The Paradox of Pain Experiences

There are few things in our lives we dislike or hate so strongly as pain. On the other hand, the symptoms of the patients suffered from so-called congenital analgesia teach us that if we are deprived of the ability to feel pain, our lives would be unbelievably miserable and disastrous. In this way, if we try to understand the meaning and the value of pain, it seems we immediately find a paradox. The paradoxical character of pain is reflected in philosophical discussions between subjectivist’s and objectivist’s view of pain. In this paper, I try to show that the seemingly paradoxical character emerges because we are obsessed by groundless prejudice that the concept of pain must have one definite single meaning and that if phenomena of pain can be understood as multidimensional, the various characteristics of pain can be interpreted as various aspects of multi-dimensional pain experiences.There are few things in our lives we dislike or hate so strongly as pain. On the other hand, the symptoms of the patients suffered from so-called congenital analgesia teach us that if we are deprived of the ability to feel pain, our lives would be unbelievably miserable and disastrous. In this way, if we try to understand the meaning and the value of pain, it seems we immediately find a paradox. The paradoxical character of pain is reflected in philosophical discussions between subjectivist’s and objectivist’s view of pain. In this paper, I try to show that the seemingly paradoxical character emerges because we are obsessed by groundless prejudice that the concept of pain must have one definite single meaning and that if phenomena of pain can be understood as multidimensional, the various characteristics of pain can be interpreted as various aspects of multi-dimensional pain experiences.Hay pocas cosas en nuestras vidas que nos desagraden u odiemos tan fuertemente como el dolor. Por otro lado, los síntomas de los pacientes que padecen la llamada analgesia congénita nos enseñan que, si nos privamos de la capacidad de sentir dolor, nuestras vidas serían increíblemente miserables y desastrosas. De esta manera, si tratamos de comprender el significado y el valor del dolor parece que encontramos inmediatamente una paradoja. El carácter paradójico del dolor se refleja en discusiones filosóficas entre la visión del dolor subjetivista y objetivista. En este trabajo, trato de mostrar que el carácter aparentemente paradójico surge porque estamos obsesionados por el prejuicio infundado de que el concepto de dolor debe tener un único significado definido; y que, si los fenómenos de dolor pueden entenderse como multidimensionales, las diversas características del dolor pueden ser interpretadas como varios aspectos de expe-riencias de dolor multidimensionales.Palab

Transfer Learning Through Policy Abstraction Using Learning Vector Quantization

Reinforcement learning (RL) enables an agent to find a solution to a problem by interacting with the environment. However, the learning process always starts from scratch and possibly takes a long time. Here, knowledge transfer between tasks is considered. In this paper, we argue that an abstraction can improve the transfer learning. Modified learning vector quantization (LVQ) that can manipulate its network weights is proposed to perform an abstraction, an adaptation and a precaution. At first, the abstraction is performed by extracting an abstract policy out of a learned policy which is acquired through conventional RL method, Q-learning. The abstract policy then is used in a new task as prior information. Here, the adaptation or policy learning as well as new task's abstract policy generating are performed using only a single operation. Simulation results show that the representation of acquired abstract policy is interpretable, that the modified LVQ successfully performs policy learning as well as generates abstract policy and that the application of generalized common abstract policy produces better results by more effectively guiding the agent when learning a new task

Effect of thyroid statuses on sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) gene expression in the extrathyroidal tissues in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Iodide that is essential for thyroid hormone synthesis is actively transported into the thyroid follicular cells via sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) protein in vertebrates. It is well known that NIS expression in thyroid is regulated by the thyroid statuses mainly through thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Although <it>NIS </it>mRNA expressions in extrathyroidal tissues have been qualitatively reported, their regulation by thyroid statuses has not been well clarified.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Male ICR mice aged four weeks were assigned into three groups (control, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid). Hypothyroid group of mice were treated with 0.02% methimazole in drinking water and hyperthyroid group of mice received intraperitoneal injection (4 μg _L-T₄twice a week) for four weeks. <it>NIS </it>mRNA expression levels in the tissues were evaluated using Northern blot hybridization and quantitative real-time RTPCR (qPCR). Additionally, end-point RTPCR for the thyroid follicular cell-characteristic genes (TSH receptor, <it>TSHR</it>; thyroid transcription factor-1, <it>TTF1</it>; and paired box gene 8, <it>Pax8</it>) was carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By Northern blot analysis, <it>NIS </it>mRNA was detected in thyroid and stomach. In addition to these organs, qPCR revealed the expression also in the submandibular gland, colon, testis, and lung. Expression of <it>NIS </it>mRNA in thyroid was significantly increased in hypothyroid and decreased in hyperthyroid group. Trends of <it>NIS </it>mRNA expression in extrathyroidal tissues were not in line with that in the thyroid gland in different thyroid statuses. Only in lung, <it>NIS </it>mRNA was regulated by thyroid statuses but in opposite way compared to the manner in the thyroid gland. There were no extrathyroidal tissues that expressed all three characteristic genes of thyroid follicular cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>NIS </it>mRNA expression in the thyroid gland was up-regulated in hypothyroid mice and was down-regulated in hyperthyroid mice, suggesting that <it>NIS </it>mRNA in the thyroid gland is regulated by thyroid statuses. In contrast, <it>NIS </it>mRNA expression in extrathyroidal tissues was not altered by thyroid statuses although it was widely expressed. Lack of responsiveness of <it>NIS </it>mRNA expressions in extrathyroidal tissues reemphasizes additional functions of NIS protein in extrathyroidal tissues other than iodide trapping.</p