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Brain and Nervous System

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Fact File

Epilepsy

Health: Library - 04 June 2008
Epilepsy means recurring seizures, which are a result of changes in electrical activity in the brain. The condition can't be cured, but seizures can usually be controlled by medication.

Tags: epilepsy, brain-and-nervous-system

Fact File

Motor neurone disease

Health: Library - 06 May 2008
Motor neurone disease is caused by degeneration of the nerves that relay signals to muscles. It eventually results in paralysis. Why the nerve damage occurs is one of the great mysteries of modern medicine.

Tags: brain-and-nervous-system, motor-neurone-disease

Fact File

Brain tumours

Health: Library - 22 April 2008
Brain tumours can be either malignant (cancerous) or benign (non-cancerous). Treatment depends on the type of tumour, whether it's a primary or secondary, its size and location in the brain, and the person's age and fitness.

Tags: cancer, brain-and-nervous-system, brain-tumor

Fact File

Stroke

Health: Library - 22 August 2002
A stroke occurs when an artery in or near the brain is either blocked - cutting blood supply to brain tissue - or bursts, causing a bleed.

Tags: stroke, older-people, brain-and-nervous-system

Good fish, bad fish

Health: The Pulse - 13 November 2008
Good fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Bad fish are contaminated with industrial pollutants. Choice magazine rates our common table species.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, diet-and-nutrition, pregnancy-and-childbirth, brain-and-nervous-system

Febrile seizures in kids

Health Minutes - 22 September 2008
Febrile seizures in kids are usually thought to be harmless. A Danish study has investigated what happens in the long term.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, brain-and-nervous-system

Life of the mind

Health: Your Stories - 26 August 2008
Shiannon Corcoran had a brain tumour removed 11 years ago. Her physical health is still 'less than perfect', but she's discovered her own persistence and creativity.

Tags: depression, fertility-and-infertility, brain-and-nervous-system, brain-tumor

Sleepwalking: the twilight zone

Health: The Pulse - 03 July 2008
Don't be alarmed by the glassy stare: sleepwalking is simply due to a disruption to sleep patterns, say Canadian researchers.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, sleep-disorders, sleep, brain-and-nervous-system

Midlife brain crisis? No way!

Health: Healthy Living - 17 June 2008
It's not all downhill in the brain department as you age. Some things actually improve!

Tags: older-people, brain-and-nervous-system

Mate, you're early

Health: The Pulse - 12 June 2008
Premature ejaculation is the most common of all male sexual complaints. Most men are loath to talk about it, but it can be effectively treated.

Tags: mens-health, sexual-health, brain-and-nervous-system, relationships

Balancing act

Health: Your Stories - 28 February 2008
Joan Purvis couldn't walk in a straight line, but she wasn't drunk. She had an Arnold-Chiari malformation, a congenital brain defect that needed surgery.

Tags: medical-procedures, brain-and-nervous-system

Vaccine preservative: no brain damage

Health Minutes - 06 November 2007
Arguments that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines called thiomersal causes brain damage have been put to rest by a large study.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, vaccines-and-immunity, brain-and-nervous-system

Bell's Palsy: which treatment?

Health Minutes - 06 November 2007
A study has compared treatments for Bell's Palsy, a paralysis of facial muscles.

Tags: pharmaceuticals, brain-and-nervous-system

Amalgam in teeth is safe

Health Minutes - 09 October 2007
Amalgam - used to fill teeth - has been blamed for fatigue and brain damage in children. But two recent studies should reassure parents of children needing fillings.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, dental, brain-and-nervous-system

Medication overuse headaches

Health Minutes - 28 August 2007
One in three people with daily headaches may have so-called medication overuse headaches - which are due to the very pain relievers they take to kill the pain.

Tags: pain, pharmaceuticals, brain-and-nervous-system

Lifestyle and dementia risk

Health Minutes - 01 August 2007
Taking up gardening, walking daily and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce your risk of dementia, while psychological distress or having stiff lungs seem to have the opposite effect.

Tags: alzheimers-and-dementia, older-people, brain-and-nervous-system

Sibling ranking and IQ

Health Minutes - 25 July 2007
First born children have a higher IQ than their siblings, though the reason isn't clear.

Tags: family-and-children, child-health-and-behaviour, brain-and-nervous-system

Breast feeding and childhood intelligence

Health Minutes - 24 April 2007
There've been suggestions of a link between breast feeding and childhood intelligence. They key to it all may be the mother's IQ.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, diet-and-nutrition, brain-and-nervous-system, breastfeeding

Online treatment for depression

Health Minutes - 24 April 2007
Researchers at the Australian National University have created a website called MoodGym which delivers depression treatment online - research shows it works.

Tags: depression, mental-health, brain-and-nervous-system, self-help

Nerve stimulation for headache

Health Minutes - 10 April 2007
Headache specialists have tested a technique called occipital nerve stimulation on people with cluster headache with positive results.

Tags: medical-procedures, brain-and-nervous-system, headache

Alzheimer's - genes or environment?

Health Minutes - 03 April 2007
Studies from Sweden comparing identical and non identical twins suggest that about 70 per cent of Alzheimer's disease can be blamed on genes.

Tags: alzheimers-and-dementia, older-people, genetics, brain-and-nervous-system

Explanation for febrile seizures?

Health Minutes - 20 February 2007
A study in animals has suggested an explanation for febrile seizures and a quick way of treating them - air enriched with carbon dioxide.

Tags: infant-health, epilepsy, environmental-health, brain-and-nervous-system

Amalgam in teeth is safe

Health Minutes - 08 January 2007
Amalgam - used to fill teeth - has been blamed for fatigue and brain damage in children. But two recent studies should reassure parents of children needing fillings.

Tags: child-health-and-behaviour, dental, brain-and-nervous-system

The brain asleep

Health Minutes - 12 December 2006
Experiments using stimulation of parts of the brain suggests that during sleep, many areas of the brain are active but aren't communicating with each other.

Tags: sleep-disorders, brain-and-nervous-system

Acupuncture and tension headache

Health Minutes - 12 December 2006
Acupuncture will help reduce tension headaches, according to a recent study - it's no better than pretend acupuncture but better than doing nothing at all.

Tags: alternative-medicine, acupuncture-and-chinese-medicine, pain, brain-and-nervous-system

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