Exploring human consciousness

Brains of vegetative patients show life

Of 54 unresponsive patients whose brains were scanned at medical centers in England and Belgium, those five appeared able, when prompted by researchers, to imagine themselves playing tennis, and four of them demonstrated the ability to imagine themselves walking through the rooms of their homes.

One of those patients -- a 22-year-old man who had been unresponsive for five years after an automobile crash -- went on to respond to a series of simple questions with brain activity that clearly indicated yes or no answers, researchers said.

Their work is the first to give physicians and families the prospect of a biological test to determine whether a patient who shows no response to his or her surroundings is conscious and aware of them.

That information, in turn, could bring comfort to families and better care to patients who are able to demonstrate their awareness and communicate their needs. For those consistently unable to respond, such tests may bring a measure of comfort to families inclined to end life support.

This study may make us reevaluate what it means to be alive and sentient. I wanted to know more about their methodology. Fortunately the paper is available online for free:

Willful Modulation of Brain Activity in Disorders of Consciousness

The article is pretty interesting. I have to admit I don't know much about the trustworthiness of functional MRIs for determining answers to test questions, but it sounds like this technique may at least help scientists understand the true status of those diagnosed in vegetative or minimally conscious states.

Wow

Surgeons Remove Ten-Pound Hairball From Teen Girl's Stomach

A teen with trichophagia, compulsive eating of hair, lost forty pounds in five months and had stomach pain that sent her to the doctor. Since the removal of the hair, she has since received psychiatric help and has returned to good health.

For the morbidly curious, pictures of human trichobezoars (hairballs) can be seen at Hairballs: Myths and Realities behind some Medical Curiosities from the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Then there's a picture of this particular trichobezoar. The article detailing it was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Okay, you know you're meant to be a medical librarian when you find this sort of stuff interesting, right?

Bush doesn't get it

The Battle over SCHIP

Congress' reauthorisation of the State Children's Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP), which has had great success in expanding coverage to children of the working poor, seemed like a no-brainer, until President Bush threatened to veto it. Maybe Bush should try living on a low-income whilst raising children.

We couldn't possibly cover the health care of children whose parents make below a certain income level, right? Because that would put us on the road to socialised medicine? If the SCHIP bills refuse to go into law, reauthorising the monies required to continue the states' health care programmes, many families are going to see their children's health care go down the tubes. And we all know that preventative health care is less costly than when things get acute.

Except President Bush.