Baraka loves to dance. However, he and his friends notice that he misses easy st

Question

Baraka loves to dance. However, he and his friends notice that he misses easy steps more and more often. In fact, Baraka almost seems intoxicated because his coordination is so badly affected. Baraka’s physicians tell him that he has a myelin disorder. How would such a disorder cause Baraka’s symptoms? Name a specific myelin disorder and explain how this disease causes similar problems.

In this case study Baraka’s symptoms suggest a specific myelin sheath disorder. Search the myelin sheath disorder that you discussed for the case study in a library data base like EBSCO HOST. Choose a scientific article, read and summarize. I realize that these articles may be very medical in content but you should still be able to read the introduction and discussion parts of the article to get an understanding of the reported findings. Keep searching until you find one that you are comfortable reading and summarizing. Make sure you provide APA citation of the article!

Explanation / Answer

Myelin is made of layers of membranes that shield the axon underneath. This is just like an electrical wire with coating to protect the metal underneath. This insulation allows the signal to travel faster. In unmyelinated neurons, a signal can travel along the nerves at about one meter per second—that’s jogging speed. In a myelinated neuron, the signal can travel 100 meters per second, the speed of a racecar.

Certain diseases can cause damage to myelin, slowing down messages sent along axons. The damage can lead to deterioration of the axon. Depending upon the location of the damage, axon loss can cause problems with feeling, moving, seeing, hearing, and thinking clearly.

Myelin Disorders

Demyelination

Further information: Demyelinating disease

Demyelination is the loss of the myelin sheath insulating the nerves, and is the hallmark of some neurodegenerative autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, neuromyelitis optica, transverse myelitis, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Guillain-Barré syndrome, central pontine myelinosis, inherited demyelinating diseases such as leukodystrophy, and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Sufferers of pernicious anaemia can also suffer nerve damage if the condition is not diagnosed quickly. Subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord secondary to pernicious anaemia can lead to slight peripheral nerve damage to severe damage to the central nervous system, affecting speech, balance, and cognitive awareness. When myelin degrades, conduction of signals along the nerve can be impaired or lost, and the nerve eventually withers. A more serious case of myelin deterioration is called Canavan Disease.

The immune system may play a role in demyelination associated with such diseases, including inflammation causing demyelination by overproduction of cytokines via upregulation of tumor necrosis factor or interferon.

Symptoms

Demyelination results in diverse symptoms determined by the functions of the affected neurons. It disrupts signals between the brain and other parts of the body; symptoms differ from patient to patient, and have different presentations upon clinical observation and in laboratory studies.

Typical symptoms include:

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