Page 119 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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poisoning are those that need oxygen the most: the basal ganglia that control motor movements and
hippocampal nerve cells. Naturally, motor movement abnormalities and memory loss are common
complications. If the person survives, the death of nerve cells leads to motor and cognitive deficits
that neither improve nor deteriorate over time.

Infections

The formerly lethal bacterial infections of the central nervous system, particularly meningitis, are
now invariably cured by antibiotics. Syphilis, which responds well in early stages to treatment with
penicillin, is a sexually transmitted, bacterial disease that in its late stages can affect the brain. It used
to be notorious for the chameleonlike quality of the different symptoms that it produced: unsteady
gait, mood swings, psychosis, and memory loss. Some parasites can enter the brain and form a lesion
that produces seizures and memory loss (though this is rare). Viral infections, including those caused
by herpes simplex, can cause permanent scarring in the brain with cognitive deficits, including
memory loss.

Prions are fragments of proteins and do not contain any DNA or RNA, which is the counterpart or
mirror image of DNA. Because prions do not possess any DNA or RNA, they should not have life,
which is defined according to the rules of modern biology as the ability to reproduce and propagate
like viruses, bacteria, and the rest of the plant and animal kingdom. However, Stanley Prusiner, a
recent Nobel laureate, has stuck steadfastly to the claim that these protein fragments can reproduce
and cause diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rapidly progressive form of dementia, and other
slowly progressive neurologic disorders. The notorious “mad cow disease” is a close relative of
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, and may also be caused by prions. Some have begun to
speculate that the elusive prion may also cause Alzheimer's disease. And I wonder, could prions play
a role in memory loss due to the aging process?

Head Injury

The most common type of head injury is a concussion, which is external trauma to the skull (a
knockout) without direct brain injury. A contusion is a direct penetrating injury to brain tissue and is
much