Cerebral Structure and Function: BRAINCHECK, in progress

CURRENT CONTENTS:

Hippocampus

Visual cortex

Homonomous hemianopsia

Bitemporal hemianopsia

Motor homunculus

More to follow

Authors' Note: 

   Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918) was a German neurologist famous for his definition of 52 cerebral cortical areas based on their histological (tissue-architecture) characteristics. Functional correlates were defined for many of these areas, and the primary and subsidiary areas of visual interpretation are often described by their Brodmann numbers. 

   The primary visual cortex, straddling the calcarine (Latin: spur) sulcus (fissure or slit), is located on the inner surface of each cerebral hemisphere's occipital lobe, well protected from injury.

Authors' Note:  Lesions in the occipital, or posterior portion of the brain's cerebral hemispheres are notorious for producing visual disruption. Each side of this sensitive area of brain tissue is targeted at integrating one half of the patient's visual field (to left or right). So for example, a tumour in the right side of the occipital lobe interrupts the signals arriving from the nerve fibres in the right side of the retina in both eyes; the patient's ability to see objects in the well-defined semi-circular zone to his left is eliminated in a fashion that is homonomous, i.e. congruent - both eyes are affected similarly. The resulting pattern of contralateral loss of visual sensation (homonomous hemianopsia) may be mapped by a test known as perimetry (visual-field analysis).

                                                                        

Authors' Note: Loss of sight in half of the visual field in an eye is a medically well-characterized and significant lesion known as hemianopsia, or occasionally hemianopia. An attack on the underlying lesion, often deep within the brain is in the province of neurosurgeons, and often a multidisciplinary team is needed. The bitemporal pattern discussed here, involving the lateral half of each eye's visual field, is less common than homonomous hemianopsia. For further reading on this topic, the Wikipedia article is suggested.

Authors' Note:  The homunculi referred to here are the representations of the human body, well-known to anatomy students, that are mapped out on the "motor strip", symmetric areas of cortex on both sides of the brain that control voluntary movement on the contralateral side of the body. The motor homunculus on each side maps the primary motor cortex, located in the precentral gyrus (fold) of the frontal lobe; analogously, there is a similarly arranged sensory homunculus located nearby in the postcentral gyrus.

Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 160 of these!) on medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts. 

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: NEOLOGISMS (classic), in progress

CURRENT CONTENTS:
Fulton's Gnu-bar

Hipster and hippy

More to follow

 

Authors' Note: Readers might also enjoy the authors' verses dealing with the epicurean hippy, the prosthetic hipster, the Congolese hippodrome, hip replacement, and the hippocampus.

OVERLAPPING THEMES:

Authors' Note: The disparaging term gobbledegook was first used in 1944 by a Texas politician named Maverick (scion of the original staunchly independent thinker). Its meaning — pompous, overinflated language — gave rise a few year later to the equivalent bafflegab. These expressions, employing repetition of sounds, have a musical and amusing quality, as do their venerable synonyms --hogwash, poppycock, balderdash, bunkum and tommyrot. (Only their close cousin claptrap (alternately clap-trap) -- would qualify as a reduplication).

If you liked this blog-post, you might want to refer to our entire collection concerning author Giorgio Coniglio's Personal Neologisms. Click HERE.

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

URBAN CONCERNS

 CURRENT CONTENTS

Aged street trees

Break of day

Dog park

Elevator reluctance

In the distance

Old conservatory

Pre-stressed concrete

School districts and real estate

Authors' Note: This verse drew inspiration from the poem "Cuore di Legno" (Heart of Wood) by poet Primo Levi. In the poem, the narrator, an aged horse chestnut growing on a busy urban street, complains of, among other insults, being peed on by neighborhood dogs. 

sunset reflected briefly 
8:30 p.m., May 2023
building to east of downtown

Authors' Note: 

groundling: the author's nickname for people who live on the ground floor, such as, up 'til now, his immediate family members
lift: Canadians, like their American neighbours, usually term this device an 'elevator'; to fit the tight space here, we borrowed the British synonym; however, it is noted that we retained our customary spelling of story (rather than the British storey)
helluva: common undefined slang that has been used in 40 verses on OEDILF to date (2023); presumably a distortion of hell of a ...

Another true personal story, apart from taking liberties with the floor numbers. The author currently inhabits a rental unit across the building from the suite being gloriously renovated/demolished by 'Carl the contractor'. This situation accords with advice by a relative to 'try out the lifestyle change' to ease the transition from house to 'bungalow in the sky'.

Authors' Note: We are fortunate to have moved into an apartment building just across the street from a public conservatory whose warm, humid, glass-roofed galleries offer the visitor views and dreams of escape to tropical floral environments. Visits are especially reinvigorating on dark and depressing winter days, and admission is free!

You might also enjoy reviewing photo-enhanced poetry posts related to poinsettias, koi, red-eared sliders(turtles), Ontario cactuses, and Leda and the Swan at the same destination.

 

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.