User:Stonesour1100/Your Brain and Spinal Cord

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The Nervous System
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Your brain and spinal cord fall under a unique category. They fall under your nervous system, but into a subsection of your nervous system called your central nervous system. The nervous system is divided into two main categories, which are the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system, or CNS.

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The CNS
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The Brain

Your brain is responsible for every move you make, other than reflexes which are made by signals sent to your spinal cord via nerves. The brain is divided into four lobes: the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital. They are all really one big part of the brain which is the area of all four lobes called the cerebrum. Each separate lobe is responsible for different things. Your frontal lobe is responsible for planning, organizing, problem solving, selective attention, personality, behavior and emotions, your temporal lobe is responsible for allowing a person to tell one smell from another and one sound from another. They also help in sorting new information and are believed to be responsible for short-term memory. Your parietal lobe has two separate lobes. The left lobe helps you understand spoken and or written language, as your right helps you navigate around places that you are familiar with. An example would be if you damage this lobe you will have troubles finding your way around your own house/neighborhood. The occipital lobe is responsible for things such as your eyesight and even the recognition of colors/shapes.

The brain has a few other important parts such as the medulla (brain stem) and your cerebellum. The cerebellum helps coordinate movement, such as balance and muscle coordination. Damage to this part of the brain could actually interfere with a person's ability to walk, talk, eat, and to perform other self care tasks. The brain stem, which connects to your spinal cord, is responsible for everything that is involuntarily coordinated by your body, in other words things you cannot do just by thinking about it, such as those necessary for survival (breathing, digestion, heart rate, blood pressure) and for arousal (being awake and alert).

The Spinal Cord

Your spinal cord is really a huge part of not only your nervous system but your skeletal system too. It is made up of a series of bones called vertebrae. The spinal cord is only about the thickness of a human finger but is very important. From the brain, down to your pelvis are five different sections of vertebrae. The cervical region has eight vertebrae, which C8 is responsible for your middle finger. The thoracic region has 12 vertebrae, which are mainly responsible for feeling anywhere in your chest. The lumbar region has 5 vertebrae, and takes care of your pubic bones and down your legs. The sacrum has 5 different vertebrae, which is responsible for feeling in your genital region, and the coccyx, or your tail bone, is one vertebrae, and does not really play much of a role to your nervous system. All it really does is leave an area for attachment to bones and tendons.

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The Peripheral Nervous System
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Nerves

Have you ever grabbed onto something hot and immediately pulled away? This is because your nerves sensed the heat and maybe even pain. Your nerves are really separated into four main types; cranial, central, peripheral, and autonomic nerves. Cranial nerves are actually things that are contributed with your brain such as your optic nerve, olfactory nerve, even your sinuses. Central nerves are what we have been learning about, like how they connect to the brain and the spinal cord and are really based on your whole body. Detecting pain would be a central nerve signal from your brain. Peripheral nerves transmit signals from the spinal cord to the rest of the body, or to transmit sensory information from the rest of the body to the spinal cord. For example, to flex a muscle, the brain sends a signal to the spinal cord. Autonomic nerves are deal with things such as your breathing and heartbeat, involuntary things.

Neurons

A neuron is a long, wire in your body that sends out messages through electrical and chemical signals. Sounds like a nerve because it is. A bunch of neurons are actually considered nerves. Chemical signals are sent through a space in between two axons, otherwise known as a synapse. When a signal is sent, it is actually an electrical signal, but once it reaches the synapse it transmits through neurotransmitters, and becomes a chemical signal, and back to electrical. A normal neuron contains a soma (cell body), dendrite, and axon. Dendrites are almost extensions to the cell body to create surface area. An axon poses the same purpose, but once these two are lined up they create that synapse the chemical impulses go through.

Diseases Of The Nervous System
Arachnoid Cyst

Arachnoid cysts are fluid-filled sacs that develop between the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the arachnoid membrane, one of three protective membranes that surround the central nervous system. Arachnoid cysts are filled with the fluid that protects the brain and spinal cord. An arachnoid cyst can either be present at birth or can arise due to injury or disease, and can cause neurological damage, vision loss, or even be a cause of epilepsy. These can come with no symptoms, and can cause pressure on your skull.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is also known as the seizure disorder. Seizures are sudden, uncontrollable events that occur when the brain sends out abnormal electrical signals to the body. A person may feel sudden fear, anger, or panic or may notice changes in the way things looks, sound, smell, or feel before a seizure. After the seizure is over, weakness or confusion are sometimes present. Epilepsy cannot be cured, but can be controlled with medication. It can be diagnosed with an electroencephalogram, or EEG, which is records the brains electrical activity with electrodes attached to the skull. It could be cured with a MRI or a CAT scan too. But the most painful way of diagnosis and probably most accurate would be a lumbar puncture, which they take fluid from your brain or spinal cord and test it for signs of failure.