Sensação e conhecimento da existência do corpo nas Meditações de Descartes

O artigo examina duas maneiras como as concepções do sujeito meditante acerca da cognição sensível evoluem ao longo das Meditações, e procura argumentar que em cada caso a mudança é menos radical do que se poderia  pensar. A primeira maneira diz respeito à necessidade de oferecer um argumento satisfatório para a existência do corpo. O artigo mostra que nem esta necessidade nem o argumento indicam um compromisso com a tese de que nossa cognição sensível termina nas idéias e não nas coisas corporais. Ou seja, Descartes não defende uma concepção que o compromete com um véu de idéias. A segunda maneira diz respeito à rejeição da tese de que a cognição sensível envolve semelhança. O artigo mostra que essa rejeição não significa que Descartes abandone uma descrição da cognição sensível em termos de estrutura partilhada substituindo-a por uma mera covariância causal. O que Descartes procura fazer é solicitar uma certa latitude na interpretação da "semelhança", latitude esta suficiente para que a realidade que percebemos sensivelmente possa existir em nossas mentes "obscuramente" e "confusamente", e também para que não tentemos apreender a metafísica básica das qualidades sensíveis a partir de nossas idéias sensíveis e acabemos comprometidos com a concepção de quente e frio, ou branco e verde, como realidades primitivas. AbstractIn this paper, I have traced two ways in which the meditator's views on the senses evolve over the course of the Meditations, and I've argued that in each case the shift is less radical than one might have thought. First, the meditator comes to appreciate the need for an argument for the existence of body and find an argument that remedies that lack. The paper shows that neither the need nor the argument bespeaks a commitment to a veil of ideas; neither shows a commitment to the thesis that our sensory cognition terminates at ideas rather than in corporeal things. Second, the meditator comes to reject the resemblance thesis. The paper shows that this does not mean that the meditator throws over a picture of sensory cognition drawn in terms of shared structure in favor of mere causal covariance. Rather, what Descartes is really doing is asking for a certain amount of latitude in how we construe the "resemblance"—i.e., enough latitude so that the reality that we sense can exist in our minds "obscurely" and "confusedly" and enough so that we don't find ourselves trying to read the basic metaphysics of sensory qualities off from our sensory ideas and wind up committed to hot and cold or white and green as primitive realities.Recebido em 08/2009Aprovado em 10/200

Multicenter Study on COVID-19 Lung Computed Tomography Segmentation with varying Glass Ground Opacities using Unseen Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Paradigms: COVLIAS 1.0 Validation

Variations in COVID-19 lesions such as glass ground opacities (GGO), consolidations, and crazy paving can compromise the ability of solo-deep learning (SDL) or hybrid-deep learning (HDL) artificial intelligence (AI) models in predicting automated COVID-19 lung segmentation in Computed Tomography (CT) from unseen data leading to poor clinical manifestations. As the first study of its kind, "COVLIAS 1.0-Unseen" proves two hypotheses, (i) contrast adjustment is vital for AI, and (ii) HDL is superior to SDL. In a multicenter study, 10,000 CT slices were collected from 72 Italian (ITA) patients with low-GGO, and 80 Croatian (CRO) patients with high-GGO. Hounsfield Units (HU) were automatically adjusted to train the AI models and predict from test data, leading to four combinations-two Unseen sets: (i) train-CRO:test-ITA, (ii) train-ITA:test-CRO, and two Seen sets: (iii) train-CRO:test-CRO, (iv) train-ITA:test-ITA. COVILAS used three SDL models: PSPNet, SegNet, UNet and six HDL models: VGG-PSPNet, VGG-SegNet, VGG-UNet, ResNet-PSPNet, ResNet-SegNet, and ResNet-UNet. Two trained, blinded senior radiologists conducted ground truth annotations. Five types of performance metrics were used to validate COVLIAS 1.0-Unseen which was further benchmarked against MedSeg, an open-source web-based system. After HU adjustment for DS and JI, HDL (Unseen AI) > SDL (Unseen AI) by 4% and 5%, respectively. For CC, HDL (Unseen AI) > SDL (Unseen AI) by 6%. The COVLIAS-MedSeg difference was < 5%, meeting regulatory guidelines.Unseen AI was successfully demonstrated using automated HU adjustment. HDL was found to be superior to SDL

Pseudogene.org: a comprehensive database and comparison platform for pseudogene annotation

The Pseudogene.org knowledgebase serves as a comprehensive repository for pseudogene annotation. The definition of a pseudogene varies within the literature, resulting in significantly different approaches to the problem of identification. Consequently, it is difficult to maintain a consistent collection of pseudogenes in detail necessary for their effective use. Our database is designed to address this issue. It integrates a variety of heterogeneous resources and supports a subset structure that highlights specific groups of pseudogenes that are of interest to the research community. Tools are provided for the comparison of sets and the creation of layered set unions, enabling researchers to derive a current ‘consensus’ set of pseudogenes. Additional features include versatile search, the capacity for robust interaction with other databases, the ability to reconstruct older versions of the database (accounting for changing genome builds) and an underlying object-oriented interface designed for researchers with a minimal knowledge of programming. At the present time, the database contains more than 100 000 pseudogenes spanning 64 prokaryote and 11 eukaryote genomes, including a collection of human annotations compiled from 16 sources

De novo mutations in histone modifying genes in congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most frequent birth defect, affecting 0.8% of live births1. Many cases occur sporadically and impair reproductive fitness, suggesting a role for de novo mutations. By analysis of exome sequencing of parent-offspring trios, we compared the incidence of de novo mutations in 362 severe CHD cases and 264 controls. CHD cases showed a significant excess of protein-altering de novo mutations in genes expressed in the developing heart, with an odds ratio of 7.5 for damaging mutations. Similar odds ratios were seen across major classes of severe CHD. We found a marked excess of de novo mutations in genes involved in production, removal or reading of H3K4 methylation (H3K4me), or ubiquitination of H2BK120, which is required for H3K4 methylation2–4. There were also two de novo mutations in SMAD2; SMAD2 signaling in the embryonic left-right organizer induces demethylation of H3K27me5. H3K4me and H3K27me mark `poised' promoters and enhancers that regulate expression of key developmental genes6. These findings implicate de novo point mutations in several hundred genes that collectively contribute to ~10% of severe CHD

Reduced Diaphyseal Strength Associated with High Intracortical Vascular Porosity within Long Bones of Children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic disorder resulting in bone fragility. The mechanisms behind this fragility are not well understood. In addition to characteristic bone mass deficiencies, research suggests that bone material properties are compromised in individuals with this disorder. However, little data exists regarding bone properties beyond the microstructural scale in individuals with this disorder. Specimens were obtained from long bone diaphyses of nine children with osteogenesis imperfecta during routine osteotomy procedures. Small rectangular beams, oriented longitudinally and transversely to the diaphyseal axis, were machined from these specimens and elastic modulus, yield strength, and maximum strength were measured in three-point bending. Intracortical vascular porosity, bone volume fraction, osteocyte lacuna density, and volumetric tissue mineral density were determined by synchrotron micro-computed tomography, and relationships among these mechanical properties and structural parameters were explored. Modulus and strength were on average 64–68% lower in the transverse vs. longitudinal beams (P \u3c 0.001, linear mixed model). Vascular porosity ranged between 3 and 42% of total bone volume. Longitudinal properties were associated negatively with porosity (P ≤ 0.006, linear regressions). Mechanical properties, however, were not associated with osteocyte lacuna density or volumetric tissue mineral density (P ≥ 0.167). Bone properties and structural parameters were not associated significantly with donor age (P ≥ 0.225, linear mixed models). This study presents novel data regarding bone material strength in children with osteogenesis imperfecta. Results confirm that these properties are anisotropic. Elevated vascular porosity was observed in most specimens, and this parameter was associated with reduced bone material strength. These results offer insight toward understanding bone fragility and the role of intracortical porosity on the strength of bone tissue in children with osteogenesis imperfecta

Knowledge Graphs Evolution and Preservation -- A Technical Report from ISWS 2019

One of the grand challenges discussed during the Dagstuhl Seminar "Knowledge Graphs: New Directions for Knowledge Representation on the Semantic Web" and described in its report is that of a: "Public FAIR Knowledge Graph of Everything: We increasingly see the creation of knowledge graphs that capture information about the entirety of a class of entities. [...] This grand challenge extends this further by asking if we can create a knowledge graph of "everything" ranging from common sense concepts to location based entities. This knowledge graph should be "open to the public" in a FAIR manner democratizing this mass amount of knowledge." Although linked open data (LOD) is one knowledge graph, it is the closest realisation (and probably the only one) to a public FAIR Knowledge Graph (KG) of everything. Surely, LOD provides a unique testbed for experimenting and evaluating research hypotheses on open and FAIR KG. One of the most neglected FAIR issues about KGs is their ongoing evolution and long term preservation. We want to investigate this problem, that is to understand what preserving and supporting the evolution of KGs means and how these problems can be addressed. Clearly, the problem can be approached from different perspectives and may require the development of different approaches, including new theories, ontologies, metrics, strategies, procedures, etc. This document reports a collaborative effort performed by 9 teams of students, each guided by a senior researcher as their mentor, attending the International Semantic Web Research School (ISWS 2019). Each team provides a different perspective to the problem of knowledge graph evolution substantiated by a set of research questions as the main subject of their investigation. In addition, they provide their working definition for KG preservation and evolution