Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

37 These steroids, called corticosteroids: Julia C. Buckingham, “Glucocorticoids: Exemplars of Multi-Tasking,” British Journal of Pharmacology 147 (2006): S258—S268. Mayo Clinic Staff, “Prednisone and Other Corticosteroids: Balance the Risks and Benefits,” MayoClinic.com, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/steriods/HQ014 31 (accessed May 8, 2011). Peter J. Barnes, “How Corticosteroids Control Inflammation: Quintiles Prize Lecture 2005,” British Journal of Pharmacology 148 (2006): 245–254.

CHAPTER 29: DALMAU’S DISEASE

38 paraneoplastic syndrome: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, “NINDS Paraneoplastic Syndrome Information Page,” National Institutes of Health, http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorder s/paraneoplastic/paraneoplastic.htm (accessed March 2, 2011). Roberta Vitaliani, Warren Mason, Beau Ances, Theodore Zwerdling, Zhilong Jiang, and Josep Dalmau, “Paraneoplastic Encephalitis, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Hypoventilation in Ovarian Teratomas,” Annals of Neurology 58 (2005): 594–604.

39 NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate acid) receptors are vital to learning: David J. Linden, The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams and God (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 107–144. Fei Li and Joe Z. Tsien, “Memory and NMDA Receptors,” New England Journal of Medicine 361 (2009): 302–303.

40 “knockout mice” without NMDA receptors: Wade Roush, “New Knockout Mice Point to Molecular Basis of Memory,” Science 275 (1997), www.bio.davidson.edu/c ourses/molbio/restricted/knockbrain/BrainKO.html (accessed May 18, 2011). Zhenzhong Cui, Huimin Wang, Yuansheng Tan, Kimberly A. Zaia, Shuqin Zhang, and Joe Z. Tsein, “Inducible and Reversible NR1 Knockout Reveals Crucial Role of the NMDA Receptor in Preserving Remote Memories in the Brain,” Neuron 41 (2004): 781–793. Laure Rondi-Reig, Megan Libbey, Howard Eichenbaum, and Susumu Tonegawa, “CA1-Specific NMDA Receptor Knockout Mice Are Deficient in Solving Nonspatial Transverse Patterning Task,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98 (2001): 3543–3548.

41 This second article identified twelve women: Josep Dalmau et al., “Paraneoplastic Anti-N-Methyl-D- Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis Associated with Ovarian Teratoma,” Annals of Neurology 61 (2007): 25–36.

CHAPTER 31: THE BIG REVEAL

42 For 70 percent of patients, the disorder begins innocuously, with normal flulike symptoms: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,” Lancet Neurology 10 (2011): 63–74.

43 75 percent of patients recover fully or maintain only mild side effects: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,” Lancet Neurology 10 (2011): 63–74.

44 late 1800s, a German doctor christened it “teratoma”: Elizabeth Svoboda, “Monster Tumors Show Scientific Potential in War against Cancer,” New York Times, June 6, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/health/06 tera.html (accessed May 1, 2011).

CHAPTER 33: HOMECOMING

45 stages of recovery often occur in reverse order: Josep Dalmau et al., “Clinical Experience and Laboratory Investigations in Patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis,” Lancet Neurology 10 (2011): 63–74.

CHAPTER 34: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

46 Swedish dairy cream separator created in the late 1800s: T. J. Hamblin, “Apheresis Therapy: Spin-Drying the Blood,” British Medical Journal 285 (1982): 1136–1137. Dianne M. Cearlock and David Gerteisen, “Therapeutic Plasmapheresis for Autoimmune Diseases: Advances and Outcomes,” Medical Laboratory Observer, November 2010, http://www.mlo-online.com/articles/nov00.pdf (accessed May 2011).

CHAPTER 39: WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS

47 Often those with neurological issues cannot readily identify: Rhawn Joseph, Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, Clinical Neuroscience (Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, 2000), http://brainmind.com/Agnosia.html.

CHAPTER 40: UMBRELLA

48 frontal lobes are largely responsible for complex executive functions: Michael O’Shea, The Brain: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Rita Carter, Susan Aldridge, Martyn Page, and Steve Parker, The Human Brain Book (London: DK Adult, 2009).

49 “ice pick” lobotomy: “My Lobotomy: Henry Dully’s Journey,” All Things Considered, NPR.org, November 16, 2005, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080 (accessed May 13, 2011). Shanna Freeman, “How Lobotomies Work,” HowStuffWorks.com, http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/lobotomy3.htm (accessed May 13, 2011).

CHAPTER 43: NDMA

50 New York Times Magazine “Diagnosis” column: Lisa Sanders, “Diagnosis: Brain Drain,” New York Times Magazine, November 9, 2008, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=9C05E7DA1F3BF93AA35752C1A96E9C8B63.