Brain disorders – the narrow view
Anneli Jefferson in Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?, 2022
In this chapter, the author argue that much of the strong resistance to the brain disorder view relies on a very specific notion of brain disorder which is modelled on infectious diseases such as syphilis. There is a prominent school of thought according to which mental disorders are not brain disorders because they are fundamentally different from paradigmatic brain disorders in a number of ways. One prominent motivation for saying that mental disorders are brain disorders is that this will rehabilitate them as bona fide health conditions. He have introduced and criticized a restrictive notion of brain disorders. It tries to align brain disorders with somatic medicine more generally and with its insistence that the people need to be able to point to specific dysfunction in the brain in order to say that the people are dealing with a brain disorder.
The Brain, the Brainstem and the Critical System
David Lamb in Death, Brain Death and Ethics, 2020
The appeal to continued mechanical ventilation after brain death simply blurs the distinction between the unique and irreplaceable functions of the brain and the non-unique and replaceable functions of other vital subsystems. The foregoing argument constitutes the case for designating the brain as the critical system of the human organism, and brain death as the irreversible destruction of that system. The brain depends on the neurons for its function, and the organism depends on the brain. If the brain is irreversibly destroyed the critical system is destroyed, and despite all other systems being maintained by any manner whatsoever, the organism as an individual functioning entity no longer exists. The respirators and other life-supports which maintain body functioning after lower brain death collectively constitute a sort of artificial lower brain, and development of a more perfect mechanical substitute is merely a technological problem.
Brain Death and Personal Identity
David Lamb in Death, Brain Death and Ethics, 2020
This chapter examines various philosophical accounts of personal identity in the context of brain-related criteria for diagnosing death. Opposition to brain-related criteria for the death of a human being sometimes relies upon speculations regarding either brain transplants or artificial brains. Insistence upon the integrative function of the brainstem in any account of the death of the person avoids any accusation of a dualism between brain and body, which illicitly favours the brain. The concept of death which emphasises the death of the brainstem avoids the dualistic ambiguities inherent in formulations based on loss of hemispheric functions. Brain cells growing in tissue culture have as little relation to human life as the various forms of disembodied consciousness that are cited by dualists. Taking the broadest definition of experience it would appear that this is when brainstem activity has permanently ceased.
Relationships Among Weights of Right and Left Cerebral Hemispheres, and Right Minus Left Brain Weight in Right-and Left-Pawed Male and Female Cats: Importance of Body Weight
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 1993
Interrelationships among the right- (R), left- (L) brain weights, R - L brain weight, and R + L brain weight were studied in adult cats. The raw brain weights and the brain weights relative to body weight (brain weight: body weight) were studied separately. The raw R - L brain weight showed no significant correlation with the raw R + L brain weight. The relative R - L brain weight was found to be positively linearly correlated with the R + L brain weight only in the right-pawed (RH) males. So, the asymmetry in relative brain weight increased with the relative total brain weight only in RH males, suggesting a common factor favoring an asymmetrical brain and an increased body weight (testosterone). The relative K- and L-brain weights were found to be inversely related to the relative R - L brain weight only in the RH female cats with R - L brain weight smaller than zero (testosterone in males, estrogen in females?). It was concluded that hormonal factors influencing the body weight may also influence the asymmetrical brain development in cats
Attributions about persons with brain injury: The effects of knowledge and familiarity about brain injury
Published in Brain Injury, 2013
Lynette Foster, John McClure, John McDowall, Matthew T. Crawford
Primary objective: To determine how visible markers of brain injury interact with people's knowledge about brain injury to influence people's attributions for undesirable behaviours of a person with brain injury. Research design, method and procedures: Scenarios in Experiment 1 (n = 98) and Experiment 2 (n = 148) described an adolescent pictured with or without a head scar, who showed four behavioural changes. Participants rated two causal attributions for each behaviour: brain injury and adolescence. Experiment 1 varied information that the adolescent had a brain injury and Experiment 2 assessed participants’ familiarity with brain injury. Main outcomes and results: The presence of a head scar increased attributions to brain injury. In Experiment 1, participants not informed about the brain injury attributed the behaviours more to adolescence than to brain injury than informed participants. In Experiment 2, in the ‘no scar’ condition participants familiar with brain injury attributed the behaviours more to brain injury than those who were not. Conclusion: Markers of brain injury interact with people's knowledge about brain injury in shaping people's attributions for the behaviour of persons with brain injury. When people attribute sequelae of the brain injury to other causes, this may hinder appropriate treatment.
Nanoneurotherapeutics approach intended for direct nose to brain delivery
Published in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 2015
Shadab Md, Gulam Mustafa, Sanjula Baboota, Javed Ali
Context: Brain disorders remain the world's leading cause of disability, and account for more hospitalizations and prolonged care than almost all other diseases combined. The majority of drugs, proteins and peptides do not readily permeate into brain due to the presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), thus impeding treatment of these conditions. Objective: Attention has turned to developing novel and effective delivery systems to provide good bioavailability in the brain. Methods: Intranasal administration is a non-invasive method of drug delivery that may bypass the BBB, allowing therapeutic substances direct access to the brain. However, intranasal administration produces quite low drug concentrations in the brain due limited nasal mucosal permeability and the harsh nasal cavity environment. Pre-clinical studies using encapsulation of drugs in nanoparticulate systems improved the nose to brain targeting and bioavailability in brain. However, the toxic effects of nanoparticles on brain function are unknown. Result and conclusion: This review highlights the understanding of several brain diseases and the important pathophysiological mechanisms involved. The review discusses the role of nanotherapeutics in treating brain disorders via nose to brain delivery, the mechanisms of drug absorption across nasal mucosa to the brain, strategies to overcome the blood brain barrier, nanoformulation strategies for enhanced brain targeting via nasal route and neurotoxicity issues of nanoparticles.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Nervous System
- Organ