{"id":17175,"date":"2023-09-15T16:37:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T11:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/?p=17175"},"modified":"2023-09-15T16:37:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T11:07:30","slug":"vagus-nerve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/15-09-2023\/vagus-nerve","title":{"rendered":"Vagus Nerve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus :GS 3\/Science and Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In News<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Research has indicated a link between<strong> vagus nerve dysfunction <\/strong>and long COVID.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">About the Vagus Nerve<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They\u2019re actually a <strong>pair of nerves,<\/strong> one on each side, that run from <strong>brainstem, <\/strong>through the <strong>neck, to chest and stomach.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&nbsp;They are the <strong>longest cranial nerves<\/strong>, going from<strong> brain to large intestine<\/strong>, fulfilling their meaning (\u2018vagus\u2019 in Latin means \u2018wandering\u2019) by passing through, or connecting with neck, heart, lungs, abdomen and digestive tract \u2013 all important parts.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They form a key part of the <strong>parasympathetic nervous system.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They are the <strong>10th of 12 cranial nerves <\/strong>and contain 75% of the parasympathetic nervous system\u2019s nerve fibre.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They <strong>work bi-directionally<\/strong>, allowing the brain and body to communicate with each other.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Related Research<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Researchers are increasingly looking at ways through which <strong>stimulation <\/strong>of the <strong>vagus nerve<\/strong> may potentially help with various health conditions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some treatments are already in existence, for instance, an implantable vagus nerve stimulator is used to <strong>treat epilepsy and depression<\/strong> (that does not respond to conventional treatment), by stimulating areas of the brain that lead to seizures and affect moods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Vagus nerve stimulation <\/strong>is also being studied for other diseases and disorders such as migraines, polycystic ovary syndrome, alcoholism, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer\u2019s, multiple sclerosis and gut disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn\u2019s disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/SKZHKmZq8OTd6IhyjRsZNOS8z7GmYPN55qXSeknuhQODB544vG_0JUggA6DoaNRFL5burfVNyBTJXZCYbOUlqXrUwAGqKc0WvAPNHhVeQr66pfwcCfne_PzcmtC1FssCYl8oFuEM9MphRhCxmiPr3EY\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>[Brain activity in a patient before, top row, and after vagus nerve stimulation]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Vagus nerve\u2019s connection to long COVID<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A study found that those with <strong>Post-Covid-19 Condition (PCC)<\/strong> or long COVID were more likely to <strong>have vagus nerve-related symptoms,<\/strong> compared to those who had recovered from COVID-19 and those not infected, indicating that vagus nerve dysfunction could have a role in the pathophysiology of PCC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Does vagus nerve stimulation benefit all patients?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Implanted vagus nerve stimulation does not work for everybody, and is not intended to replace conventional treatment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is still being studied and more research is needed into its potential therapeutic effect.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Parasympathetic Nervous System<\/strong><\/span><br><br>&#8211; It is responsible for <strong>relaxing and resting the body<\/strong> after a bout of activity and for a number of vital functions including heart rate, blood pressure and digestion.<br>&#8211; It also plays a role in the<strong> immune syste<\/strong>m.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_delhi\/issues\/51891\/OPS\/G17BOKBOV.1+GCEBOKGQS.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus :GS 3\/Science and Technology In News About the Vagus Nerve Related Research [Brain activity in a patient before, top row, and after vagus nerve stimulation] Vagus nerve\u2019s connection to long COVID Does vagus nerve stimulation benefit all patients? Parasympathetic Nervous System &#8211; It is responsible for relaxing and resting the body after a bout [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17176,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17175\/revisions\/17176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}