Coma

In medicine, coma (from the Greek κῶμα koma, meaning "deep sleep") is a state of unconsciousness in which a person: cannot be awakened; fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound; lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle; and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as being comatose. Typically, a distinction is made in the medical community between a coma and a medically induced coma, the former is generally understood to be a result of circumstances beyond the control of the medical community, while the latter is generally understood to be a means by which medical professionals may allow a patient's injuries to heal in a controlled environment.

A comatose person exhibits a complete absence of wakefulness and is unable to consciously feel, speak, hear, or move. For a patient to maintain consciousness, two important neurological components must function. The first is the cerebral cortex—the gray matter that forms the outer layer of the brain. The other is a structure located in the brainstem, called reticular activating system (RAS). Injury to either or both of these components is sufficient to cause a patient to experience a coma. The cerebral cortex is a group of tight, dense, "gray matter" composed of the nuclei of the neurons whose axons then form the "white matter", and is responsible for perception, relay of the sensory input (sensation) via the thalamic pathway, and many other neurological functions, including complex thinking.

Coma (novel)

Coma is Robin Cook's first major published novel, published by Signet Book in 1977.Coma was preceded in 1973 by Cook's lesser known novel, The Year of the Intern (also published by Signet Book).

Synopsis

Susan Wheeler is an attractive, 23-year-old third-year medical student working as a trainee at Boston Memorial Hospital. Susan, along with four other students—George, Harvey, Geoffrey, and Paul—takes rounds in surgery rooms and ICUs making post-treatment notations on the health of patients. Mark Bellows, a surgery resident in the hospital, is the instructor and supervisor of this group.

The book is a journey into the inner workings of a hospital. As these students complete their three-month surgical rotation, the dilemmas and problems faced by a woman in a so-called "man's" profession are also highlighted.

It comes to Susan's attention that two patients, Nancy Greenly and Sean Berman, mysteriously went into comas immediately after their operations. These incidents were attributed to complications due to anesthesia. Nancy Greenly became comatose when her brain did not receive sufficient oxygen during surgery. Similarly, Sean Berman, a young man in his 30s in good physical condition, underwent a scheduled knee operation. Despite the operation's success, Sean failed to regain consciousness. Medically, the odds for such occurrences are one in 100,000; however, such odds seemed resolutely higher at the Boston Memorial Hospital.

List of Twin Peaks episodes

Twin Peaks, an American serial drama television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, premiered on April 8, 1990 on the ABC Network in the United States and ended on June 10, 1991. The show spans 30 episodes over two seasons. The original pilot and season 2 premiere are 90 minutes long, while all the other episodes are approximately 45 minutes long. ABC canceled the series due to declining ratings in the second season.

Both seasons of Twin Peaks were released on DVD in the U.S. in 2001 and 2007, respectively. A complete series DVD box set, titled "The Definitive Gold Box Edition", with additional features was released on October 30, 2007. The complete series (including the film) was released on Blu-ray with even further material on July 29, 2014.

Twin Peaks follows FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, who is sent to the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington to investigate the murder of popular and respected high school student, Laura Palmer. A feature-length prequel film, titled Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, was released on August 28, 1992, which depicts the events leading up to Laura's death.

Grief

Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions. While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss, and grief is the reaction to loss.

Grief is a natural response to loss. It is the emotional suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. Grief is also a reaction to any loss. The grief associated with death is familiar to most people, but individuals grieve in connection with a variety of losses throughout their lives, such as unemployment, ill health or the end of a relationship. Loss can be categorized as either physical or abstract, the physical loss being related to something that the individual can touch or measure, such as losing a spouse through death, while other types of loss are abstract, and relate to aspects of a person’s social interactions.

Grief (disambiguation)

Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss.

Grief may also refer to:

People with the surname

Grief (band)

Grief was a Boston-based sludge metal band.

Biography

Grief was founded in 1991 by Disrupt guitarist Terry Savastano and drummer Randy Odierno (who later switched to bass and later again left to join Bane of Existence). They broke up in 2001 mainly due to drummer problems - something that was an ongoing problem for the band from the start. They also cited what they called a "hostile environment for doom metal bands". They reunited briefly in July 2005 to play a cluster of reunion shows.

The band had several 7"s including one with Dystopia and Corrupted each. A compilation album called Turbulent Times appeared in 2002 through Southern Lord. The group reunited for one show at the first annual New England Grind And Doom Fest on July 17, 2005 at The Middle East Cafe in Cambridge, MA. They were so excited by the response to this show that they began booking others, and they toured intermittently throughout 2005 and 2006.

In 2005, the band played shows through in venues including The Ace of Clubs and The Knitting Factory in New York, The Khyber in Philadelphia, O'Brien's in Allston/Brighton, MA, The Living Room in Providence, RI, and Cherry St. Station in CT.