2019 Championship

During the Neuroanatomy Section, students should be prepared to name any structure presented in Chapter 1 of the "Neuroscience Essentials" publication and provide a general function for each, if presented in Chapter 1. No list/word bank will be provided during the competition.

The Patient Diagnosis Section consists of 10 videos of patients, each with one of the possible neurological disorders listed below. The video will portray motor and/or other visual symptoms of the patient (without sound), and a brief written history, as told by the patient, will be provided. Each disorder will be presented in a common form (no rare forms of the disorders).

After watching each video and reading the patient history, students should request the results of two of the available clinical, laboratory, or imaging tests, listed below. The appropriate results for the tests will be provided immediately, for example, "Normal", "Abnormal", "Enlarged Lateral Ventricles", "Tumor detected in the Occipital Lobe", "Defective Huntingtin gene", or other result, depending on the neurological disorder and the requested test. The task then is to diagnose the most likely disorder, with the list of possible disorders and tests provided. Students are given 5 minutes total per diagnosis.

Available Tests:

Sample Questions<br /> <br /> All questions are formatted to require answers that are either one word or a short phrase.<br />     <br /> Example 1: Which neurotransmitter is released by motor neurons that facilitate voluntary movements? Acetylcholine

Example 2: How many axons can be myelinated by a single Schwann cell? One

Example 3: When a patient sleeps, she has difficulty waking up, and when she is awake, she has difficulty falling asleep. Irregular modulation of which chemical messenger is likely causing these troubles? Serotonin

Questions will be in multiple-choice and short-answer formats.

There will be microscope slides, each with a thin section of any of the following human tissues. Students should be prepared to identify the following structures and substructures by name. The following list will be provided during the competition. Students should research these structures using internet resources.

• Cerebellum: Purkinje Cell Layer, Granule Cell Layer, White Matter, Molecular Layer
• Cochlea
• Cortex: Gray Matter, White Matter, Pyramidal Neurons
• Hippocampus: Dentate Gyrus, CA1, CA2, CA3, Subiculum
• Basal Ganglia: Caudate Nucleus, Putamen, Globus Pallidus, Anterior Commissure, Internal Capsule, Ependyma
• Skin: Pacinian Corpuscle, Meissner’s Corpuscle, dermal papilla
• Peripheral Nerve: Endoneurium, Perineurium, Epineurium, Nerve Fascicle
• Retina: Ganglion Cells, Bipolar Cells, Photoreceptors, Pigmented Epithelium, Choroid
• Spinal Cord: Central Canal, Gray Matter, White Matter, Lateral Horn, Dorsal Horn, Ventral Horn, Ventral Median Fissure, Dorsal Median Sulcus
• Taste Bud: Taste Pore, Neuroepithelial Cells, Basal/Stem Cells, Microvilli