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A man presumed to have been in a deep coma for 23 years has spoken of his "second birth" after doctors realised that he had been fully conscious all along but unable to communicate.

Rom Houben, 46, was paralysed in a car accident that left him in what doctors thought was a persistent vegetative state. In fact he remained aware of his surroundings and could hear medical staff gradually give up hope on him.

Researchers using new scanning techniques discovered that his brain was still active and trained him to use his right forefinger to express himself on a specially adapted keyboard.

His case is being highlighted in his native Belgium by doctors who are pioneering new ways of understanding coma victims, hundreds of whom around the world could be conscious but locked in paralysis – and, unlike a true coma patient, able to feel pain.

"All that time I just literally dreamt of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt."

Mr Houben, an engineering student and martial arts expert, had been written off as in an "extinct" state after he was seriously injured in a car crash in 1983.

He "woke up" three years ago thanks to coma specialists at the University of Liege who have spoken about the case for the first time to try to draw attention to the condition and save other misdiagnosed patients.

Mr Houben recalled the terrifying realisation after he came round from his accident when he knew that he had lost complete control of his body – but no one knew that he was fully conscious.

"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he told the German magazine Der Speigel.

What is Health Care and Social Law? It is governed by the law, rules, regulations and other jurisprudence that cover a wide range of legal concerns, from healthcare law, mental health, public health, technology and medical care, to medicine, and the entire healthcare field, including specific laws governing the health industry: physicians, nurses, hospitals and health systems, health maintenance organizations, health insurers, managed care companies, nursing facilities, home care providers, social services and the relationship among them and patients.

In the Canadian province of British Columbia and north-western U.S. states recorded the spread of new strains of the tropical semi-pathogenic fungus that can affect the lungs and brain of man until death. Cryptococcus gattii was first discovered in Australia. It was later revealed that he is quite common in tropical areas of Africa.



Cryptococcus gattii causes life-threatening infection of the pulmonary and central nervous systems in hosts with normal immunity and traditionally has been considered to be restricted geographically to tropical and subtropical climates. The recent outbreak of C. gattii in the temperate climate of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, led to a collaborative investigation. The objectives of the current study were to ascertain the environmental source of the outbreak infections, survey the molecular types of the outbreak and environmental cryptococcal isolates, and determine the extent of genetic diversity among the isolates. PCR-fingerprinting and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were used to examine the genotypes, and mating assays were performed to determine the mating type of the isolates.

All outbreak and environmental isolates belonged to C. gattii. Concordant results were obtained by using PCR-fingerprinting and AFLP analysis. The vast majority of clinical and veterinary infections were caused by isolates of the molecular type VGII/AFLP6, but two were caused by molecular type VGI/AFLP4. All environmental isolates belonged to molecular type VGII/AFLP6. Two or three subtypes were observed within VGII/AFLP6 among outbreak and environmental isolates. All mating-competent isolates were of the α-mating type. The emergence of this usually tropical pathogen on Vancouver Island highlights the changing distribution of this genotype and emphasizes the importance of an ongoing collaborative effort to monitor the global epidemiology of this yeast.

According to health officials child deaths from the new virus, identified in April as a global epidemic and named swine flu were 'shooting up" in the United States. The CDC doesn't have an exact count of all swine flu deaths and hospitalizations, but existing reports suggest more than 600 have died and more than 9,000 have been hospitalized. Health officials believe millions of Americans have caught the virus. The regular flu kills between 46 and 88 children a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That suggests deaths from the new H1N1 virus could dramatically outpace children's deaths from seasonal flu, if swine flu continues to spread as it has.

CDC officials say 10 more states, a total of 37, now have widespread swine flu. A week ago, reports suggested that cases might be leveling off and even falling in some areas of the country, but that did not turn out to be an enduring national trend.

"We are seeing more illness, more hospitalizations, and more deaths," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said at a press conference Friday.

Man's brain starts to decline in late 20s, studies say. Yeas, a new study on aging indicates that reasoning, speed of thought and spatial visualization begin to decline in that age, the BBC reports.
Professor Timothy Salthouse of Virginia University, who worked on the research, said: "Results converge on a conclusion that some aspects of age-related cognitive decline begin in healthy, educated adults when they are in their 20s and 30s."



In the study, the BBC says, Salthouse had his subjects solve puzzles, recall words and details of stories, and spot patterns in letters and symbols. In nine out of 12 tests, the BBC says, 22 was the average age for peak performance. Marked decline began at 27.

It means that just the findings could mean that therapies designed to slow or reverse the aging process may need to start much earlier.

Two regions of the brain linked to optimism have been discovered by researchers, newscientist.com reported. Brain scans obtained using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed that reflecting on both past and future events activated the amygdala and the (rACC) areas, both of which sit deep in the middle of the brain. However, positive events – and particularly those imagined in the future – elicited a significantly bigger brain response in these regions than reflecting on negative events. The identification of the sites that signal positive thinking could shed light on the causes of depression, they say.

The US team says that the act of imagining a positive future event – such as winning an award or receiving a large sum of cash – activates two brain areas known as the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulated cortex (rACC). The finding lends weight to earlier studies that suggested these brain regions malfunction in depression and hint at new ways of diagnosing the disorder.

Elizabeth Phelps at the New York University, US, and colleagues measured how optimistic 15 volunteers were using a standard questionnaire. The researchers then asked these subjects to lie in a brain scanner and reflect on one of a number of potential scenarios.

For example, in one part of the trial, subjects followed specific instructions to recall a negative event in the past, such a funeral attended in the past five years. In another part of the experiment they had to imagine what it would be like to be involved in a car crash in the near future. At other points in the study subjects had to reflect on positive events such as winning an award in the past or receiving a large sum of cash in the future.

Researching brain cells the team from the Humboldt University in Germany and the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands have made an interesting medical discovery. It appears that there could be enough computing ability in just one brain cell to allow humans and animals to feel, a study suggests. The research, conducted with rodents and published in the Dec. 20 issue of Nature, could rewrite the textbooks on just how important individual brain cells or cell clusters are to the working mind.

The Dutch and German study found that stimulating just one rat neuron could deliver the sensation of touch. Before these insights, "The thinking was that very large ensembles of neurons [brain cells] had to be activated at some point for the animal to feel or perceive" a stimulus, explained the senior researcher of two of the studies, Karel Svoboda, a group leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Va.

"But it turns out that a remarkably small number -- on the order of 50 or so activated neurons -- is sufficient to drive reliable behaviors," said Svoboda, who is also associated with the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in New York.
A second research project from the US suggests the computational ability of the brain cell could be even more complex, with different synapses - the many junctions between neurons and other nerve cells - able to act independently from those found elsewhere on the same cell.
This could mean that, within a single neuron, different synapses could be storing or processing completely different bits of information. Dr Douglas Armstrong, the deputy director of the Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics, said the research did not mean all neurons had an individual role to play but that, in some instances, they might be capable of working alone with measurable results. "The fact that a single cell can influence behavior in the cortex is fascinating," said neuroscientist Paul Sanberg, director of the Center for Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida, Tampa. The new findings are "allowing us to answer questions about how the brain controls behavior at the cellular level," added Sanberg, who was not involved in the studies.
He said: "The generally accepted model was that networks or arrays make decisions and that the influence of a single neuron is smaller - but this work and other recent studies support a more important role for the individual neuron.
"These studies drive down the level at which relevant computation is happening in the brain."

A man is so imperfect, he needs to eat, to sleep, he grieves over a mere nothing, he has a pain and finally man is mortal. This is very sad but the fact. Actually a man is defenseless and open to injury like a child and needs to be cared for with someone else. The ancients had been looking for the defense in God but we rely on scientific and technical progress only. And this is really not bad. This thought occurred to me every time I read about regular achievements of science and engineering. AFP reports today that Japan's future dentists may soon be able to better appreciate patients' pain by training on a humanoid robot that can mumble "ouch" when the drill hits a nerve.

The robot, resembling an attractive young woman with long black hair and a pink sweater, also can listen to instructions and react to pain by moving her eyes or hands.A group of robot and computer makers presented the high-tech dental patient in Tokyo at the 2007 International Robot Exhibition, a four-day technology showcase that opened Wednesday.
The medical simulation robot, named "Simroid," is designed to be used for clinical training at dental schools, said Tatsuo Matsuzaki, an official at robot maker Kokoro Company Ltd., which developed the body and control system.
The 160-centimeter (five-foot-three) robot can say "it hurts" and frown when it feels uncomfortable from the dental drill.
"Because it's so real, dental trainees can see patients' feelings and will be able to develop good skills as they treat it, not as an object, but as a human being," Matsuzaki said.

It is said that when Johann Wolfgang Goethe was asked, which three things he would take to an island. He stated: "Poetry, a beautiful woman and enough bottles of the world's finest wines to survive this dry period!" Then he was asked what he would leave back first, if it was allowed to take only two things to the island. And he briefly replied: "The poetry!" Slightly surprised, the man asked the next question: "And Sir, what would you leave back if only one was allowed?" And Goethe thought for a couple of minutes and answered: "It depends on the vintage!"


Indeed if our hearts are warm with happiness or if sorrow chills our hearts we need to take a glass of good wine. We have heard a lot about favorable influence of wine upon man’s organism and from time to time we get new and new arguments in favor of it. “The healthiest people do include moderate drinking in their lifestyle,” says Eric Rimm, Sc.D., associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. You can reap alcohol’s health benefits within weeks, and the gains accumulate over time.” You are watching your calories and wondering what your best bet is: beer, liquor or wine? You must know that ounce for ounce, beer turns out to have the fewest calories (13 for regular, 9 for light), followed by wine (25) and liquor (64 to 82). But when you consider how much you're typically served of each, you may be better off ordering a cocktail. That's because a drink containing a jigger of alcohol, mixed with water, seltzer or diet soda, will have no more than 124 calories—roughly 25 calories less than a 6-ounce glass of wine or a 12-ounce bottle of beer. (Light beer, with only 103 calories per bottle, is also a good choice.) If you like your drinks mixed with regular soda or juice, however, beware: You could slurp down 300 or more calories. Generally experts recommend either12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1½ ounces of 80-proof liquor. And it does not matter which sort of alcohol you prefer - all forms of alcohol have ethanol, the ingredient that adds a health benefit. But women who have a high risk for breast cancer should have less than one drink a day; there’s evidence that alcohol can raise the odds for some forms of the disease and those with a family history of alcoholism should avoid alcohol altogether.
Moderate drinking raises HDL (“good”) cholesterol, helping reduce the risk for heart disease and possibly stroke, a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston indicates. Alcohol also makes blood platelets less sticky, so they’re less likely to form into potential heart-attack-inducing clots. It may insulin levels, lowering your risk for type 2 diabetes, according to a study in the journal Obesity. It appears that alcohol can increase cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which in turn allows cells to burn glucose faster and reduce blood sugar levels also that alcohol can increase cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which in turn allows cells to burn glucose faster and reduce blood sugar levels.
A glass of good wine can make our daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance as Benjamin Franklin said.

Hypothesis Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) provides the potential for performance of incisionless operations. This would break the physical barrier between bodily trauma and surgery, representing an epical revolution in surgery. Our group at IRCAD-EITS (Institut de Recherche contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif [Institute of Digestive Cancer Research]–European Institute of TeleSurgery) has been actively involved in the development of NOTES since 2004 with a dedicated project created to develop feasibility and survival studies and new endoscopic technology.

Design NOTES cholecystectomy in a woman via a transvaginal approach.

Setting University hospital.

Patient The patient was a 30-year-old woman with symptomatic cholelithiasis.

Intervention The procedure was carried out by a multidisciplinary team using a standard double-channel flexible videogastroscope and standard endoscopic instruments. The placement of a 2-mm needle port, mandatory to insufflate carbon dioxide and to monitor the pneumoperitoneum, was helpful for further retraction of the gallbladder. At no stage of the procedure was there need for laparoscopic assistance. All of the principles of cholecystectomy were strictly adhered to.

Results The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient had no postoperative pain and no scars, and was discharged on the second postoperative day.

Conclusions Transluminal surgery is feasible and safe. NOTES, a radical shift in the practice and philosophy of interventional treatment, is becoming established and is enormously advantageous to the patient. With its invisible mending and tremendous potential, NOTES might be the next surgical evolution.


Author Affiliations: Institut de Recherche contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif–European Institute of TeleSurgery, University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.

The Winner of 2007 Nobel Price in medicine have become members of the international trio from Italy, Great Britain and US. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute has today decided to award The Nobel Prize "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells"


Mario R. Capecchi - University of Utah; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Salt Lake City, UT, USA. b.1937 in Italy.

Sir Martin J. Evans - United Kingdom, Cardiff University
Cardiff, b.1941

Oliver Smithies - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC, USA. b.1941


USA United Kingdom USA
University of Utah; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Salt Lake City, UT, USA Cardiff University
Cardiff, United Kingdom University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
b. 1925 in U.K.

Each of them will get 1/3 of the prize.

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