The journal Neurorehabilitation recently published findings that suggest
that PVS patients can be revived (presumably in some cases, my note)
with a "sleeping pill".
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/05/sleeping_pill_wakes_.html
First paragraph:'
Controversial findings were recently published
<
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16720934&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum>
in the journal /Neurorehabilitation/ suggesting that the insomnia drug
zolpidem <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolpidem> roused three severely
brain-injured patients from the coma-like persistent vegetative state
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_vegetative_state>
(PVS)......Zolpidem is better known by its trade name Ambien, and has
also been in the news recently for causing unusual sleep behaviour
<
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/03/sleep_drug_causes_s.html> such as
sleep-driving.
In other news, Terry Wallis has woken up after nineteen years in a coma
and from what doctors had diagnosed as a "persistent vegetative state":
http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=37632
--Alan
