Lifeline Hospital Newsletters

VITAL ORGAN - BRAIN THE CENTRAL CONTROL

The brain is the center of the nervous system. It is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell

The brain controls the other organ systems of the body, either by activating muscles or by causing secretion of chemicals such as hormones and neurotransmitters. This centralized control allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment.

Despite rapid scientific progress, much about how brains work remains a mystery. The operations of individual neurons and synapses are now understood in considerable detail, but the way they cooperate in ensembles of thousands or millions has been very difficult to decipher.

Brain consist of :

1.The telencephalon (cerebral hemispheres) is the largest portion of the human brain.
This is divided into four lobes. Frontal lobe, Parietal lobe,Occipital lobe,Temporal lobe.
2. The diencephalon (thalamus and hypothalamus),
3. The mesencephalon (midbrain),
4. The cerebellum,
5. The Pons and the medulla oblongata

REGION	FUNCTION	PROBLEMS CAUSED
The Frontal Lobe	How we interact with our surroundings/environment Our judgments on daily routines/ emotions Ourexpressive language/word association/Memory	Paralysis of various body parts Inability to focus on work/ Problems remembering the order of steps involved in completing multi-task movements, such as making coffee or brushing your teeth. Problems interacting with others. Loss of flexibility in thinking / Dwelling on a single thought/ mood changes welling on a single thought. Inability to focus on a task. Mood /Personality changes
Parietal Lobe	Location for visual attention/ touch perception Goal directed voluntary movements/Manipulation of objects. Integration of different senses that allows for understanding a single concept.	Inability to attend to one object at a time/or name an object. (amnesia). Inability to locate words for writing. (agraphia)/reading/ drawing/ doing mathematics Difficulty in distinguishing left from right. Problems with eye and hand coordination
Occipital Lobe	Vision	Problems with visual field cuts. Difficulty locating items in the environment. Problems identifying colours (Colour agnosia)/hallucinations. Visual illusions/Word blindness. Problems recognizing drawn objects. Inability to recognize movement of an object. Problems with reading and writing.
The Temporal Lobe	Hearing Memory Visual perceptions. Categorizing of objects.	Problems recognizing faces. (prosopagnosia). Problems with understanding spoken words. (Wernicke’s Aphasia). Selective attention to what we see or do. Short-term memory loss. Interference with long-term memory. Increase or decrease in sexual behaviour. Right lobe can cause persistent talking. Increased aggressive behaviour.
Brain stem	Breathing Heart Rate Swallowing Reflexes to seeing and hearing. Controls sweating, blood pressure, digestion, temperature (autonomic nervous system). Affects level of alertness. Ability to sleep. Sense of balance.	Decreased ability to breathe and control respirations. Difficulty swallowing food and liquids (dysphagia). Problems with perception of the environment. Problems with balance and movement. Dizziness and nausea (vertigo). Sleeping difficulties (insomnia, sleep apnea).
Cerebellum	Coordination and voluntary movement. Balance and equilibrium. Some memory for reflex motor acts.	Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements. Loss of ability to walk. Inability to reach out and grab objects. Tremors Dizziness Slurred Speech. Inability to make rapid movements.