Shared Death Experiences: A Multicultural Survey.

BACKGROUND: Shared-death-experiences (SDEs) and after-death-communication-experiences (ADCEs) are non-ordinary mental experiences related to the death of a known or unknown person. METHODS: These experiences were investigated by surveying four samples with different cultural backgrounds: Italian, Mexican, Brazilian and Taiwanese people. One-hundred-twenty-one participants reported 146 experiences of this type. RESULTS: Among the main characteristics of these experiences, visual, visual-auditory and feeling experiences, which comprised 74% of all experiences, were experienced both in the dream state and a normal state of consciousness. Furthermore, most of these experiences were lived before (47.3%) or after (39%) the death of the person in relationship with the participants. More importantly, these experiences influenced the participants' death interpretation favoring the belief that death affects only the body, but the consciousness of the deceased persons survives in another reality and sometimes can communicate with relatives and friends still alive in this reality. No substantial differences were observed among the different subsamples. CONCLUSION: As to the origin of SDEs/ADCEs, we discuss that whereas for most of them, in particular those lived after the death of a relative or a friend, we can assume hallucinatory characteristics triggered by emotional needs, for others, for example those related to unknown individuals and/or those experienced before the death of the person still in good health, it is not possible to exclude their anomalous connections and a real encounter with a deceased person.

Acoustoelectric imaging of deep dipoles in a human head phantom for guiding treatment of epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: This study employs a human head model with real skull to demonstrate the feasibility of transcranial acoustoelectric brain imaging (tABI) as a new modality for electrical mapping of deep dipole sources during treatment of epilepsy with much better resolution and accuracy than conventional mapping methods. APPROACH: This technique exploits an interaction between a focused ultrasound (US) beam and tissue resistivity to localize current source densities as deep as 63 mm at high spatial resolution (1 to 4 mm) and resolve fast time-varying currents with sub-ms precision. MAIN RESULTS: Detection thresholds through a thick segment of the human skull at biologically safe US intensities was below 0.5 mA and within range of strong currents generated by the human brain. SIGNIFICANCE: This work suggests that 4D tABI may emerge as a revolutionary modality for real-time high-resolution mapping of neuronal currents for the purpose of monitoring, staging, and guiding treatment of epilepsy and other brain disorders characterized by abnormal rhythms.

Stability of balloon-retention gastrostomy tubes with different concentrations of contrast material: in vitro study.

The purpose of this study was to determine the performance of two balloon-retention-type gastrostomy tubes when the balloons are inflated with two types of contrast materials at different concentrations. Two commonly used balloon-retention-type tubes (MIC and Tri-Funnel) were inflated to the manufacturer's recommended volumes (4 and 20 cm(3), respectively) with normal saline or normal saline plus different concentrations of contrast material. Five tubes of each brand were inflated with normal saline and 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% contrast material dilutions, using either nonionic hyperosmolar contrast, or nonionic iso-osmolar contrast. The tubes were submerged in a glass basin containing a solution with a pH of 4. Every week the tubes were visually inspected to determine the integrity of the balloons, and the diameter of the balloons was measured with a caliper. The tests were repeated every week for a total of 12 weeks. The MIC balloons deflated slightly faster over time than the Tri-Funnel balloons. The Tri-Funnel balloons remained relatively stable over the study period for the different concentrations of contrast materials. The deflation rates of the MIC balloons were proportionally related to the concentration of saline and inversely related to the concentration of the contrast material. At high contrast material concentrations, solidification of the balloons was observed. In conclusion, this in vitro study confirms that the use of diluted amounts of nonionic contrast materials is safe for inflating the balloons of two types of balloon-retention feeding tubes. High concentrations of contrast could result in solidification of the balloons and should be avoided.

Eritema nodoso secundario a faringoamigdalitis post-estreptocócica / Eritema nodoso secondary to faringoamigdalitis post-estreptococic

Presenta el caso de una paciente, quien tiene lesiones endurecidas, rojizas, calientes y dolorosas distribuidas en ambas piernas las cuales eran compatibles con eritema nodoso, diagnóstico que se confirma por biopsia. La importancia de la descripción de este caso, es que este tipo de patología es un proceso frecuente cuya etiología es muy variada, pues el eritema nodoso se considera una manifestación de hipersensibilidad de otros procesos patológicos.