Medical hypotheses
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In most cases, the application of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during sleep in patients affected by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) eliminates upper airway obstruction and makes breathing stable and regular. However, some OSA patients develop periodic breathing and central apneas during CPAP administration, a finding that has been labelled as "complex sleep apnea" (complex SA). Such breathing disorder may occur only acutely after CPAP treatment initiation or sometimes persist with chronic CPAP treatment. ⋯ Most patients with OHS decrease daytime PCO(2) levels and increase their ventilatory responses after chronic CPAP treatment. Complex SA could appear in those OSA subjects in whom chronic exposure to nocturnal respiratory disorders leads to the highest responsiveness to chemical stimuli, and could disappear after blunting of ventilatory responses following chronic CPAP treatment. Complex SA may be one extreme of evolutionary spectrum of OSA, the opposite end being represented by OHS.
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Despite the amount of research that has been conducted on phantom limb pain (PLP), the etiology of the condition remains unknown, and treatment options are limited. After an individual loses a limb, the brain continues to detect the presence of the missing limb even though it is no longer attached to the body, likely through proprioceptive signals. The majority of patients with amputations either report the feeling of volitional control over their phantom or a phantom limb that is frozen in a specific position. ⋯ We suspect that there are memory networks for pain--and other sensations, either positive or negative--that are associated with each limb position, and propose that these memories evolved to protect our bodies from repeated injury. A discussion of mirror therapy as a treatment option for PLP is also provided, as well as an explanation for the efficacy of mirror therapy. The paper offers a unique insight into how and why amputees experience these unusual phenomena.
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This paper proposes that schizophrenia is a state of mind/brain 'trapped' in-between waking and dreaming. Furthermore, it suggests that both waking and dreaming are functional. An in-between state would be disordered; neither waking nor dreaming would function properly, as the mind/brain would be attempting two, ultimately incompatible, sets of tasks simultaneously. ⋯ This would be 'schizophrenia'. Currently, imaging techniques do not capture dynamic neuromodulation, so this hypothesis cannot yet be tested inductively. However, the paper suggests that further evidence would be gained through a closer attention to the phenomenology of schizophrenia in the waking and dreaming states.
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The psychological attributes of intelligence and personality are usually seen as being quite distinct in nature: higher intelligence being regarded a 'gift' (bestowed mostly by heredity); while personality or 'character' is morally evaluated by others, on the assumption that it is mostly a consequence of choice? So a teacher is more likely to praise a child for their highly Conscientious personality (high 'C')--an ability to take the long view, work hard with self-discipline and persevere in the face of difficulty--than for possessing high IQ. Even in science, where high intelligence is greatly valued, it is seen as being more virtuous to be a reliable and steady worker. Yet it is probable that both IQ and personality traits (such as high-C) are about-equally inherited 'gifts' (heritability of both likely to be in excess of 0.5). ⋯ In particular, people with high levels of C are very lucky in modern societies, since they are usually well-rewarded for this aptitude. This includes science, where it seems that C has been selected-for more rigorously than IQ. Indeed, those 'gifted' with high Conscientiousness are in some ways even luckier than the very intelligent--because there are more jobs for reliable and hard-working people (even if they are relatively 'dumb') than for smart people with undependable personalities.