VOA标准英语2010-Brain Scans Find Consciousness in Some Ve

For more than two decades a Belgian man named Rom Houben was misdiagnosed as being in a vegetative state, following a car accident. Then doctors discovered through a brain scan that he was conscious and possessed¹ normal brain function.

At first it seemed the 46-year-old Belgian could communicate with tiny movements of his fingers as an aide guided his hand on a keyboard. But experts later discounted that. Doctors say Houben has awareness² of self and his surroundings, but is unable to control any of his movements, even of his eyes, in order to communicate.

Rom Houben and his mother

Now, research from Belgium and Britain suggests that patients like Houben who were misdiagnosed as vegetative or minimally³ conscious might someday, with new technologies, be able to communicate directly from the brain. The findings could change the diagnosis⁴ and treatment of seemingly unresponsive patients, of whom there are an estimated several hundred thousand in the United States and Europe alone.

In the study, 54 apparently⁵ unresponsive patients were placed in magnetic resonance⁶ imaging scanners, and told to visualize⁷ two scenes that activate⁸ separate parts of the brain: playing football or walking through the house. In five of the 54, those scenes activated⁹ and lit up the same brain areas as in normal patients. One patient then went on to correctly answer five out of six yes-or-no questions about his own life -- by visualizing¹⁰ football to communicate 'Yes,' or walking through the house for 'No.'

"It opens a new era where we need to prepare for what we are going to do with this technology,” said Steven Laureys of the University of Liege in Belgium, one of the researchers. ‘We can ask big questions here. This will have major medical, ethical¹¹ and legal impact.”

Another leading researcher in the field, Dr. Nicholas Schiff of New York's Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, says the study will lead to better diagnostic tools, using brain scans to identify the minority of patients with the potential to communicate.

“Whether they then could harness some sort of communication device and establish systematic¹² communications, whether they could then initiate¹³ communication, these are all these unknowns,” he said. “But we've found when patients can do that, it makes a very big difference for them, and I think these are going to be very big health-care delivery issues." One major issue, he observes, will be the right of such patients to direct their own care. Some who exist in this “locked-in” state may ask to die.

The new findings do not apply to patients who are brain-dead, whose bodies are kept alive by machines. And Schiff notes that heart attack and stroke victims who suffered widespread brain-cell death from oxygen loss are unlikely to be found to be conscious. But the study offers hope to a minority of brain-injured patients who might one day, as imaging technology evolves, be able to communicate directly from their brains.
 

1 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 minimally   

最低限度地，最低程度地

参考例句：

• Food spoilage problems occur with minimally processed, concentrated frozen citrus products. 食品的变质也发生在轻微加工的、浓缩冷冻的柑橘制品中。
• So, minimally, they are responsible for such actions and omissions. 所以，至少来说，他们要对这样的行为和忽略负责。

4 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

7 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

8 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

9 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

10 visualizing   

肉眼观察

参考例句：

• Nevertheless, the Bohr model is still useful for visualizing the structure of an atom. 然而，玻尔模型仍有利于使原子结构形象化。
• Try to strengthen this energy field by visualizing the ball growing stronger. 通过想象能量球变得更强壮设法加强这能量场。

11 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

12 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

13 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。