Scientific MOOCs follower. Author of Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller (Out Summer 2017)


Welcome to the digital era of biology (and to this modest blog I started in early 2005).

To cure many diseases, like cancer or cystic fibrosis, we will need to target genes (mutations, for ex.), not organs! I am convinced that the future of replacement medicine (organ transplant) is genomics (the science of the human genome). In 10 years we will be replacing (modifying) genes; not organs!


Anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4™ medicine revolution. P4 Medicine (Predictive, Personalized, Preventive, & Participatory): Catalyzing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.


I am an early adopter of scientific MOOCs. I've earned myself four MIT digital diplomas: 7.00x, 7.28x1, 7.28.x2 and 7QBWx. Instructor of 7.00x: Eric Lander PhD.

Upcoming books: Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (action taking place in Beijing) 2017; Jesus CRISPR Superstar, a sci-fi -- French title: La Passion du CRISPR (2018).

I love Genomics. Would you rather donate your data, or... your vital organs? Imagine all the people sharing their data...

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Concernant les fichiers son ou audio (audio files) sur ce blog : ce sont des fichiers Windows ; pour les lire sur Mac, il faut les ouvrir avec VLC (http://www.videolan.org).


"Brain activity found after 'brain death'" #organdonation



Monster High Doll (Mattel) Threaderella
"Maybe cats have nine lives, or maybe brain dead people aren’t so dead.
Parts of the brain may still be active after a commonly used brain activity reading goes to a flat line, according to a study on cat brains published Wednesday in the online journal PLOS One.
The study came after Romanian doctors noticed odd electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in a patient who had lapsed into a coma while under the influence of anti-seizure medication.
Researchers at the Universite de Montreal put 26 cats under deep anesthesia and recorded their brain activity in the upper cortical regions and hippocampus. In all of the cats, a previously undocumented 'ripple event' was evident in the hippocampus after EEG read-outs went 'flat,' indicating a silenced cortex. The results appeared to replicate what had been seen in the human patient, according to the study.
The findings could revive debate over the criteria for declaring a person 'brain dead.' In the U.S., two such flat-line readings 24 hours apart are necessary, along with other tests of brain function.
Researchers said their findings suggest that the brain can survive an extremely deep coma and that inducing such a state could help preserve some brain function that otherwise might cease, causing the brain to atrophy.
Scientists have been steadily probing the nature of brain activity at the border of death. Evidence of a sharp burst in brain activity after cardiac arrest suggest a neural explanation for anecdotes from patients who have recovered from near-death experiences, including a sensation of leaving the body, and deep memories flickering in dream-like fashion.
The most famous example of the phenomena turned into a best-selling book, “Proof of Heaven,” in which a physician recounted the vivid imagery he experienced during a coma. Neurologists question whether the cortex was fully shut down and suggest these memory functions reflected activity in the brain, not a supernatural phenomenon.
Anecdotes of near-death imagery have varied by culture and changed significantly over time and correlate with the teller's religious iconography, skeptics note. Heavenly experiences, they suggest, are in the mind of the beholder.
A recent study using mice showed that brain activity after complete cardiac arrest does not gradually wane to zero but is distinguished by phases that include a burst of activity -- a phenomenon noted also by the Montreal team.
The Montreal team, however, suggests there is a state beyond the end of cortical activity and that an area of the brain closely associated with memory may be sending signals to its master, the cortex, where higher functions, consciousness among them, are generated."

http://discussions.latimes.com/20/lanews/la-sci-sn-brain-activity-death-20130918/10
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-brain-activity-death-20130918,0,4315042.story

 

2 commentaires:

Ethics, Health and Death 2.0 a dit…

"L'oeuvre d'art naît du renoncement de l'intelligence à raisonner le concret"
Albert Camus.

Quand on voit l'image de l'éléphant, on se dit que la médecine est parfois apparentée à l’œuvre d'art... du grand art... car enfin, la mort encéphalique, c'est nous faire croire que quelqu'un sur qui on prélève des organes vitaux vivants est ... mort. "Elephant in the room"...

Ethics, Health and Death 2.0 a dit…

Et y feront quoi, les toubibs, quand les proches des patients auront leur propre iPhone ou autre "digital device" pouvant mesurer les données vitales de quelqu'un (leur proche dont on leur réclame les organes vitaux) et ils verront l'activité électrique du cerveau dudit proche sur l'écran de leur "device" ? ... #CDoM