COVID-19 pneumonia and the masquerades

During the COVID-19 pandemic, chest CT is frequently used to help with the diagnosis. The classic CT patterns of COVID-19 pneumonia are well-published and recognised among radiologists. However, when there are pre-existing conditions particularly in the elderly population that could mask or result in similar patterns of disease, then the diagnosis is more difficult. This imaging essay highlights the commonly encountered situations including patients with heart failure, other possible infections particularly in the immunodeficient, and when there is trauma to the thorax. We illustrate imaging clues available to the radiologist to either make the diagnosis or at least reduce the differential diagnosi

Сенсибилизация к аллергенам клещей домашней пыли у детей

ДЫХАТЕЛЬНАЯ ГИПЕРЧУВСТВИТЕЛЬНОСТЬАЛЛЕРГОЗЫ РЕСПИРАТОРНЫЕГИПЕРСЕНСИБИЛИЗАЦИЯ РЕСПИРАТОРНАЯРЕСПИРАТОРНАЯ АЛЛЕРГИЯАЛЛЕРГЕНЫКЛЕЩИ ПЫЛЕВЫЕ ДОМАШНИЕDERMATOPHAGOIDES PTERONYSSINUSDERMATOPHAGOIDES FARINAEСЕНСИБИЛИЗАЦИЯ БИОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯСЕНСИБИЛИЗАЦИЯ К АЛЛЕРГЕНАМДЕТИОБЗОР ЛИТЕРАТУРЫАллергические заболевания представляют серьезную проблему современной медицины. Сенсибилизация к ингаляционным аллергенам является одним из ключевых факторов формирования респираторных аллергозов. Среди аэроаллергенов важное значение играют аллергенные компоненты домашней пыли – клещи Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus и Dermatophagoides farinae, составляющие до 90% акарофауны жилых помещений. В формировании сенсибилизации к клещам домашней пыли также предполагается роль индивидуальных источников аллергенов. Сенсибилизация к мажорным компонентам аллергена клещей домашней пыли ассоциируется с риском развития бронхиальной астмы, к минорным (Der p 10) – риском развития перекрестных реакций с тропомиозином других беспозвоночных, тропомиозином человека. Аллергены клещей домашней пыли (Der p 2 и Der f 2) могут быть ответственны за симптомы оральной клещевой анафилаксии, а также способствовать развитию сенсибилизации к бактериальным антигенам Staphylococcus aureus и Escherichia coli. В 1 части статьи изложены биология и источники клеща домашней пыли. Представлена классификация аллергенов, пути сенсибилизации и распространенность сенсибилизации к клещу домашней пыли у детей.Allergic diseases are a serious problem in modern medicine. Sensitization to inhalation allergens is one of the key factors in the formation of respiratory allergoses. Among aeroallergens, allergenic components of domestic dust play an important role – mites Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae, that make up to 90% of the acarofauna of residential premises. In the formation of sensitization to domestic dust mites, the role of individual sources of allergens is also considered. Sensitization to the major components of the domestic dust mite allergens is associated with the risk of developing bronchial asthma, to minor ones (Der p 10) – the risk of cross-reactions with tropomyosin of other invertebrates, human tropomyosin. Domestic dust mite allergens (Der p 2 and Der f 2) may be responsible for the symptoms of oral tick-born anaphylaxis as well as for the development of sensitization to bacterial antigens of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Part 1 of this article outlines biology and sources of the domestic dust mite. The classification of allergens, sensitization pathways and the prevalence of sensitization to domestic dust mite in children are presented

The theory of brain-sign: a physical alternative to consciousness

Consciousness and the mind are prescientific concepts that begin with Greek theorizing. They suppose human rationality and reasoning placed in the human head by (in Christian terms) God, who structured the universe he created with the same kind of underlying characteristics. Descartes' development of the model included scientific objectivity by placing the mind outside the physical universe. In its failure under evidential scrutiny and without physical explanation, this model is destined for terminal decline. Instead, a genuine biological and physical function for the brain phenomenon can be developed. This is the theory of brain-sign. It accepts the causality of the brain as its physical characteristics, already under scientific scrutiny. What is needed is a new neurophysiological mapping language that specifies the relation of the structure and operation of the brain to organismic action in the world. Still what is lacking is an account of how neurophysiologies in different organisms communicate on dynamic, i.e. unpredictable, tasks. It is this evolved capacity that has emerged as brain-sign. Thus rather than mentality being an inner epistemological parallel world suddenly appearing in the head, brain-sign, as the neural sign of the causal status of the brain, facilitates the communicative medium of otherwise isolated organisms. The biogenesis of the phenomenon emerges directly from the account of the physical brain, and functions as a monistic feature of organisms in the physical world. This new paradigm offers disciplinary compatibility, and genuine development in behavioral and brain sciences

Über eine Klasse polynomialer Scharen selbstadjungierter Operatoren im Hilbertraum

HEK293A cells expressing either mouse MOG (mMOG) or rat MOG (rMOG) C terminally tagged with EGFP. (DOCX 2792 kb

Neurological update: MOG antibody disease

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody disease (MOG-AD) is now recognised as a nosological entity with specific clinical and paraclinical features to aid early diagnosis. Although no age group is exempt, median age of onset is within the fourth decade of life, with optic neuritis being the most frequent presenting phenotype. Disease course can be either monophasic or relapsing, with subsequent relapses most commonly involving the optic nerve. Residual disability develops in 50–80% of patients, with transverse myelitis at onset being the most significant predictor of long-term outcome. Recent advances in MOG antibody testing offer improved sensitivity and specificity. To avoid misdiagnosis, MOG antibody testing should be undertaken in selected cases presenting clinical and paraclinical features that are felt to be in keeping with MOG-AD, using a validated cell-based assay. MRI characteristics can help in differentiating MOG-AD from other neuroinflammatory disorders, including multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. Cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal bands are uncommon. Randomised control trials are limited, but observational open-label experience suggests a role for high-dose steroids and plasma exchange in the treatment of acute attacks, and for immunosuppressive therapies, such as steroids, oral immunosuppressants and rituximab as maintenance treatment

MORAL: Aligning AI with Human Norms through Multi-Objective Reinforced Active Learning

Inferring reward functions from demonstrations and pairwise preferences are auspicious approaches for aligning Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents with human intentions. However, state-of-the art methods typically focus on learning a single reward model, thus rendering it difficult to trade off different reward functions from multiple experts. We propose Multi-Objective Reinforced Active Learning (MORAL), a novel method for combining diverse demonstrations of social norms into a Pareto-optimal policy. Through maintaining a distribution over scalarization weights, our approach is able to interactively tune a deep RL agent towards a variety of preferences, while eliminating the need for computing multiple policies. We empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of MORAL in two scenarios, which model a delivery and an emergency task that require an agent to act in the presence of normative conflicts. Overall, we consider our research a step towards multi-objective RL with learned rewards, bridging the gap between current reward learning and machine ethics literature

MORAL: Aligning AI with Human Norms through Multi-Objective Reinforced Active Learning

Inferring reward functions from demonstrations and pairwise preferences are auspicious approaches for aligning Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents with human intentions. However, state-of-the art methods typically focus on learning a single reward model, thus rendering it difficult to trade off different reward functions from multiple experts. We propose Multi-Objective Reinforced Active Learning (MORAL), a novel method for combining diverse demonstrations of social norms into a Pareto-optimal policy. Through maintaining a distribution over scalarization weights, our approach is able to interactively tune a deep RL agent towards a variety of preferences, while eliminating the need for computing multiple policies. We empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of MORAL in two scenarios, which model a delivery and an emergency task that require an agent to act in the presence of normative conflicts. Overall, we consider our research a step towards multi-objective RL with learned rewards, bridging the gap between current reward learning and machine ethics literature.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Human-Robot InteractionInteractive Intelligenc

Applying object-oriented bayesian networks for smart diagnosis and health monitoring at both component and factory level

To support health monitoring and life-long capability management for self-sustaining manufacturing systems, next generation machine components are expected to embed sensory capabilities combined with advanced ICT. The combination of sensory capabilities and the use of Object-Oriented Bayesian Networks (OOBNs) supports self-diagnosis at the component level enabling them to become self-aware and support self-healing production systems. This paper describes the use of a modular component-based modelling approach enabled by the use of OOBNs for health monitoring and root-cause analysis of manufacturing systems using a welding controller produced by Harms & Wende (HWH) as an example. The model is integrated into the control software of the welding controller and deployed as a SelComp using the SelSus Architecture for diagnosis and predictive maintenance. The SelComp provides diagnosis and condition monitoring capabilities at the component level while the SelSus Architecture provides these capabilities at a wider system level. The results show significant potential of the solution developed