Brain Death

Brain death explained: The hardest 'yes' and a window for organ donation

Brain death is the only moment when deceased organ donation can give others a second chance at life. Understanding it helps families say 'yes' when it matters most

Night owls at higher risk of age-related cognitive decline, finds study

A night owl or an evening person with a late sleep-wake cycle could be at a higher risk of cognitive decline with age compared to an early bird or a morning person, a study has found. Chronotype refers to one's sleep-wake type or times during the day when one naturally tends to be awake and asleep. A 'night owl' chronotype is said to have a later sleep-wake cycle, compared to an 'early bird' or a 'lark'. "Are you an early bird or a night owl? It's hard to adjust what your biological clock your so-called chronotype is, but you can adjust your life to it as best you can," study author Ana Wenzler, from the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, said. Analysing the performance of about 23,800 participants on a cognitive test over a period of 10 years, the study found that evening people decline cognitively faster than morning people. The findings have been published in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. "Unhealthy behaviour such as smoking, drinking a

Use of laughing gas linked to brain damage, yet sold across US: Report

Deaths in the US attributed to abuse of nitrous oxide jumped more than 100% between 2019 and 2023; over a five-year period, emergency department visits rose 32%

Evidence of brain injury present months after acute Covid infection: Study

Markers of brain injury developed due to COVID-19 were found in patients even months after the infection and despite blood tests measuring inflammation returning normal results, according to a new research. Researchers from universities in the UK explained that during the acute phase of the viral infection, when symptoms develop quickly, key inflammatory proteins and brain injury markers are produced. They analysed over 800 hospitalised patients' samples from across England and Wales. Surprisingly, even months after being discharged from the hospital, there is on-going robust biomarker evidence of brain injury developed due to COVID-19, the researchers said in their study published in a journal, Nature Communications. The biomarker evidence was more prominently seen in patients experiencing neurological dysfunction during the acute illness, and continued in the recovery phase in patients suffering acute neurological complications, the researchers said. "While some neurological ...

In a first, Kerala government issues protocol to confirm brain death

One of the four doctors of the medical panel, authorised to declare a patient brain-dead, should be from the government service, the guidelines added