scholarly journals Neurochips: Considerations from a neurosurgeon’s standpoint

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Alejandra T. Rabadán
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Invasive Procedures ◽  
Ethical Conflict ◽  
Small Circle ◽  
Small Device ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Brain

A neurochip comprises a small device based on the brain-machine interfaces that emulate the functioning synapses. Its implant in the human body allows the interaction of the brain with a computer. Although the data-processing speed is still slower than that of the human brain, they are being developed. There is no ethical conflict as long as it is used for neural rehabilitation or to supply impaired or missing neurological functions. However, other applications emerge as controversial. To the best of our knowledge, there have no been publications about the neurosurgical role in the application of this neurotechnological advance. Deliberation on neurochips is primarily limited to a small circle of scholars such as neurotechnological engineers, artists, philosophers, and bioethicists. Why do we address neurosurgeons? They will be directly involved as they could be required to perform invasive procedures. Future neurosurgeons will have to be a different type of neurosurgeon. They will be part of interdisciplinary teams interacting with computer engineers, neurobiologist, and ethicists. Although a neurosurgeon is not expected to be an expert in all areas, they have to be familiar with them; they have to be prepared to determine indications, contraindications and risks of the procedures, participating in the decision-making processes, and even collaborating in the design of devices to preserve anatomic structures. Social, economic, and legal aspects are also inherent to the neurosurgical activity; therefore, these aspects should also be considered.

scholarly journals Relationship between fractional anisotropy and neuropsychological evaluation in sports-related concussion

Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (23 Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S17.1-S17
Author(s):  
Haruo Nakayama ◽  
Yu Hiramoto ◽  
Yuriko Numata ◽  
Satoshi Fujita ◽  
Nozomi Hirai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Corticospinal Tract ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Neuropsychological Testing ◽  
Diffusion Tensor Mri ◽  
Neuropsychological Evaluation ◽  
Neuropsychological Function ◽  
Significant Fluctuation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain

ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationship between functional anisotropy (FA) and neuropsychological evaluation in concussion.MethodsDiffusion tensor MRI included FA of the Brain and neuropsychological evaluation were conducted on 10 patients with concussion who were diagnosed from April 2017 to March 2018. FA was extracted from 2 regions of interest in Corpus callosum (CC) and corticospinal tract (CT). Detailed neuropsychological testing with an emphasis on Working memory (WM) and Processing speed (PS) was also conducted. The FA value in that 2 regions were compared between the 2 groups of 5 patients (group F) who failed either in WM or PS and 5 cases (group NF) who did not admit it.ResultsMean FA values in CC and CT in the Group F were 0.70 and 0.52. Mean FA values in CC and CT in the Group NF were 0.48 and 0.55.ConclusionsOur result suggests that the FA value of CC did not explain the significant fluctuation of the neuropsychological function. However, FA value in CT were shown to explain the fluctuation of WM and PS.

scholarly journals Genetic Privacy: The Potential for Genetic Discrimination in Insurance

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Pamela Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Human Genetics ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Genetic Discrimination ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Medical Genetic ◽  
Genetic Privacy ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Legal Consequences

The threat of modern genetics has been perceived as coming, rather dramatically, from genetic engineering, but the less flashy field of medical genetic testing poses significant and immediate issues. This article discusses the potential for breach of confidentiality or invasion of privacy through the acquisition of information, the disclosure of information, and the potential for prejudicial use of that information by third parties. The author concludes that New Zealand's ethical and legal aspects of human genetics needed a review at the time of writing, recommending an advisory group to be set up to monitor developments in human genetics, facilitate discussion with all relevant persons, groups and bodies, and report on issues arising from new developments in human genetics that can be expected to have wider ethical, social, economic, and legal consequences. However, the author does not find it necessary to enact genetic-specific legislation. 

Apprenticeship Indentures and Apprentices in Medieval England, 1250–1500

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rhiannon E. Sandy
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Cheap Labour ◽  
Fictive Kinship ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Official Records

This thesis uses apprenticeship indentures to offer a novel insight into guilds and apprenticeship in medieval England. Indentures offer a unique view of idealised master-apprentice relationships, which are otherwise only visible in official records. A collection of 82 surviving indentures forms a starting point for exploring social, economic, and legal aspects of apprenticeship in medieval England, both within and outside the guild system. Chapter 1 outlines the content of indentures and provides a guide to their general form. Indentures developed gradually in response to social, economic and legal factors; these are explored in subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the enforceability and enforcement of legislation pertaining to apprenticeship, as well as exploring the legal complexities of indentures as binding legal agreements made by minors. Chapter 3 considers apprenticeship in three ways in the context of the guild system: as a means of exploitation, as a means of exclusion, and as a means of providing technical training. No single model prevails, but the influence of each depends on geographical, economic, and temporal factors. Subsequent chapters provide an overview of the reality of apprenticeship. Chapter 4 discusses the use of behavioural clauses in indentures, which controlled apprentices’ behaviour with the primary aim of protecting masters’ reputations. Chapter 5 explores apprentices’ expectations of the apprenticeship, including provision of training. Chapter 6 presents novel estimates, based on surviving records, of the cost of maintaining an apprentice, concluding that they were not ‘cheap’ labour. Historians have not previously considered this cost. Chapter 7 uses testamentary evidence to examine close master-apprentice relationships, highlighting the importance of fictive kinship. Civic enfranchisement and its relative importance is also discussed. Overall, this thesis provides an original survey of apprenticeship in medieval England, based mainly on evidence from a previously neglected document type.

scholarly journals How does decisional capacity evolve with normal cognitive aging: systematic review of the literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Tannou ◽  
Séverine Koeberlé ◽  
Régis Aubry ◽  
Emmanuel Haffen
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Decisional Capacity ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Motivation Profiles

Abstract Purpose Aging is associated with increased needs related to complex decisions, particularly in medical and social issues. However, the complexity of decision-making involves many neurological functions and structures which are potentially altered by cognitive aging. Methodology A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines to examine changes in decision-making occurring in normal cognitive aging. The keywords “decision making” and “normal aging” were used to find the clinical studies and literature reviews focused on these changes. Results A total of 97 articles were considered in the review, and ultimately 40 articles were selected, including 30 studies and 10 literature reviews. The data from these studies were of uneven quality and too disparate to allow meta-analysis according to PRISMA criteria. Nevertheless, a key result of the analysis is the decrease of processing speed with aging. In ambiguous decision-making situations, the alteration of the ventromedial system is associated with changes in motivation profiles. These changes can be compensated by experience. However, difficulties arise for older adults in the case of one-off decisions, which are very common in the medical or medico-social domains. Conclusions Cognitive aging is associated with a slowdown in processing speed of decision-making, especially in ambiguous situations. However, decision-making processes which are based on experience and cases in which sufficient time is available are less affected by aging. These results highlight the relativity of decision-making capacities in cognitive aging.

scholarly journals Rapid Temporal Recalibration to Audiovisual Asynchrony Occurs Across the Difference in Neural Processing Speed Based on Spatial Frequency

i-Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 204166952096661
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Takeshima
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Temporal Recalibration ◽  
Synchrony Perception ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Audiovisual integration relies on temporal synchrony between visual and auditory stimuli. The brain rapidly adapts to audiovisual asynchronous events by shifting the timing of subjective synchrony in the direction of the leading modality of the most recent event, a process called rapid temporal recalibration. This phenomenon is the flexible function of audiovisual synchrony perception. Previous studies found that neural processing speed based on spatial frequency (SF) affects the timing of subjective synchrony. This study examined the effects of SF on the rapid temporal recalibration process by discriminating whether the presentation of the visual and auditory stimuli was simultaneous. I compared the magnitudes of the recalibration effect between low and high SF visual stimuli using two techniques. First, I randomly presented each SF accompanied by a tone during one session, then in a second experiment, only a single SF was paired with the tone throughout the one session. The results indicated that rapid recalibration occurred regardless of difference in presented SF between preceding and test trials. The recalibration magnitude did not significantly differ between the SF conditions. These findings confirm that intersensory temporal process is important to produce rapid recalibration and suggest that rapid recalibration can be induced by the simultaneity judgment criterion changes attributed to the low-level temporal information of audiovisual events.

scholarly journals Glial restricted precursor delivery of dendrimer N-acetylcysteine promotes migration and differentiation following transplant in mouse white matter injury model

Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (30) ◽  
pp. 16063-16068
Author(s):  
Christina L. Nemeth ◽  
Sophia N. Tomlinson ◽  
Rishi Sharma ◽  
Anjali Sharma ◽  
Sujatha Kannan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
White Matter Injury ◽  
Invasive Procedures ◽  
Injury Model ◽  
Regenerative Therapies ◽  
The Brain

Dendrimer-NAC improves the long-term engraftment of transplanted cells to the brain, suggesting targeted nanotherapeutic support may eliminate the need for overt immunosuppression or multiple invasive procedures in regenerative therapies.

scholarly journals Stroop performance in drug users classified by HIV and hepatitis C virus serostatus

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
EILEEN M. MARTIN ◽  
RICHARD M. NOVAK ◽  
MICHAEL FENDRICH ◽  
JASMIN VASSILEVA ◽  
RAUL GONZALEZ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis C Virus ◽  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Cerebral Function ◽  
Information Processing Speed ◽  
Cns Inflammation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Basal Ganglia Disorders

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be detected in the brain (Radkowski et al., 2002) and investigators speculate that HCV has neuroinvasive properties (Forton et al., 2003) with direct effects on cerebral function. MRS studies show that the basal ganglia and white matter of individuals with HCV have abnormal choline/creatine ratios, indicating CNS inflammation or infection (Forton et al., 2003). Patients with HCV show defects in working memory and information processing speed (Forton et al., 2003; Hilsabeck et al., 2002), similar to patients with basal ganglia disorders and HIV (e.g., Heaton et al., 1995).

scholarly journals Premature white matter microstructure in female children with a history of concussion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eman Nishat ◽  
Sonja Stojanovski ◽  
Shannon E Scratch ◽  
Stephanie H Ameis ◽  
Anne L Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Speed Test ◽  
Persistent Symptoms ◽  
Neurite Density ◽  
History Of ◽  
Brain Microstructure ◽  
The Brain

AbstractAs maturation of the brain continues throughout development, there is a risk of interference from concussions which are common in childhood. A concussion can cause widespread disruption to axons and inflammation in the brain and may influence emerging cognitive abilities. Females are more likely to experience persistent problems after a concussion, yet the sex-specific impact of concussions on brain microstructure in childhood is not well understood.In children from a large population sample, this study (1) investigated differences in white matter and cortical microstructure between children with and without a history of concussion, and (2) examined relationships between altered brain microstructure and cognitive performance.Neurite density measures from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging were examined in 9-to 10-year-old children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study with (n = 336) and without (n = 7368) a history of concussion. (1) Multivariate regression models were used to investigate the relationships between concussion history, sex, and age in the deep white matter, superficial white matter, subcortical structures, and cortex. (2) Principal component analysis was performed on neurite density, and components were examined in relation to performance on the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Task and the Pattern Comparison Processing Speed Task to investigate the relationship between altered neurite density and cognitive performance.Neurite density in all tissue types demonstrated robust positive relationships with age reflecting maturation of brain microstructure. (1) Comparisons between children with and without a history of concussion revealed higher neurite density in deep and superficial white matter in females with concussion. No group differences were observed in subcortical or cortical neurite density. (2) Higher neurite density in superficial white matter beneath the frontal and temporal cortices was associated with lower scores on the processing speed test in females with concussion, and higher scores on the processing speed test in males with concussion.These findings suggest that concussion in childhood leads to premature white matter maturation in females and that this may be associated with slower processing speed. These sex-specific effects on the developing brain may contribute to the enhanced vulnerability to persistent symptoms after concussion in females.

scholarly journals Consumer Extremism in the Insurance Market: Problem Statement

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-381
Author(s):  
Marina Stepanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Insurance Market ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Financial Position ◽  
The Relationship

Consumer extremism has recently taken the form of a mass phenomenon, gradually penetrating into the insurance industry. Since it negatively affects not only the reputation and financial position of individual insurers, but also the development of the insurance market as a whole, the task of finding ways to counteract the facts of unfair behavior of consumers of services is becoming urgent. It should be borne in mind that consumer extremism is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon: it has legal, and at the same time social, economic, psychological foundations, motives and consequences. Therefore, it is extremely important to go beyond the purely legal aspects in this research. In this regard, the purpose of the work was to identify the most significant aspects in the study of consumer extremism as a phenomenon that takes place in the insurance market. As a result of the study, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to take into account both the consumer's polysubject connections, which arise in the insurance market, and the multidisciplinary ones, which are formed within a particular insurance transaction. When assessing a possible area of relations where consumer extremism can manifest itself, we should take into account all scenarios of consumer’s activity from the passive one, in which the relationship does not go beyond the «policyholder — insurer», to the proactive one, when representatives of the insurance infrastructure are involved in the relationship. In the result a set of measures has been offered which would help prevent consumer extremism cases while implementing insurance relationships.

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