scholarly journals Fake brain helping human brain

Author(s):  
Anastasiya Vinokurtseva ◽  
Shafaz Veettil

Mental health disorders affect 30% of the world’s population and rates of diagnosiscontinue to increase. This huge global burden on the individual and societal levels requiresenhancement of current diagnosis and treatment. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers novelapproaches to diagnosis in mental healthcare. Personal digital devices that have becomeomnipresent in the developed world can be used as sensors for continuous monitoring ofindividual’s behaviour. Analysis of behavioural markers such as sleep, social media use andcommunication patterns through the use of sensors creates a patient’s digital phenotype.Continuous monitoring offers an insight into patients’ regular behaviour that is different from theself-reported, momentary snapshot used in conventional diagnostic practices. Virtual humans offeran alternative way to collect information, allowing for increased patient disclosure. Currentapplications of AI facilitate access to mental healthcare by monitoring patient functioning in reallife and immediately connecting patients to appropriate resources. Despite many benefits of AI inmental healthcare, further translation of this innovation from research to clinical practice requiresdiligent policy making to address privacy and confidentiality concerns.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Melanie P. J. Schellekens ◽  
Tom I. Bootsma ◽  
Rosalie A. M. Van Woezik ◽  
Marije L. Van der Lee

Approximately 25% of cancer patients suffer from chronic cancer-related fatigue (CCRF), which is a complex, multifactorial condition. While there are evidence-based interventions, it remains unclear what treatment works best for the individual patient. Psychological network models can offer a schematic representation of interrelations among fatigue and protective and perpetuating factors for the individual patient. We explored whether feedback based on these individual fatigue networks can help personalize psychological care for CCRF. A 34-year old woman with CCRF was referred to our mental healthcare institute for psycho-oncology. During the waitlist period, she filled out an experience sampling app for 101 days, including five daily assessments of fatigue, pain, mood, activity and fatigue coping. The interplay between items was visualized in network graphs at the moment-level and day-level, which were discussed with the patient. For example, acceptance of fatigue in the past three hours was associated with less hopelessness and less fatigue in the following moment. At the day-level, acceptance was also being associated with less fatigue, less hopelessness, a better mood, and more motivation to do things. The patient recognized these patterns and explained how unexpected waves of fatigue can make her feel hopeless. This started a dialogue on how cultivating acceptance could potentially help her handle the fatigue. The patient would discuss this with her therapist. Feedback based on individual fatigue networks can provide direct insight into how one copes with CCRF and subsequently offer directions for treatment. Further research is needed in order to implement this in clinical practice.


Author(s):  
Andrew M. Yuengert

Although most economists are skeptical of or puzzled by the Catholic concept of the common good, a rejection of the economic approach as inimical to the common good would be hasty and counterproductive. Economic analysis can enrich the common good tradition in four ways. First, economics embodies a deep respect for economic agency and for the effects of policy and institutions on individual agents. Second, economics offers a rich literature on the nature of unplanned order and how it might be shaped by policy. Third, economics offers insight into the public and private provision of various kinds of goods (private, public, common pool resources). Fourth, recent work on the development and logic of institutions and norms emphasizes sustainability rooted in the good of the individual.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1087
Author(s):  
Loreley Castelli ◽  
María Laura Genchi García ◽  
Anne Dalmon ◽  
Daniela Arredondo ◽  
Karina Antúnez ◽  
...  

RNA viruses play a significant role in the current high losses of pollinators. Although many studies have focused on the epidemiology of western honey bee (Apis mellifera) viruses at the colony level, the dynamics of virus infection within colonies remains poorly explored. In this study, the two main variants of the ubiquitous honey bee virus DWV as well as three major honey bee viruses (SBV, ABPV and BQCV) were analyzed from Varroa-destructor-parasitized pupae. More precisely, RT-qPCR was used to quantify and compare virus genome copies across honey bee pupae at the individual and subfamily levels (i.e., patrilines, sharing the same mother queen but with different drones as fathers). Additionally, virus genome copies were compared in cells parasitized by reproducing and non-reproducing mite foundresses to assess the role of this vector. Only DWV was detected in the samples, and the two variants of this virus significantly differed when comparing the sampling period, colonies and patrilines. Moreover, DWV-A and DWV-B exhibited different infection patterns, reflecting contrasting dynamics. Altogether, these results provide new insight into honey bee diseases and stress the need for more studies about the mechanisms of intra-colonial disease variation in social insects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Marcell Virág ◽  
Tamas Leiner ◽  
Mate Rottler ◽  
Klementina Ocskay ◽  
Zsolt Molnar

Hemodynamic optimization remains the cornerstone of resuscitation in the treatment of sepsis and septic shock. Delay or inadequate management will inevitably lead to hypoperfusion, tissue hypoxia or edema, and fluid overload, leading eventually to multiple organ failure, seriously affecting outcomes. According to a large international survey (FENICE study), physicians frequently use inadequate indices to guide fluid management in intensive care units. Goal-directed and “restrictive” infusion strategies have been recommended by guidelines over “liberal” approaches for several years. Unfortunately, these “fixed regimen” treatment protocols neglect the patient’s individual needs, and what is shown to be beneficial for a given population may not be so for the individual patient. However, applying multimodal, contextualized, and personalized management could potentially overcome this problem. The aim of this review was to give an insight into the pathophysiological rationale and clinical application of this relatively new approach in the hemodynamic management of septic patients.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2278
Author(s):  
Anna Micheluz ◽  
Eva Mariasole Angelin ◽  
João Almeida Lopes ◽  
Maria João Melo ◽  
Marisa Pamplona

Light is a determining factor in the discoloration of plastics, and photodegradation processes can affect the molecular structures of both the polymer and colorants. Limited studies focused on the discoloration of heritage plastics in conservation science. This work investigated the discoloration of red historical polyethylene (PE) objects colored with PR 48:2 and PR 53:1. High-density and low-density PE reference polymers, neat pigment powders, and historical samples were assessed before and after accelerated photoaging. The applied methodology provided insight into the individual light-susceptibility of polyethylenes, organic pigment lakes, and their combined effect in the photoaging of historical plastic formulations. After light exposure, both PE references and historical samples yellowed, PR53:1 faded, and PR 48:2 darkened; however, both organic pigments faded severely in the historical samples. This highlights the role played by the plastic binder likely facilitating the pigment photofading. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques—EGA-MS, PY-GC/MS, and TD-GC/MS—were successfully employed for characterizing the plastic formulations and degradation. The identification of phthalic compounds in both aged β-naphthol powders opens new venues for studies on their degradation. This work’s approach and analytical methods in studying the discoloration of historical plastics are novel, proving their efficacy, reliability, and potentiality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Danuta Urban ◽  
Joanna Sender ◽  
Ewelina Tokarz ◽  
Andrzej Różycki

AbstractIn view of the sensitivity of Liparis loeselii to changes in habitat conditions, we carried out a study with the aim to monitor population numbers, identify the individual features of the Liparis loeselii population, analyse habitat conditions, identify threats and propose conservation measures to preserve the species. The investigations were conducted in seven unmanaged objects located in three Natura 2000 areas in eastern Poland. The results of this study provide a new insight into Liparis loeselii ecology. The analysed populations inhabited some habitat types: extremely poor fen, transitional mire, rich fen, calcareous fen, spring-fed fen. The content of nutrients was similar in all the habitats. A CCA analysis revealed that the total carbon content, pH, and redox potential of the substrate determine differences between the habitats analysed. Juvenile individuals represented a maximum of 12% of the analysed populations and were the least abundant group of these plants. The flowering was primarily influenced by hydrological conditions. Based on the long-term observations reported in this article, it can be assumed that the species stands a chance of surviving at the localities analysed, provided that the habitat conditions do not change dramatically.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Deganit Kobliner-Friedman, RN, MPH ◽  
Ofer Merin, MD ◽  
Eran Mashiach, MD ◽  
Reuven Kedar, MD ◽  
Shai Schul, MHA ◽  
...  

Emergency medical teams (EMTs) encounter chaos upon arriving at the scene of a disaster. Rescue efforts are utilitarian and focus on providing the technical aspects of medical care in order to save the most lives at the expense of the individual. This often neglects the basic healthcare rights of the patient. The Sphere Project was initiated to develop universal humanitarian standards for disaster response.The increase in the number of EMTs led the World Health Organization (WHO) to organize standards for disaster response. In 2016, the WHO certified the Israel Defense Forces Field Hospital (IDF-FH) as the first to be awarded the highest level of accreditation (EMT-3). This paper presents the IDF-FH’s efforts to protect the patient’s healthcare rights in a disaster zone based on the Sphere Principles.These core Sphere Principles include the right to professional medical treatment; the right to dignity, privacy, and confidentiality; the right for information in an understandable language; the right to informed consent; the obligation to maintain private medical records; the obligation to adhere to universal ethical standards, to respect culture and custom and to care for vulnerable populations; the right to protection from sexual exploitation and violence; and the right to continued treatment.


2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162
Author(s):  
Clare Spencer

This essay presents a comparative study of the sociological assumptions implicit, and to some extent explicit, in the work of two famous architects, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Le Corbusier. The inhabitant implied through the architectural practice of Le Corbusier resembles Elias's homo clausus (closed person), the mode of self experience viewed by Elias as the dominant one in Western society and one which sees the individual person as a ‘thinking subject’ and the starting point of knowledge. Mackintosh's designs, in contrast, imply individual people closer to Elias‘s homines aperti, social beings who are shaped through social interaction and interdependence. This paper demonstrates how, as well as fulfilling social, cultural and political needs, architecture carries, within in its designs, certain assumptions about how people and how they do, and should, live. The adoption of an Eliasian perspective provides an interesting insight into how these assumptions can shape self-experience and social interaction in the buildings of each architect.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo M. Braga ◽  
Koene R. A. Van Dijk ◽  
Jonathan R. Polimeni ◽  
Mark C. Eldaief ◽  
Randy L. Buckner

Examination of large-scale distributed networks within the individual reveals details of cortical network organization that are absent in group-averaged studies. One recent discovery is that a distributed transmodal network, often referred to as the ‘default network’, is comprised of two separate but closely interdigitated networks, only one of which is coupled to posterior parahippocampal cortex. Not all studies of individuals have identified the same networks and questions remain about the degree to which the two networks are separate, particularly within regions hypothesized to be interconnected hubs. Here we replicate the observation of network separation across analytical (seed-based connectivity and parcellation) and data projection (volume and surface) methods in 2 individuals each scanned 31 times. Additionally, 3 individuals were examined with high-resolution fMRI to gain further insight into the anatomical details. The two networks were identified with separate regions localized to adjacent portions of the cortical ribbon, sometimes inside the same sulcus. Midline regions previously implicated as hubs revealed near complete spatial separation of the two networks, displaying a complex spatial topography in the posterior cingulate and precuneus. The network coupled to parahippocampal cortex also revealed a separate region directly within the hippocampus at or near the subiculum. These collective results support that the default network is composed of at least two spatially juxtaposed networks. Fine spatial details and juxta-positions of the two networks can be identified within individuals at high resolution, providing insight into the network organization of association cortex and placing further constraints on interpretation of group-averaged neuroimaging data.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Glen

Very few interdisciplinary participatory video research projects have critically assessed how an individual first engages and then continues Freire's "conscientization" or the transformative process toward civic agency, and the role participatory video plays in this process. See Me. Hear Me. Talk To Me. is a participatory video research project that aimed to break new ground in professional participatory video practice by focusing on the individual transformative processes of a small group of at-risk, street involved youth engaged in a participatory action research (PAR) video project. This participatory video research project aimed to gain a small, but specific insight into the transformative processes of at-risk, street involved youth by exploring their experiences and personal perspectives before, during and after the project. In doing so, it intended to add to the current, but very limited research in participatory video projects with street involved youth in order to encourage further interdisciplinary study, as well as the development of some preliminary reference tools to help governments, non-profits and other interested organizations critically engage street involved youth today. -- Page 8


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