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A neuropsychologist Spanish has shown that the latest neuroimaging techniques allow ‘see’ brain responses to stimuli in patients evolve from one state to another vegetative eat , which could improve the diagnosis , to develop a treatment and WIN predict recovery .

The researcher, Davinia Fernandez Espejo, has dealt with these neuroimaging techniques of art, such as functional MRI, 460 patients, both in Barcelona and in Belgium, the UK and Canada, where he worked for a year.

With them, the neuropsychologist who treats patients in his view, present many challenges to modern medicine, either because they are in a vegetative state or minimally conscious state after spending “days or weeks in a coma.”

Fernandez Espejo, presented to the press the findings of studies that develops postdoctoral at the University of Western (Canada) in the XVII National Congress of the Spanish Society of Neurology, which wraps up tomorrow in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The aim is to improve the diagnosis from information that has not been taken from them.

To do this, Fernandez has shown that encouraging these patients to simple narratives and visual stimuli can see if your brain responds the same way you would that of a healthy person and thereby confirm that certain brain networks “will be preserved. ”

Fernandez Espejo, 32, said today that these techniques allow evaluation of a very precise level subtle changes in the patient’s brain and, therefore, estimate the level of damage suffered, which would predict “if recovery is possible” he said.

The neuropsychologist noted that a patient exceeds a coma “presents a lot of movement and can mourn or growling spontaneously, but is not able to respond in the same way when asked to do so.”

So stressed that these brain imaging techniques “allow to go beyond what the patient sample externally to see if your brain responds in a manner similar to that of a healthy person.”

At the moment there is no treatment that is proven effective for these patients, beyond certain drug therapies that allow “recovered to some extent,” he added.

However, this research “attempts to detect if there are areas more important than others and use them as targets, perhaps in the future, to develop a possible treatment”, said the expert.

Davinia Fernandez stressed that the phase point is short, because “usually lasts from days to few weeks.”

From that point, the patient “or out of it and evolves into what is known as brain death or progress to a vegetative state,” in which “opens his eyes and begins to respond in some way, although not as we would do. ”

You can, however, show “that is aware of what goes around,” he added, which requires a very different attention given to a coma, with no pain is experienced, for example.

He stressed the importance of identifying what these patients experience in vegetative states and later, because, from there, the clinician “may provide analgesia”, ie, adjust the focus on the real needs of the patient.

The neuropsychologist opined that the scientific evidence have cast their investigation, which began in 2006, require a further meeting of the expert committee in 2003 developed multidisciplinary guidance on the treatment of patients in vegetative state “to propose alternatives to its attention “.

Fernandez Espejo recalled that the vegetative state was described in the 1970s and, earlier, “it was said that all patients were in coma.”

In his view, this “description” late and non-availability of the techniques currently have influenced research in this area is recent.

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The gap between the internal clock people and reality of their daily agendas not only causes fatigue in those who suffer, but influence in the rising tide of obesity in the population, according to a study published today by a team of a German university.

“We have identified a syndrome in modern society has been detected only recently. Has to do with the growing discrepancy between the daily rhythm of clock physiological and social watch “, explains Till Roenneberg, University of Munich in the online publication Current Biology.

According to the scientist, “as a result of this ‘ jetlag ‘ social, people suffering from a chronic lack of sleep,” but “is also more likely to smoke and drink more alcohol and caffeine.”

This large-scale epidemiological study also reflects that “the ‘ jetlag ‘ also contributes to social obesity.”

“The argument that the ‘ jetlag ‘ social is really harmful to our health is enhanced,” says Roenneberg.

We all have a biological clock, explains the study’s lead author, who emphasizes that it will not sync at will as if it were a machine.

What determines its performance is more daylight and darkness at night, which provide the optimal sleeping or waking.

In modern society we hear “less and less” these watches “because of the growing discrepancy between what the clock says and what the boss says” he explains.

In order to determine the dimensions of the problem, Roenneberg’s team has invested ten years to create a comprehensive database of human behavior relating to sleep and waking and utilized to develop a global map of sleep.

The analysis of information collected, including height, weight and sleep patterns of participants to the conclusion that people with a jetlag is also more marked social more likely to be overweight.

In other words, live “against the clock” could be a contributing factor to the epidemic of obesity, scientists stress.

“Waking up with an alarm clock is relatively new in our lives. It simply means that we have not had enough sleep and that is why we are chronically tired,” says Roenneberg.

According to the scientist, “a good and sufficient sleep is a waste of time, but a guarantee of better performance at work and more fun with friends and family in our leisure time” as well as a more slender .

Read original article in English.

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