Analysis of awareness and vigilance as main components of consciousness in selected brain disorders

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Analiza pozornosti i stupnja budnosti kao glavnih sastavnih dijelova svjesnosti u odabranim bolestima mozga
• Author: Stefanie Angela Salamunec
• Mentor: Goran Šimić (mentor)
• Committee member: Goran Šimić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Mario Vukšić (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Zdravko Petanjek (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; School of Medicine; (Department of Neurology); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2018-09-11, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE; Basic Medical Sciences; Neuroscience

Abstract

Consciousness is a state in which we are able to interact with our external environment. Each person has their own way of interpreting and processing their surrounding environment and will have their own unique responses. The two major components that make up our conscious mind are awareness and vigilance. When one of these is compromised it generally leads to decreased cognitive processing of the external environment which in turn leads to the different disorders of consciousness. The inner workings of consciousness still remain a mystery. However, research is still ongoing into understanding the different correlates, behavioral and neural, that may be involved. In addition, further sleep studies may help bridge the gap between wakefulness and non-wakefulness and thus shed light on altering levels of consciousness. Furthermore, classifying the different types of disorders without any doubt still remains problematic due to the fact that the gold standard for diagnosis is still at bedside. Approximately 40% of patients are misdiagnosed due to the lack of proper imaging techniques. Research into more advanced imaging can open the window to better patient prognosis. It is imperative that these patients are diagnosed correctly as early as possible in order to receive the appropriate care.

Abstract (croatian)

Svjesnost je stanje u kojem smo u mogućnosti komunicirati sa svojom vanjskom okolinom. Svaka osoba ima svoj način interpretacije i procesiranja svoje okoline te će imati svoje jedinstvene odgovore. Dva sastavna dijela koja tvore naš svjestan um su svjesnost i budnost. Kada je jedan od njih ugrožen, to obično dovodi do smanjenja kognitivne obrade vanjskog okruženja što rezultira različitim poremećajima svijesti. Unutarnji rad svijesti još uvijek ostaje misterij. Međutim, istraživanje je još u tijeku kako bismo razumijeli različite korelacije, ponašanje i neuronske veze, koje mogu biti uključene. Također, daljnje studije spavanja mogu pomoći premostiti razmak između budnosti i ne-budnosti i tako rasvijetliti različite stupnjeve svijesti. Štoviše,razvrstavanje različitih vrsta poremećaja bez ikakve sumnje još uvijek je problematično zbog činjenice da je zlatni standard za dijagnozu još uvijek klinička procjena. Oko 40% pacijenata je pogrešno dijagnosticirano zbog nedostatka odgovarajućih tehnika snimanja. Istraživanje naprednijih tehnika snimanja može otvoriti prozor boljoj prognozi za pacijenta. Imperativ je rana točna dijagnoza pacijenata kako bi u najkraćem mogućem roku dobili odgovarajuću njegu.

• Keywords: consciousness; awareness; vigilance; disorders of consciousness; coma; unresponsive wakefulness syndrome; minimally conscious state; locked-in syndrome; diagnostics
• Keywords (croatian): svijest; budnost; poremećaji svijesti; koma; vegetativno stanje; minimalno svjesno stanje; locked-in sindrom; dijagnostika
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:105:453874
• Study programme: Title: Medicine (in English language); Study programme type: university; Study level: integrated undergraduate and graduate; Academic / professional title: doktor/doktorica medicine (doktor/doktorica medicine)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2019-03-29 10:42:16