Posted on 10/15/2008 12:04:12 PM PDT by Teflonic
JOSH VILLA was 26 and driving home after a drink with a friend on 28 August 2005 when his car mounted the kerb and flipped over. Villa was thrown through the windscreen, suffered massive head injuries and fell into a coma.
Almost a year later, there was little sign of improvement. "He would open his eyes, but he was not responsive to any external stimuli in his environment," says Theresa Pape of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Chicago, who helped treat him.
Usually there is little more that can be done for people in this condition. Villa was to be sent home to Rockford, Illinois, where his mother, Laurie McAndrews, had volunteered to care for him.
But Pape had a different suggestion. She enrolled him in a six-week study in which an electromagnetic coil was held over the front of his head to stimulate the underlying brain tissue. Such transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been investigated as a way of treating migraine, stroke, Parkinson's disease and depression, with some promising results, but this is the first time it has been used as a potential therapy for someone in a coma-like state.
The rapidly changing magnetic fields that the coil creates can be used either to excite or inhibit brain cells - making it easier or harder for them to communicate with one another. In Villa's case, the coil was used to excite brain cells in the right prefrontal dorsolateral cortex. "It's like an 'OK, I'm awake' pulse," says Pape.
At first, there was little change in Villa's condition, but after around 15 sessions something happened. "You started talking to him and he would turn his head and look at you," says McAndrews. "That was huge."
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Now that’s pretty cool.
I see widespread applications in helping millions of liberals to start using their brains.
Does this work with voters?
Will this work on McCain?
Perhaps Senator McCain might benefit from a treatment before tonight. just kidding. ;-)
Prayers of healing for Josh and comfort and strength to the family and friends..
Yes, but from the article it sounds like he’s just as bad off as Terri Schiavo. Better let him die. /s
Correlation is not causation.
You’d need a larger study to determine if it was the magnetic fields that had the affect or if it was just the natural progression of this person’s coma.
[mounted the kerb and flipped over]
There’s a lesson here, whenever you mount a Kurb, don’t flip over into to the missionary position. Those kurb’s are notorious for getting on top.
Ping.
bookmark
“kerb “????
If this works, Dr. House won’t have a place to watch TV anymore.
“mounted the kerb”
Wow, who’s the editor of this paper?
An Englishman.
Yeah you can tell it was written by a Brit from the second sentence when the windshield is referred to as a windscreen.
Well if they are all over there mounting kerbs, its no wonder they are a rather depressing lot.
JERRY: How long do you have to wait for a guy to come out of a coma before you can ask his ex-girlfriend out?
KRAMER: What kind of a man are you? The guy is unconscious in a coma and you don’t have the guts to kiss his girlfriend?
JERRY: I didn’t know what the coma etiquette was.
This would have fit right in with an episode of “Fringe” that I saw last night.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.