Bridging Philosophy and Neuroscience: How Behavioral Experiments Inform a Recent Theory of Animal Consciousness

Consciousness is a loaded term and can mean many different things to different people. The goal of this paper is to investigate animal consciousness with an emphasis on rats. We investigated different ways of approaching the problem of animal consciousness including neuroscientific and philosophical methods. Next, we examined, a recent theory of animal consciousness in detail and examined neuroscientific evidence to support animals possessing the features described in the theory. The theory posited that consciousness includes five different components: perceptual richness, evaluative richness, self-consciousness, unity, and temporality. After, we discussed the phenomenon of “insight” and how it is similar and different to consciousness. Finally, we examined our behavioral experiment to support insight in rats. Our results revealed intriguing patterns in the rats\u27 performance curves, suggesting potential moments of insight. Linear regression analyses provided further evidence of significant changes in learning capabilities following specific sessions. Rat 210 showed a notable increase in learning slope after the 11th session, while Rat 211 exhibited a similar pattern after the 5th session. Rat 212 displayed a potential moment of insight after the 19th session, although the statistical significance was less conclusive. These findings indicate the possibility of insightful problem-solving in rats and highlight the need for further research to confirm and better understand these moments of insight

Fibromatous periorchitis

We report a case of diffuse fibrous pseudotumour/fibromatous periorchitis, in a 43 year old male, that completely encased the right testis and was adjacent to a hydrocoele cavity. Although fibrous pseudotumours of this region are uncommon, they are reported to be the second most common benign paratesticular lesion after adenomatoid tumours. These comprise approximately 6 percent of paratesticular lesions, and are accepted as reactive lesions secondary to trauma, hydrocoele, infections or inflammation. Fibrous pseudotumours have a peak incidence in the third decade of life but can occur at any age. Clinically these lesions mimic malignancy resulting in the treatment by radical orchidectomy. Fibrous pseudotumours should be considered in differential diagnosis when one encounters a predominantly fibrocollagenous lesion

Heterogeneity in Host Risk Factors for Incident Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer in a Cohort of US Women

Background: Melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are 3 types of skin cancer that have distinct biologic characteristics and prognoses. We evaluated phenotypic differences in the risk of these cancers in US women. Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 113 139 female nurses from 1984 to 2002. Over the 18 years of follow-up, there were 375 cases of melanoma, 495 cases of SCC, and 9423 cases of BCC. Results: Women with melanoma were more likely to have a family history of melanoma (melanoma: RR 1.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36–2.76; SCC: RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.58–1.37; BCC: RR 1.49, 95% CI 1.38–1.62) and 6 or more moles on the left arm (melanoma: RR 3.66, 95% CI 2.15–6.24; SCC: RR 1.53, 95% CI 0.83–2.79; BCC: RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.28–1.72). Polytomous logistic regression analysis showed that age at diagnosis (P < 0.0001), family history of melanoma (P = 0.016), and number of moles on the left arm (P = 0.007) were significantly different across the 3 cancers. Conclusions: This prospective observational study demonstrated that known phenotypic factors for skin cancer have a differential impact on the risk of melanoma, SCC, and BCC

ABO Blood Group and Incidence of Skin Cancer

Background: Previous studies have examined the association between ABO blood group and the risk of some malignancies. However, no prospective cohort study to date has examined the association between ABO blood group and the risk of skin cancer. Methodology/principal findings: Using two large cohorts in the US, we examined ABO blood type and incidence of skin cancer, including melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). We followed up study participants (70,650 female nurses and 24,820 male health professionals) on their diagnosis of incident skin cancer from cohort baseline (1976 in women and 1986 in men) until 2006. Study participants reported their blood type in 1996 in both cohorts. During the follow-up, 685 participants developed melanoma, 1,533 developed SCC and 19,860 developed BCC. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of each type of skin cancer. We observed that non-O blood group (A, AB, and B combined) was significantly associated with a decreased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer overall. Compared to participants with blood group O, participants with non-O blood group had a 14% decreased risk of developing SCC (multivariable HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.95) and a 4% decreased risk of developing BCC (multivariable HR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93, 0.99). The decreased risk of melanoma for non-O blood group was not statistically significant (multivariable HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.78, 1.05). Conclusion/significance: In two large independent populations, non-O blood group was associated with a decreased risk of skin cancer. The association was statistically significant for non-melanoma skin cancer. Additional studies are needed to confirm these associations and to define the mechanisms by which ABO blood type or closely linked genetic variants may influence skin cancer risk

Scientific Mapping of Industry 4.0 Research:A Bibliometric Analysis

The fourth industrial revolution is progressing very rapidly. This research aims to investigate the research patterns and trends of industry 4.0 research with a focus on manufacturing. This bibliometric analysis is performed on data of the past five years (2016 to 2020) retrieved from the Scopus database. This research is conducted on 1426 articles in which the top productive countries, authors, institutions, and most cited articles were investigated. Findings demonstrated that Italy, the United States, and China are the most active countries in terms of research publications. South China University of Technology (China) has been identified as the most productive institution.  Wan, J., Li, D., Rauch, E. were found to be the most productive authors. Industry 4.0 is primarily focused on the fields of engineering and computer science and sustainability is the most prolific journal. Co-occurrence analysis of keywords, co-authorship analysis of authors and countries were carried out along with bibliographic coupling of documents using VoS viewer which is the most common information visualisation software. This article summarises the growth of Industry 4.0 in the past five years and gives a short overview of the related works and applications of Industry 4.0.</p

Psoriasis and risk of type 2 diabetes among women and men in the United States: a population-based cohort study

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) shares some common risk factors with psoriasis. We evaluated the association between psoriasis and risk of incident T2D among women and men in the United States in a mixed retrospective-prospective cohort study. 184,395 participants were included from an older cohort of women (the Nurses’ Health Study, NHS) (1996–2008), a younger cohort of women (NHS II) (1991–2007) and an older cohort of men (Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study, HPFS) (1986–2006). During 2,700,958 person-years of follow-up, 9,938 incident T2D cases were confirmed. We found a significantly increased risk of T2D associated with psoriasis only among younger women (NHS II); multivariate-adjusted relative risk (RR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) was 1.25 1.05–1.49). When only including those younger than 60 years during follow-up (NHS and HPFS), we observed a non-significant trend toward increased risk for T2D. In a pooled-analysis of the three cohorts, psoriatics younger than 60 years were at a higher risk of T2D; RR 1.26 (1.08–1.48) for women, and 1.26 (1.08–1.46) for both sexes combined. Further, the risk of T2D was much higher for those developing psoriasis at an early age. In conclusion, we found an association between psoriasis and risk of T2D among individuals younger than 60 years

Prophylactic use of carvedilol to prevent ventricular dysfunction in patients with cancer treated with doxorubicin

Objective: Deterioration in ventricular function is often observed in patients treated with anthracyclines for cancer. There is a paucity of evidence on interventions that might provide cardio-protection. We investigated whether prophylactic use of carvedilol can prevent doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and whether any observed effect is dose related. Methods: A prospective, randomized, double-blind study in patients treated with doxorubicin, comparing placebo (n = 38) with different doses of carvedilol [6.25 mg/day (n = 41), 12.5 mg/day (n = 38) or 25 mg/day (n = 37)]. The primary endpoint was the measured change in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) from baseline to 6 months. Results: LVEF decreased from 62 ± 5% at baseline to 58 ± 7% at 6-months (p = 0.002) in patients assigned to placebo but no statistically significant changes were observed in any of the 3 carvedilol groups. At 6 months, only one of 116 patients (1%) assigned to carvedilol had an LVEF &#60; 50% compared to four of the 38 assigned to placebo (11%), (p = 0.013). No significant differences were noted between carvedilol and placebo in terms of the development of diastolic dysfunction, clinically overt heart failure or death. Conclusions: Carvedilol might prevent deterioration in LVEF in cancer patients treated with doxorubicin. This effect may not be dose related within the studied range

Association between Cutaneous Nevi and Breast Cancer in the Nurses' Health Study: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Cutaneous nevi are suggested to be hormone-related. We hypothesized that the number of cutaneous nevi might be a phenotypic marker of plasma hormone levels and predict subsequent breast cancer risk. Methods and Findings: We followed 74,523 female nurses for 24 y (1986–2010) in the Nurses' Health Study and estimate the relative risk of breast cancer according to the number of cutaneous nevi. We adjusted for the known breast cancer risk factors in the models. During follow-up, a total of 5,483 invasive breast cancer cases were diagnosed. Compared to women with no nevi, women with more cutaneous nevi had higher risks of breast cancer (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio, 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.98–1.10 for 1–5 nevi; 1.15, 95% CI, 1.00–1.31 for 6–14 nevi, and 1.35, 95% CI, 1.04–1.74 for 15 or more nevi; p for continuous trend = 0.003). Over 24 y of follow-up, the absolute risk of developing breast cancer increased from 8.48% for women without cutaneous nevi to 8.82% (95% CI, 8.31%–9.33%) for women with 1–5 nevi, 9.75% (95% CI, 8.48%–11.11%) for women with 6–14 nevi, and 11.4% (95% CI, 8.82%–14.76%) for women with 15 or more nevi. The number of cutaneous nevi was associated with increased risk of breast cancer only among estrogen receptor (ER)–positive tumors (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio per five nevi, 1.09, 95% CI, 1.02–1.16 for ER+/progesterone receptor [PR]–positive tumors; 1.08, 95% CI, 0.94–1.24 for ER+/PR− tumors; and 0.99, 95% CI, 0.86–1.15 for ER−/PR− tumors). Additionally, we tested plasma hormone levels according to the number of cutaneous nevi among a subgroup of postmenopausal women without postmenopausal hormone use (n = 611). Postmenopausal women with six or more nevi had a 45.5% higher level of free estradiol and a 47.4% higher level of free testosterone compared to those with no nevi (p for trend = 0.001 for both). Among a subgroup of 362 breast cancer cases and 611 matched controls with plasma hormone measurements, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for every five nevi attenuated from 1.25 (95% CI, 0.89–1.74) to 1.16 (95% CI, 0.83–1.64) after adjusting for plasma hormone levels. Key limitations in this study are that cutaneous nevi were self-counted in our cohort and that the study was conducted in white individuals, and thus the findings do not necessarily apply to other populations. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the number of cutaneous nevi may reflect plasma hormone levels and predict breast cancer risk independently of previously known factors. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summar