introspective thinking

Again, I self lament but, to say that I have learned much about myself and improved my own attitude and demeanor towards life is a gross overstatement. I have learned the same lesson over and over again, in academics, personal morality, discipline, patience and self-confidence, that I hardly have any confidence to work with at all. That already is saying too much and I am amazed that I am still trying to succeed. Of course I would like to think that I am smart enough to finally turn things around but I don't want to give myself the benefit of the doubt until I have thoroughly proved this to myself. That won't happen unless I turn back time, though. Everything I have done in perhaps, the past four years has been a waste. Regressive. I can always do my best from hereon. I will do my best from hereon, but that doesn't undo my mistakes of the past and the cost I've bore on those that care about me the most. I must learn to be more unselfish and thoughtful. I must learn how to focus myself on the positive and to filter out distractions. It all starts ground up, but with respect to my current predicament and while it can't be entirely independent, the personal initiation and the drive is so critical to this working out. Please, help me make amends and give me the willingness to do so.

Do's and Don'ts of LA Street Traffic

There are three classes of people, no four, and none should be exempt from these very simple rules. I've also made a separate class for those who have created the need for such rules.

Pedestrians:
First and foremost, you do not own the road. Yes, you have legal priority if you get hit by a car while doing something monumentally idiotic, you will be able to sue, BUT, that doesn't stop you from getting hurt over your own damn fault. Walking the streets of Los Angeles is your inalienable right. Observing the dangers of the road is your inalienable right. Not getting hit for doing something stupid, however, is your privelege. Don't ruin it. You might lose it one day. For example, should you see a car backing out of a driveway onto a very busy street, never mind that, onto any street, the first thing that should cross your mind should not be, "how can I get from point A to point B the quickest?" That is, for lack of desire to find a better word, stupid. Yes, you want to get where you are going, but you don't want to get hit do you? You do realize that you should assume all other drivers and pedestrians are as retarded as you are and should proceed with caution anywhere. That's a very simple lesson that doesn't need to be learned through any sort of anecdotal experience. If a driver should be backing out of a spot, looking for cars to avoid getting hit himself, it is not SOLELY his own fault if he doesn't see you and has a delayed response in stopping himself to make sure you don't walk straight into a car that's backing out at about 2 mph. He's just looking out for himself, first, and then others. Should be the same elsewhere.

At traffic lights - green does not equal go, I repeat (I really wish I had one of those not equal to keys on the keyboard) GREEN DOES NOT EQUAL GO. Green light means proceed with caution. That means, watch for incoming traffic that may or may not be looking out for pedestrians. It's not very difficult. You're not operating anything, except for maybe a cell phone, and if you are, it's twice as much an incentive for the driver to hit you. As a side note, small animals and children are pretty fucking annoying on the road as well. Keep them on a leash or within a two foot proximity so they don't become a liability. But as I was saying, watch for traffic as you cross the road. While crossing the road, by the way, do take consideration of motorists on the road. Just because they're not supposed to hit you for being slow as fuck, they just might out of spite. The weak and disabled are obviously exempt from this rule, but whether you're 90 pounds or 290 pounds, you should be able to haul ass within 5-10 seconds at a reasonable pace.

Motorists:
Where do I begin? Oh, that's right. Mirrors. They invented them for a reason. You have eyes too. And ears. And a thing called a head, that can rotate a reasonable angle on its axis to look over the shoulder. Use these said things to avoid accidents or near accidents, or just to avoid being called an asshole. Other don'ts; on a green light/green right turn, wait for the cars in front of you to go, don't try to cut around them. It's rude. It doesn't save you time either. When backing out of a driveway, try to check all your blindspots and for incoming traffic. You're not the only driver who exists in this world. When parking on the curb, try to leave space for as many vehicles as possible, some impatient fool might by angry impulse, completely demolish your windshield and front door and bail afterwards because of your lack of consideration. More to come but I've got shit to do.

Cyclists:
You realize you are very vulnerable to a collision by weaving through traffic with motorists. These collisions hurt. That's about as simple as I can make.

Parking Enforcement Officers:
Find a real job, one that requires some physical movement. You're getting paid to do nothing, and you'll end up doing nothing for the rest of your life. Your job fulfills no community necessities or benefits the universe in any way whatsoever. You should realize this and just go home. You'll still get paid anyway.





A special one for the city planners:
Fix those cracks, don't build houses on hills, avoid making stop signs every 20 feet, DON'T put a stop sign awkwardly perpendicular to the entrance of a parking lot.

More to come later, maybe I'll clean up the post a bit but really, I'm not gonna say I'm an incredible driver or anything, but at least I recognize these very simple rules that don't even require passing any dmv tests.

Master list of terms needed for Quiz #2

THE SPINAL CORD
Anterior = ventral
Posterior = dorsal
Foramen magnum
Conus medullaris
Cauda equine
Filum terminale
Dentate ligament
Cervical (8)
Thoracic (12)
Lumbar (5)
Sacral (5)
Coccygeal (1)
Cervical enlargement (C4-T1)
Lumbosacral enlargement (L2-S3)
Dorsal and ventral roots (law of Bell and Magendie)
Spinal (mixed) nerve
Dermatome
Dorsal medial sulcus and septum
Ventral median fissure
Dorsal lateral sulcus (dorsal root)
Ventral lateral sulcus (ventral root)
Dorsal intermediate septum
Column, tract, funiculus, f asciculus, lemniscus, bundle, brachium, peduncle
Dorsal and ventral horns of gray matter
Intermediate gray
Lateral (intermediolateral) horn
Laminae of Rexed
Central and peripheral processes
Nageotte’s area
Reflexes
Monosynaptic, stretch, myotatic, deep tendon (dr)
Multisynaptic – flexor withdrawal etc.

DESCENDING MOTOR SYSTEMS
Lower motor neuron vs. upper motor neuron
Pyramidal or corticospinal tract
Primary motor cortex (area 4)
Primary sensory cortices (areas 3, 1, 2, et)
Associated motor and premotor cortices
Betz cells
Corona radiate
Internal capsule
Cerebral peduncles (crus cerebri)
Pyramids
Pyramidal decussation
Lateral corticospinal tract
Ventral (anterior) corticospinal tract
Anterior horn motorneurons (alpha and gamma)
Upper motor neuron syndrome
Paresis (esp. in peripheral parts of limbs) (ipsilateral vs contralateral)
Spasticity
Increased deep tendon reflexes
Decreased or absent abdominal reflexes
Babinski reflex
Little or no atrophy
Extrapyramidal (nonpyramidal) pathways
Rubrospinal tract
Red nucleus
Vestibulospinal tract
Antigravity tone
Lateral vestibular nucleus (Deiters)
Decerebrate rigidity (opisthotonus)
Medial longitudinal fasciculus (m.l.f.)
Medial vestibular nucleus
Superior colliculus
Accessory oculomotor nuclei
Pontine reticular formation
Tectospinal tract
Superior colliculus
Reticulospinal tracts
Medullary and pontine

ASCENDING TRACTS (SENSORY SYSTEMS)
Sensory receptors and transduction
Mechanoreceptors, photoreceptors, chemoreceptors, etc.
Exteroceptors, enteroceptors, proprioceptors
Unencapsulated terminals
Free endings, perifollicular endings
Encapsulated terminals
Meissner’s corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles
Posterior column – medial lemniscus system
Epicritic; localized touch, kinesthesis
Posterior funiculus
Fasciculus gracilis
Fasciculus cuneatus
(posterior intermediate septum)
Nucleus gracilis, nucleus cuneatus
Ventral arcuate fibers
Medial lemniscus
Ventral posterior lateral nucleus (VPL) of thalamus
Postcentral gyrus (primary sensory strip)
Lateral spinothalamic tract
Protopathic; pain and temperature (and non-localizable touch)
Lissauer’s tract (dorsolateral tract)
Secondary interneurons
Decussation and ascent as
Lateral spinothalamic tract
VPL, PO, and intralaminar nuclei of thalamus
Cerebral cortex
Posterior spinocerebellar tract
Unconscious proprioception
Column of Clarke
Ascent via post. Spinocerebellar tract
Inferior cerebellar peduncle (restiform body)
Anterior lobe of cerebellum
(note; there are at least 2 other spcb tracts)

THE LOWER MEDULLA
Nucleus and tract of spinal trigeminal nerve (descending 5th)
Trigeminothalamic tracts
Spinal accessory nucleus (XI)
Nucleus gracilis
Nucleus cuneatus
Accessory (lateral, external) cuneate nucleus
Internal arcuate fibers
Medial lemniscus
Decussation of pyramidal tract
Pyramids
Reticular formation
Spinothalamic tracts (anterolateral system)
Posterior (dorsal) spinocerebellar tract
Inferior olive
Principal nucleus
Accessory nuclei
Central tegmental tract
Central gray
Nucleus of hypoglossal nerve (XII)
Dorsal motor nucleus of vagus nerve (X)
Nucleus and tractus solitarius (VII, IX, X)
Medial longitudinal fasciculus (m.l.f.)
Posterior longitudinal bundle (Schutz)
Area postrema
Fourth (IV) ventricle
Inferior cerebellar peduncle (restiform body)
Raphe nuclei of reticular formation

UPPER MEDULLA AND PONS
Cochlear nuclei: dorsal and ventral
Auditory decussations, trapezoid body
Superior olive
Lateral lemniscus
Vestibular nuclei… spinal, medial, lateral, superior
Inferior and superior medullary vela (velum, sing…)
Facial nerve nucleus and nerve VII
Genu of facial nerve
Abducent nucleus and nerve VI
External (lateral) rectus muscle
Pontine nuclei
Pontocerebellar fibers (middle cerebellar peduncle, brachium pontis)
Superior cerebellar peduncle
Cerebellar vermis
Trigeminal nerve complex V
Descending (spinal) fifth nucleus and tract
Principal sensory n.
Mesencephalic fifth nucleus and tract
Motor nucleus
Trochlear nucleus and nerve
Superior oblique muscle
Locus ceruleus

THE MESENCEPHALON
Tectum
Quadrigeminal plate
Tegmentum
Periaqueductal (central) gray
Cerebral aqueduct of Sylvius
Inferior colliculus
Brachium of inferior colliculus
Superior colliculus
Brachium of superior colliculus
Trochlear nucleus and nerve (IV)
Superior oblique muscle
Decussation of superior cerebellar peduncle
Cerebello-dentato-rubral tract
Cerebello-dentato-thalamic tract
Interpeduncular nucleus
Crus cerebri (cerebral peduncle)
Parietopontine fibers
Occipitopontine fibers
Temporopontine fibers
Corticobulbospinal fibers
Frontopontine fibers
Oculomotor nucleus and nerve (III)
Superior and inferior rectus
Medial rectus
Inferior oblique
Levator palpebri superioris
Edinger Westphal nucleus
Ciliary muscle and sphincter pupillae
Nucleus rubber
Substantia nigra
Pars compacta
Pars reticulate
Nigrostriatal projection
Ventral tegmental area

OTHER BRAIN STEM AREAS
Dorsal surface
Gracile tubercle
Cuneate tubercle
Hypoglossal trigone
Facial colliculus
Floor of fourth ventricle
Inferior, middle and superior cerebellar peduncles
Cerebral aqueduct of Sylvius
Inferior colliculus and brachium of inferior colliculus
Superior colliculus and brachium of superior colliculus
Trochlear (IV) nerve
Pineal gland
Habenula
Thalamus
Internal capsule
Ventral surface
Pyramid
Inferior olive
Hypoglossal (XII) nerve
Spinal accessory (XI) nerve
Vagus (X) n.
Glossopharyngeal (IX) n.
Pons
Abducens (VI) n.
Facial (VII) n.
Vestibule-cochlear (VIII) n.
Trigeminal (V) n.
Crus cerebri
Oculomotor (III) n.
Diencephalon (hypothalamus)
Optic (II) ‘nerve’ (tract) and optic chiasm

different segments of myelin slides

This is a rough estimate of what the myelin slides should be:

1) Sacral level – spinal cord
2) Lumbar level – spinal cord
3) Thoracic level – spinal cord
4) C7 Lower cervical level – spinal cord
5) C1 cervical level – spinal cord
6) Lower medulla level
7) lower Medulla
8) medulla
9) Upper medulla area
10) upper medulla level
11) medulla-pons junction
12) dorsal medulla
13) dorsal pons
14) lower pons
15) lower pons
16) upper pons
17) rostral upper pons
18) pons-midbrain junction
19) lower midbrain
20) midbrain
21) upper midbrain
22) midbrain-dincephalon junction

Studying for neuroanatomy

Since my own personal notes are pretty shitty, I'll put up all my notes here so hopefully my imaginary reader can learn something and I'll have to put up non-bullshit information.

So far, I'm studying the spinal cord. It is segmented into 4 regions from rostral to caudal: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral. There's actually a coccygeal section too, but we don't really need to know much about it.

I guess I'll start with the sacral area. No I'll start off with the big 3-D image. BTW, all of the special terms arise from areas before the foramen magnumThere are some tracts that run down the entire cord through to the brain stem:
-Ascending pathways
--posterior columns [positioning feedback]
---fasciculus gracilis (dorsal medial)
---fasciculus cuneatus (dorsal lateral-ish)
---------these two pathways actual begin in joint capsule receptors where the neurons receive sensory input and thus travel up a primary neuron, becoming respectively the cuneatus and gracilis. then these pathways reach the respective nuclei. then we have some differentiation; both nuclei synapse with secondary neurons, traveling up internal arcuate fibers and ascend into the medial lemniscus (somewhere medial to ventral in cross section positioning). The medial lemniscus synapses with the ventral posterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus (ventral and posterior almost sounds oxymoronic) and ascends into a tertiary neron becoming the internal capsule at the corona radiata. This makes up the postcentral gyrus of the cerebral cortex, which ultimately means that sensory input is travelling up the two main fasciculi in the posterior columns to the medial lemniscus into the corona radiata to give feedback to the conscious brain. The corona radiata, by the way, is the area where all the body sensations are processed.
Some other key terms to note here would be epicritic and kinesthesis, which are really just fancy ways of saying epicritic = localized touch and kinesthesis = sense of position and movement.
The posterior columns make it possible for you to put a key in a door lock without light or visualize positions of your body without looking. Lesions would stymie tactile sensation and movement/position sense.
--lateral spinothalamic tract [pain]
---Lissauer's fasciculus
---reticular formation
----periaqueductal gray
---ventral posterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus
----These are the key players in the lateral spinothalamic tract. Here we have pain and temperature receptors carrying the signals through the primary neuron/Lissauer's fasciculus, which then diverges into a multisynaptic cleft with the medial and peripheral fibers. The fibers ascent the tract, while branching out onto the reticular formation (which eventually becomes the periaqueductal gray of the midbrain). This reticular formation is thought to be slow ascension and responsible for dull and poorly localized pain. The spinothalamic fibers are responsible for the quick sharp pains and the two fibers ultimately synapse with the VPL (ventral posterior lateral nucleus) and the intralaminar nucleus of the thalamus. The intralaminar nucleus receives slow pain input from the reticular formation (which also goes posterior [PO]) while the VPL continues to reach the corona radiata and postcentral gyrus in addition to projecting to the secondary sensory cortex of the lateral fissure. Also note that the anterior spinothalamic tract really has no anatomical difference. It's just slightly ventral.
--spinocerebellar tract [impulse movement]
---posterior spinocerebellar tract
---posterior cuneocerebellar tract
---anterior spinocerebellar tract [don't worry about this guy]
---rostral spinocerebellar tract [don't worry about him either]
----Clarke's column
----inferior cerebellar peduncle
-----In the spinocerebellar pathway, input comes from movement sensations below the C8 region of the cervical segment of the spinal cord. Enter via primary neuron into posterior column and into Clarke's column. When it enters Clarke's column, it goes from gracilis to cuneatus and ascends a secondary neuron and eventually into the inferior cerebellar peduncle which goes to the cerebellum. The inferior peduncle [restiform body] is where the fibers of this tract terminate ipsilateral-medially on the cerebellar cortex for lower limb muscle input and position sense.
-----The cuneocerebellar tract begins above C8, which accounts for impulses for all the muscle spindle, tendon organs, and skin in the upper half of the body. Again, sensory input comes through primary neuron, but it bypasses the gracilis and goes straight into the cuneatus and to an exterior nucleus, becoming the cuneocerebellar tract that reaches the same inferior cerebellar peduncle. Location-wise, this tract is very medial and posterior, but winds up kind of lateral. Blame the medial portion on the gracilis and cuneatus.
-Descending pathways
--Corticospinal tract [voluntary movement]
---pyramid
---crus cerebri
---lateral/anterior corticospinal tracts
----This is the tract where motor function is voluntary, originating in the motor strip of the cortex. At the primary motor area, covering the corona radiata, efferent information is sent back first through the internal capsule down to the midbrain and inferior colliculi/crus cerebri (this is a tricky part of the tract - it's mostly corticobulbar fiber separated by corticopontine fibers - thus making it cortex-medulla fibers), where the tract somewhat splits and reconvenes at the pyramids. At the pyramids some information decussates (85-90%) and descends down the lateral corticospinal tract, while the non-decussating information (10-15%) descends the anterior corticospinal tract. All tracts of this tract result in motor neuron innervation at the neuromuscular junction.
--Tectospinal and rubrospinal tracts
---superior colliculus
---tectospinal tract [visual following and eye-centering reflexes]
---dorsal tegmental decussation
---rubrospinal tract [flexor muscle group tone control]
---red nucleus
----The tectospinal tract begins at the superior colliculus, which is pretty dorsal within the midbrain and it immediately decussates just anterior of the MLF [medial longitudinal fasciculus]. From here it descends towards the optic neuromuscular junctions, traveling along a somewhat medial and ventral tract.
----The rubrospinal tract is thought to be an alternative route for efferent information from the cerebral cortex since it originates at the red nucleus and decussates to the tract and descends to the neuromuscular junctions. The tract responds to information relayed by the spinocerebellar tract based on posture and muscle movement.
-Mixed pathways
--Medial longitudinal fasciculus descending pathways: vestibulospinal tract
---vestibular nuclei
---vestibulospinal tract [inner ear, balance and coordination, antigravity extensor muscles for position/stance]
---medial longitudinal fasciculus [body movement-eye coordination, voluntary movement to reflexive activities]
---pontine reticular formation
---accessory oculomotor nuclei
----I was under the impression that I had already studied the MLF. I guess I was pretty mistaken. This is one of those extrapyramidal tracts that do not travel in the pyramid of the corticospinal system. Essentially a clump of axons near the midline of the brain stem ascend and descend with several areas of destination and origin. The descent originate usually from the medial vestibular nucleus of the upper medulla (very dorsal). Fibers from this nucleus send inhibitory signals to the anterior horn motor neurons of the cervical cord. You can also have descending fibers originating from the superior colliculus (for visual reflex), accessory oculomotor nuclei (visual tracking), pontine reticular formation (extensor muscle tone) and vestibular nuclei (balance and equilibrium). The MLF descends ipsilaterally throughout the entire anterior funiculus, synapsing on anterior horn motor neurons. Ascending fibers, originate, also in the vestibular nuclei in the upper medulla and terminate in the oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), and abducens (VI) cranial nerve nuclei, which innervate the extraocular tracking muscles of the eyeball. This is a relatively complicated tract. Basically the vestibular nucleus is the center of things, where the tract begins either way (but tract can originate more rostrally if need be)
----The vestibulospinal pathway seems to be the 'ear' version of what I just explained. The nuclei for this tract receive afferent fibers from the vestibular nerve and afferents from the cerebellum. This controls balance and coordination. In the lateral vestibular nucleus, the tract descends ipsilaterally through the length of the entire spinal cord, at each segment terminating into laminae and into interneurons (which synapse with motor neurons at the NMJs). In case studies of injured patients, the vestibulospinal impulses are inhibited and results in decerebrate rigidity.

The verbal shit my mind took, but my body really needs to take at the moment

I won't try to lament this time around. I will simply state my thoughts in a probably, somewhat roundabout way. I really need to get my priorities straight and my life organized. I don't know how I could've possible bombed my last midterm, but I did. Pretty pissed about it, but what do I know? Every time I think I just get it [it - referring to a possible number of things: life, the neurology subject at hand, how to deal with people issues, budgeting, anything], "it" comes back to kick my ass. So how do I resolve this? I think, and when I say I think, it's because I don't really have any reference but my own personal experience (which has not served me too well lately, I realize) - well, I think that I just read everything at face value, and when I notice the blanks that should be filled, I simply forget to acknowledge them, and fill those blanks in with my own answers, without really any manner of consultation. I'm sorry reader, if that was a really vague analogy, but I tend to believe my own philosophical answers to the questions that life throws at me supercede those of the experts per subject area. Regardless, my own most likely flawed system of logic and thought has led me to believe that I need to pursue something of a higher order that can appropriately answer the aforementioned questions that seemed to beat me at every game, which means I need some system for knowing what questions to ask, how to ask them, when to ask them, and why I should ask them. I also THINK that everything boils down to simple terms - like that question example, I always try to break it down to the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How? Of course I forget the components of each section, and it's oh SO easy to forget them. I forgot about what I was driving at for a split second, but I'll take this time to point out that I really really enjoy writing and making roundabout statements, chock full of fragments and modifiers. It's just a part of me. Deal with it. I'm also curious what kind of person I am. I kind of have an idea, or several ideas of who I think I am, and I KNOW that you're not supposed to base your identity off what everyone else makes of you, but I am curious as to what people perceive. I can really learn a lot of someone just told me how things are with me. I sound kind of self-centered, don't I? Well it is my own blog after all, I'm not gonna write about other people unless if it's got some remote relation towards myself. I haven't decided whether or not I'm gonna publish this to people - GEEZ I should probably break a paragraph or something, huh. Nobody really likes to read long paragraphs.

There. Happy?

I guess I'll put this on hold, I have to read an article, and I don't have much time, and I have a ton of studying to do. I guess the upcoming tasks at hand are:
-finish reading article on BMIc, write summary/critic - due midnight tonight
-read Bear chapters (I should probably go over these in greater detail, but I need the baseline info, so I'll start with a skim) - preferably due ASAP
-CACN application - gotta turn this in tomorrow
-calteach lesson plan (should probably contact Monet and decide whether or not this should be a partnership thing, I think it should - I don't even have enough time for that much as it is) - due Tuesday
-Coloring book - ASAP, enough said
-print Haines slides/review
-learn all the myelin stain slides from ventral to rostral thoroughly
-learn the list of terms, function and location-wise
-identify my end goals for my actions - specifically classes - it'd probably help (I guess that's where Cal Teach kind of helps)

Again, I forgot that I was supposed to be reading right now. I'll publish this too I suppose.