The Motor Cortex

Neurological disabilities include a wide range of disorders, such as epilepsy, learning disabilities, neuromuscular disorders, autism, ADD, brain tumors, and cerebral palsy, just to name a few. Some neurological conditions are congenital, emerging before birth.

Today we will cover how the brain is actually affected in cerebral palsy to understand the symptoms that the each patient who is diagnosed with it is going through and each patient is individual with symptoms and the intensity.

Cerebral palsy is generally caused by damage to parts of the brain, specifically, the parts of the brain that control movement. The following types of brain damage can lead to developmental issues, movement problems, and issues with swallowing, hearing, and eye movement.  Those areas of the brain dealing with movement are the cerebellum that is responsible for our balance and the motor cortex in the cerebrum.

How the cerebellum works that is affected in Cerebral Palsy-CP:

Maintenance of balance and posture. The cerebellum is important for making postural adjustments in order to maintain balance. Through its input from vestibular receptors and proprioceptors, it modulates commands to motor neurons to compensate for shifts in body position or changes in load upon muscles.

Although the cerebellum accounts for approximately 10% of the brain’s volume, it contains over 50% of the total number of neurons in the brain. Historically, the cerebellum has been considered a motor structure, because cerebellar damage leads to impairments in motor control and posture and because the majority of the cerebellum’s outputs are to parts of the motor system. Motor commands are not initiated in the cerebellum; rather, the cerebellum modifies the motor commands of the descending pathways to make movements more adaptive and accurate. The cerebellum is involved in the following functions:

Maintenance of balance and posture but more function is to it. The cerebellum is important for making postural adjustments in order to maintain balance. Through its input from vestibular receptors and proprioceptors, it modulates commands to motor neurons to compensate for shifts in body position or changes in load upon muscles. Patients with cerebellar damage suffer from balance disorders, and they often develop stereotyped postural strategies to compensate for this problem (e.g., a wide-based stance).

Coordination of voluntary movements. Most movements are composed of a number of different muscle groups acting together in a temporally coordinated fashion. One major function of the cerebellum is to coordinate the timing and force of these different muscle groups to produce fluid limb or body movements.

Motor learning. The cerebellum is important for motor learning. The cerebellum plays a major role in adapting and fine-tuning motor programs to make accurate movements through a trial-and-error process (e.g., learning to hit a baseball).

Cognitive functions. Although the cerebellum is most understood in terms of its contributions to motor control, it is also involved in certain cognitive functions, such as language. Thus, like the basal ganglia, the cerebellum is historically considered as part of the motor system, but its functions extend beyond motor control in ways that are not yet well understood.

How the Motor Cortex works, that is affected in Cerebral Palsy-CP:

The motor cortex is an area within the brain’s cerebral cortex that is involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements. The motor cortex can be divided into the primary motor cortex and the nonprimary motor cortex.

The primary motor cortex is critical for initiating motor movements. The nonprimary motor cortex, further divided into other areas such as the premotor and supplementary cortex, is involved with planning, initiating, and selecting the correct movement.

Both hemispheres have a motor cortex, with each side controlling muscles on the opposite side of the body (i.e., the left hemisphere controls muscles on the right side of the body).

CP is caused by injuries or abnormalities of the brain.

Most of these problems occur as the baby grows in the womb. But they can happen at any time during the first 2 years of life, while the baby’s brain is still developing.

In some people with cerebral palsy, parts of the brain are injured due to a low level of oxygen (hypoxia) in those areas. It is not known why this occurs.

Premature infants have a slightly higher risk of developing CP.

Cerebral palsy (CP) refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. CP is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance. The term cerebral refers to the brain; palsy refers to the loss or impairment of motor function.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. CP is the most common motor disability in childhood. Cerebral means having to do with the brain. Palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscles.

In some cases, the areas of the brain involved in muscle movement do not develop as expected during fetal growth. In others, the damage is a result of injury to the brain either before, during, or after birth. In either case, the damage is not reversible and the disabilities that result are permanent.

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect movement and muscle tone or posture. It’s caused by damage that occurs to the immature, developing brain, most often before birth.

Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years. In general, cerebral palsy causes impaired movement associated with exaggerated reflexes, floppiness or spasticity of the limbs and trunk, unusual posture, involuntary movements, unsteady walking, or some combination of these.

People with cerebral palsy can have problems swallowing and commonly have eye muscle imbalance, in which the eyes don’t focus on the same object. They also might have reduced range of motion at various joints of their bodies due to muscle stiffness.

The cause of cerebral palsy and its effect on function vary greatly. Some people with cerebral palsy can walk; others need assistance. Some people have intellectual disabilities, but others do not. Epilepsy, blindness or deafness also might be present. Cerebral palsy is a lifelong disorder. There is no cure, but treatments can help improve function.

CP is the leading cause of childhood disabilities in the U.S., but it doesn’t always cause profound disabilities. Someone with mild CP may not need any assistance or may have slight problems, such as difficulty walking, while a person with severe CP might need special equipment or lifelong care. The disorder isn’t progressive, meaning it doesn’t get worse over time and some symptoms may even change as the child gets older.

There is no cure for cerebral palsy, but supportive treatments, medications, and surgery can help many individuals improve their motor skills and ability to communicate with the world.

“Did you know that our brains are much more efficient than computers in every way? Or that our brains have 100,000 miles of blood vessels, which is enough to circle the earth four times?

“The brain is the most complex thing in the universe,” says neurologist Marwan Sabbagh, MD. “On one level, it’s a softball-sized collection of cells, chemical and connective tissue and on another level, it’s the totality of all things.”

He shares 3 interesting facts of the brain:

1. The human brain is the only object of any kind that can contemplate itself.
2. The brain only feels pleasure and there are no pain receptors in the brain. Migraine and headache pain arise in the meninges, or the brain’s covering.
3. The brain runs on electricity, producing enough power to light a 25 watt bulb.”

Cleveland Clinic (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/brain-teasers-infographic/)

“Your body produces C-reactive protein, or CRP, when something is starting to become inflamed. So if a doctor finds CRP in your blood, which they can do through a test, they’ll know there’s inflammation happening somewhere in your body.

If your arteries are inflamed, you have a greater risk of:  Heart disease, Heart attack, Stroke & Peripheral arterial disease.

CRP seems to predict the chance of having cardiovascular problems at least as well as cholesterol levels. A recent study found that elevated levels of C-reactive protein were associated with three-times-greater risk of a heart attack.”

Medically Reviewed by James Beckerman, MD, FACC on August 19, 2022

WEB MD (https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-disease-c-reactive-protein-crp-testing)

“Gardening has many health benefits. It allows you to get outside, get active, and sit less, which might help to reduce stress,” says Dr. Philip Smith, a life-long gardener who oversees obesity research at NIH. “Gardening can also help to improve your diet if you eat more fruits and vegetables. They’re especially delicious, with a more intense flavor, when ripe and freshly picked.”

News in Health NIH (https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2016/04/plants-partners-health)

“Vegetables and fruits are an important part of a healthy diet, and variety is as important as quantity.  No single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you need to be healthy. Eat plenty every day.  At least nine different families of fruits and vegetables exist, each with potentially hundreds of different plant compounds that are beneficial to health. Eat a variety of types and colors of produce in order to give your body the mix of nutrients it needs. This not only ensures a greater diversity of beneficial plant chemicals but also creates eye-appealing meals.”

Harvard T.H. Chain (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/)

You say WHY?

Let’s look at the health aspects of them for our body:

1- They are high in vitamins, minerals, some with antitoxins (helping the immune system) and have anti-inflammatory effects that can help you build up to your optimal health.  Some fruits have soluble fiber in them that slows down the breakdown of complex carbohydrates and helps reduce blood sugar.

2- Fruit taken in proper portions (moderate amts.) can even help lower blood cholesterol.

3- Soluble fiber is not just in rye, barley, oats, and vegetables but in fruits as well.  Insoluble fiber can’t be absorbed or digested by the human body but can still provide the body with advantages like reducing hunger, stimulates regular bowel movements, and can be found in fruits as well as vegetables, seeds whole wheat bread and other foods.

Let’s look at what you look for in the food you put in your body:

One of my healthy eating rules is know what the food’s makeup is before eating it; yes this includes calories, fat, sugars, carbs and sodium but knowing the energy density in the foods you eat is very important too.  Foods with the lowest density are foods that help curb your appetite that can help you maintain or even lose weight.

The lowest energy density food group contains healthy foods like most vegetables and fruits with based broth soups & skim milk.  The highest density groups are cookies, chips, nuts, full-fat condiments, chocolate and butter (not the best nutritional foods to be eating regularly).  Remember, if you’re trying to be healthy or even losing weight than know fruits are high glycemic foods.  If you eat too much fruit at one time it will result in high glycemic amounts in your body at that one time putting you at risk for fat storage=weight gain.

You see, digestion of the foods whether calories, carbohydrates, sugars, or some fats get broken down into simple or complex sugar molecules=glucose or fructose.  One of the body’s major fuels for energy so we can function with working properly & survive is glucose (the same concept like fuel for a car=gas=it operates).

The body utilizes glucose after digestion takes place in the stomach where the foods break down into simple and complex sugars than transferred into our bloodstream as our active fuel for energy (like our car’s tank sending gas to the engine to be able to run).  Our fuel, being the glucose, then gets sent to all our tissues and into our cells but only for the amount they need at that time (sort of like the car in filling the gas tank to full).  When our body reaches full for all energy needed to all areas of the body at that time if there is extra un-needed glucose in the bloodstream it has to go somewhere and the body stores it=fat storage=weight gain.  In the diabetic if no insulin too pass the sugar over through the cell membrane in the red blood cell (RBC) or if all extra sugar that can go into RBCs is full than the sugar has to to go somewhere.

Take the car, the storage reservoir is the gas tank it only stores in the tank, but if the tank reaches full with gas (its energy) it would just overflow as opposed to the human body with extra glucose in the bloodstream=our extra fuel which doesn’t overflow by leaving our body somehow but gets stored in our body as fat storage. Thus, when it’s needed (glucose) it will be released back in the bloodstream.  If you more frequently have in your body more overflow of glucose versus the need for it you’ll have more fat storage occuring as opposed to energy utilized by the body.  This causes you to be at a higher risk of becoming overweight to obese (that’s the logic in eating 6 small low glycemic meals a day which prevents this from happening).

To prevent a high risk of becoming overweight to obese stay off of 3 large meals/day and high sugar snacks during the day.  Also, don’t have constant healthy frequent high glycemic meals day in and day out especially with no activity/exercise other than your regular activities of daily living, which doesn’t count as exercise.

Remember, eat fruits in moderation not in excess; including the size of your meals (don’t allow the size of the plate greater than 9” including NO second helpings).   The key to eating healthy is to include all 4 food groups (Meats/Fishes, Vegetables, Fruits, and Dairy) and eat your first meal for the day within 30 minutes.  You can also learn exercise that fits into your lifestyle (ranging from walking fast 30 minutes for 2 to 3 times a week to daily workouts) with knowing healthy habits to add in your life to stay or get within your ideal weight.  The ending result is you feel better, look better, and have higher odds you’ll live a longer life that allows more excitement in it due to being in better shape.  Good luck in getting yourself on the right track of health independently.

“In digestion there are 4 major organs that are involved in digestion process.  This entails the stomach, small intestines, liver and the pancreas.

The pancreas is quite high up in your abdomen. It lies across your body where your ribs meet at the bottom of your breastbone, just behind your stomach. It is about 6 inches (15 centimetres) long and shaped like a leaf. The pancreas has 3 parts the head, body and tail.

The pancreas is a large gland that makes digestive juices and hormones, including insulin. The digestive juices flow down a tube (pancreatic duct) into the duodenum. The duodenum is the first part of the small bowel and is joined to the stomach.

Another tube (duct) joins the duodenum. The bile duct comes down from the gallbladder and liver and joins the duodenum right next to the pancreatic duct. The place where the two ducts join and meet the bowel is called the ampulla of Vater.”

Cancer Research UK (https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/pancreatic-cancer/about)

How our stomach including, gallbladder, pancreas and liver work with digestion:

During digestion of a meal, smooth muscles in the walls of the gallbladder contract to push bile into the bile ducts that lead to the duodenum. Once in the duodenum, bile helps with the digestion of fats.  Gallbladder: A pear-shaped reservoir located just under the liver that receives and stores bile made in the liver. The gallbladder sends this stored bile into the small intestine to aid in the digestion of food.

The stomach, gallbladder, and pancreas and liver are four of the most important digestive organs in the human body.

These organs work together to produce and store secretions that digest our food into its most basic building blocks. Once digested, these small molecules pass into our intestines to be absorbed and to feed our body’s tissues. These are major organs that actually produce hormones for food digestion or store the hormones for digestion that help to coordinate their functions and even lead to the feeling of fullness after consuming a meal since it allows the food to get in smaller pieces to moves into the large intestines where the stool forms into a more solid form to evacuate via our rectum to the anus.

The common bile duct is formed by the union of the common hepatic and the cystic ducts. It leads to the duodenum, where a sphincter muscle guards its exit. This sphincter normally remains contracted until the bile is needed, so that bile collects in the common bile duct and backs up to the cystic duct. When this happens, the bile flows into the gallbladder and is stored there.

Yes the gallbladder stores bile produced by the liver so that there is a sufficient supply of bile on hand to digest fats at any given time.  Remember this, that the pancreas stores the pancreatic juice produced by its own exocrine glands so that it is prepared to digest foods at all times but passes the bile to the gallbladder which reaches the small intestines via the common bile duct (between the gallbladder and the duodenum). The small intestine is made up of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. In living humans, the small intestine alone measures about 6 to 7 meters long.   After death, this length can increase by up to half. It has a surface area of over 200 meters.

The pancreas is a large gland that makes digestive juices and hormones, including insulin. The digestive juices flow down a tube (pancreatic duct) into the duodenum. The duodenum is the first part of the small bowel and is joined to the stomach.

Another tube (duct) joins the duodenum. The bile duct comes down from the gallbladder and liver and joins the duodenum right next to the pancreatic duct. The place where the two ducts join and meet the bowel is called the ampulla of Vater.

So there is a relation between digestion in 5 major areas the stomach to the intestines, the gallbladder and theliver with the pancreas. 

How does cancer relate to these  areas?

Well if your diagnosed with intestinal blockage that shows cancer cells you need to know where its located.  If cancer cells where questionable by the doctor in certain tests done in the stomach or small intestines.  You need to find out where the location is and if your told the small intestines find out if the MD questions the cancer cells going to the common bile duct to the gall bladder that could further end up in the pancreas also.  If pancreatic cancer is determined this now means in the 3 parts of the pancreas cancer is high probability being in the head of the pancreas.  The pancreas has a tail, body and head the head is located to easy access of spreading the cancer in ducts and to the gallbladder which can further have its cancer cells go into the small intestines from the bile duct that is connected to release stored bile when needed for digestion in the small intestines.

There may be some things you remember that you wish you didn’t.

Maybe you lost someone or something close to you or close in dealing with in your life, or there was a divorce you didn’t see coming, or you were let go from your job in a painful way.

It’s easy for these kinds of memories to keep you up at night. But there are some expert-backed ways to help you process and integrate painful experiences.”

Psych Central (https://psychcentral.com/health/letting-go-of-the-past-why-memories-remain-painful-over-time)