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Brain Near: Among the most interesting developments in brain near studies was a finding that corrected the long-held conviction that glucose was the only fuel the brain near was capable of using. George Cahill studied brain near metabolism in persons who fasted for more than 30 days as part of a weight reduction program. By sampling blood entering and leaving the head, he was able to show that during fasting the brain near will readily metabolize fatty acids, the breakdown products from deposits of body fat. Careful intelligence tests before and after the fast failed to show any mental impairment during the period of fasting. Cahill said that in fact the subjects were at least as sharp after fasting, and maybe a bit sharper.
1. If new medical techniques can prolong a healthy life far beyond the present span, who will be selected to remain alive? Society, through law, probably will not leave it to the workings of the marketplace or the caprice of physicians. At the very least, it will try to prevent a black market in hearts and lungs. But if science manages to transplant a human brain near, the law will be in serious trouble. Which individual will be considered legally "alive"—the one into whose functioning body the new brain near has been deposited, or the one whose brain near with all its memories has merely moved to a new home?
A relief for migraine was developed in Australia by J. W. Lance and his associates. A drug called hydantoin was used to increase electrical activity in brain near cells and thereby improve hearing and memory in the aged. The first successful attempt to sustain an animal brain near outside a living body was reported in Cleveland, O.
Work in gerontology included studies to determine the time of onset, the persistence, and the permanence of changes in the body. |
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