Hormones, nutrition and brain development.
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In this review, we have examined the effects of neuroleptic medications on neurocognitive functions in articles published since 1990. Based on recent work and reviews of older studies, neuroleptics do not appear to have marked positive or negative effects on working memory or secondary memory. In contrast, neuroleptic medications appear to have a salutary effect on sustained vigilance or response readiness. The relationship or lack thereof between changes in cognition and changes in clinical state (produced by neuroleptics) is also discussed.
New robotics is an approach to robotics that, in contrast to traditional robotics, employs ideas and principles from biology. While in the traditional approach there are generally accepted methods (e. g., from control theory), designing agents in the new robotics approach is still largely considered an art. In recent years, we have been developing a set of heuristics, or design principles, that on the one hand capture theoretical insights about intelligent (adaptive) behavior, and on the other provide guidance in actually designing and building systems. In this article we provide an overview of all the principles but focus on the principles of ecological balance, which concerns the relation between environment, morphology, materials, and control, and sensory-motor coordination, which concerns self-generated sensory stimulation as the agent interacts with the environment and which is a key to the development of high-level intelligence. As we argue, artificial evolution together with morphogenesis is not only "nice to have" but is in fact a necessary tool for designing embodied agents.
1) Forty-three chronic schizophrenics with diffuse delta activity (DDA) in their rest-awake EEGs were compared with 23 chronic schizophrenics with normal EEGs. 2) The DDA group was divided into three sub-groups according to the temporal persistence of DDA: brief, intermittent, and prolonged. The intermittent DDA is analogous to intermittent rhythmic delta activity (IRDA). 3) The disorganized type of schizophrenia was frequent in the DDA group and the residual type was frequent in the normal EEG group. 4) The doses of neuroleptics, as well as those of phenothiazines and butyrophenones, were higher in the DDA than in the normal group. 5) The frequency of co-administration of carbamazepine was higher in the DDA than in the normal group, and the rate increased with the degree of abnormality. 6) In a 1 year follow-up of the DDA group, reducing doses of neuroleptics resulted in a tendency for DDA to disappear, and reducing the doses of adjunctive carbamazepine caused DDA to disappear. 7) There was no correlation between DDA and the psychiatric symptoms, intelligence level, or CT findings.
The accurate prediction of chemical carcinogenicity can only be achieved by a balanced consideration of the following factors: the chemistry and metabolism of the test agent, the interaction between toxicity and genetic toxicity, the possibility of non-genotoxic events that trigger subsequent non-targeted mutagenesis, the difference between activities observed in vitro and in vivo, and the possible inadequacy and/or partiality of all datasets and observations. Extrapolation of activities within a series of congeners is usually possible, but predictions across different chemical classes/mechanisms of carcinogenicity are difficult. Artificial intelligence systems can be used to predict one or more of the above parameters given adequate learning sets, but the hope for a single, coherent and self-contained method of predicting all instances of carcinogenicity is unreal. The future of carcinogen/mutagen prediction lies with data-rich artificial intelligence systems based on known mechanistic principles used selectively within the context of chemical and biological human insight. The major current obstacle to progress is the assumption that mutagenicity and carcinogenicity are unitary phenomena that can be learned and predicted by artificial intelligence systems operating in isolation.
Synthetic polymers and gels capable of molecular recognition are very useful in designing novel intelligent biomaterials. In this article we review the recent progress in both theoretical and experimental studies toward making heteropolymers and gels with biomimetic properties, specifically in relation to protein recognition. Knowledge obtained from protein-folding studies sheds much light on our understanding of the heteropolymer behavior. Consequently, it is possible to design synthetic heteropolymers with specific structure that can fold into unique conformations, form receptor-like cavities and recognize specific target molecules. Recent studies towards simplifying the requirement for the heteropolymer structures and the polymerization procedures are reviewed. Intelligent polymer gels can be designed with new and interesting characteristics of molecular imprinting. The results are encouraging for further investigation and design of synthetic gels with programmable collapsed structure might be achieved.
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A study has been made of measures of intelligence of 210 children (5 to 8 years of age) born to mothers who used oral and nonoral contraceptives pregestationally. Ninety-six of these children were born to mothers who used oral contraceptives, and one hundred and fourteen were born to mothers who used vaginal contraceptive methods. The intelligence of the children was measured in the form of the full-scale I.Q. score by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) adapted and normalized for Puerto Rico by the Puerto Rico Department of Education. A three-factor analysis of variance was performed on the data collected for comparison of the two groups. It was observed that there was no significant difference between the average I.Q. scores of children born to mothers using oral contraceptives and those born to the mothers using nonoral contraceptives. The average I.Q. in children of the oral contraceptive group was 85.04 and that in children of the nonoral contraceptive group was 85.54. Distributions for both groups were also found to be similar. No significant differences between means were observed for sex, age, and interacitons with the exception of the age and sex interaction, where, again, no specific, meaningful trend could be established. The average I.Q. in the sample fell very close to the center of the "normal" range of the WISC, Puerto Rican adaptation. The results of the study do not offer any evidence as to the effect of the use of oral contraceptives on the intelligence measure (by the WISC) of the offspring born to mothers using them pregestationally. The children under study, on an average, are of "normal" intelligence as measured by the Puerto Rican intelligence standards.
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BACKGROUND: Selegiline hydrochloride, a selective MAO-B inhibitor is known to improve motor functions in Parkinson's disease (PD). The present study was undertaken to study the effect of selegiline on memory and intelligence of PD patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty two patients of PD were divided in two groups: selegiline group (n = 17) received 10 mg selegiline per day and control group (n = 15) did not receive selegiline. Patients receiving trihexyphenidyl and selegiline were excluded. All other treatment remained unchanged. All patients were examined at baseline and after three months for change in UPDRS score, WAIS score, memory test and P300. RESULTS: Patients in selegiline group had less severe disease (UPDRS score 24.11 +/- 14.07) as compared to controls (UPDRS score 40.53 +/- 18.52). There was significant improvement in UPDRS score (p < 0.05), WAIS (p < 0.001) and memory (p < 0.001) in selegiline group. In the control group there was a significant prolongation of P300 latency (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study suggests that selegiline improves memory functions and intelligence in PD patients in addition to motor functions. It also prevents prolongation of P300 latency which is a marker of cognitive function.
Despite the increasing number of experimental mapping showing that human arithmetic cognition is supported by widely spread neural circuits; the theoretical reasoning about these data remains mostly metaphorical and guided by a connectionist approach. Although neurons at distinct areas in the brain are assumed to take charge of different duties in the solution of the experimental task, the results are always discussed by hypothesizing some association between the different areas without questioning any difference of behavior at the level of the neurons at each of these areas. Here, the brain is assumed as Distributed Intelligent Processing System (DIPS) formed by collections of loosely interacting specialized agents (neurons), each agent specializing, for example, in data collection (sensors), problem solving (associative neurons), data communication (interneuronal systems) and in acting upon the surrounding environment (motorneurons). A new technique for EEG brain mapping is proposed and used to study arithmetic cognition in elementary school aged children and adults. Factor analysis showed three distinct patterns of neuronal recruitment for arithmetic calculations in all experimental groups which varied according to the type of calculation, age and sex.
An information environment is emerging from the simultaneous, rapid, and interconnected evolution of transmission systems, interfaces, and content quantity, quality, and structure. It will be easy to underestimate the collective impact of the sum of these changes on how young people communicate and absorb information. Ultimately, it will be more important to understand how these technologies will facilitate, amplify, or alter the cognitive processes and/or social behavior of the Internet generation. The article analyzes the impact of the following trends on media use and cognition among youthful users: * Information expansion and overload: Accessible networked information will continue to grow at a rapid pace for at least the next 10-20 years. * Rapid increase in interface diffusion: The number of access points into the Internet is expanding in number, variety, and mobility. * Evolution toward more embodied computing: Interfaces are evolving to use more of the sensorimotor system to transfer information to and from the user. * The evolution of more intelligent sensors to interpret use behavior and intentions. * Evolution toward anthropomorphic agent techniques: Computers are evolving to use more social and interpersonal communication techniques to interact with the user.
The US Department of Defense has been concerned about the use of anthrax as a biological weapon by an enemy on US troops for a number of years. This is the reason why the military has embarked on a vaccination program for its forces deployed to regions of the world, which are considered high-risk areas. These areas have been in the Southwest Asia-Persian Gulf region as well as the Korean Peninsula. Many intelligence personnel have also been concerned about the possibility of biological agents being used by terrorists in the Continental United States. The recent anthrax incidents in Florida and elsewhere in the United States have significantly heightened concerns along these lines, especially following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th. The death of a Florida businessman, identification of infection in one of his co-workers, evidence of exposure and in some instances, cutaneous infection in some others, as well as evidence of contamination in their buildings, raised further concerns of the possibility of terrorist activity using biological warfare in this country. It is somewhat ironic that a disease that you probably haven't heard about since medical school has become the focus of national attention. Our goal in this communication is to refresh your understanding of what anthrax is and what you need to know about it today since anthrax is counted among the weapons of mass destruction. As a member of the medical profession, you will need to know what to look for in patients and how to treat them if they are contaminated with this biological agent. You will also have to serve as the "front line" of the public health system and alert the police and public health agencies.
We examined outbreak investigations conducted around the world from 1988 to 1999 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service. In 44 (4.0%) of 1,099 investigations, identified causative agents had bioterrorism potential. In six investigations, intentional use of infectious agents was considered. Healthcare providers reported 270 (24.6%) outbreaks and infection control practitioners reported 129 (11.7%); together they reported 399 (36.3%) of the outbreaks. Health departments reported 335 (30.5%) outbreaks. For six outbreaks in which bioterrorism or intentional contamination was possible, reporting was delayed for up to 26 days. We confirmed that the most critical component for bioterrorism outbreak detection and reporting is the frontline healthcare profession and the local health departments. Bioterrorism preparedness should emphasize education and support of this frontline as well as methods to shorten the time between outbreak and reporting.
This article describes a practical procedure for rapidly searching a large database of cocaine signatures to identify database entries that closely resemble a given reference cocaine exhibit using a personal computer (PC). The procedure takes advantage of the pattern recognition capability of the multilayer perceptron neural network to identify similar cocaine signatures. A PC-based software implementation is now being used on a daily basis at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) to aid forensic experts in identifying signatures that originate from the same batch. Intelligence reports generated from database searches have been useful to undercover agents in the field who are striving to build drug related conspiracy cases. This software was developed as a collaborative effort between the NCSBI and the Center for Systems and Engineering of the Research Triangle Institute.
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Monitoring patients hospitalized in hemato-oncology departments to undergo clinical protocols of therapy is a complex task. The main difficulty arises in the management of the oncology protocol as well as in the management of critical episodes of acute illness which frequently occur due to high toxicity of the used antimitotics. This problem of controlling a patient's condition can be conceptualized within the control theory paradigm as the task of controlling a process whose state changes over time and can deviate unacceptably from a normal range. Upon request of a French clinical department of hemato-oncology, we developed an intelligent patient monitor named SEPIA to assist clinicians in this task. Following the control theory analogy at the level of knowledge bases design, we have modeled the medical knowledge as control information to represent the medical actions, and state information is used as feedback control to characterize the patient's state. After a general presentation of SEPIA, the analogies between control theory actors and SEPIA's components are specified. The article then focuses on state variables representation. The data reduction process, activated as new data are given to the system, is described. A simulated running session is finally presented to illustrate the whole reasoning process.