Stroke recovery

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Edward Kennedy taken to hospital

US Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy is resting and undergoing tests in a Boston hospital after experiencing what his office says was a "seizure".

Mr Kennedy, 76, is conscious and talking with his family after earlier being flown from Cape Cod to Massachusetts General Hospital.

His doctors have said that he did not suffer a stroke, as initially feared.

The youngest brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy, he is one of the best-known Democratic politicians.

He has been an active supporter of Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for US president.

His office said in a statement that he was "resting comfortably".

"It appears that Sen Kennedy experienced a seizure this morning," it said.

"He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure."

Edward Kennedy appearing in public last week

Mr Kennedy had preventative surgery in October to unclog a partially blocked carotid artery in his neck - a condition that can lead to a stroke.

But Mr Kennedy's doctor, Larry Ronan, said that preliminary tests showed that he had not suffered a stroke and was not in "immediate danger".

"He's resting comfortably, and watching the Red Sox game with his family," Dr Ronan said.

"Over the next couple of days, Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time."

His latest illness came as the Kennedy family prepared to host a major charity event at their estate in Hyannisport.

Tragic history

Mr Kennedy is the second longest-serving member of the Senate.

He was first elected senator for Massachusetts in November 1962 - shortly after turning the requisite 30 years of age - to replace his brother, who had been elected president in 1960.

Since then he has been re-elected seven times.

EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY 1932 Born, youngest of nine siblings 1962 Becomes country's youngest senator 1963, 1968 Brothers President John F Kennedy and Senator Robert F Kennedy both assassinated 1969 "Chappaquiddick incident" - Kennedy flees scene after road crash in which his young passenger dies 1980 Runs unsuccessfully for Democratic nomination against sitting President Jimmy Carter Profile: 'Teddy' Kennedy

Mr Obama, widely expected to win the Democratic nomination, described Mr Kennedy as "a giant in American political history".

"He's done more for health care than just about anybody in history," he said.

The presumptive Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, described Mr Kennedy as a "legendary lawmaker".

Born into a rich and powerful Irish-American Catholic family, the son of Joseph Kennedy, Edward "Teddy" Kennedy became the head of the clan after the death of his three elder brothers.

The eldest, Joseph Jr, was killed while flying a bomber during World War II.

John was assassinated while president in 1963, and Robert was shot dead while running for president in 1968.

Edward, or Teddy, as he is known, ran against sitting President Jimmy Carter in 1980, but failed, after struggling to put the infamous "Chappaquiddick incident" behind him.

He had, in 1969, crashed a car off a bridge, and while he escaped, his young female passenger drowned in the water below. He fled and did not report the incident to police for over eight hours.

He later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two month sentence.

Mr Kennedy is also the father of Congressman Patrick J Kennedy.

Brain injury can affect ability to communicate (Guam)

Aphasia affects about one in 250 people. However, most people have never heard of it until a family member or friend acquires aphasia.

Aphasia describes an impairment of the ability to communicate. The effects of aphasia may include a loss or reduction in ability to speak, comprehend, read and write, while intelligence sometimes remains intact.

Aphasics may have great difficulty finding a word that they might want to use in conversation, only speaking in single words when they used to speak in sentences, or sometimes speaking in jargon, which sounds like words and sentences....

NAA

June brings awareness to Aphasia

(June 5, 2008) — Deep red, plump, juicy cherries signal the arrival of June and trigger memories of Paris, France, where I spent a summer with friends exploring art, culture and fashion, all the while discovering Europe and keeping nutrition the first priority of each day...

To Live and To Blog

Harvard researchers are trying to learn about the positive effects that blogging has for people with chronic conditions. The overall health effect of blogging is becoming a hot topic of research, as evidence seems to point both ways.

Scientific American reports:

According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.

Flaherty, who studies conditions such as hypergraphia (an uncontrollable urge to write) and writer’s block, also looks to disease models to explain the drive behind this mode of communication. For example, people with mania often talk too much. “We believe something in the brain’s limbic system is boosting their desire to communicate,” Flaherty explains. Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. “You know that drives are involved [in blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes. Also, blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.

The frontal and temporal lobes, which govern speech—no dedicated writing center is hardwired in the brain—may also figure in. For example, lesions in Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe, result in excessive speech and loss of language comprehension. People with Wernicke’s aphasia speak in gibberish and often write constantly. In light of these traits, Flaherty speculates that some activity in this area could foster the urge to blog.