Conciousness

Complementary measures for the assessment of patient thermoregulatory state, such as subjective judgement scales, might be of considerable importance in field rescue scenarios where objective measures such as body core temperature, skin temperature, and oxygen consumption are difficult to obtain. The objective of this study was to evaluate, in healthy subjects, the reliability of the Cold Discomfort Scale (CDS), a subjective judgement scale for the assessment of patient thermal state in cold environments, defined as test-retest stability, and criterion validity, defined as the ability to detect a difference in cumulative cold stress over time...

Mucormycosis is an angioinvasive infection caused by ubiquitous filamentous fungi of the order Mucorales. It is a rapidly progressive fatal infection mostly reported in susceptible individuals, such as those with poorly controlled diabetes or those with defects in phagocytic function. Rhinocerebral mucormycosis is the most common type of mucormycosis in diabetic patients. This case report describes a 17-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes mellitus presenting with rhinocerebral mucormycosis. The patient presented with a history of toothache and facial pain with oedema of left half of face, periorbital oedema and depressed conciousness...

A rising conciousness within both the medical community and in the public has been created by the current levels of radiation exposure from increased use of computed tomography. The concern has prompted the need for more data collection and analysis of hospital and imaging center exam doses. This has spurred the American College of Radiology (ACR) to develop the Dose Index Registry (DIR), which will allow participating insitutions to compare the radiation dose from their CT exams to aggregate national CT dose data based on exam type and body part...

OBJECTIVE: Human pandemic influenza H(1)N(1) virus as the cause of febrile respiratory infection ranging from self-limited to severe illness has spread globally during 2009. Signs and symptoms of upper and lower respiratory tract involvement, fever, sore throat, rhinitis, myalgia, malaise, headache, chills and fatigue are common. In this article we report the clinical presentation of Influenza A (H(1)N(1)) in our hospitalized children. METHODS: Between September and October 2009, all children requiring hospitalization for suspected H(1)N(1) infection were transferred to Pediatric Infectious Diseases ward...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In cases of unclear depression of conciousness, arrhythmia and symptoms of cardiac insufficiency inadvertent carbon monoxide intoxication should always be taken into consideration. Rapid diagnosis of acute carbon monoxide intoxication with mostly unspecific symptoms requires an immediate supply of high dose oxygen which enables a distinct reduction of mortality and long-term morbidity. Levels of carboxyhemoglobin, however, should not be used as a parameter to decide whether to supply normobaric or the more efficient hyperbaric oxygen...

The incidence of anthrax is decreasing in Turkey, however, it is still endemic in some regions of the country. Although central nervous system involvement is rare in cases with anthrax, high mortality rates are significant. Here, we report a 46-years old woman who was anthrax meningoencephalitis. The patient was from Yozgat located in Central Anatolia, Turkey. Her history revealed that following peeling the skin of sheeps and consuming their meat a week ago, a lesion developed in her left forearm and she had been treated with penicilin G with the diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax in a local health center...

Non-convulsive status epilepticus is a rare form of epilepsy. The predominant clinical feature is prolonged loss of consciousness without prominent motor features. The diagnosis is often difficult because of the non-specific nature of the symptoms and this diagnostic possibility has to be born in mind when patients present with unexplained alteration in the level of consciousness, especially if there is a prior history of epilepsy. The electroencephalogram plays a key role in the diagnosis and intravenous administration of diazepam is a useful diagnostic test, especially in conjunction with EEG...

A chronic pain patient prescribed 20 mg of methadone per day was seen at the Emergency Department within one hour following a witnessed intentional 200 mg ingestion. In addition, he was taking the serotonin re-uptake inhibitor antidepressant drugs, sertraline and venlafaxine as prescribed. Methadone is also a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor which has been involved in serotonin toxicity reactions. Initially, no symptoms of narcotic overdose (depressed central nervous system, respiration, or blood pressure) could be distinguished, and the standard narcotic urine screen was negative...

Mesothel is the cell lining of serosal surface of the pleura, peritoneum, pericardium, and testis. Malignant mesothelioma is a highly aggressive tumor from mesothel that has a tendency to grow rapidly and invade locally. Although the incidence of malignant mesenterial mesothelioma is not so high, the case fatality rate is very high. The aim of this case report is to report the rare and difficult case with several complications. A Balinese man, 64 years old, came with chief complaint of weakness, abdominal enlargement, and nausea, with history of previous liver disease...

Acinetobacter baumannii is an important pathogen which causes severe nosocomial infections such as meningitis. Multidrug resistance is a growing problem throughout the world. In this report a case of multidrug resistant A.baumannii meningitis, treated with high dose of ampicillin-sulbactam (SAM) was presented. Rhinorrhea and confusion developed on the postoperative seventh day in a 67 years old male patient operated for macroadenoma of the hyphophysis gland. Since the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings indicated a central nervous system infection, nosocomial meningitis was diagnosed and intravenous ceftazidime and vancomycin have started...

The present paper reviews what in the specialized literature has been called the "easy problem" and the "hard problem" of consciousness. Taking David Chalmers' original paper as a starting point, first person perspective and subjective point of view are discussed. Literature and Philosophy are mentioned as having a role in these debates as a way of ending the privilege that clinics used to have.

For the present investigation 31 out-patients suffering from chronic pain received a pain diary, that is a booklet in which they recorded their pain level on visual analogue scales and daily activities several times during a day. We used weekly interviews and the patient's records in the diary to evaluate the patient's compliance and the influence of a pain diary on the pain perception and on the physician-patient-interaction. We found that most of the patients were willing and able to use the pain diary. 30 out of 31 patients kept the diary voluntarily for an average period of 4 weeks...

A 43-year-old woman suffered from bilateral uveitis and was suspected of sarcoidosis. General fatigue slowly progressed, and urinary incontinence and disturbance of consciousness also developed. When she was admitted to our hospital by ambulance, her conciousness was disturbed, GCS 3-4-6. Enlargement of all ventricles was shown and cell count was moderately elevated. She underwent VP shunt and fully recovered. However, her activity become disturbed again and, after five months, only her left lateral ventricle dilated...

INTRODUCTION: Acute viral encephalitis is an infectious disease, which is characterized by sudden onset, serious clinical picture and with an uncertain outcome. Disturbances of consciousness are common in the course of acute viral encephalitis. Consciousness is the heighest form of psychic life and consciousness disturbances may include quantitative (somnolentia, sopor, coma) and qualitative symptoms (convulsions, twilight state). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We investigated 63 patients with acute viral encephalitis...

We experienced a case of spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) complicated with depressed consciousness after its treatment. A 56-year-old woman developed postural headache, and her MRI revealed bilateral chronic subdural hematoma (CSH). After treatment with epidural autolongous blood patch, her headache resolved completely. However, two days after, the patient developed depressed conciousness, and MRI showed brain sagging and downward brain displacement. After management with conservative treatment, including second epidural blood patch and hematoma drainage, the patient became alert and other symptoms resolved gradually...

We report a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and carotid cavernous fistula (CCF) caused by Le Fort I osteotomy. A 16-year-old boy was scheduled to undergo Le Fort I osteotomy for a cleft lip and palate. After down fracture was completed, more than 1000 ml of bleeding was observed. When he became concious, we found anisocoria and imcomplete paralysis in the left side of his body. CT and angiography showed CCF and SAH to be present. After coil embolisation for CCF and therapeutic hypothermia had been performed, he recovered without severe neurological deficits...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

A 52-year-old man fell from standing and a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed traumatic intracerebral haematoma and subarachnoid haemorrhage in the temporal cortex. He was treated without surgery and discharged. On day 30 after the accident, he had no neurological deficit. On day 37 he complained of headache and urinary incontinence, and on day 39 he was hospitalized due to progressive neurological deterioration (reduced conciousness, dilated pupils, and left hemiplegia). A CT scan revealed a diffuse low-density in the right cerebral hemisphere with marked midline shift...

The conscious recollection of unique personal experiences in terms of their details (what), their locale (where) and temporal occurrence (when) is known as episodic memory and is thought to require a 'self-concept', autonoetic awareness/conciousness, and the ability to subjectively sense time. It has long been held that episodic memory is unique to humans, because it was accepted that animals lack a 'self-concept', 'autonoetic awareness', and the ability to 'subjectively sense time'. These assumptions are now being questioned by behavioral evidence showing that various animal species indeed show behavioral manifestations of different features of episodic memory such as, e...