Spiders constitute a major arthropod group in regularly inundated habitats. Some species survive a flooding period under water. We compared survival during both submersion and a recovery period after submersion, in three stenotopic lycosids: two salt-marsh species Arctosa fulvolineata and Pardosa purbeckensis, and a forest spider Pardosa lugubris. Both activity and survival rates were determine...

Detecting signs of learning in persons diagnosed to be in a post-coma vegetative state and minimally conscious state (MCS) may modify their diagnosis. We report the case of a 65-year-old female in a vegetative state. We used microswitch-based technology that is based on patient response to eye-blinking. We followed an ABABCB design, in which A represented baseline periods, B intervention period...

The comatose patients with pontine hemorrhage of diameter greater than 2 cm have poor prognosis. A 59-year-old male was brought Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score E2M5V2. He mechanically ventilated. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a hematoma, size 3 cm. improved. outcome (GOS) five. 57-year-old GCS E1M3V1. MRI scan hematoma 2.8 His GOS three at 6 months. This is report two survived cases la...

Forty-one patients with fulminant hepatic failure and coma underwent 180 periods of haemodialysis with polyacrylonitrile membrane (AN 69 HD). Hepatic failure was due to viral hepatitis in 40 and drugs in one. Total recovery of consciousness occurred in 17 patients (43.6%), and partial in seven (17.9%)--that is, an overall figure of 61.5%. Regain of consciousness was not related to liver regener...

Low temperature and desiccation stress are thought to be mechanistically similar in insects, and several studies indicate that there is a degree of cross-tolerance between them, such that increased cold tolerance results in greater desiccation tolerance and vice versa . This assertion is tested at an evolutionary scale by examining basal cold tolerance, rapid cold-hardening (RCH) and chill coma...

• Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressive agent that inhibits the activity of calcineurin. Neurologic adverse effects are varied and manifest irrespective of tacrolimus levels. These can include minor headaches and tremor to more severe seizures, cortical blindness, and coma. • Tacrolimus-associated brainstem neurotoxicity is a rarely documented phenomenon that should be considered in the differenti...

This paper reviews the current state of bedside behavioral assessment in brain-damaged patients with impaired consciousness (coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state). As misdiagnosis in this field is unfortunately very frequent, we first discuss a number of fundamental principles of clinical evaluation that should guide the assessment of consciousness in brain-damaged patients in orde...

Two patients in deep hepatic coma due to fulminant viral hepatitis were treated by extracorporeal baboon liver perfusion after failing to respond to medical treatment and three consecutive exchange transfusions. Both patients recovered full consciousness after one liver perfusion, made a complete recovery, and were leading normal lives seven and eight months after treatment. Perfusions were mai...

The value of MRI findings for coma prognostication is a question of great clinical and pathological relevance. We describe MRI evidence of restricted diffusion in the splenium in 5 patients with coma after cardiopulmonary resuscitation following cardiac arrest. The most common clinical presentation of corpus callosum lesions (of any cause) is altered mental status, consistent with the global im...

BACKGROUND Acute hydrogen sulfide (H2S) poisoning produces a coma, the outcome of which ranges from full recovery to severe neurological deficits. The aim of our study was to 1--describe the immediate and long-term neurological effects following H2S-induced coma in un-anesthetized rats, and 2--determine the potential benefit of methylene blue (MB), a compound we previously found to counteract a...