Starter quiz
- What kinds of issues determine whether an action and its consequences are right or wrong?
- 'ethical' ✓
- What types of cells primarily make up brain tissue?
- fat
- nerve ✓
- grey
- glandular
- muscle
-
- What is the process of ordinary cell division called?
- 'Mitosis' ✓
- What are stem cells?
- cells found in the stem of any plant
- cells found in the stem of a flowering plant
- cells that can differentiate into other types of cell ✓
- cells found in the stem of the brain
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- fMRI imaging uses ______ radiation to visualise brain activity.
- 'electromagnetic' ✓
- Match the disease to its symptoms.
- Parkinson's disease⇔parts of the brain become damaged, affects muscles, e.g. slow movement ✓
- Dementia⇔associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning, e.g. memory ✓
- Epilepsy⇔causes frequent seizures ✓
- Depression⇔involves having a low mood that affects day-to-day living ✓
- Stroke⇔when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off ✓
Exit quiz
- When embarking on research into the human brain, what should we consider?
- effectiveness of the treatment
- safety ✓
- ethical issues ✓
-
- Which of these statements is not an ethical issue involved in studying patients with brain damage caused by Parkinson's?
- The patient may not be able to consent to the research.
- The patient may not benefit from the research.
- Patient brain function may be severely limited. ✓
- The patient may be harmed by the research.
-
- True or false? Stimulation of the brain involves an electrical current being applied.
- True ✓
- False
- Which of the following are true about deep brain stimulation (DBS)?
- requires an operation ✓
- used to treat long-term conditions such as dementia
- involves an implant being placed in the brain ✓
- involves a net of electrodes being placed over the head
- used to treat long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy ✓
-
- Which of the following is true about Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans?
- the patient must be sedated
- detects changes in blood flow ✓
- electrical impulses are sent to the brain
- cause oxygen molecules to oscillate and vibrate
- magnetic material cannot go in the scanner ✓
-
- Neurones are very complex cells and cannot undergo ______ to create new copies of themselves.
- 'mitosis' ✓
Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The importance and difficulties of investigating brain function and damage, including safety and ethical considerations.
- Use of fMRI and electrical stimulation to study the brain.
- Difficulties in treating disease and damage in the nervous system and brain (e.g. lack of mitosis in neurones).
- Potential treatments for disease and damage in the nervous system and brain (e.g. stem cells).
Common misconception
Understanding the ethics of research practices is complex and often misunderstood. The details of various brain scanning techniques are complex and also confusing.
Ethical practices are discussed with examples and changes through history to give context. Brain scanning techniques are illustrated and explained, with follow up tasks.
Keywords
Ethical - relates to whether an action and its consequences are right or wrong
Informed consent - consent obtained from a patient where they fully understand the procedure and its implications
Mitosis - a type of cell division that produces genetically identical cells
Stem cell - a cell that can differentiate into specialised cells
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