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Human physiology, hazards and health risks
Published in Stephen Battersby, Clay's Handbook of Environmental Health, 2016
David J. Baker, Naima Bradley, Alec Dobney, Virginia Murray, Jill R. Meara, John O’Hagan, Neil P. McColl, Caryn L. Cox
Acute meningitis is inflammation of the lining of the brain (i.e. meninges), caused by a variety of infectious and non-infectious agents. The most common infectious causes are bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths. The most common mechanism through which these causative organisms invade the brain is by crossing the blood–brain barrier after establishing a haematogenous focus of infection (i.e. viraemia/bacteriaemia). Incubation periods vary with the causative organism and the clinical illness presents as a syndrome of meningeal symptoms occurring over the course of hours to up to several days. Diagnosis is by isolating the organism from blood or cerebrospinal fluid and also by serological test and radio-imaging scans.
Electroencephalogram
Published in Kayvan Najarian, Robert Splinter, Biomedical Signal and Image Processing, 2016
Kayvan Najarian, Robert Splinter
Another common use of EEG is the diagnosis of meningitis. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes that surround the brain, which may sometime cause inflammation of the brain itself. Meningitis will typically result in capricious bursts of electric potentials at high frequency from randomized locations in the cortex that are reflected in the EEG. With an infection of the meninges, which surrounds the cortex, a disturbance of the depolarization of the gray matter neurons can be expected The result is usually wave trains of 1–1.5 Hz. The meningitis provokes the cortex, but not in one place only. The infection-excited wave trains may also randomly shift in the spatial recordings.
NonInvasive Monitoring of Vital Signs and Traumatic Brain Injuries
Published in Alexander D. Poularikas, Stergios Stergiopoulos, Advanced Signal Processing, 2017
Stergios Stergiopoulos, Andreas Freibert, Jason Zhang, Dimitrios Hatzinakos
ICP monitoring is a critically important diagnostic tool for trauma patients and patients undergoing neurosurgery. Elevated ICP is a pathological state and is an indicator of serious neurological damage and illness. Several pathological conditions and nonvisible head injuries cause the volume within the skull to increase, but the inability of the skull to expand significantly causes the ICP to increase exponentially [3]. The primary concern caused by increased ICP is that the brain will become herniated. Brain herniation is usually the result of cerebral edema, which is the medical term for the condition when the brain is swollen and edema is usually caused by head injury. This will result in progressive damage to the brain and can ultimately be fatal. Other metabolic, traumatic, infectious conditions such as hypoxia, ischemia, brain hemorrhage, tumor and meningitis may all cause elevated ICP. Hypoxia occurs when there is a lack of oxygen supplied to the brain, usually due to cardiac arrest. Hypoxia often leads to brain edema. Ischemia is the state in which there is a deprivation of blood flow to the brain. Ischemia often leads to stroke because blood flow is interrupted or blocked, thus glucose and oxygen cannot nourish the brain. Ischemia is usually caused by formation of a blood clot (thrombus) and can lead to the death of all or parts of the brain (cerebral infarction). Intracerebral hemorrhage is an increase in blood volume within the cranium. Increased blood flow is positively correlated with an increase in ICP. The main cause of intracerebral hemorrhage is a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. Ruptured blood vessels can be the result of a blow to the head, but is usually due to hypertension. Ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes can lead to variations in the ICP [4]. The added volume of a brain tumor can also cause an increase in ICP. In fact, an increase in ICP that occurs without any head injury is often a sign of the presence of a brain tumor. Meningitis is a bacterial or viral infection of the meninges, a three-layer membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis causes the meninges to swell, press against the skull and push down on the brain. As a result, intense pressure buildup occurs, and a rise in ICP is notable. If not treated rapidly, meningitis can lead to herniation.
Investigation of mechanistic interactions between Rifampicin and bovine serum albumin in the presence of different surfactants
Published in Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology, 2023
Sampat R. Shingda, Parvez S. Ali, Nilesh V. Gandhare, Naziyanaz B. Pathan, Nizamul H. Ansari
Rifampicin (Figure 1) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in various gram-positive cocci, Mycobacteria, Clostridium difficle, and selected gram-negative organisms, namely Neisseria meningitides, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Haemophilus influenzae. It has several application in the treatment of active or suppressed tuberculosis, leprosy, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, brain abscess, meningitis, and implant infections in combinations with other antimicrobial agents to prevent the drug resistance. It is also beneficial as a second-line agent for the treatment of cholestatic pruritis.[1–3] The mode of antimicrobial action of Rifampicin is by inhibition of DNA dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP) by sterically hindering the track of the lengthening RNA at the 5′ end and by lessening the affinity of the RNAP for short RNA transcripts.[4–6] At present, there is less information available on the pharmacokinetics properties and pharmacodynamics parameters of Rifampicin and studies are going on for the improvement. Mechanistic interaction of drugs with serum albumin protein is a vital feature affecting the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics parameters. Human Serum albumin (HSA) is the most ample protein in the blood circulatory system playing indispensable roles in drug absorption, transportation, distribution, and excretion.[7,8]
Occupational CNS aspergillosis in an immunocompetent individual a diagnostic challange
Published in Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2018
Parul Punia, Nidhi Goel, Ishwar Singh, Uma Chaudhary
There have been very few case reports of IA without any primary source of infection with our reported case contributing to the list. The portal of entry of aspergillus spp. is via inhalation of spores. In the immunosupperesed individuals, the primary site of infection is the lungs and in the immunocompetent individuals, the primary site involved is the paranasal sinuses. After the primary infection, the fate depends on the immune status of the individual. If the host defenses are compromised, CNS gets involved secondarily through hematogenous spread or through direct invasion from adjacent structures leading to formation of granuloma, brain abscess or meningitis.8 Though this patient gives history of working in area with extensive construction which may explain the source of infection to be inhalation of conidia but he had no primary foci in the lungs or paranasal sinuses.
Performance evaluation of automated brain tumor detection systems with expert delineations and interobserver variability analysis in diseased patients on magnetic resonance imaging
Published in Applied Artificial Intelligence, 2018
Ritu Agrawal, Manisha Sharma, Bikesh Kumar Singh
Brain diseases such as severe meningitis, stroke, later stages of Alzheimer’s illness, and brain malignancy are among the fundamental causes of death around the globe. Among these life-threatening diseases, cancer is one of the main causes of death during recent years. According to World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, approximately 8.8 million deaths in the globe is due to cancer, which is approximately 15% of total deaths worldwide (World health organization cancer factsheets online). Deaths due to cancer are anticipated to increment later on, with an expected value of 11 million people in the year 2030 (World health organization cancer factsheets online). According to the statistics published by the National Brain Tumor Society, the 5-year endurance rate for the individuals with brain cancer is 34% and 36% for men and women, respectiviely (brain tumor information online). Therefore, early detection plays vital role in treatment planning of this disease (Jaya and Thanushkodi 2011). Brain tumors are predominantly categorized as benign or malignant based on their development pattern. Benign tumors develop slowly and do not proliferate to the enclosing tissues while malignant tumors are dangerous cancerous tumors which expands fast, are aggressive, and may invade nearby organs (Arakeri and Reddy 2015).