain-messenger monoamines can induce depression. Drugs that raise monoamine level relieve depression.
factors
Artificial light and sleep deprivation reduce depression.
cause
Death, divorce, and other losses often cause depression [Wolpert, 2001].
Neurosis {hypochondria}| {hypochondriacal reaction} can involve unreasonable worries about health.
Neurosis {neurasthenic reaction} {neurasthenia}| can involve nervousness, fatigue, weakness, and headache. Conflicts about masturbation, or inability to resolve doubt or uncertainty, can cause it.
Neurosis {thought disorder}| can involve delusion, dissociation, obsession, and phobia.
Neurosis {obsessive-compulsive reaction}| {obsessive-compulsive neurosis} can involve absurd-idea recurrence.
symptoms
It can have odd behavior impulses, like kleptomania, pyromania, and poriomania. It can have compulsion. It can have obsession. People can be overly conventional, conscientious, reliable, scrupulous, or punctual. They can think about harm, contamination, sex, and sin. They can think repetitively about abstract problems. They can continually manipulate words and numbers. They can have fears of harming someone. They can fear dirt contamination. They can continually wash hands or check water taps. They often recognize their fears are silly.
incidence
Obsessive-compulsive reaction is rare.
Mental states {compulsion}| can have uncontrollable desires to do odd behaviors.
Mental states {obsession}| can have fixed thoughts.
Compulsions {kleptomania}| can involve stealing.
Compulsions {poriomania} can have continual movement.
Compulsions {pyromania}| can have fire setting.
Specific emotional stimuli can cause habitual behaviors {repetition compulsion}.
People can have serious perception and thought disorders and so do not know reality {psychosis}|. Psychoses can be organic or functional. Severe mental illness is rare. Psychosis is equally frequent in both sexes. Psychoses can originate in childhood.
Psychosis {functional psychosis} can involve psychological factors with no obvious body or brain diseases, such as faulty interactions in family. Functional psychoses include schizophrenia, affective psychosis, manic-depressive psychosis, involutional melancholia, and paranoia. Biochemical brain changes can cause functional psychoses.
Functional psychosis {manic-depressive psychosis} {affective psychosis} {bipolar affective disorder}| can involve mood extremes: first, flighty ideas and wildness and then profound apathy, despair, and little control. Manic-depression can be hereditary but also happens to extroverts under stress. Difficult life, bereavement, and loss can cause manic-depression. 15% of manic-depressive people die by suicide. Lithium prevents relapses.
Loss, menopause, middle age, or morbid feelings can cause agitated depression and functional psychosis {involutional melancholia}.
Psychosis {organic psychosis} can result from brain degenerative structural changes. Organic psychoses include senile dementia, presenile dementia, arteriosclerotic dementia, and alcoholic dementia.
Adolescent or young adult males {sociopath}| {antisocial psychopath} can be unable to conform to society rules.
symptoms
They cannot tolerate minor frustrations. They cannot form stable human relationships. They do not learn from experiences. They act impulsively or recklessly. They feel predominantly inadequate, aggressive, or creative.
effect
They typically die from accidents, suicide, or alcoholism.
treatment
Treatment to learn rational judgment and gain will to control antisocial behavior can help sociopaths. Medical treatment is currently useless or unused. By middle life, many sociopaths have adapted to society, without medical treatment.
Functional psychosis {schizophrenia}| {dementia praecox} can have delusions, hallucinations, memory disturbances, ideas of reference, volition problem, and dementia. Schizophrenics think their minds and wills are not under their control. They think that thoughts are being put into, or removed from, their minds. They suspect that someone is hypnotizing them.
incidence
About 1% of people have schizophrenia. Incidence has been the same for 50 years.
recovery
Individual episodes typically end with previous-personality recovery. Recovered schizophrenics can relapse after contact with critical and involved relatives. 80% of schizophrenic patients recover from first attack. Only 50% remain healthy. 10% of schizophrenic patients are long-term hospital in-patients. People can improve even after years of hospitalization.
properties: 4 A's
Schizophrenia has autistic thinking, emotion ambivalence and withdrawal, apathy and low emotional level with affect lack, inappropriate emotions, and unconnected thought and words with association lack.
properties: behavior
Schizophrenia causes agitation. Schizophrenia can show low spontaneity, simple speech, and slow movement. Schizophrenics have abnormal eye movements. They change mental-function distribution between cerebral hemispheres. They have difficulty processing incoming information.
properties: emotion
Schizophrenics lose interest in, and respond unemotionally to, other people.
properties: memory
Schizophrenics can lose discussion point. Schizophrenia can lessen memory formation and problem solving.
properties: speech
Schizophrenia can involve unusual associations to words or questions, with rambling and incoherent answers.
properties: will
Schizophrenics lose energy and are apathetic.
types
Schizophrenia types are catatonic, childhood, hebephrenic, paranoid, pseudoneurotic, schizo-affective, and simple.
factors
Schizophrenia has same types and frequencies in all environments and cultures. Schizophrenia does not increase in wars or other catastrophes.
causes
Trauma or intense family pressure can cause schizophrenia. Schizophrenia can transmit genetically.
causes: theory
Both nature and nurture cause schizophrenia {diathesis stress model}.
biochemistry
Schizophrenia lowers glutamate and increases NAAG, kynurenic acid, and homocysteine, which all affect NMDA receptors. D-cycloserine, D-serine, and glycine stimulate NMDA receptors. D-amino acid oxidase catabolizes D-serine. Catechol-O-methyltransferase affects dopamine metabolism, mainly in prefrontal lobes. Dysbindin and neuregulin affect number of NMDA receptors.
biochemistry: dopamine
Excess dopamine causes more activity. Low dopamine causes low activity. In schizophrenics, amygdala contains abnormal dopamine quantities. Dopamine D1 receptors are in frontal lobes. Cortex and brainstem receptors differ. A dopamine receptor binds dopamine antagonist drugs. Amphetamines, apomorphine, clozapine, etomidate, ketamine, Levodopa, phencyclidine, and phenothiazines affect schizophrenia.
tests
Tests for actions are Tower of London and Wisconsin Card-Sorting tests.
Schizophrenics can have opposite ideas about same things {ambivalence}.
People can have intellectual deficits, hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, and disrupted syntax {autistic thinking}.
People can visualize images {hallucination, schizophrenia} as sensations {psychosensory hallucination} or thoughts {psychic hallucination}. Schizophrenics typically hear voices talking to or about them. People can hear sounds {outer voices} or internally hear {inner voices} insistent voices that seem to come from outside. They hear voices telling them what to do, commenting on or repeating their thoughts, discussing among themselves, or threatening to kill them. Voices can give commands {command hallucination}.
Schizophrenics can have delusions, hallucinations, and memory disturbances, and can attribute incorrect object characteristics {ideas of reference}.
Schizophrenics can have apathy, low emotion, or inappropriate emotions {lack of affect}.
Schizophrenics can lose coordination between different mental functions {splitting}, particularly between cognitive and emotional personality aspects.
Schizophrenics can feel that thoughts are not their own thoughts, but someone else put them in their minds or they are someone else's thoughts {thought insertion}.
Schizophrenics can have little will {volition problem}.
Schizophrenia {catatonic schizophrenia} can involve excitement and then stupor and immobility.
Schizophrenia {hebephrenic schizophrenia} can involve withdrawal, bizarre mannerisms, and personal neglect.
Schizophrenia {paranoid schizophrenia} can involve disrupted syntax, autistic thinking, hallucinations, and emotional withdrawal.
People can have pain when trying to move limbs that had chronic pain {learned pain} [Ramachandran, 2004].
Fifth cranial nerve can feel sharp pain or shock in jaw or cheek {neuralgia}|. From 6 to 12 years, children can have restlessness and/or twitching, symptoms of tension from repressed needs or conflicts.
Insula senses pain and anterior cingulate has emotions, so damage to path from insula to anterior cingulate allows pain sensations but causes no emotions {pain asymbolia} [Ramachandran, 2004].
Skin can feel burning, prickling, itching, tingling, and numbness {paresthesia}, usually in extremities.
Meningeal blood-vessel swelling, which stretches nerves, causes primary headaches {headache}| {primary headache}. Hormones, stress, and little sleep act on brain pain centers to produce serotonin and norepinephrine and cause blood-vessel swelling. Sinus pressure, pinched nerves, or irritation causes secondary headaches.
Headaches {migraine}| can be strong pains at one point.
symptoms
Days or hours before onset, mood, behavior, wakefulness, appetite, bowel activity, and/or fluid balance change. In 10%, sensation disturbances, lasting for 20 to 30 minutes, precede headache. Sense disturbance and pain can be on same or opposite body side.
biology
Migraines are non-bacterial inflammatory responses, which release neurokinines or other pain-producing substances and dilate meningeal and scalp blood vessels.
Progressive cortical blood-supply loss, or neuron intercellular-fluid neurochemical disturbance, can be causes. In 20%, foods containing biogenic amines or complex phenols can be causes. Vasoactive monoamine serotonin and other neurotransmitter changes can be causes.
causes
Causes are stress, glare, flashing lights, striped patterns, menstrual cycle, and sexual activity.
effects
Migraine can cause nausea or vomiting. Recovery from migraine takes hours.
age
Attacks typically begin before age 30 and decrease in frequency with age.
After small injuries, people can later have acute pain, swelling, inflammation, and paralysis {complex regional pain type 1} [Ramachandran, 2004].
After small injuries, people can later have acute pain, swelling, inflammation, and paralysis {reflex sympathetic dystrophy} [Ramachandran, 2004].
People can have mental retardation, odd facial expressions, and happy personality {Angelman's syndrome} {Angelman syndrome} {happy puppet syndrome}.
Rare diseases {autism}| can involve abnormal development before 2.5 years old.
symptoms
Autistic children have stereotyped hand movements and facial grimaces. They withdraw from adults. They do not make friends with other children. They do not develop social responses or relationships. They have little eye contact. They do not adapt easily to new situations. They are obsessive. They strongly attach to favored objects. They cannot classify emotional responses. They cannot imagine others' mental states {mind blindness}. They have difficulty pretending.
biology
Autistic children typically have below-normal intelligence. Perhaps, bilateral hippocampal lesions, limbic-system and vestibular-nuclei abnormalities, brain injury, or chromosome-7 HOXA1-gene damage causes autism.
gender
Autism is more in boys than in girls.
Iodine lack or damaged thyroid gland can cause decreased thyroxin, fat appearance, and mental retardation {cretinism}|.
Enzyme deficiency causes inability to make phenylalanine into tyrosine and results in toxicity affecting gait and posture {phenylketonuria}| (PKU). Enzyme deficiency also causes inability to metabolize phenyl pyruvate, and excess blood phenyl pyruvate causes mental retardation. PKU affects one in 10,000 births. Diets low in phenylalanine can prevent PKU.
Brain injury {traumatic brain injury} (TBI) can be mild or concussion.
Blood can have low oxygen {anoxia}|. Difficult or premature births can cause brain damage, because no oxygen reaches brain.
Rotational or other mechanical force {concussion}| on brainstem disturbs vision, equilibrium, and consciousness.
incidence
In USA, 1.5 million people, mostly young, have concussions each year.
levels
Grade 1 concussion retains consciousness, symptoms last less than 15 minutes, and cognitive problems disappear within 24 hours. Grade 2 concussion has brief consciousness loss, and symptoms last longer than 15 minutes. Grade 3 concussion has consciousness loss and amnesia, and symptoms last long. Longer consciousness loss and longer amnesia {posttraumatic amnesia} (PTA) correlate with neurocognitive impairment severity.
brain
Concussion decreases blood flow, increases blood sugar, and changes cell-ion flows in inferior parietal, prefrontal, and cingulate cortex. Increased glutamate causes increased excitation. Changes can begin two to three days after injury and last more than one week. Brain is vulnerable to second injury.
symptoms
Common symptoms include uneven and dilated pupils, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, slurred speech, anxiety, and poor coordination and balance. Other symptoms are tiredness, poor concentration, irritability, noise, dizziness, clumsiness, eye problems, and headaches.
Early signs are vacant stare, fogginess, confusion, slowing, memory disturbance, consciousness loss (LOC), headache, dizziness, balance difficulties, and vomiting. Later somatic signs are headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbance, vision changes, ear ringing, and light/noise sensitivity. Affective signs are lowered frustration tolerance, irritability, more emotionality, depression, and anxiety. Cognitive signs are slow thinking, slow response, poor concentration, distractibility, learning difficulty, memory difficulty, and disorganization.
People can have retinal or brain damage or malformation and cannot see {blindness}| [Hull, 1990]. Peripheral retinal processing allows subconscious navigation.
restored sight
If blind people have restored sight, they can see but not well. Children with unused eyes see light spots after applying pressure to eyeball.
space
Senses can carry information about space and time. Vision impairment causes brain reconnections to other sense regions. Input and output shape plastic brain [Sur and Leamey, 2001] [Simpson, 1988] [Teuber et al., 1960] [Teuber, 1960] [Von Senden, 1960].
space: touch or sound
If touches or sounds substitute for vision, it seems that sense qualities vaguely become more like visual sense qualities [Bach-y-Rita, 1995] [Dobelle, 2000] [Normann et al., 1996] [Schmidt et al., 1996].
space: touch
Skin-vibrator arrays (Tactile Vision Substitution System) can represent camera images. People can learn images and place them in 3D space, so they use depth perception as well as form perception. Tongue electrode arrays can replace vestibular system [Bach-y-Rita and González, 2002].
space: sound
Sound pitches and timing can substitute for spatial dimensions [Meijer, 2002]. Blind people perceive objects by sound echoes. Blindfolded people can learn echo navigation rapidly.
People can be unaware that they cannot see {Anton's syndrome} {blindness denial}. They deny that they are blind [Ramachandran, 2004].
Eye lenses can have protofibrils, which can develop into plaques {cataract, eye}|.
Infection or tear-duct blockage can cause eyes not to receive enough tears {dry eye}|, primarily in older people.
In older people, vitreous humor can thicken and pull away from retina, and neurons can cause flashes in front of eye {flasher, vision}|. If new flashers appear, go to ophthalmologist. If you receive head blows, vitreous humor can rub retina, causing flashes {stars, vision}.
In older people, vitreous humor can thicken and make denser filaments, which can appear as floating objects in front of eye {floater, vision}|. If new floaters appear, go to ophthalmologist.
Optic nerve can have damage {glaucoma}|.
causes
High intraocular pressure (IOP), eye injury, inflammation, tumor, advanced cataract, advanced diabetes, and steroid drugs can damage optic nerve.
types
Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) affects three million in USA. Eye-drainage canals clog, and inner-eye pressure increases. It has no symptoms and is gradual. It has easy treatment.
Blocked drainage canals can cause acute angle-closure glaucoma {narrow-angle glaucoma}. When pupil enlarges too much or too quickly, outer iris edge bunches up over drainage canals. Iris cannot open wide. Symptoms include headaches, eye pain, nausea, colors around lights at night, and blurred vision. Surgery can remove small region at outer iris edge.
Normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) {low-tension glaucoma} {normal pressure glaucoma} has optic nerve damage with almost normal intraocular pressure from 12 mm Hg to 22 mm Hg.
Older people can have macula focal-area degeneration {age-related macular degeneration} (AMD) {macular degeneration}|. In first macular-degeneration stage {dry stage, macular degeneration}, tissues thin. In next stage {wet stage, macular degeneration}, blood vessels grow and hemorrhage or leak behind macula, forming scar tissue. Anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals slow dry form. Laser treatments and photodynamic therapy can seal leaking blood vessels.
People can not see one quarter of visual field {quadrantanopia} [Horton and Hoyt, 1991].
Sunlight on snow can cause temporary blindness, eye watering, and double vision {niphablepsia} {snow blindness}.
Eye can turn away from nose {walleye}|, or cornea can be white or opaque.
People can have agnosia for colors {color-blindness}| [Meadows, 1974] [Nordby, 1990] [Zeki, 1990].
Males can interchange long-wavelength and middle-wavelength cones {double color-blindness} {Nida-Rümelin inversion}.
Eye refraction can be correct {emmetropia}, neither near-sighted nor far-sighted.
Far-sightedness {hyperopia} {hypermetropia} {far-sightedness} {presbyopia} results if eye length is too short. Hyperopia usually develops soon after birth. One person in three is hyperopic.
Near-sightedness {myopia}| {near-sightedness} results if eye length is too long. Myopia usually develops in early teens. One person in five is myopic. Near-sightedness makes reds more prominent.
People can have reduced spontaneous movement {akinesia}.
Protofibrils can appear in motor neurons, and plaques can appear there later {amyotrophic lateral sclerosis}| (ALS) {Lou Gehrig's disease}. Mao Tse-tung, David Niven, Stephen Hawking, and Dmitri Shostakovich had it. Superoxide dismutase can have mutations. ALS starts in axons. It first affects fast-twitch and fast-fatigue muscle fibers, then fast-twitch and fatigue-resistant muscle fibers, and then slow-twitch muscle fibers.
Nerve damage can cause poor muscle coordination and unsteady posture, movements, eye movements, and speech {ataxia}.
People can have twisting or writhing movements {athetosis}.
Subthalamic-nucleus damage can cause ballistic movements {ballismus}.
People can be slow in making and controlling voluntary ballistic movements {bradykinesia}.
In dementia, sudden stimuli or strong efforts can cause facial contortions and tears {bulbar palsy}, without unhappiness.
People can have movement disorders {dyskinesia}|.
People can have increased movement {hyperkinesis}|.
People can have involuntary tremors in resting arms and legs, stiffness in movements, akinesia, and bradykinesia {Parkinsonism} {Parkinson's disease} {shaking palsy} {idiopathic paralysis agitans} {hypokinesia}. Posture, mood, and activity changes can have no pain, little sensation loss, and little consciousness loss. Eye movements can be small or slow. Untreated Parkinsonism leads to crouching and immobility.
cause
Metal poisoning, oxygen deficiency, strokes, infections, and drug overdoses can cause Parkinsonism. Substantia-nigra dopamine neurons degenerate. Dopaminergic-neuron degeneration causes slow movements. Parkinsonism involves alpha-synuclein, which makes amyloid plaques {Lewy body} in brain cells.
Basal-ganglia damage disrupts unconscious motor plans, and perceptions cannot guide actions. Because perceptions and motor actions are not conscious, consciousness cannot use other behaviors to compensate.
treatment
Dopamine and L-DOPA treat Parkinson's disease.
incidence
One to 1.5 million people in USA have Parkinson's disease.
factors: age
Parkinsonism is a late-middle or old-age degenerative disease.
factors: genetics
Parkinsonism is not hereditary.
drugs
Reserpine causes motionless, humped back, splayfooted posture, and coarse, whole body tremor, which resembles Parkinson's disease.
Antibodies can damage myelin and make weak muscles {multiple sclerosis}|. Patients can be unable to recognize objects by touch.
Motor neurons can have damage {muscular dystrophy}|.
Spinal-cord inflammation {myelitis} can cause muscle-function loss.
After posterior-parietal-lobe damage, people cannot connect seeing with reaching or pointing {optic ataxia}.
Brain damage, typically from rubella, Rh factor, jaundice, or head injury, can cause infants to have bad posture and little control over movement {palsy}| {cerebral palsy}.
Sensory nerve tracts can degenerate {spinal ataxia}.
Fifth cranial nerve can feel sharp pain or shock in jaw or cheek {trigeminal neuralgia} {tic douloureux}|. From 6 to 12 years, children can have restlessness and/or twitching, symptoms of tension from repressed needs or conflicts.
Patients with bilateral focal frontal-lobe lesions can use objects within reach though told not to do so {utilization behavior sign}, because they have no inhibition.
Muscles can have oscillations {tremor, muscle} {muscle tremor}|. Normally, damping by cerebellum inhibits agonist and antagonist contractions to eliminate oscillations and smooth movement.
People can not perform low and small movements {cerebellar action tremor}, only larger movements.
Gamma-efferent nerve-system overstimulation makes limbs tremble {intention tremor}.
Anterior-cingulate damage causes inability to speak, move, or be conscious {akinetic mutism}.
People can lose sense qualities and voluntary motion {catalepsy}|. Body stays in one position.
Muscles can become rigid in one position {catatonia}|.
Children can get polio {infantile paralysis}|.
People can have paralyzed limbs before amputation and stay paralyzed after {learned paralysis} [Ramachandran, 2004].
People can be conscious but unable to move or express reports {locked-in syndrome}| [Bauby, 1997] [Celesia, 1997] [Feldman, 1971].
Brain or peripheral-nerve damage can cause motor-function loss {paralysis}|. Hysteria can have paralysis. Paralysis does not affect emotions or consciousness.
People can be unable to move arms and legs {paraplegia}|.
Syphilis, encephalitis, brain damage, or cerebral arteriosclerosis can cause general paralysis and organic psychosis {paresis}.
Virus {poliovirus} can paralyze by destroying motor nerve cells {polio}| {poliomyelitis}.
Paralysis can alternate with muscle spasms {spastic paralysis}.
When deep-sea divers breathing air rise too quickly, nitrogen dissolved in blood expands to form painful bubbles {bends}|.
Deep-sea divers breathing air act drunk {nitrogen narcosis}| {rapture of the deep}. Nitrogen narcosis begins at 30 meters deep and prevents working below 60 meters. Oxygen and helium mixtures {heliox} or oxygen, helium, and nitrogen mixtures {trimix} replace air to prevent bends and allow working. Heliox distorts voices and conducts heat efficiently.
People can be unable to make purposeful skilled movements and to move in response to verbal commands {apraxia, muscle disease}, though they can comprehend words.
types
People can persevere in making distorted movements {ideomotor apraxia}, use previous movements in current movements, and show no difference between left and right limbs or meaningful and meaningless tasks.
People can have impaired motor-element selection and sequencing {ideational apraxia}, caused by problems in brain association areas that input to motor programs.
brain
Disconnecting Wernicke's area from motor centers causes apraxia. Language-hemisphere lesions impair action sequences. Animal brain lesions do not cause apraxia.
comparison
Aphasia and apraxia have no qualitative relation.
People with left-hemisphere supramarginal-gyrus damage can have no paralysis but cannot imitate imagined motions well {ideo-motor apraxia}. They can perform skills correctly if skills do not require imagination. They cannot judge if another's actions are intentional.
Dyskinesia {chorea}| can have too much dopamine in brain movement-control centers and cause quick muscle contractions. People can twist or writhe in athetosis. Huntington's chorea is hereditary. Syndenham's chorea is from rheumatic fever. Drugs, hormonal disorders, and blood vessel problems can cause chorea.
Dominantly inherited disorders {Huntington's chorea} {Huntington chorea} {Huntington's disease} can result from expanded glutamine repeats in HD proteins.
symptoms
At first, patients fidget, have spontaneous movements, and appear clumsy. Later, jerking and writhing affect face, tongue, and arms.
biology
A chromosome-4-tip autosomal dominant gene can cause Huntington's chorea. Cytosine-adenine-guanine nucleotides {CAG repeat, Huntington's} repeat in middle too many times, making too many glutamines. Proteins clump together {polyglutamine disease, Huntington's} to make protofibrils and later plaques. Cerebrum shrinks, ventricles enlarge, and midbrain caudate nucleus and putamen have damage. Cytosine-anything-guanine regions {CxG region, Huntington's} make DNA hairpins, so copies are longer.
After streptococcus infection, children 5 to 15 years old can have twisting chorea {St. Vitus' dance}| {Syndenham chorea}.
Corpus-callosum and prefrontal-region damage causes hand to move, though people do not will movement {alien hand syndrome}|. People say that their hand is doing things itself.
After corpus-callosum damage, hands undo each other's work {anarchic hand syndrome}. Hands seem to act in opposition.
Peritoneum can enter inguinal canal {hernia}|.
At menopause, woman can have temperature spikes {hot flash}|.
For cervical cancers, uterus removal {hysterectomy}| can include ovary removal.
Surgeons can make incisions into uterus {hysterotomy}.
Before proper birth, mothers can expel embryo or fetus {miscarriage}| {abortion}.
surgery
Before 13 weeks after conception, surgical abortions use either suction or dilation and curettage. After 13 weeks after conception, surgical abortions use saline solution.
human
The question is this: Are, or when are, fetuses human beings, rational conscious persons, or organisms capable of suffering?
Some say abortion is killing innocent beings.
Some say, at all times, let mothers decide abortion decisions, because fetuses are in mothers' bodies.
sentience
Embryos or fetuses taken outside mother's body can possibly be, or develop into, persons, so life and death decisions can depend on when fetus achieves sentience, personhood, or capability to suffer.
Babies can be dead at birth {stillborn}|.
After uterus prolapse, vagina rubber or plastic supports {pessary} can hold uterus.
During pregnancy, kidney and circulatory problems can cause limb swelling {toxemia of pregnancy}| {pregnancy toxemia}.
Last third of vagina can contract {vaginismus}.
Above 5000 meters, low oxygen can cause nausea {altitude sickness}|.
Breathing can stop {apnea}|.
Blocked breathing, carbon-monoxide poisoning, and cyanide poisoning can cause death from low oxygen {asphyxia}|.
Bronchi can have inflammation, with coughing of sputum {bronchitis}|.
Mucous membrane can have inflammation {catarrh}, typically of respiratory tract.
People can have laryngitis, difficult breathing, and coughing {croup}|.
People can have difficult breathing {dyspnea}.
Inelastic air sacs cause difficulty breathing {emphysema}|.
People can have bad smelling breath {halitosis}|.
People can have oxygen lack {hypoxia}|.
When cold, mucus {phlegm}| can be sticky.
Pleura can have inflammation {pleurisy}|.
Lungs can have inflammation {pneumonia}|.
Air can be in pleural cavity {pneumothorax}|. To treat tuberculosis, induced pneumothorax collapses lung.
High blood carbon-dioxide concentration affects medulla respiratory centers and sends along phrenic nerve and to thalamus intralaminar nuclei, which increase pulse rate and breathing rate {shortness of breath} {air hunger} {breathlessness}.
Breathing difficulties can cause babies to die in cribs {sudden infant death syndrome}| (SID) {crib death}.
Bones can undergo calcium and other mineral removal {bone resorption}|.
Degenerative diseases {osteogenesis imperfecta} can cause brittle bones.
People can have muscle, tendon, joint, bone, or nerve pain {rheumatism}|.
People can have flat and turned out foot {splay foot}|.
Sudden forward or backward head movement {whiplash}| can cause neck or spine injury.
People can have forward spine curvature at lumbar vertebrae {lordosis}|.
People can have greater than 10-degree vertical spine misalignment {scoliosis}|.
Vertebrae disks can move from normal position between two vertebrae {slipped disk}|.
Joints can be immobile {arthrokleisis} {ankylosis}.
People can have joint pain {arthralgia}|.
People can have joint inflammation with pain, swelling, and stiffness {arthritis}|.
People can have bursa inflammation {bursitis}| with pain and swelling, typically at shoulder, elbow, or hip joints.
Bones can leave normal positions in joints {dislocation, bone}.
If body makes too many purines, uric acid accumulates in joints {gout}|.
People can have joint inflammation and stiffness {rheumatoid arthritis}|.
People can have swelling {bunion}| under skin at big-toe first joint.
Boxers can have damaged pinna {cauliflower ear}|.
Cold damp weather can cause erythema, skin swelling, pruritus, and burning on hands, feet, ears, children faces, women legs, and men hands {erythema pernio} {pernio} {chilblain}|.
Injury, low blood flow, or disease vectors can cause tissue breakdown {gangrene}|.
People can have dead skin at nail edges {hangnail}|.
Heat and humidity can block sweat-gland tubules and cause inflammation {heat rash}| {miliaria} {prickly heat}, making red papules and causing itching.
People can have wounds or diseased tissues {lesion, skin}|.
People can have tissue breakdown {necrosis}|.
White spots {pre-baldness} can be on skin and hair.
People can have tissue breakdown {putrefaction}|.
People can have tonsil inflammation {tonsilitis}|.
People can have vagina inflammation {vaginitis}|.
Blows or allergic reactions can raise skin ridges {welt, skin}| {weal}.
Blows can bruise tissue {contusion}|.
People can have bruises {mouse, under eye} under eye sockets.
People can have black eyes {shiner}.
Pus forms where tissue disintegrates {abscess}|.
People can have pus-filled skin inflammation {pustule}|.
Blisters {water blister} can contain water or pus.
Continuous pressure can cause skin ulcerations {bedsore}| {decubitus ulcer}.
People can have mouth and lip sores {cold sore} {canker sore}| not caused by herpes.
Pus-filled lesions {ulceration}| can have inflammation.
People can have tissue degeneration {dystrophy}|.
Tissue can have too much water {edema}| {dropsy}.
Disease organisms {disease organisms} are bacteria, insects, worms, and viruses.
ATR proteins {protective antigen} are mammalian-cell receptors that have fragments that build membrane pores. Bacteria {anthrax}| toxins can have three proteins. One protein binds to ATR protein protective antigen. Zinc protease {lethal factor} attacks kinase and lyses macrophages. Adenylate cyclases {edema factor} can inhibit phagocytosis and burst macrophages. Lethal factor and edema factor bind to pores.
Yersinia pestis bacteria {bubonic plague}| cause fever, delirium, lymph-node inflammation, and black skin spots.
Bacteria {cryptosporidium} reappeared in Wisconsin [1994].
Bacteria {diphtheria}| can cause weakness, fever, and difficult breathing as air passages fill with membrane.
Gonococcus bacteria cause urethra discharge with painful urination, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting {gonorrhea}| {clap}. Antibiotics can treat gonorrhea.
Bacteria {Legionnaire's disease}| can get in air ducts [1977].
Bacteria can cause protein breakdown to toxic nitrogen compounds {ptomaine poisoning}|.
Children can have joint inflammation, fever, and heart damage {rheumatic fever}|.
Before fourth month of pregnancy, measles {rubella}| {German measles} can cause birth defects.
Bacteria {salmonella}| can be in bad eggs and meat.
Eyeballs can have inflammation {sclerosis}|.
Mycobacteria can cause neck lymph-gland tuberculosis {scrofula} {tuberculous adenitis} in children.
Streptococcus can cause fever and tonsil inflammation {strep throat}|.
Eye oil glands can have inflammation {sty}|.
Spirochete bacteria {syphilis}| can cause nerve-cell damage after entering blood from genitals. Bacteria make chancres 9 to 90 days after contact, cause rashes several weeks to six months later, and then can be latent for 10 to 20 years followed by blindness, heart trouble, and brain damage. Congenital syphilis can cause brain damage. People cannot become immune to syphilis. Syphilis reached Europe in 1495. Wassermann test detects syphilis. Penicillin kills syphilis bacteria.
Bacilli {tetanus, disease}| can cause rigid and spastic muscles {lockjaw}.
Toxins from local bacterial infection can enter blood {toxemia}.
Bacteria can be in uterus [1981] {toxic shock syndrome}|.
Bacteria can affect trachea {trachoma}.
Spirochete bacteria {treponema} can cause syphilis and yaws.
Food or water bacilli can cause red rash, fever, bronchitis, and internal bleeding {typhoid}|.
Bacteria {typhus rickettsia} can cause red spots and prostration {typhus}|.
Bacteria {brucellosis} can be in cattle.
Bacteria {leptospirosis} can come from dogs.
Spirochete bacteria {Lyme disease}| come from mice and deer and are in ticks [began 1982 in USA].
Perhaps, bacteria {measles}| came from cattle rinderpest.
Bacteria {psittacosis} come from chickens and parrots.
Bacteria {smallpox}| come from cowpox or other animal pox. Smallpox is extinct, except in chemical-warfare and research laboratories.
Perhaps, lung bacteria {tuberculosis}| (TB) {consumption} came from cattle. Lymphocytes and epithelioid cells form masses {tubercle, cell}. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis began in 1991.
Bacteria {tularemia} come from rabbits.
Perhaps, bacteria {pertussis} {whooping cough}| came from pigs or dogs.
Monkeys can transmit bacteria {yellow fever}|.
Bacteria can cause tooth decay {caries}|.
Bacteria can cause gum disease {gingivitis}|.
Bacteria can cause bleeding gums {pyorrhea}|.
Bacteria can cause painful gingivitis {trench mouth}|.
Bacteria can infect hair follicles and sebaceous glands and cause black heads, pimples, cysts, and abscesses {acne}|.
Fungus or staphylococcus bacteria can cause hair-follicle inflammation {barber's itch}| {sycosis barbae} {ringworm of beard} {tinea barbae}.
Bacteria can infect hair follicles {furuncle} {boil, follicle}|.
Bacteria can cause ulceration {buruli ulcer}.
Bacteria can cause deep skin swelling and pain {carbuncle}| {boil, skin}.
One or two weeks after cat scratches, Bartonella bacteria can cause skin inflammation {Parinaud oculoglandular disease} {la malade des griffes du chat} {cat-scratch fever}|. Bartonella-related bacteria cause trench fever spread by body lice.
Syphilis lesions are small red raised spots {chancre}| with fluid leading to firm spots {bubo} that heal with no scar.
Bacteria can cause skin inflammation {dermatitis}|.
Bacteria can cause cold sores {fever blister}|.
Bacteria can cause skin sores {leprosy}|.
Released by inflammation or dryness, histamines, opioids, endorphins, prostaglandins, acetylcholine, and serotonin cause itching {pruritis}| {itching} by stimulating C-fiber prurireceptors. Itching C fibers are similar to, but separate from, pain C fibers.
Tick bites transfer bacteria {Rickettsia bacteria}, which make small pink wrist and ankle dots, that then enlarge, go all over body, and bleed {Rocky Mountain spotted fever}|.
Scalp, nose, eyebrow, eyelid, ear, and chest oil-gland inflammation makes red skin with yellowish scales {seborrhea}|.
Chronic Caribbean diseases {yaws}| can cause red pimples.
Fungus {athlete's foot}| can cause skin sores.
Skin inflammations can have crusted itchy sores {eczema}|.
Rye has fungus {ergot disease}.
Fungus can cause infection {mycosis}.
Skin inflammations can have white scaly skin patches {psoriasis}|.
Fungus {ringworm}| can cause itching in small skin rings.
Yeast infections {vaginal infection} can be thick, white, cheesy discharges, with bread-like odors. Trichomonas vaginal infections are thin, foamy, gray discharges, with foul odors, itching, and increased urination. Reduced urine acidity and secretions caused by sexual activity can cause vaginal infections. Treatments are having no sex, douching, using vaginal suppositories, and eating yogurt.
Pubic body lice can cause itching {crabs}.
In domesticated animals, organisms can cause skin damage and fur loss {mange}|.
Feces amoeba can cause diarrhea {amoebic dysentery}|.
Protozoa can cause malaria-like diseases {babesiosis}.
Large-intestine inflammation can cause diarrhea {dysentery}|.
Giardia eukaryotes have two nuclei, have no mitochondria, are parasites, and cause vomiting, flatulence, diarrhea, and belching {giardiasis}. Giardia has 190 coat proteins, which it always makes, but then it destroys all but one by RNA interference and changes the one every ten generations.
Protozoa transmitted by mosquitoes destroys red blood cells {malaria}|. Perhaps, it came from birds, chickens, or ducks. Compounds {artemisinin} {sesquiterpene} from sweet wormwood in north China can kill protozoa. Amorphadiene precursor comes from nine genes {mevalonate pathway}.
Lice transmit organisms that causes fever {trench fever}|.
T. cruzi, T. brucei, and L. major are similar {tritryps parasites}.
Trypanosomes (Trypanosoma cruzi) can be in blood-sucking kissing bugs {Chagas' disease} {Chagas disease}. Trypanosoma cruzi originally came from guinea pigs. T. cruzi, T. brucei, and L. major are similar.
Leishmania major protozoa parasites {leishmaniasis} are in blood-sucking sand flies. T. cruzi, T. brucei, and L. major are similar. Protozoan genome fused two strains several million years ago.
Blood-sucking tsetse flies transmit Trypanosoma brucei protozoa parasites, which cause fever, lethargy, and tremors {sleeping sickness, protozoa}| {African sleeping sickness}.
Trypanosomes {Trypanosoma brucei} cause diseases {trypanosomiasis}|. T. cruzi, T. brucei, and L. major are similar.
Animals can have smallpox, rabies, polio, measles, yellow fever, warts, fever blisters, colds, hog cholera, and foot and mouth disease {viral infection} {virus infection}.
Varicella virus causes fever and itchy red spots {chicken pox}|, first on chest and stomach, and then in clusters on body. Blisters replace red spots, then dry and scab in one week.
Cholera toxin stimulates cAMP and so causes diarrhea {cholera}|, because toxin increases active transport.
Viruses can cause sinus headache, stuffiness, runny nose, cough, and fever {cold, disease}|.
Aedes aegypti mosquito carries virus {dengue} that causes flu and rash.
Animals can have fatal contagious viruses {distemper}|.
Viruses {Ebola virus} can begin in Africa [1977].
People can have flu {grippe}|.
Hendra virus and Nipah virus {henipavirus} are similar.
Viral liver inflammation {hepatitis}| can cause jaundice.
Virus family {herpes}| {herpes simplex} {herpes zoster} causes skin and mucous-membrane blisters.
Pig virus can cause fever, appetite loss, diarrhea, and weakness {hog cholera} {African swine fever}.
Cattle virus can cause non-fatal fever and vesicle eruption near mouth and hooves {foot-and-mouth disease} {hoof-and-mouth disease}|.
HIV-1 and HIV-2 retroviruses {human immunodeficiency virus}| [1983] can cause disease {acquired immunodeficiency syndrome} (AIDS).
virus
In all retroviruses, env gene is for coat proteins, gag gene is for core proteins, and pol gene is for reverse transcriptase and other viral enzymes.
In HIV, nef gene is for high infection. rev gene is for movement of RNA to cytoplasm. tat gene is for HIV-gene expression. vif gene is for higher infection. vpr gene is for transcription activation. vpu gene is for assembly and budding.
drug
Dideoxynucleoside anti-HIV drug {azidothymidine} (AZT) substitutes for thymidine in DNA and so prevents making DNA sequences in high-replication cells, such as retrovirus-containing cells and bone-marrow blood-precursor cells. Protease inhibitors block HIV protease, which cleaves gag protein and pol protein. Adjuvants stimulate immune system, which can help anti-HIV drugs.
Animals can have rabies {hydrophobia}.
Virus from Korea can cause fever {Korean hemorrhagic fever}.
Virus, possibly from rodents, can cause fever {Lassa fever}.
Virus {Marburg virus} reappeared in Angola [2004].
Virus can cause blood-mononucleocyte proliferation {mononucleosis}|.
Virus can cause salivary-gland swelling {mumps}|.
Virus can cause mouth foaming {rabies}|.
Virus can cause fever {Rift Valley fever}.
In electron microscopes, Ruth Bishop saw spherical RNA virus {rotavirus}| in small intestines of children with severe diarrhea [1973]. RNA has 11 segments. Rotavirus looks like wheels, has double-stranded RNA, and has three protein layers. VP7 is outer layer and has VP4 spikes for attachment. Splitting VP4 in host makes VP5 and VP8 for host entry. VP6 is middle layer and is for gene transcription. VP2 is inner layer. VP1 and VP3 enzymes copy virus genes. Rotavirus makes NSP4 toxin.
Virus can affect lungs {severe acute respiratory syndrome} (SARS) [2003].
Virus can cause skin eruptions along nerves {shingles}|.
Virus can cause small hard skin lumps {wart}|.
Virus {West Nile virus} came to USA [1999].
Perhaps, flu virus {influenza}| {flu} came from pigs, ducks, or chickens. RNA virus has eight segments, which can mutate or recombine {reassortment}.
proteins
Flu virus has surface proteins. One protein {hemagglutinin} binds to mammal or bird cell-surface sialic acid to attach virus to cells and allow entry. One protein {neuraminidase} removes sialic acid from newly formed virus surfaces to allow viruses to leave host cells and go to other cells.
proteins: coat
Some genes, such as pore-making viral-coat-protein external part M2e, do not change and might be good for vaccines.
names
Flu-virus names indicate hemagglutinin H and neuraminidase N strains, for example H5N1. These two genes have frequent point mutations that cause genetic drift. Influenza virus can use genes from different animals, resulting in genetic shift.
Birds can have deadly flu [1998] {avian flu} {bird flu} {H5N1 influenza}.
Worm diseases {worm, disease} include ascaris and Baylisascaris procyonis.
Worms {anisakiasis} can be in fish sushi.
Ascaris worms can cause infection {ascariasis}.
Guinea worms can cause infection {dracunculiasis}.
Worms {hookworm, disease}| can have hooks around front.
Burrowing schistosome worms, carried in snails, can infect humans {hydatidosis}.
Worms can affect lymph {lymphatic filariasis}.
Worms can cause disease {onchocerciasis}.
Small intestinal worms {pinworm}| can cause disease.
Worms can destroy eyes {river blindness}|.
Worms, carried in dog feces, can infect human livers {schistosomiasis}.
Intestinal worms {tapeworm, disease}| can cause much eating, to feed worms.
Pig-muscle trichina worms can cause muscle weakness {trichinosis}|.
Pig-muscle worms can cause muscle weakness {trichuriasis}.
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Date Modified: 2022.0225