Today,I read "Will Gabrielle Giffords recover?" on newscientist. I read this news because I need to know who is Gabrielle Giffords and what did she do and why does she recover?Gabrielle Giffords is a congresswoman. She was shot the left side of her head at supermarket.That situation has 14 injured and 6 dead. She should not survived because her brain was damaged by the bullet. But she still alive and responding to basic commands such as open her eyes or raise fingers.
"If she survives, though, it is likely she will have cognitive problems. Media accounts indicate that the bullet entered through the back left side of her head and exited just above her left eye. Her sensory and motor cortices are probably damaged". says Geoffrey Manley, the chief of neurosurgery at San Francisco General Hospital. Because body's right side was controlled by brain's left side. So her right side can not do anything anymore. Manley said that "Damage to her frontal lobe could lead to dramatic changes in character, such as an inability to exercise appropriate judgement. Phineas Gage,the railroad worker who in the mid-1800s survived an accident in which an iron rod was driven through his left frontal lobe, was never the same, cursing constantly and belittling others". "There are some suggestions that Giffords is left-handed, which could change these scenarios: she would have a slightly higher likelihood of using her left temporal lobe for facial recognition and musical abilities rather than speech".
"Interestingly, people with traumatic brain injuries fare better than those suffering from a stroke or Parkinson's disease. In unpublished work, Manley has found that, immediately following brain injury, people connected to an electroencephelogram (EEG) often display no electrical activity in damaged brain regions. Two years on, however, many of those silent regions have become active. Victims of non-traumatic brain damage typically show no such signs".
When I read finish, I think it's a miracle. I thought if someone was shot in the head, he or she should be died. But Giffords is alive and maybe she will recover in the future.
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References
Gupta, S.(2011, January 12). Will Gabrielle Giffords recover? newscientist. Retrieved January 19, 2011 from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19941-will-gabrielle-giffords-recover.html
Gupta, S.(2011, January 12). Will Gabrielle Giffords recover? newscientist. Retrieved January 19, 2011 from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19941-will-gabrielle-giffords-recover.html
Ko,
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting article. I've heard this news for a week. I was depressed with the situation.
To me, this situation is really bad and mean. I've heard that there are many people involing this case. It is about politics and her conflicts. However, it is a serious problem that everyone has to concern. Moreover, the US government must arrest the killer and gangs. It is because innocent people don't know anything about their conflicts, why they become victims of that situation.
Hope she will recover soon...
if she has faith, she would be better like the article said...Haha :)
I heard this news few days ago that this woman was shot by a 22 year old man. However, I didn't follow up her news anymore. Yes, this article is interesting and in many cases, the human body makes us surprise about how it can recover from serious injuries or diseases. The human body is mysterious, even professional doctors sometimes couldn't find the way to treat their patients or didn't understand why their patients could recover from very serious injuries or diseases.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this article remind me about what I learnt last term "When death begins". I can remember in one case,the man was considered dead, but after that he showed up in TV show and looked fine. Like in this article, Giffords still alive, even though she was shot at her head. These cases make me think that the human body is mysterious, and because of its mystery, medical profession still need to find out endlessly its secrets .
I had considered writing something about this, looking at the gun issues, and speech in US politics, but I didn't get around to it (I was very busy last week), so I'm glad that Ko has chosen to blog it. And she has chosen a very interesting aspect of the case to focus on.
ReplyDelete