Specific Activities that Will Boost Connectivity

Definition. Evidence of brain modularity is the empirical body of findings that demonstrates that the brain is organized into semiautonomous groups of neurons and brain regions that interact with one another through relatively sparse and long-distance pathways in the brain.

The human brain contains almost 90 billion neurons, which communicate with one another at junctions called synapses. Each neuron has a shape a little like that of a tree, and is covered in branches called dendrites.

• Read complex works.
• Learn to play a musical instrument.
• Learn to speak a foreign language.
• Bolster your memory.
• Take up a hobby that involves new thinking and physical coordination.
• Travel.
• Exercise regularly and vigorously for 30 minutes at a time.

White matter is found in the deeper tissues of the brain (subcortical). It contains nerve fibers (axons), which are extensions of nerve cells (neurons). Many of these nerve fibers are surrounded by a type of sheath or covering called myelin. Myelin gives the white matter its color.

White matter disease may develop with conditions associated with aging, such as stroke, but it can also affect young people due to conditions such as cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy and multiple sclerosis (MS). Read on to learn more about white matter disease and its symptoms, causes, and prognosis.

White matter disease doesn’t have a cure, but there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms. The primary treatment is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help with any balance and walking difficulties you may develop.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic condition of the central nervous system, which includes the brain. Experts have long known that MS affects white matter in the brain, but recent research suggests that it affects gray matter, too.

White spots may be described in your MRI report as high signal intensity areas, white matter hyperintensities, leukoaraiosis (often used if spots are felt to be caused by decreased blood flow), or nonspecific white matter changes. They are usually found in the brain’s white matter, typically near the ventricles.

Everyone is different and symptoms will vary in individual cases. Many lesions, however, may be in areas of the brain that don’t produce symptoms. Typical symptoms may include: Headaches are usually the first symptom to appear with brain lesions.

Brain healing is the process that occurs after the brain has been damaged. If an individual survives brain damage, the brain has a remarkable ability to adapt. When cells in the brain are damaged and die, for instance by stroke, there will be no repair or scar formation for those cells.

Sometimes, epilepsy can be caused by scar tissue or a brain infection that can interfere with the brain’s electrical signaling. Scar tissue in the brain can be caused by head injury, tumor, stroke or surgery.

A lesionectomy is an operation to remove a lesion — a damaged or abnormally functioning area — in the brain. Brain lesions include tumors, scars from a head injury or infection, abnormal blood vessels, and hematomas (a swollen area filled with blood).

The new study lays out a “transcriptional roadmap of regeneration in the adult brain.” “The brain’s ability to repair or replace itself is not limited to just two areas. Instead, when an adult brain cell of the cortex is injured, it reverts (at a transcriptional level) to an embryonic cortical neuron.

A full recovery from severe anoxic or hypoxic brain injury is rare, but many patients with mild anoxic or hypoxic brain injuries are capable of making a full or partial recovery. Furthermore, symptoms and effects of the injury are dependent on the area(s) of the brain that was affected by the lack of oxygen.