Famous People Involved
A number of famous people have been alcoholics, including the famous Southern American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Poe wrote famous stories including "The Premature Burial", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Tell-tale Heart", etc. He also wrote famous poems including "The Raven". Poe drank himself to death. Other famous alcoholics have include Richard Burton, Dick van Dyke, etc. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob started Alcoholics Anonymous, a very valuable self-help group.
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This clipart is from the Hamilton-Timmons monograph. It shows what a neurotoxin alcohol is. Long term effects include brain damage. Korsakoff studied the brains of alcoholics in 19th century Russia. Wernicke studied the same thing in Germany.
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Shown here is the brilliant 19th century scientist Theodore Meynert of Vienna. Rumor has it that Meynert was drinking too much. Nevertheless he wrote a brilliant book called "Psychiatrie". The nucleus basalis of Meynert is named after him.
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Shown in light color here is the cerebral cortex, which has been studied extensively in alcoholism. Shown in dark beneath it are subcortical areas, which are also very important and are also poisoned by alcohol.
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Shown here are various anatomical planes used to study the brain. The brain is abnormal in alcoholism.
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This is another coronal engraving, this time showing the third ventricle. Structures near the third ventricle comprise the diencephalon, or mid-brain. The engraving was made in 1918 by Lewis, a brilliant anatomist from the United States.
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Shown here is Edgar Allan Poe, who should have said "Nevermore!" to alcohol, but didn't. Nevertheless he was a brilliant mystery writer.
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People can drink because they are frustrated. This clipart image is from Digital Vision. Scientists working on this problem can also become frustrated because of the complexity of the problem and the complexity of the human brain.
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This is the way the nurse sees herself.
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This is the nurse as seen by the patient. She is doing the shotbutt, an event in the nursing olympics.
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This dissection of the brain was engraved by Lewis in 1918. It shows the telencephalon, also called the cerebral hemispheres. Ventricles are also shown. There are theories of high brain tryptophan in alcoholism, schizophrenia, depression, post-partum psychosis, PMS, and in birth control pill use. The birth control pill induces hormonal changes similar to those during pregnancy. High brain tryptophan could raise brain serotonin, but that is only one effect. Another effect would be that tryptophan can convert to alanine, which can convert to pyruvate. Thus a flood of tryptophan into the brain could cause a backup in glycolysis.
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