Friday, March 23, 2007

Rena :: FYPJ Week 3 :: Progress post 2

Since the last update I posted, I've done more research on the common symptoms of kidney and liver failure. I also found information about religions which are against organ donation, as well as the differents between coma and brain death. The timeline for the Curse of the Pharaoh has also been done.

Research on the common symptoms of kidney and liver failure:
-Fatigue
-Slow, sluggish, movements
-Swelling of legs
-Experience muscle (hand) tremors
-Feel quite itchy
-Bruise easily
-Mental confusion
-Coma
-Trouble with bleeding
(http://www.surgery.usc.edu/divisions/hep/patientguide/symptomsofliverdisease.html)
(http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/library/mortals/mort2514.html)
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/ency/article/000501.htm)
(http://www.medicinenet.com/kidney_failure/article.htm)

Differences between coma and brain death:
The main difference between coma and brain death is the brain activity.
People who are in a coma have not lost all of their brain functions. They still have some level of measurable brain activity and their brains are still sending out electrical impulses in response to stimulus. And even those people who are in a really deep coma have enough brain voltage to show up on an EEG.
(http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/braindeath.html)

The symptoms of brain death are as follows:
-There are no spontaneous respirations (the person cannot take a single breath on his/her own).
-The pupils are dilated and fixed (the black of the eyes is wide and does not react to light).
-There is no response to noxious stimulation (painful stimulation provokes no eyeblink, no grimacing, no movements of any part of the body).
-All extremities are flaccid (there is no movement, no muscle tone and no reflex activity in any of the limbs - arms or legs).
-There are no signs of brain stem activity:
-The eyeballs are fixed in the orbits.
-There are no corneal reflexes (stroking the clear part of the eye with a fine wisp of cotton fails to produce any movement of the eyelids).
-There is no response to caloric testing (exposing the tympanic membrane of the ear to ice cold water fails to produce movement of the eyes).
-There is no gag reflex or cough reflex.
-Two EEG’s (electroencephalograms or brain-wave tests) at about 24-hour intervals showing no electrical activity coming from the brain, i.e., flat or isoelectric tracings.
(http://www.comarecovery.org/artman/publish/BrainDeath.shtml)

While in coma, a person can continue to heal and progress through different states of consciousness.
(http://www.biausa.org/Pages/coma.html)

Religions/laws/countries opposing organ donation:
-Gypsies
Gypsies tend to be against organ donation. Although they have no formal resolution, their opposition is associated with their belief in the after-life. Gypsies believe that for one year after a person dies, the soul retraces its steps. All parts of the body must remain intact because the soul maintains a physical shape.
(http://www.organdonor.gov/donation/religious_views.htm)

About the Gypsies:
Roma people, also spelled Rroma, Roms, or Romani, related ethnic groups in Southern and Eastern Europe and the Middle East:
-Cikáni, also spelled Tsikaanji mostly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
-Gitanos, also spelled Ciganos, mostly in Spain, Portugal, and southern France
-Kalderash, the most numerous of the Roma people, mostly in the Balkans, Central Europe, North America
-Romnichal, also known as Rom'nies, mostly in Britain and North America
-Sinti, also known as Zigeuner or Zingari, mostly in Germany, Austria and Italy
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy)

-Shinto
In Shinto, the dead body is considered impure and dangerous, and thus quite powerful. Injuring a dead body is a serious crime. It is difficult to obtain consent from bereaved families for organ donation or dissection for medical education or pathological anatomy because Shintos relate donation to injuring a dead body. Families are concerned that they not injure the itai, the relationship between the dead person and the bereaved people.
(http://www.organdonor.gov/donation/religious_views.htm)

About Shinto:
Shinto is the native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. It involves the worship of kami, gods. Some kami are local and can be regarded as the spiritual being/spirit or genius of a particular place, but other ones represent major natural objects and processes: for example, Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, or Mount Fuji. Shinto is an animistic belief system.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto)

-Japan
The Japanese law prohibits organ removal from children under fifteen years old with stating that the declaration of intention for organ donation by persons under fifteen years old is invalid.
(http://eubios.info/ABC4/abc4133.htm)
(http://www.jotnw.or.jp/english_top/englishtop.html)

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