What is Alzheimer's disease?

This is a type of disease in which cells of the central nervous system stop working or die. It usually gets worse over time and has no cure.

What is the most common cause of dementia in the United States?

What is the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in the United States?

Which of the following is NOT a physical characteristic found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease?

This is a ridge or fold in the cerebral cortex of the brain.

This is a groove or furrow in the cerebral cortex of the brain.

Changes in brain size in patients with Alzheimer's disease are directly due to:

This protein, located in the cell membrane of neurons, plays a role in neural growth and repair but, when dysfunctional, can be associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease.

In a healthy human brain, beta amyloid strands are small. They are broken down and eliminated.

In a healthy human brain, beta amyloid strands are long and sticky. They stick together and form plaques outside of neurons in the brain.

It is hypothesized that these plaques interfere with cell communication and stimulate the immune response, resulting in the death of neurons.

Tau proteins play a role in stabilizing microtubules in the axons of neurons.

It is hypothesized that the tangling of these proteins causes microtubules in neurons to break down, resulting in cell communication problems and cell death.

Which of the following is NOT known to be preventive in the development of Alzheimer's disease?

Which of the following shows promise in helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease?

Which of the following does NOT show promise in helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease?

This body system coordinates voluntary and involuntary actions and transmits signals to and from different parts of the body.

This is the bushy, branching extension of a neuron that receives information from other neurons and transmits that information to the rest of the cell.

This is the cell body of a neuron.

This is a specialized part of the neuron cell body that connects to the axon. It helps determine if information received by the neuron will be sent down the axon.

This singular fiber carries information away from the neuron cell body and moves that information to other neurons, muscles, or glands.

This fatty tissue insulates some neurons, speeding up nerve impulses.

This disease causes the degeneration of myelin sheath. It is associated with the slowing of communication to muscle and eventual loss of muscle control.

These cells produce the myelin sheath.

These tiny, 1 micrometer gaps between myelin sheath expose the axon to the external environment, allowing the rapid movement of the electrical impulse down the axon.

These are knobs at the end of an axon that release chemicals called neurotransmitters.

On a separate piece of paper, draw a neuron. In your drawing, label the following structures: dendrites, soma, axon hillock, axon, myelin sheath, Schwann cells, nodes of Ranvier, and axon terminals.

This part of the nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord.

This part of the nervous system links the central nervous system to the body's sense receptors, muscles, and glands.

The axon bundles of the peripheral nervous system are called:

This part of the peripheral nervous system enables voluntary control of skeletal muscles.

This part of the peripheral nervous system controls glands and muscles of the internal organs and is self-regulating.

This part of the autonomic nervous system controls arousal, as in the fight or flight response.

This part of the autonomic nervous system calms the body, maintaining the body at rest.

Sensory neurons are also called:

A(n) __________ takes in information. It is the part of the sensory neuron that receives the stimulus.

This type of neuron carries impulses from the sensory stimuli toward the spinal cord and brain.

This area is found in the spinal cord and brain and is made up of interneurons. It receives and processes information from the sensory neuron.

This type of neuron carries neural impulses away from the central nervous system and toward the muscles, glands, and other cells for the purpose of causing a response, such as movement.

This cell or tissue type responds to the commands of a motor neuron.

These types of cells outnumber neurons in the nervous system by about 3 to 1.

Functions of glial cells include all of the following EXCEPT:

Glial cells may provide structural support to neurons.

Schwann cells are NOT a type of glial cell.

This lobe of the brain is important for speaking, muscle movements, making plans and judgements, and reasoning.

This area in the brain controls language expression by directing the muscle movements involved in speech.

__________ area is usually found in the left hemisphere of the frontal lobe.

This lobe of the brain helps an individual to understand space, touch, and volume. It processes tactile sensory information, and integrates sensory information to form a single perception. It helps an individual form a spatial coordinate system to represent the world around him/her.

The sensory cortex is located in the __________ lobe.

This lobe of the brain controls auditory perception. It also contains the hippocampus.

__________ area is usually in the left hemisphere of the temporal lobe.

This area of the brain is linked to understanding and comprehending written and spoken language.

This lobe of the brain controls most vision and visual processing. It interprets images taken by the eyes.

From an evolutionary perspective, this is the oldest part of the brain.

This brain structure regulates the basic survival functions of the body, such as heart rate, breathing, sleeping, and eating.

This portion of the brainstem controls autonomic, involuntary functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion.

The main function of this brain structure is to pass information between the cerebellum and cerebrum, coordinating movement and balance.

This network of nerves is found in the brainstem and affects sleep, arousal, motor function, and your ability to focus without being distracted.

This brain structure coordinates voluntary movement, balance, equilibrium, and muscle tone.

This brain structure receives information from all senses (except smell) and relays that information to the appropriate areas of the brain that deal with sight, sound, taste, and touch.

This is the collective name for all structures involved in emotion, motivation, memory, memories associated with emotion, and olfaction.

The limbic system includes all of the following structures EXCEPT:

This brain structure plays a role in emotions and plays a role in fear, pleasure, and aggression responses.

This pearl-sized brain structure controls hunger, thirst, body temperature, sex drive, fatigue, and sleep. It releases hormones that stimulate the pituitary gland and the endocrine system.

This brain structure has been found to be a reward center in rats.

This part of the limbic system is associated with memory formation, organization, and storing.

For many with Alzheimer's disease, this structure of the brain is the first to be damaged.

This gland produces the largest number of hormones and therefore has the widest range of effects on the body.

This structure produces two hormones: vasopressin (which causes blood pressure to rise and regulates water levels) and oxytocin (which causes lactation, contractions during childbirth, and connection).

This gland is often called the "master gland." It secretes hormones that cause other glands to work, regulating the amounts of hormones released by the thyroid, adrenal glands, pancreas, and sex glands.

This is a large band of neural fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.

This matter in the spinal cord contains cell bodies, dendrites, and axon terminals.

This matter in the spinal cord contains all the axons.

How many pairs of spinal nerves branch off from the spinal cord?

Which of the following is NOT one of the main groups of spinal nerves?

A rapid, automatic response triggered by a specific stimuli is called:

This type of reflex is controlled by the spinal cord.

This hollow cylinder is the embryo's precursor to the central nervous system.

The neural tube is formed and closes by the _____ day after conception

This is the most common neural tube defect. It is characterized by a portion of the neural tube failing to develop or close properly.

Fortifying food in the United States with this type of B vitamin has reduced neural tube defects by 27%.

In order to prevent neural tube defects, what type of vitamin should a woman take if she is planning to become pregnant?

__________ causes a sac-like protrusion or projection of the brain and the membranes that cover it through an opening in the skull.

This term is used to describe a baby born with an underdeveloped brain and an incomplete skull.