EEG theta and Mu oscillations during perception of human and robot actions.

The perception of others' actions supports important skills such as communication, intention understanding, and empathy. Are mechanisms of action processing in the human brain specifically tuned to process biological agents? Humanoid robots can perform recognizable actions, but can look and move differently from humans, and as such, can be used in experiments to address such questions. Here, we recorded EEG as participants viewed actions performed by three agents. In the Human condition, the agent had biological appearance and motion. The other two conditions featured a state-of-the-art robot in two different appearances: Android, which had biological appearance but mechanical motion, and Robot, which had mechanical appearance and motion. We explored whether sensorimotor mu (8-13 Hz) and frontal theta (4-8 Hz) activity exhibited selectivity for biological entities, in particular for whether the visual appearance and/or the motion of the observed agent was biological. Sensorimotor mu suppression has been linked to the motor simulation aspect of action processing (and the human mirror neuron system, MNS), and frontal theta to semantic and memory-related aspects. For all three agents, action observation induced significant attenuation in the power of mu oscillations, with no difference between agents. Thus, mu suppression, considered an index of MNS activity, does not appear to be selective for biological agents. Observation of the Robot resulted in greater frontal theta activity compared to the Android and the Human, whereas the latter two did not differ from each other. Frontal theta thus appears to be sensitive to visual appearance, suggesting agents that are not sufficiently biological in appearance may result in greater memory processing demands for the observer. Studies combining robotics and neuroscience such as this one can allow us to explore neural basis of action processing on the one hand, and inform the design of social robots on the other

Late-Onset Glaucoma-Filtrating Bleb Leak in a Penetrating Keratoplasty Patient: A Case Report

Introduction. Late-onset bleb leaks occur more frequently after the use of adjunctive antimetabolites and require surgical management to seal and preserve filtrating bleb. Case Presentation. A 48-year-old female presented with decreased visual acuity for five days in her left eye. She had a left penetrating keratoplasty one year earlier and two trabeculectomies 7 years earlier. Visual acuity was hand motions, intraocular pressure was 3 mmHg, corneal graft was clear, mature cataract was present, and axial length was 30.48 mm. The conjunctiva covering the superotemporal sclerotomy was avascular, flat, and partially lost. After heavily painting the bleb with a fluorescein, late-onset point leak was revealed. Overlying conjunctiva was excised. The atrophic, irregular, and partially absent scleral flap was covered by a processed human pericardium graft and conjunctival advancement. Postoperatively, intraocular pressure stabilized around 16 mmHg. After four months, phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation were performed. Visual acuity did not exceed 0.1 (in decimal notation) due to degenerative myopia-related macular atrophy. Corneal graft remained clear at her 6-month followup period. Conclusion. Surgical bleb revision using a pericardium graft and conjunctival advancement seems to be an effective method for treating late bleb leaks. However, careful follow-up is required for detecting recurrent leaks and elevated intraocular pressure

Observation and imitation of actions performed by humans, androids, and robots : an EMG study

Understanding others’ actions is essential for functioning in the physical and social world. In the past two decades research has shown that action perception involves the motor system, supporting theories that we understand others’ behavior via embodied motor simulation. Recently, empirical approach to action perception has been facilitated by using well-controlled artificial stimuli, such as robots. One broad question this approach can address is what aspects of similarity between the observer and the observed agent facilitate motor simulation. Since humans have evolved among other humans and animals, using artificial stimuli such as robots allows us to probe whether our social perceptual systems are specifically tuned to process other biological entities. In this study, we used humanoid robots with different degrees of human-likeness in appearance and motion along with electromyography (EMG) to measure muscle activity in participants’ arms while they either observed or imitated videos of three agents produce actions with their right arm. The agents were a Human (biological appearance and motion), a Robot (mechanical appearance and motion), and an Android (biological appearance and mechanical motion). Right arm muscle activity increased when participants imitated all agents. Increased muscle activation was found also in the stationary arm both during imitation and observation. Furthermore, muscle activity was sensitive to motion dynamics: activity was significantly stronger for imitation of the human than both mechanical agents. There was also a relationship between the dynamics of the muscle activity and motion dynamics in stimuli. Overall our data indicate that motor simulation is not limited to observation and imitation of agents with a biological appearance, but is also found for robots. However we also found sensitivity to human motion in the EMG responses. Combining data from multiple methods allows us to obtain a more complete picture of action understanding and the underlying neural computations

Is it essential to perform preoperative diagnostic curettage in patients scheduled for uterine myoma surgery?

Objective: Uterine myoma, which arises from the myometrium of uterus, is among the most common benign tumors of women. Generally, it has an asymptomatic character, however, in symptomatic cases, it presents with abnormal uterine bleeding. The objective of this study is to determine whether preoperative diagnostic curettage is essential or not by comparing the preoperative and postoperative endometriums of patients that underwent surgery with uterine myoma diagnosis. Material and Method: In this study,260 patients that received surgery with uterine myoma diagnosis in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of Taksim Education and Research Hospital in Istanbul between January 2007 and January 2010, were included. The histopathologic analysis of specimens obtained by preoperative curettage and hysterectomy, was carried out in a retrospective fashion. Results: The mean age of patients was 48.3 ± 7.5 years. The distribution of preoperative curettage specimens with regard to endometrial status was as follows: phase compatible endometrium in 156 (60%), endometrial polyp in 74 (28.5%), atrophic endometrium in 20 (7.7%), and endometrial hyperplasia in 10 patients (3.8%). Among the phase compatible endometriums, 85 patients (54.5%) had proliferative endometrium, 39 patients (25%) had late secretory phase endometrium, and 32 patients (20.5%) had early secretory phase endometrium. The distribution of postoperative hysterectomy specimens with regard to endometrial status was as follows: Phase compatible endometrium in 160 patients (61.5%), endometrial polyp in 61 patients (22.5%), endometrial hyperplasia in 14 patients (5.4%), and atrophic endometrium in 25 patients (9.6%). Among the phase compatible endometriums; 96 patients (60%) had proliferative endometrium, 44 patients (27.5%) had late secretory endometrium, and 20 patients (12.5%) had early secretory endometrium. Conclusion: No difference was observed between the histopathologic results of diagnostic curettage and hysterectomy relative to malignancy or a pathology that would change the surgery plan. The result is very important because it shows that performing curettage before myoma surgery is not an essential procedure. In this study, since endometrial cancer may not have been detected due to limited number of patients, further studies including higher number of patients are required to confirm our results

A Mathematical Model for Equitable In-country COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation

publishedVersio

Attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination, vaccine hesitancy and vaccine literacy among unvaccinated young adults

Background Herd immunity is necessary to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Unfortunately, attaining herd immunity is a significant challenge for current healthcare systems worldwide, and the prevalence of hesitancy toward COVID-19 remains high. The aim of this study was to determine pandemic vaccine hesitancy, attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine literacy level in vaccination period among unvaccinated young adults. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in the province of Çorum in Turkey. Unvaccinated young adults (n=860) between the ages of 18-30 studying medicine and non-medical sciences of a university were included in the study. Socio-demographic form, and the scales on Pandemic Vaccine Hesitancy, Attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine literacy were used to collect the research data. The data were analyzed using percentages, median values, regression analysis. Results The study was completed with 860 participants. In the group, 73.8% were 18-24 years 67.7% were women and 68.0% were infected with the virus. The median scores from the pandemic vaccine hesitancy scale, vaccine literacy and vaccine attitudes were 33, 27 and 30 respectively. Use of social media in daily, vaccine literacy and COVID-19 vaccine attitude were effective factors on pandemic vaccine hesitancy (p<0.05). Negative attitude to vaccines was the most influenced risk factor of vaccine hesitancy (Beta = 0.248). Conclusion Pandemic vaccine hesitancy is a phenomenon that coincides with low vaccine literacy and negative attitudes towards vaccines. COVID-19 vaccination information campaigns should promote group strategies, focusing on emphasising the safety of the vaccine and offer reassurance

Polymorphisms in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene in Turkish women with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia

The genetic background predisposing pregnant women to pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) is still unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether there is an association between the TNF-alpha-308 and 850 polymorphisms and PE or eclampsia. In this study, 40 cases of eclampsia, 113 cases of PE and 80 normotensive control cases were genotyped for the TNF-alpha-G-308A and C-850 polymorphisms. At position 308, the replacement of Guanine with Adenosine was denoted as TNF2. We found a significant difference between the TNF2 allele frequencies of the eclamptic, pre-eclamptic and normotensive controls. TNF2 (AA) polymorphism frequency was significantly higher among the eclamptics and pre-eclamptics (control : 5%, PE : 13.3%, E : 12.9%). A significantly different genotype distribution of C-850T polymorphism was observed between the PE/E and control groups, with the frequency of the variant TT genotype being significantly reduced in the preeclamptics (PE : 17% ; E : 17.5%) when compared with the control group (24.3%). We have demonstrated an association between TNF-alpha polymorphisms and pre-eclampsia susceptibility. However, it is not known whether C-850T polymorphism has a functional effect on the TNF-alpha gene. In addition, it was not possible to determine whether this polymorphism promotes the progression from PE to eclampsia because of no statistically significant difference between eclampsia and the controls

Evaluation of the efficiency of antibiotic prophylaxis in cesarean cases

Background: In recent years the rate of cesarean section has significantly increased.To determine the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics in reducing infectious morbidity after cesarean section. Objectives: In our study, we aimed to evaluate the efficiency of prophylactic antibiotic administration by comparing three groups using single, multiple and no prophylactic antibiotic therapy. Materials and Methods: Our study is a prospective, randomized controlled study including emergent cases, that developed cesarean indication while in active labor, and elective cesarean cases. A total of 90 patients were included in the study, including 30 patients who underwent cesarean delivery and did not undergo an antibiotic prophylaxis (Group 1), 30 patients who underwent a single dose antibiotic prophylaxis (Group II) and 30 patients who underwent multiple dose antibiotic prophylaxis (Group III). Results: The incidence of wound infection was significantly higher in cases that were not using antibiotics at postoperative days 3, 5 and 7 compared to the cases using single and multiple antibiotics. There was not a significant difference between groups in terms of endometritis. Conclusion: Administration of prophylactic antibiotics prevent wound infection but does not prevent development of endometritis