Instructions for Submission of Abstracts

You can participate in our Symposium as a delegate, although we encourage you to submit an abstract. Please, carefully read the following instructions before submitting your abstract.

• Only abstracts submitted in English will   be accepted, in order to be published. Abstracts   sent   in Spanish will not be considered   for publication.
• You should indicate your topic, adding a check   mark in the lists provided, that best indicates the   subject of your abstract: Human Death and Related   Issues, and Disorders of Consciousness.
• Authors' names should be provided in the   format "R.S. Alvarez, J.M. Manero". You should   write your first names initials, and your second   name. Do not add Dr, Prof,   Mr, Mrs, etc. The   first name will correspond with the Presenting   author.
• The title should have a maximum of 150   characters, typed in capitals.
• Affiliation should be included in line a. If   authors’ affiliations are different, your should   indicate them filling b, c, and d lines. The   presenting author’s email address should be   included.
• The abstract should have a maximum of 250   words. Any longer and the abstracts will be   truncated or not accepted.
• Indicate whether the abstract is intended for   oral or poster presentation or either.
• The abstract should be structured using   the following headings: Objective, Methods,   Results, Conclusions, and Keywords   (no lees than 4 keywords).
• The abstract should be as informative as   possible, including statistical evaluation.
• Statements such as "results will be discussed"   or "data will be presented" are not acceptable.
• Standard abbreviations eg. BD, PVS, MCS, EEG,   MEEG, MRI, etc., may be used. Others should   be described in full when first mentioned followed   by the abbreviation in parenthesis.
• Tables may be included, but not   photographs, figures or references.


Confirmation of Receipt of Abstracts
You will be sent a notice, via e-mail to confirm that your abstract has been received.
If you do not receive a confirmation within two week please contact the Symposium Secretariat.

Abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Some very high quality abstracts offered for oral presentation might be included in symposia or courses.

Deadline for submission of abstracts:
April 30, 2008

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See the example below:

Mismatch negativity predicts recovery from the vegetative state
V.J.M. Wijnena, ^{a b}, G.J.M. van Boxtela, , , H.J. Eilanderb and B. de Geldera,^c

a. Tilburg University, Department of Psychology and Health, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory,    Warandelaan 2, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands
b. Rehabilitation Centre Leijpark, Research Division, project VLB-NAH, Prof. Stoltehof 3, 5022 KE Tilburg, The Netherlands
c. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA

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Abstract

Objective
Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an automatic event related brain response, well investigated in the acute phase after severe brain injury: the presence of a MMN is often found to predict the emergence from coma, and the exclusion of shifting into a vegetative state (VS). In the present study MMN was examined during recovery from VS.

Methods
Ten vegetative patients were repeatedly examined every 2 weeks for an average period of 3.5 months. Amplitudes and latencies were related to the patients’ recovery from VS to consciousness, and to a healthy norm group. In addition, MMNwas examined on its prognostic value in VS patients, in predicting recovery to consciousness and long-term functional outcome.

Results
With recovery to consciousness MMN-amplitudes increased. A sudden increase was seen in MMN amplitude when patients started to show inconsistent behavioural responses to simple commands. At this level MMN resembled the MMN response as was seen in the norm group. In addition, the MMN-amplitude and latency during the first measurement predicted the patients’ outcome on recovery to consciousness.

Conclusions
With recovery from VS to consciousness the ability to process auditory stimulus deviance increases. A sudden enhancement in MMN-amplitude preceded overt communication with the environment. This might be indicative of the consolidation of neural networks underlying overt communication. Moreover, MMN can be helpful in identifying the ability to recover from VS.

Keywords
Mismatch negativity; Vegetative state; Minimally conscious state; Consciousness