background

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Neuropsychiatry

Striatal Contributions to Declarative Memory Retrieval

In 2002, Bryan Jennett chose the caption “A syndrome in search of a name” for the first chapter of his book “The vegetative state - medical facts, ethical and legal dilemmas”, which, in summary, can be taken as his legacy. Jennett coined the term "VegetativeState" (VS), which became the preferential name for the syndrome of wakeful unresponsiveness in the English literature, with the intention to specify the concern and dilemmas in connection with the naming "vegetative", "persistent" and "permanent". In Europe, Apallic Syndrome (AS) is still in use. The prevalence of VS/AS in hospital settings in Europe is 0.5–2/100.000 population year; one-third traumatic brain damage, 70% following intracranial haemorrhages, tumours, cerebral hypoxemia after cardiac arrest, and end stage of certain progressive neurological diseases. VS/AS reflects brain pathology of (a) consciousness, self-awareness, (b) behaviour, and (c) certain brain structures, so that patients are awake but total unresponsive. The ambiguity of the naming “vegetative” (meant to refer to the preserved vegetative (autonomous nervous system) can suggest that the patient is no more a human but “vegetable” like. And “apallic” does not mean being definitively and completely anatomically disconnected from neocortical structures. In 2009, having joined the International Task Force on the Vegetative State, we proposed the new term “Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome” (UWS) to enable (neuro-)scientists, the medical community, and the public to assess and define all stages accurately in a human way. The Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS) could replace the VS/AS nomenclature in science and public with social competence.

The Vegetative State – A Syndrome in Search of a Name

Titania nanotube arrays as interfaces for neural prostheses

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an increasing neurological disorder in an aging society. The motor and non-motor symptoms of PD advance with the disease progression and occur in varying frequency and d ...

/pdf/first-principle-data-driven-models-for-assessment-of-motor-25c2rv285o.pdf

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Neuropsychiatry

Citations

Striatal Contributions to Declarative Memory Retrieval

The Vegetative State – A Syndrome in Search of a Name

Titania nanotube arrays as interfaces for neural prostheses

First-principle data-driven models for assessment of motor disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Complex neurological diseases: Insights from genetics and neuroimaging

Related Papers (5)

Neurology and Neurosurgery

Progress in neuropsychiatry.

Section of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry

Year Book of Neurology Psychiatry and Neurosurgery

The Year book of neurology, psychiatry and neurosurgery