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384 research outputs found

Is Favorable Outcome Possible After Prolonged Refractory Status Epilepticus?

Author: Alvarez V.
Drislane F.W.
Publication venue
Publication date: 01/01/2016
Field of study

When status epilepticus (SE) remains refractory to appropriate therapy, it is associated with high mortality and with substantial morbidity in survivors. Many outcome predictors such as age, seizure type, level of consciousness before treatment, and mostly, etiology, are well-established. A longer duration of SE is often associated with worse outcome, but duration may lose its prognostic value after several hours. Several terms and definitions have been used to describe prolonged, refractory SE, including "malignant SE," "prolonged" SE, and more recently, "super refractory" SE, defined as "SE that has continued or recurred despite 24 hours of general anesthesia (or coma-inducing anticonvulsants)." There are few data available regarding the outcome of prolonged refractory SE, and even fewer for SE remaining refractory to anesthetic drugs. This article reviews reports of outcome after prolonged, refractory, and "super refractory" SE. Most information detailing the clinical outcome of patients surviving these severe illnesses, in which seizures can persist for days or weeks (and especially those concerning "super-refractory" SE) come from case reports and retrospective cohort studies. In many series, prolonged, refractory SE has a mortality of 30% to 50%, and several studies indicate that most survivors have a substantial decline in functional status. Nevertheless, several reports demonstrate that good functional outcome is possible even after several days of SE and coma induction. Treatment of refractory SE should not be withdrawn from younger patients without structural brain damage at presentation solely because of the duration of SE

ZENODO

Serveur académique lausannois

College life : march and two-step

Author: Drislane Jack
Frantzen Henry
Publication venue: DigitalCommons@UMaine
Publication date: 01/01/1905
Field of study

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1375/thumbnail.jp

University of Maine

The Stamp of Black Science Fiction in the Works of Octavia Butler, and the White SF of Mary Shelley\u27s Frankenstein

Author: Drislane Liamog Seamus
Publication venue: Montclair State University Digital Commons
Publication date: 01/05/2012
Field of study

Among other things, science fiction is a tool for imagining futures. SF authors take what they currently understand about science, couple it with their understanding of human nature, and spin stories that inform, encourage, or warn us about what might be possible. In this sense SF functions in a role adjacent to scientific inquiry, acting as a mouthpiece for the potential revealed or made accessible by developing technology. What can sometimes go unsaid in conversations about SF is that science fiction, like science itself, does not exist in a vacuum removed from cultural scripts and problems. When written by white authors who by definition are limited in their perception or and ability to recognize textual racism, SF runs the risk of falling prey to conceits of impartiality and cultural objectivity—to assume that it\u27s written by, for, and about a supposed universal audience, and conveys universal meanings. Scholars of SF have a responsibility to tease out racial power dynamics in the genre. If this seems an onerous demand, I suggest referring to the litany of sins white science has performed under the veil of impartiality or proto-colorblindness. Anti-racism is not something that occurs organically, instinctively, or even as an inevitable result of education or a conscious desire to avoid or combat racism. Diligent effort and tireless, consistent critique—of authors, scholars, and even readers—are necessary to avoid mindlessly regurgitating the lessons absorbed from the hegemony of whiteness. For critics of SF, this means that we must be vigilant for traces and reflections of white supremacy and anti-blackness in not only each text we encounter, but also the scholarship and discourse surrounding those texts. Considering texts like Frankenstein is important because they have laid the foundations of the genre and anticipate many of its racist underpinnings. Examining the very different presentations of science and race in Octavia Butler\u27s fiction allows us to see how the stamp of black SF can undermine that streak of racism and repurpose the genre toward illuminating, not erasing, race, and imagining futures in which science and blackness interact without exploitation or abuse

Montclair State University Digital Commons