Posted on 08/26/2013 5:09:14 PM PDT by neverdem
The "near-death experience" reported by cardiac arrest survivors worldwide may be grounded in science, according to research at the University of Michigan Health System. Whether and how the dying brain is capable of generating conscious activity has been vigorously debated.
But in this week's PNAS Early Edition, a U-M study shows shortly after clinical death, in which the heart stops beating and blood stops flowing to the brain, rats display brain activity patterns characteristic of conscious perception.
"This study, performed in animals, is the first dealing with what happens to the neurophysiological state of the dying brain," says lead study author Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.
"It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest," she says.
Approximately 20 percent of cardiac arrest survivors report having had a near-death experience during clinical death. These visions and perceptions have been called "realer than real," according to previous research, but it remains unclear whether the brain is capable of such activity after cardiac arrest.
"We reasoned that if near-death experience stems from brain activity, neural correlates of consciousness should be identifiable in humans or animals even after the cessation of cerebral blood flow," she says.
Researchers analyzed the recordings of brain activity called electroencephalograms (EEGs) from nine anesthetized rats undergoing experimentally induced cardiac arrest.
Within the first 30 seconds after cardiac arrest, all of the rats displayed a widespread, transient surge of highly synchronized brain activity that had features associated with a highly aroused brain.
Furthermore, the authors observed nearly identical patterns in the dying brains of rats undergoing asphyxiation.
"The prediction that we would find some signs of conscious activity in the brain during cardiac arrest was confirmed with the data," says Borjigin, who conceived the idea for the project in 2007 with study co-author neurologist Michael M. Wang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the U-M.
"But, we were surprised by the high levels of activity," adds study senior author anesthesiologist George Mashour, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology and neurosurgery at the U-M. " In fact, at near-death, many known electrical signatures of consciousness exceeded levels found in the waking state, suggesting that the brain is capable of well-organized electrical activity during the early stage of clinical death."
The brain is assumed to be inactive during cardiac arrest. However the neurophysiological state of the brain immediately following cardiac arrest had not been systemically investigated until now.
The current study resulted from collaboration between the labs of Borjigin and Mashour, with U-M physicist UnCheol Lee, Ph.D., playing a critical role in analysis.
"This study tells us that reduction of oxygen or both oxygen and glucose during cardiac arrest can stimulate brain activity that is characteristic of conscious processing," says Borjigin. "It also provides the first scientific framework for the near-death experiences reported by many cardiac arrest survivors."
Later, thanks.
Just another attempt by liberals and atheists to ignore God, sin, heaven, hell, and Salvation.
>>Just another attempt by liberals and atheists to ignore God, sin, heaven, hell, and Salvation.<<
Hey, Sal, more proof the libs are avoiding you!
1) God doesn't exist
2) God does exist, and He is a Democrat
Consciousness continues following decapitation???
OTOH - I did experience an incident back in the 60's that led me to believe in the possibility of life after death. My best friend, girl friends father was killed in a boating accident on Puget Sound. Her mother was meeting with a Medium to discuss business issues with her dead father. I was invited along, very skeptical engineer type. He held his sessins in a modest home in Lebenon OR, in one of the back bedrooms. No $ or my name was ever given. He put two metal megephones with aluminious bands around them in the middle of dake room. We did the Lords Prayer and the 23rd Psalm. Welcomed the spirits, and the megephones (Could only see only the bands) started flyng around the 9 x 12 room(how could he do that with stuff on the floow?). The horn then came around to the grieving mother and she held a business conversation with her dead husband!!!!. I went to two other sessions, one with my new wife. Same stuff, and he dscribed a dead friend of mine killed in a PBY crash standing next to me. He talked about reincarnation and I am in the 3rd life, wife in 6. theory was that to get to God you had to improve your life in each cycle. Cool. (wife must have had some interesting experiencfe on the first go:-). One meeting was stopped early becase the spirits(I never saw), had to leave to help someone over who had died unexpectantly. I did some research, skeptical I was, and found that when someone dies the lose about 6 ounces imeditaley, that supposedly is your soul, and is in the form of plasma. The medium says he minipultes physcial objects with his plasma. The medium was just a blue collar worker at a plywood mill - He said he always saw things as kid, and was just gettin into it.
So maybe........
“It also provides the first scientific framework for the near-death experiences reported by many cardiac arrest survivors.”
Scientific translation: There is no God, there is no Jesus, there is no Heaven, you ain’t gonna see your loved ones again, no life after death you are just screwed so there.
This isn’t exactly a NDE, but my wife had stage 4 melanoma with lesions on the pancreas and brain. She was being treated with Yervoy, an immune system booster. It didn’t seem to be working andshe was terrified. One morning she had a severe seizure, went catatonic and her pupils were fixed. I called 911 and my daughter sat with her calling her back. 15 minutes later she came back. She remembered the seizure starting but little else. One thing had changed. Her fears were entirely gone. In the hospital her oncologist said the Yervoy wasn’t working. She looked at him and calmly said “ Then we’ll stop.” Together we entered a hospice and 26 days later she left us. But never once was there fear. Only a confidence that “we’ll meet again.” She went somewhere during that seizure and returned with the belief that everything will be okay.
There is an interesting obscure book called “To Hell and Back” written by a cardiologist and former atheist, Dr. Maurice Rawlings, which includes plenty of unnerving accounts for would-be scoffers.
How to explain that with just neurons and electrical signals?
I read that in a book about 40+ years ago. I've been looking for that book ever since. Can't remember the title.
and Since #1 is chosen most by libs, may as well work your way through the old so called 10 Commandments that we don’t have to follow any more. Politicians check the list off faster than the average lib. Perverts get twofers in a couple of places.
...and as we all know, the animal kingdom is well-known for its lucid descriptions of the near-death experience.
As I lay dying a voice said: ‘Let’s go’ (the near-death experience of a cynical prof)
Atheist Professor’s Near-Death Experience in Hell Left Him Changed
Near-Death Experiences: 30 Years of Research - A neurosurgeon’s perspective
Near-Death Experiences: 30 Years of Research
Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims (18 Hospitals to study mystery of near-death experiences)
Review of Life After Death: The Evidence
Who is the Being of Light Encountered in Near-Death Experiences
Doctor Claims He Has Evidence of the Afterlife
An Interview with Dinesh D’Souza on Life After Death: The Evidence
World's Largest-ever Study Of Near-Death Experiences
God may not be a Republican but the devil IS a democrat.
I saw a show on TV once and they had near death survivors relating their experiences. One guy went to a really bad place and he said when he came back he changed his whole life around.
Save for later - and thanks for posting these!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.