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Meet Shane, aka laughingatmynightmare. He’s awesome, hilarious, and inspirational. You go, Shane.
![zygoma:
The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.
A corpus callosotomy, sometimes called split-brain surgery, may be performed in people with the most extreme and uncontrollable forms of epilepsy, when frequent seizures affect both sides of the brain. A serious type of seizure — called a drop attack — often results in the person having sudden falls with a high risk of injury. In addition, people considered for corpus callosotomy do not experience improvement after receiving treatment with anti-seizure medications.
Candidates for corpus callosotomy undergo an extensive pre-surgery evaluation — including seizure monitoring, electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET). These tests help the doctor pinpoint where the seizures begin and how they spread in the brain. It also helps the doctor determine if a corpus callosotomy is an appropriate treatment.
A corpus callosotomy requires exposing the brain using a procedure called a craniotomy. After the patient is put to sleep with anesthesia, the surgeon makes an incision in the scalp, removes a piece of bone and pulls back a section of the dura, the tough membrane that covers the brain. This creates a “window” in which the surgeon inserts special instruments for disconnecting the corpus callosum. The surgeon gently separates the hemispheres to access the corpus callosum. Surgical microscopes are used to give the surgeon a magnified view of brain structures.
In some cases, a corpus callosotomy is done in two stages. In the first operation, the front two-thirds of the structure is cut, but the back section is preserved. This allows the hemispheres to continue sharing visual information. If this does not control the serious seizures, the remainder of the corpus callosum can be cut in a second operation. After the corpus callosum is cut, the dura and bone are fixed back into place, and the scalp is closed using stitches or staples.
The patient generally stays in the hospital for two to four days. Most people having a corpus callosotomy will be able to return to their normal activities, including work or school, in six to eight weeks after surgery. The hair over the incision will grow back and hide the surgical scar. The person will continue taking anti-seizure drugs. [x]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/4381643151e02a19984c79cf57e0f83c/tumblr_mkwn31LF1X1qjmj78o1_500.jpg)
The corpus callosum is a band of nerve fibers located deep in the brain that connects the two halves (hemispheres) of the brain. It helps the hemispheres share information, but it also contributes to the spread of seizure impulses from one side of the brain to the other. A corpus callosotomy is an operation that severs (cuts) the corpus callosum, interrupting the spread of seizures from hemisphere to hemisphere. Seizures generally do not completely stop after this procedure (they continue on the side of the brain in which they originate). However, the seizures usually become less severe, as they cannot spread to the opposite side of the brain.
A corpus callosotomy, sometimes called split-brain surgery, may be performed in people with the most extreme and uncontrollable forms of epilepsy, when frequent seizures affect both sides of the brain. A serious type of seizure — called a drop attack — often results in the person having sudden falls with a high risk of injury. In addition, people considered for corpus callosotomy do not experience improvement after receiving treatment with anti-seizure medications.
Candidates for corpus callosotomy undergo an extensive pre-surgery evaluation — including seizure monitoring, electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET). These tests help the doctor pinpoint where the seizures begin and how they spread in the brain. It also helps the doctor determine if a corpus callosotomy is an appropriate treatment.
A corpus callosotomy requires exposing the brain using a procedure called a craniotomy. After the patient is put to sleep with anesthesia, the surgeon makes an incision in the scalp, removes a piece of bone and pulls back a section of the dura, the tough membrane that covers the brain. This creates a “window” in which the surgeon inserts special instruments for disconnecting the corpus callosum. The surgeon gently separates the hemispheres to access the corpus callosum. Surgical microscopes are used to give the surgeon a magnified view of brain structures.
In some cases, a corpus callosotomy is done in two stages. In the first operation, the front two-thirds of the structure is cut, but the back section is preserved. This allows the hemispheres to continue sharing visual information. If this does not control the serious seizures, the remainder of the corpus callosum can be cut in a second operation. After the corpus callosum is cut, the dura and bone are fixed back into place, and the scalp is closed using stitches or staples.
The patient generally stays in the hospital for two to four days. Most people having a corpus callosotomy will be able to return to their normal activities, including work or school, in six to eight weeks after surgery. The hair over the incision will grow back and hide the surgical scar. The person will continue taking anti-seizure drugs. [x]
So some of you may already know by now, but I’m a photographer.
I made a facebook page so, if you’re into photography, go check it out!
Sorry about the shameless self promotion!
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, primarily affecting your heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle). The left ventricle becomes enlarged (dilated) and can’t pump blood to your body with as much force as a healthy heart can.
Dilated cardiomyopathy doesn’t necessarily cause symptoms, but for some people the disease is life-threatening. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a common cause of heart failure, the inability of the heart to supply the body’s tissue and organs with enough blood. Dilated cardiomyopathy may also cause irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia), blood clots or sudden death.
Dilated cardiomyopathy may affect people of all ages, including infants and children. Treatments may be available for the underlying cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, or to improve blood flow and reduce symptoms.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rapidly progressive form of muscular dystrophy that occurs primarily in boys. It is caused by an alteration (mutation) in a gene, called the DMD gene that can be inherited in families in an X-linked recessive fashion, but it often occurs in people from families without a known family history of the condition. Individuals who have DMD have progressive loss of muscle function and weakness, which begins in the lower limbs. The DMD gene is the second largest gene to date, which encodes the muscle protein, dystrophin. Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy do not make the dystrophin protein in their muscles.
Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic diseases in which muscle fibers are unusually susceptible to damage. These damaged muscles become progressively weaker. Most people who have muscular dystrophy will eventually need to use a wheelchair.
There are many different kinds of muscular dystrophy. Symptoms of the most common variety begin in childhood, primarily in boys. Other types of muscular dystrophy don’t surface until adulthood.
People who have muscular dystrophy may have trouble breathing or swallowing. Their limbs may also draw inward and become fixed in that position — a problem called contracture. Some varieties of the disease can also affect the heart and other organs.
While there is no cure for muscular dystrophy, medications and therapy can slow the course of the disease.
Aging tall
As a child, the parental mantra was “Eat your vegetables. They’ll make you big and strong,” which seemed reasonably plausible. It was something you could swallow with a grain of salt, and a milkshake.
Turns out, though, your eating (and lifestyle) habits in adulthood may influence your height as well. Or more specifically, how long you remain “long.”
A massive longitudinal study of 17,708 adults (beginning at age 45) by researchers at the University of Southern California found that healthy habits in later years influence the rate of shrinkage in those later years.
For younger study participants who had not yet begun the inevitable shrinking with age, it was easy for scientists to accurately measure height. For older participants, the researchers compared the relationship between current height and length of limbs, which do not shrink with age.
They found a strong relationship between height loss and indicators of adult health, not least among them cognitive skills. Participants who had lost more height more rapidly over time were also more likely to perform poorly on standard tests of cognition, such as short-term memory, basic arithmetic and awareness of the date.
Urban dwellers lost less height in adulthood than did rural residents. Education was also a key measure. The more schooling, the less height loss. Completing high school, for example, translated into one less centimeter of shrinkage over time.
“Height has been recognized as an acceptable proxy for childhood health conditions, but there are complications there,” said economist and co-investigator Geert Ridder. “Some of adult health might be determined by childhood circumstances, but people shrink differentially, and that shrinkage is also a measure of adult health conditions.”
