Chapter one: Jackie Takes a Tumble


Jackie Takes a Tumble
It was a starch white summer day when the squad went out to ball up at VP. But something was different about today... Jackie was hitting jump shots.
Jackie's team was up by one and his team had possession. On a play, Jackie drove into the lane and attempted to finish a powerful dunk on Lucas. Lucas contested the dunk and Jackie did not finish. They both tumbled to the floor.
Lucas got up right away, but Jackie stayed on the court crying in pain. He was taken to the hospital and under closer investigation we learned what went wrong.

Doctor Duke told him that both his Central Nervous System, which contains the brain and spinal cord, and Peripheral Nervous System, which includes the nerves and everything else, were badly damaged.
According to the scans, we saw that some of his pathways of white matter were severed. The white matter of the spinal cord is made of myelinated axons. White matter is superficial in relation to the gray matter and its function is to serve as a relay center. Furthermore, the ascending tracts carry sensory info to the brain and the descending tracts carry motor commands to the spinal nerves.
If that wasn't bad enough, Doctor Duke also revealed that the fall damaged small parts grey matter in his brain beyond repair.
The gray matter of the spinal cord is made of unmyelinated tissue, which is essentially slow at sending impulses. Its function is in charge of processing for spinal reflexes.

Doctor Duke came into our room and asked Jackie whether it be appropriate for us to leave the room for his privacy or to remain for the bad news. Jackie agreed to let us stay.
Doctor Duke started off by telling us that Jackie will not be able to move his pinky toes for the rest of his life due to paralysis. Jackie cried.

Doctor Duke said that it was because Jackie damaged his spinal nerves. Spinal nerves are mixed, meaning they carry and interpret sensory and motor commands up the spinal cord, and motor commands down the spinal cord. They’re numbered the same way the vertebrae are.
The last nine nerves L2-S5 continue beyond the distal end of the spinal cord and are called the Cauda Equina “Horse tail.”

Doctor Duke also told us about Jackie's damaged Dorsal Root Ganglion and dorsal root which are both in charge of taking sensory info in.
Lucky for Jackie his Ventral Root was fine. The Ventral root is in charge of sending motor commands and impulses out.

Next, Doctor Duke told us about Jackie's Plexi. There are four different major plexuses in your body. A nerve plexus is a complex, interwoven web made from the blended roots of adjacent nerves. They allow for some overlap and backup pathways for nerve impulses. There are four major plexuses. The first is the cervical plexus where you can find the phrenic nerve. The phrenic nerve comes off the neck and controls and feels sensation in your diaphragm.

There is also the brachial plexus where you can find the axillary nerve. The axillary nerve comes off the shoulder and controls and feels the operations in that area.
Further down we have the lumbar plexus where you can find the gluteal nerves. The gluteal nerves come off of the buttox and controls/feels for that area.
Lastly you have the sacral plexus where you can find the tibial nerve. The tibial nerve comes off the the posterior leg and controls/feels the back of the leg.

Finally, we learned about the condition of Jackie's spinal chord and how it affected his spinal reflexes. The spinal reflex is controlled by spinal cord grey matter, not the brain. It is triggered by specific stimuli and the responses are rapid. Spinal reflexes occur when reacting to a stimuli that doesn’t need to go to the brain. Like when you put your hand on something hot.





Jackie recovered on the hospital bed of Winchester Hospital for a week. Later that day, he went into the pots room of the cafeteria and made a family secret recipe called "Ugly Soup." He claimed that this recipe helps the body heal faster.
After a couple of days, Jackie recovered and was able to move his pinky toes again! It was a miracle. In a matter of one day, he was back on the basketball court!

THE END

Christophie's Cranium
Once upon a time there was a kid named Christophie Milo. Cristophie loves science and biking. In the summer of his sophomore year, Christophe was riding his bike home, without a helmet, when he hit a pot hole and fell off his bike.
When he got home he realized his head had swelled a sizable amount and he looked like Mega-mind.
He tough his head would return to normal shape... but it never did. He decided to investigate his injury in his anatomy class for his science fair project.


The first thing he researched was the anatomy and physiology of the brain. He learned that the brain is surrounded by the cranium and the same meninges and Cerebrospinal Spinal Fluid that surrounds the spinal cord. The CSF functions to cushion and protect from phsyical injury and help control the chemical environment of the brain such as nutrients, waste, etc.


This got Christophie thinking about why his head still looked like a balloon. He went to the doctor to have them investigate what was wrong. They told him about The Cerebrum. He learned that it is the largest section of the brain that controls all conscious thoughts and intellectual functions and is divided called cerebral hemispheres.
Christophie learned that The surface of each hemisphere is composed of a layer of gray matter called the cerebral cortex and is heavily folded. The ridges on the surface are called gyri and the grooves are called sulci. Because of this folding, the total surface area is increased which is important because gray matter is what does all the processing (motor, sensory, or integration.)
Cristophie also learned about how the head was divided. He found out that the ridges of everyone’s brain are unique, but there are a few sulci that are generally standard in the human brain. These sulci mark the boundaries between the four major lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.
In addition to all of this information they told him that his cerebrum is %15 larger than most people's, and for some strange reason the swelling in his head never went down. Determined for an answer, Christophie went home and worked on his science fair project to find the answer.

The frontal lobe is the front portion of your brain. Within the Frontal lobe there are subdivisions that are in charge of coordinating different motor and sensory functions.
For example, the Primary Mortor Cortex, Premotor Cortex, and Motor Writing Center are all incharge of gross and fine muscle movements. The Prefrontal cortex is in charge of problem solving memory and judgement. And Lastly the Broca's Area helps us understand language.

The parietal Lobe is the middle top section of your brain. One portion of the parietal lobe is the Primary Sensory Cortex. This area receives somatic sensory info such as touch, pressure, pain, vibration, and temperature.
There is also the Somatic Sensory Association Area. This area interprets the inputs to primary sensory cortex, It recognizes and responds to touch.

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Chapter one: Jackie Takes a Tumble


Jackie Takes a Tumble
It was a starch white summer day when the squad went out to ball up at VP. But something was different about today... Jackie was hitting jump shots.
Jackie's team was up by one and his team had possession. On a play, Jackie drove into the lane and attempted to finish a powerful dunk on Lucas. Lucas contested the dunk and Jackie did not finish. They both tumbled to the floor.
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