Neuro Flashcards
The vein that drains the upper eyelid drains directly into what dural venous sinus?
Superior ophthalmic vein drains directly into cavernous sinus
What structure does poliovirus infect?
Alpha motor neurons of the ventral horn of the spinal cord
What visual field defect is associated with Wernicke’s aphasia?
Upper quadrantic anopia because the dorsal radiations are also located in the temporal lobe
What cerebrovascular syndrome involves the hypoglossal nucleus and what artery is affected in this syndrome?
Medial medullary - anterior spinal artery
What are the two free-living amoeba that can infect the brain and what characterizes the populations they infect?
Naegleria fowleri - swimmers/divers
Acanthamoeba - immunosuppressed (HIV, diabetics, alcoholics)
What is torticollis and what drugs is it associated with?
Torticollis - involuntary twisting or deviation of the neck, neck pain, the presence of a sensory tick, and abnormal head posture
Associated with dopamine receptor blocking drugs like antipsychotics (e.g. fluphenazine, haloperidol) and other dopamine antagonists (e.g. metoclopromaide, prochlorperazine)
What are effective pharmacologic treatments for OCD?
- Tricyclic antidepressants (e.g. clomipramine)
2. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (e.g. fluoxetine)
What are the characteristic findings of Friedreich ataxia?
Progressive ataxia and severe dysarthria with onset in childhood; other classic findings include loss of reflexes, spasticity, extensor plantar responses, and impaired vibration and position sense
What are the genetics of Friedreich ataxia?
Autosomal recessive with trinucleotide repeat of GAA expansion
What are symptoms associated with using PCP (phencyclidine)?
Disorientations, detachment, reckless behavior, impaired judgment, distortions of body image
What is the Moro reflex and when does it disappear?
Startling an infant can produce extension and abduction of the arms followed by flexion and adduction of the arms. This is a normal reflex that disappears sometime between 3 and 6 months.
What is the characteristic histologic finding in HIV encephalitis?
Multinucleated giant cells
Where are the opacifications in cataracts located?
Lens
Where are the two places of greatest neuronal degradation in ALS?
- Cerebral cortex (UMN)
2. Spinal cord anterior horn (LMN)
What muscle does the median nerve pass through as it crosses the elbow to the forearm?
Pronator teres
What is progressive supranuclear palsy?
Pathologic changes: widespread neuronal loss and gliosis in subcortical sites with sparing of cerebral and cerebellar cortices
Clinical presentation: Ophthalmoplegia, pseudobulbar palsy (dysarthric speech), axial dystonia, bradykinesia
Give the anatomic location of dopaminergic neurons that are lost in Parkinson’s.
Substantia nigra pars compact in the midbrain - between the cerebral peduncles and the midbrain tegmentum (part of the midbrain that is between the cerebral peduncles and the cerebral aqueduct)
What sort of signal seems to initiate multiple sclerosis?
CD4+ T lymphocytes that react against self myelin antigens secrete cytokines like interferon-gamma to activate macrophages which are then responsible for the demyelination
What is the most common LMN disease in infants and what part of the spinal cord is preferentially affected?
Werdnig Hoffman or infantile muscular spinal atrophy involves atrophy of the anterior or ventral horns
What is the first line treatment for someone with status epilepticus?
Benzodiazepines (e.g. lorazepam or diazepam)
The orbital floor is also the roof of what sinus?
Maxillary
What nerve goes through the foramen ovale?
Mandibular (V3) nerve
What nerve carries general somatic sensation from the anterior 2/3 of the tongue?
Mandibular (V3) nerve
How is herpesvirus transported into neuronal bodies? By what mediator?
Retrograde axonal transmission - mediated by dynein