2,701 articles
Brain abscess
Brain abscess: focal pus collection in brain parenchyma after cerebritis, arising from contiguous, hematogenous, or direct inoculation spread; treated with drainage plus 6-8 weeks antibiotics; about 12% case fatality.
Brain connectivity
Brain connectivity: study of structural and functional connections among brain units at micro, meso, and macro scales; also a peer-reviewed journal (Brain Connect, ISSN 2158-0014) founded 2011 by Mary Ann Liebert, now SAGE.
Brain Cortical Thickness
Brain cortical thickness is the millimeter distance between the gray-white boundary and pial surface of the cortex, averaging about 2.5 mm in humans, measured from MRI via FreeSurfer, CAT12, and similar pipelines, and genetically independent of cortical surface area.
Brain death
Brain death, or death by neurologic criteria, is permanent loss of whole-brain including brainstem function, shown by coma, absent brainstem reflexes, and failed apnea testing; determined under the 2023 AAN/AAP/CNS/SCCM guideline and legally equivalent to circulatory death under the UDDA.
Brain herniation
Brain herniation: displacement of brain tissue through intracranial barriers (tentorial notch, falx, foramen magnum) from raised intracranial pressure; types include subfalcine, uncal, central, tonsillar; treated with ICP control and decompressive surgery.
Brain Imaging Data Structure
Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS): community standard for organizing neuroimaging and behavioral data in a machine-readable directory hierarchy with JSON sidecars; released 2016, extended via BEPs, used by OpenNeuro and DANDI.
Brain injury
Brain injury: acquired brain damage from trauma (TBI) or internal causes such as hypoxic-ischaemic injury; covers acute care, rehabilitation, outcome measurement, and research priorities; distinct from the journal Brain Injury.
Brain mapping
Brain mapping, also known as brain mapping techniques or a brain map, links brain functions and physiological activity to brain structures using imaging, electrophysiology, and computational analysis.
Brain metastasis
Brain metastasis: secondary brain cancer spread from a primary tumor, affecting 20-40% of cancer patients; treated with surgery, WBRT, stereotactic radiosurgery, and systemic therapy.
Brain positron emission tomography
Brain positron emission tomography (brain PET) is nuclear medicine imaging of living brain function using radiotracers such as FDG, amyloid, and tau agents; used for dementia, epilepsy, and tumor evaluation, with clinical resolution of about 5-10 mm.
Brain Research (journal)
Brain Research is a peer-reviewed neuroscience journal published in Amsterdam by Elsevier since 1966, one of the field's long-running general titles, which later absorbed several specialized spin-off journals.
Brain size
Brain size: the volume or mass of the brain, measured by MRI in living people and endocranial volume in fossils; mean human cranial capacity 1350–1400 cm³, peaking near 1,450 g before age 25.
Brain tumor prognosis and outcomes
A brain tumor prognosis estimates how a specific tumor will behave over time. Five-year survival ranges from 92% for non-malignant tumors to about 7% for glioblastoma.
Brain tumor treatment
Brain tumor treatment is the management of tumors inside the skull using surgery, radiation, drugs, and supportive care, chosen by tumor type, molecular profile, and location.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophin acting through TrkB and p75NTR, regulates neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity; its Val66Met polymorphism affects secretion, depression genetics, and cognition.
Brain–computer interface
Brain–computer interface (BCI, brain-machine interface): hardware and software that record brain signals and convert them into device commands or feedback; coined by Vidal 1973, first human implant 1998, Utah array standard since 2004.
Brainstem
Brainstem: the lower brain region connecting cerebrum to spinal cord and cerebellum, made of midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata; controls breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, consciousness, and houses ten cranial nerve nuclei and the reticular formation.
Breast
The breast (mammary gland) is the chest glandular organ of lobes, ducts, and fat that develops under estrogen, GH, and IGF-1, produces milk via prolactin and oxytocin, and is the site of breast cancer.
Breast development
Breast development: lifelong mammary gland formation from hormone-independent prenatal ductal tree through pubertal thelarche (Tanner stages, ages ~8.5–13.5), estrogen/progesterone/GH-IGF-I control, pregnancy lactation, involution, gynecomastia, and congenital variants.
Breath holding
Breath holding, a voluntary or involuntary pause in breathing (ICD-11 MD11.3), ends at a breakpoint driven by rising CO2, lung stretch, and involuntary override; includes childhood breath-holding spells and freediving physiology.
Breathing
Breathing (ventilation) is the rhythmic movement of air into and out of the lungs for gas exchange. Key facts: 12–16 breaths/min at rest, brainstem and chemoreceptor control, alveolar oxygen uptake, Lavoisier's early measurements.
British Heart Foundation
British Heart Foundation (BHF), UK heart charity founded July 1961, charity 225971; largest independent funder of cardiovascular research, over 670 shops, Heart Helpline, The Circuit defibrillator network, led by CEO Charmaine Griffiths.
Brodmann area
A Brodmann area, part of Brodmann's classification, is a numbered region of the cerebral cortex defined by cellular structure, introduced by Korbinian Brodmann in 1909.
Bronchial artery
Bronchial artery: systemic artery from the descending thoracic aorta (T5-T6) supplying ~1% of lung blood flow to airway walls and pulmonary vessel walls; hypertrophies in lung disease and is the target of bronchial artery embolization for hemoptysis.
Bronchial artery embolization
Bronchial artery embolization (BAE) is a catheter-based, image-guided procedure that occludes abnormal bronchial arteries to stop massive hemoptysis; first described by Rémy et al in 1973, it achieves 90–100% technical success with recurrence rising to about 35% by 4–5 years.
Bronchiole
Bronchiole (bronchiolus): cartilage-free small airway branching off the tertiary bronchi, about 1 mm wide, in conducting, terminal, and respiratory types, leading to alveolar ducts and alveoli.
Bronchus
Bronchus: the large airway branching from the trachea at the carina into right and left main bronchi, then lobar and segmental bronchi; right side wider and more vertical, common site of aspiration and anatomical variation.
Brown hair
Brown hair, a common human hair color from moderate eumelanin in the hair shaft (also called brunette), is determined by MC1R and many other pigmentation genes; over 90 percent of people worldwide have brown or black hair.
Brown-Séquard syndrome
Brown-Sequard syndrome (BSS), also called Brown-Sequard-plus syndrome, is a rare hemisection spinal cord injury causing ipsilateral paralysis and proprioception loss with contralateral pain/temperature loss; mostly penetrating trauma, best prognosis among SCI syndromes.
Bruce protocol
Bruce protocol: Robert A. Bruce's 1963 multistage treadmill stress test, the most used exercise ECG protocol, with 3-minute stages from 1.7 mph/10% grade; modified Bruce adds two easier warm-up stages.