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Cavitation, Thin-walled Cysts and Bullae, their Association with Tumours. Emphysema. Fat and Calcification. Spurious Tumours. Intravascular, Pulmonary Interstitial & Mediastinal Gas, and Pneumoperitoneum.
Published in Fred W Wright, Radiology of the Chest and Related Conditions, 2022
Placing ultrasound probes on the front of divers chests to record sounds emanating from the heart, suggests that all divers get bubbles in the heart and pulmonary vessels when they ascend. Probably most bubbles are filtered from the blood by the pulmonary capillaries and later reabsorbed, though some pass through the pulmonary capillaries, other a/v communications in the lungs or a patent foramen ovale to cause insidious damage to the brain, spinal cord and certain bones, particularly the upper femora and humeri, and the knee regions. Acute brain and spinal cord damage may lead to the 'staggers'. The 'bends' occur as a result of joint pain, when the limbs are held semi-bent for relief. Even diving in relatively shallow waters can cause insidious damage to the brain and spinal cord. It has been suggested that dives below 30 m should only be carried out with an oxygen helium mixture, or in a diving bell which can be attached to a decompression chamber. The practice of diving and breathing air, being quickly hauled to the surface, then being recompressed in a chamber and slowly decompressed seems dangerous, as gas bubbles will pass through the pulmonary capillaries to the brain and spinal cord.
Neurocelebrities in Film
Published in Eelco F. M. Wijdicks, Neurocinema—The Sequel, 2022
It has been said that Hawking was “thinking the unthinkable” and on a great academic path. His diagnosis of motor neuron disease at the age of 21 is very unusual, but progression is not typically slower than other types of ALS, mostly occurring between 50 and 75 years of age. The documentary illustrates revealing the diagnosis with a photo of a myelogram and uses a Ken Burns-type panning-movement effect over the picture. The documentary makes use of several medical tropes and devices that are unrelated to the diagnosis of ALS. After spilling beer due to difficulty holding a mug, Hawking told his friend, straight and flat, that “he had been diagnosed with a progressive neurologic illness and would lose use of his body” and “eventually he would have essentially the body of a cabbage, but his brain would be still in perfect order.” In the documentary, Hawking reveals a dream of being executed after leaving Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. (His voice box speech is illustrated by images of an [out-of-context] anesthesia bellows and a dripping IV). One commentator says “he flatly accepted his diagnosis instead of asking ‘why this, why now, why me?’” He nevertheless became badly depressed and disinclined to continue work, knowing he could not finish his PhD. Then, he claimed that the disease slowed down; this is unlikely, given his subsequent progression. When he became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (adding that it was the same chair held by Newton), it was the last time he signed his name, and a shaky but still readable signature is shown. He was placed on the ventilator and received a tracheostomy. Communication with a plastic board is also shown. (A similar use is demonstrated in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; see Chapter 4.)
The Human Experience
Published in David E. H. Jones, Why Are We Conscious?, 2017
In this book, I explore the idea that the unconscious mind somehow makes contact with an unknown world ‘outside our diving bell’. Almost all of us have absorbed the idea that the observable world is not all that there is. Radio, TV, and much computer technology exploits an ‘electromagnetic world’ which we cannot feel, but which carries information for us. My proposed additional ‘unknown world’ also fills space and carries information. It may be as physical and simple as the electromagnetic world, but may also have unique properties. Chapter 7 explores the properties it must have to fit into the physical scientific world we know about. If it exists, and occupies the same space as the physical world, it is only weakly coupled to it. In Chapters 16 and 17 I guess at the sort of technical advances which might allow it to be found and, maybe, explored instrumentally—thus it might be observed by a major development in artificial intelligence! My guess is that this world ‘outside our diving bell’ is the source of the information which is sometimes picked up by the unconscious mind. It may also have inhabitants (like the physical world). Current science has not looked for it, nor stumbled over aspects of it experimentally. This is not surprising: existing scientific instruments have almost all been invented and developed to study the physical world. I surmise that that ‘unknown world outside our diving bell’ exists and is often partly accessible to the unconscious mind. It may be detectable by novel scientific experiments. My musings here are not unusual. Several other scientists have also sought to explain physical puzzles by proposing unobserved entities and even unobserved universes (I mention Hugh Everett III and his ‘many worlds’ theory of quantum mechanics in Appendix D). Much of my observational evidence (largely presented in Chapters 8 to 11) comes from the somewhat disreputable field of ‘parapsychology’. I need what it can give me, even though it often makes me as a physical scientist feel rather grubby. For the most part it consists of honest human reports; it would be scientific cowardice to ignore them, even when they do not seem to make sense to me.
Comprehensive, technology-based, team approach for a patient with locked-in syndrome: A case report of improved function & quality of life
Published in Assistive Technology, 2019
Keara McNair, Madeline Lutjen, Kara Langhamer, Jeremiah Nieves, Kimberly Hreha
Thirty years ago, the prognosis for LIS was poor, with almost 90% of patients dying within weeks of onset (Virgile, 1984). Popular, commercialized accounts of people in a locked-in state such as the “Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” provide a one-sided view of LIS, with little hope for recovery (Cardwell, 2013). Based on a study by Bauer, Gerstenbrand, & Rumpl in, 1979 three motor-recovery categories of LIS allowed professionals to hypothesize prognosis for their patients: complete, incomplete, and total. Another study by Patterson and Grabois (1986) reviewed 139 cases of patients with LIS and created a scale based on motor recovery in these patients, from no recovery to full recovery (Casanova, Lazzari, Lotta, & Maazzucchi, 2003).