Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

     Mothers who drink while pregnant cause their babies to be born with fetal alcohol syndrome.  Facial abnormalities, hyperactivity, varying degrees of mental retardation, impulsiveness, motor problems, difficulty maintain attention, and heart defects are some of the symptoms babies might have. Fetal alcohol syndrome is not only caused by alcohol consumed during pregnancy but also being exposed to prenatal alcohol show impairments in language, memory attention, and learning. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol it easily passes across the placenta to the fetus which harms the baby's development by altering the migration pattern of small neurons. The release of glutamate, the brain's main excitatory transmitter, is suppressed by alcohol and enhances activity of GABA, the main inhibitory transmitter; because of this many neurons receive less excitation and neurotrophina than normal and they undergo apoptosis.  During pregnancy there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for women. If a woman consumes large amounts of alcohol the problems increase tremendously, especially if alcohol is consumed during the first three months of pregnancy because alcohol appears to be more harmful then. In order to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome is for women not to drink any alcohol during their pregnancy. Many complications can be caused to a baby's development because of the unwise decision of consuming alcohol during pregnancy. A mother should always have in mind the health of their child when thinking of drinking just one small glass of wine, because the consequences can be devastating. If a pregnant woman is dealing with alcoholism they can join an alcohol abuse rehabilitation program to help them out throughout their pregnancy.

Addictions

Additions go from gambling to the most common alcohol and drugs.  An addiction interferes with someone's life because of the compulsive need for the  pleasure given. Having an addiction does no good to one but rather hurts the person and everybody around them. Drugs and alcohol are amongst the most common addictions and are life threatening; which makes me wonder why the use of such harmful pleasure to one's life? Though after reading more about addictions, I came to the understanding that the pleasure that a certain drug gives decreases and one tends to go do it again in order to have the same enjoyable experience as before. Also many turn to addictions to be able to handle stress or any other problems that they may be encountering. Many times it seems impossible for a person to be able to overcome an addiction, because of the negative effects afterwards like fatigue and anxiety. Though addictions cannot be quite explained well of how it completely takes over a person's life, it is certain that the brain undergoes changes that in some ways makes it difficult to be able to quit.

Neurons

An adult brain has approximately 100 billion neurons; all varying in shape, function, and size. Neurons are specialized to transmit information throughout the body which makes them the basic building block of the nervous system. A neuron's contribution to the nervous system is determined by the connections it has with other neurons; two types of neurons are motor and sensory neuron. The structure of a neuron depends greatly on the size of the neuron. For example a small neuron will not contain an axon and will lack dendrites. As for a large neuron will be composed of a cell body, presynaptic terminals, axon, and dendrites. Both vary in what they are composed off because of their size. It is incredible of all the work that neurons take care off in our bodies. 

Animal Research

     The use of animals is research sounds and maybe cruel, but the knowledge gained afterwards about a certain issue can be very rewarding.  These four reasons can summarize why the need for animal research: legal or ethical restrictions prevent certain kinds of research on humans, the underlying mechanisms of behavior are similar across species and sometimes easier to study in a nonhuman species, what we learn about animals sheds light on human evolution, and we are interested in animals for their own sake.  The use of animals in research to learn how the brain functions is many times an ethical debate between abolitionists and animal researchers.  Though committees like the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee make sure to minimize pain and discomfort in specific procedures for animals.  Animals used for research are cared for and put in as little distress as possible with all the laws and regulations countries set for research to be done.  With this research can be conducted and there is medical advances which can help save many lives.  I cannot quite understand why people against animal use in research react so violently towards researchers.  All they are doing is helping to improve the lives of many others.