Brain App

The human brain is truly astonishing structure and is probably most complex thing in the universe. Our brain constitutes 2 percent of our body weight, but inside the brain are approximately 86 billion neurons, surrounded by 180,000 kilometers of insulated fires connected at 100 trillion synapses. It is like vast supercomputer. The neurons communicate using electrical signals. Brain is an amazing structure which creates interest in people of all age groups. It is very interesting that a tiny brain of small animals can perform almost all activities necessary to sustain life. Human brain is about 1200 grams to 1500 grams in weight. But if there is damage to the brain in neurotrauma or in stroke or birth anoxia, even a large part of the remaining brain is unable to help a person to perform all activities.
So, in small creatures like ants a tiny brain is self sufficient but in an adult person with about 1 Kilogram of injured brain becomes severely impaired. Therefore, a large brain of a patient of brain disease cannot perform all functions.
It may be possible that brain of an ant may be like a brain app which may be having a limited but complete set of basic applications necessary for a normal person. It may be possible that a new born ant may be born with this app but a newborn infant of human beings may not be able to take care of themselves due to lack of this app in the brain of human beings.
Speculations of a brain app needs to be explored.
A further research in this area may help a lot of newborns with cerebral palsy or birth anoxia. As these children have almost normal sized brain but are unable to perform even normal daily life activities independently.
Although human brain has infinite potential but takes lot of time to become mature but is also vulnerable to injuries during the process of development. Neuronal Plasticity allows other parts of brain to takeover the function of the injured part, but there is need to identify an app in the brain which may be very small , transplantable or amenable to modifications.
Although, a lot of research has been done in other fields but the clinical applications of such research will benefit millions of patients suffering from stroke, cerebral palsy, birth anoxia, Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Technological advancements in artificial intelligenc, robotics, bionics, etc, may be replicated in neurosciences to find solutions to brain deficits. 

Chondrosarcoma of spine

Chondrosarcomas are malignant cartilage forming tumors. Chondrosarcoma is the second most common primary tumor of the spine after multiple myeloma.  

Chondrosarcoma may be classified as primary ( arising de novo) or secondary ( arising from a pre-existing osteochondroma or enchondroma).

Although chondrosarcoma is second most common primary malignat tumor of the bone but chondrosarcoma of spine is uncommon. It rarely grows inside the spinal canal [ Arockiaraj et al, 2012].

Chondrosarcomas arising from the vertebral axis usually present as slowly growing mass with an insidious onset, associated with pain and local tenderness, usually associated with neurological deficits at the time of presentation.

Chondrosarcomas usually appear as osteolytic lesions with endosteal scalloping and cartilaginous matrix calcifications. Punctate , pop-corn like calcifications , arcs and ring types have been described for matrix mineralization which is pathognomonic for chondrosarcoma.

Chondrosarcomas of the spine usually belong to the mesenchymal or clear cell histological types.

The ideal treatment consists of total “en-bloc” resection, not always achievable due to limitation of location, compromise of stability and risk of inducing neurological deficits.

References:

Justin Arockiaraj, Krishnan Venkatesh, Rohit Amritanand, Gabriel David Sundararaj, Gurusamy Nachimuthu.  Chondrosarcoma of the Spinous Process: A Rare Presentation. Asian Spine Journal Vol. 6, No. 4, pp 279~283, 2 012

C. Ruivo, Hopper. Spinal chondrosarcoma arising from a solitary lumbar osteochondroma, JBR–BTR, 2014, 97: 21-24.

 

Daniel Monte-Serrat Prevedello, Joacir Graciolli Cordeiro, Andrei Koerbel, Léo Fernando da Silva Ditzel, João Cândido Araújo. Management of primary spinal Chondrosarcoma.Report of two cases causing cord compression . Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2004;62(3-B):875-878

 

Ratliff J, Voorhies R. Osteochondroma of the C5 lamina with cord compression: case report and review of the literature. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2000 May 15;25(10):1293-5.

 

Nick Vertzyas, John Cummine, Sandra Biankin and Michael Bilows. Chondrosarcoma of the thoracic spine in an 8-year-old child with 12 years follow-up: A case report. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery 2000, 8(1): 89–92.