Brain on Fire (39 page)

25
At the top of the spinal cord and at the underside of the brain: Michael O’Shea,
The Brain: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Rita Carter, Susan Aldridge, Martyn Page, and Steve Parker,
The Human Brain Book
(London: DK Adult, 2009). Stephen G. Waxman,
Clinical Neuroanatomy, Twenty-Sixth Edition
(New York: McGraw Hill, 2010).

26
“The brain is a monstrous, beautiful mess”: William F. Allman,
Apprentices of Wonder: Inside the Neural Network Revolution
(New York: Bantam, 1989), 3.

27
IVIG is made up of serum antibodies: Falk Nimmerjahn and Jeffrey V. Ravetch, “The Anti-Inflammatory Activity of IgG: The Intravenous IgG Paradox,”
Journal of Experimental Medicine
204 (2007): 11–15. Arturo Casadevall, Ekaterina Dadachova, and Liise-Anne Pirofski, “Passive Antibody Therapy for Infectious Diseases,”
Nature Reviews Microbiology
2 (2004): 695–703. Noah S. Scheinfeld, “Intravenous Immunoglobulin,”
Medscape Reference,
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/210367-overview
(accessed May 8, 2011).

28
Antibodies are created by the body’s immune system: John M. Dwyer,
The Body at War: The Story of Our Immune System
(Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1994), 28–52. S. Jane Flint, Lynn W. Enquist, Vincent R. Racaniello, and A. M. Skalka,
Principles of Virology: Molecular Biology, Pathogenesis, and Control of Animal Viruses, Third Edition
(Washington, D.C.: American Society of Microbiology, 2009), 86–130. Noel R. Rose and Ian R. Mackay, eds.,
The Autoimmune Diseases, Fourth Edition
(St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier, 2006). Lauren Sompayrac,
How the Immune System Works, Third Edition
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Massoud Mahmoudi,
Immunology Made Ridiculously Simple
(Miami: Med Master, 2009). Robert G. Lahita,
Women and Autoimmune Disease: The Mysterious Ways Your Body Betrays Itself
(New York: Morrow, 2004).

29
ten days versus the innate system’s minutes or hours: Vincent Racaniello, “Innate Immune Defenses,” Virology.ws,
http://www.virology.ws/2009/06/03/innate-immune-defenses
(accessed March 11, 2010). Vincent Racaniello, “Adaptive Immune Defenses,” Virology.ws,
http://www.virology.ws/2009/07/03/adaptive-immune-defenses
(accessed March 11, 2010).

30
collateral damage of these internal battles: Lauren Sompayrac,
How the Immune System Works, Third Edition
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Massoud Mahmoudi,
Immunology Made Ridiculously Simple
(Miami: Med Master, 2009). Robert G. Lahita,
Women and Autoimmune Disease: The Mysterious Ways Your Body Betrays Itself
(New York: Morrow, 2004).

31
plasma cells that create antibodies: John M. Dwyer,
The Body at War: The Story of Our Immune System
(Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1994),
28–52. S. Jane Flint, Lynn W. Enquist, Vincent R. Racaniello, and A. M. Skalka,
Principles of Virology: Molecular Biology, Pathogenesis, and Control of Animal Viruses, Third Edition
(Washington, D.C.: American Society of Microbiology, 2009), 86–130. Noel R. Rose and Ian R. Mackay, eds.,
The Autoimmune Diseases: Fourth Edition
(St. Louis: Elsevier, 2006). Lauren Sompayrac,
How the Immune System Works, Third Edition
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Massoud Mahmoudi,
Immunology Made Ridiculously Simple
(Miami: Med Master, 2009). Robert G. Lahita,
Women and Autoimmune Disease: The Mysterious Ways Your Body Betrays Itself
(New York: Morrow, 2004).

32
WIRED ’N MIRED: Brendan T. Carroll, Christopher Thomas, Kameshwari Jayanti, John M. Hawkins, and Carrie Burbage, “Treating Persistent Catatonia When Benzodiazepines Fail,”
Current Psychiatry
4 (2005): 59.

33
Although developed in the mid-1950s: Janus Kremer, “Clock Drawing in Dementia: A Critical Review,”
Revista Neurologica Argentina
27 (2002): 223–227.

34
The healthy brain enables vision: Francesco Pavani, Elisabetta Ladavas, and Jon Driver, “Auditory and Multisensory Aspects of Visuospatial Neglect,”
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
7 (2008): 407–414. V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee,
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
(New York: Morrow, 1998), 115–125. V. S. Ramachandran,
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human
(New York: Norton, 2011), 1–21. Michael O’Shea,
The Brain: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Rita Carter, Susan Aldridge, Martyn Page, and Steve Parker,
The Human Brain Book
(London: DK Adult, 2009). Stephen G. Waxman,
Clinical Neuroanatomy, Twenty-Sixth Edition
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).

35
visual indifference: V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee,
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
(New York: Morrow, 1998), 118.

36
The blood-brain barrier (BBB): Davis Lab, “History of the Blood Brain Barrier,” University of Arizona,
http://davislab.med.arizona.edu/content/history-blood-brain-barrier
(accessed April 23, 2011).

37
These steroids, called corticosteroids: Julia C. Buckingham, “Glucocorticoids: Exemplars of Multi-Tasking,”
British Journal of Pharmacology
147 (2006): S258—S268. Mayo Clinic Staff, “Prednisone and Other Corticosteroids: Balance the Risks and Benefits,”
MayoClinic.com
,
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/steriods/HQ01431
(accessed May 8, 2011). Peter J. Barnes, “How Corticosteroids Control Inflammation: Quintiles Prize Lecture 2005,”
British Journal of Pharmacology
148 (2006): 245–254.

38
paraneoplastic syndrome: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, “NINDS Paraneoplastic Syndrome Information Page,” National Institutes of Health,
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/paraneoplastic/paraneoplastic.htm
(accessed March 2, 2011). Roberta Vitaliani, Warren Mason, Beau Ances, Theodore Zwerdling, Zhilong Jiang, and Josep Dalmau, “Paraneoplastic Encephalitis, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Hypoventilation in Ovarian Teratomas,”
Annals of Neurology
58 (2005): 594–604.

39
NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate acid) receptors are vital to learning: David J. Linden,
The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams and God
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 107–144. Fei Li and Joe Z. Tsien, “Memory and NMDA Receptors,”
New England Journal of Medicine
361 (2009): 302–303.

40
“knockout mice” without NMDA receptors: Wade Roush, “New Knockout Mice Point to Molecular Basis of Memory,”
Science
275 (1997),
www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/molbio/restricted/knockbrain/BrainKO.html
(accessed May 18, 2011). Zhenzhong Cui, Huimin Wang, Yuansheng Tan, Kimberly A. Zaia, Shuqin Zhang, and Joe Z. Tsein, “Inducible and Reversible NR1 Knockout Reveals Crucial Role of the NMDA Receptor in Preserving Remote Memories in the Brain,”
Neuron
41 (2004): 781–793. Laure Rondi-Reig, Megan Libbey, Howard Eichenbaum, and Susumu Tonegawa, “CA1-Specific NMDA Receptor Knockout Mice Are Deficient in Solving Nonspatial Transverse Patterning Task,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
98 (2001): 3543–3548.

41
This second article identified twelve women: Josep Dalmau et al., “Paraneoplastic Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis Associated with Ovarian Teratoma,”
Annals of Neurology
61 (2007): 25–36.

42
For 70 percent of patients, the disorder begins innocuously, with normal flulike symptoms: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,”
Lancet Neurology
10 (2011): 63–74.

43
75 percent of patients recover fully or maintain only mild side effects: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,”
Lancet Neurology
10 (2011): 63–74.

44
late 1800s, a German doctor christened it “teratoma”: Elizabeth Svoboda, “Monster Tumors Show Scientific Potential in War against Cancer,”
New York Times,
June 6, 2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06tera.html
(accessed May 1, 2011).

45
stages of recovery often occur in reverse order: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,”
Lancet Neurology
10 (2011): 63–74.

46
Swedish dairy cream separator created in the late 1800s: T. J. Hamblin, “Apheresis Therapy: Spin-Drying the Blood,”
British Medical Journal
285 (1982): 1136–1137. Dianne M. Cearlock and David Gerteisen, “Therapeutic Plasmapheresis for Autoimmune Diseases: Advances and Outcomes,”
Medical Laboratory Observer,
November 2010,
http://www.mlo-online.com/articles/nov00.pdf
(accessed May 2011).

47
Often those with neurological issues cannot readily identify: Rhawn Joseph,
Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, Clinical Neuroscience
(Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, 2000),
http://brainmind.com/Agnosia.html
.

48
frontal lobes are largely responsible for complex executive functions: Michael O’Shea,
The Brain: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Rita Carter, Susan Aldridge, Martyn Page, and Steve Parker,
The Human Brain Book
(London: DK Adult, 2009).

49
“ice pick” lobotomy: “My Lobotomy: Henry Dully’s Journey,”
All Things Considered,
NPR.org
, November 16, 2005,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080
(accessed May 13, 2011). Shanna Freeman, “How Lobotomies Work,” HowStuffWorks.com,
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/lobotomy3.htm
(accessed May 13, 2011).

50
New York Times Magazine
“Diagnosis” column: Lisa Sanders, “Diagnosis: Brain Drain,”
New York Times Magazine,
November 9, 2008,
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E7DA1F3BF93AA35752C1A96E9C8B63
.

51
Dr. Guillaume Sébire noticed an unusual pattern: Guillaume Sébire et al., “Coma Associated with Intense Bursts of Abnormal Movements and Long-Lasting Cognitive Disturbances: An Acute Encephalopathy of Obscure Origin,”
Journal of Pediatrics
121 (1992): 845–851.

52
1981 by Robert Delong and colleagues, described: Robert G. Delong et al., “Acquired Reversible Autistic Syndrome in Acute Encephalopathic Illness in Children,”
Child Neurology
38 (1981): 191–194.

53
40 percent of patients diagnosed with this disease are children: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,”
Lancet Neurology
10 (2011): 63–74.

54
thirteen-year-old girl from Tennessee displayed: Emily Bregel, “Chattanooga: Teen Has ‘Miraculous’ Recovery from an Unusual Tumor Disorder,”
TimesFreePress.com
, June 11, 2009,
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jun/11/chattanooga-teen-has-miraculous-recovery-unusual-t/?local
.

55
what is known as echolalia: Guillaume Sébire, “In Search of Lost Time: From Demonic Possession to Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,”
Annals of Neurology
66 (2009): 11–8. Nicole R. Florance and Josep Dalmau, “Reply to: In Search of Lost Time: From ‘Demonic Possession to Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,’”
Annals of Neurology
67 (2010): 142–143.

56
a nineteen-year-old woman: Souhel Najjar, D. Pearlman, D. Zagzag, J. Golfinos, and O. Devinsky, “Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase Autoantibody Syndrome Presenting as Schizophrenia,”
Neurologist
18 (2012): 88–91.