Some considerations on the estimation of the value associated to a clinical act

The assignment of a value to any economic system, especially in healthcare management, is the topic of this article. The assignment of a value to a clinical act is a very complex process, as it joins the complexity of estimating value in an economic system with the estimation of the value of well-being. An interdisciplinary approach joining disciplines such as Philosophy, Business, Psychology and Physics is used to analyse the assignment of a value; and it is obtained that it is necessary the integrated use of three concepts; viz., Truth, Good, and Beauty. It is also obtained that the concept of Beauty has the biggest difficulty in being computationally represented, and that to achieve such representation it is necessary the use of Statistical Philosophy, a here-proposed branch of the Philosophy of Information. Moreover, it is obtained that value is made of three types of value; viz., Truth-value, Good-value, and Beauty-value. Finally, it is made an assessment of the difficulty in choosing the appropriate necessary projection of the 3-vector value into a worthiness-scalar, a projection that is necessary because the choice of a best option, e.g. a best clinical act, always requires that the option is quantified by a scalar. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.NFL thanks Eduarda Sousa for support. Thanks to Sandra Lori for the drawings. All the funding was provided by FCT (Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia): NFL was funded by a fellowship of project MEDPERSYST-POCI01-0145-FEDER-016428 and by the INESC-ID multiannual funding from the PIDDAC program (UID/CEC/50021/2020); and the work of both JN and VA has been supported within the project scope of UID/CEC/00319/2020

The Characterization of Cell Line Crl-2335 as a Basal-Like Breast Carcinoma Model

Basal-like breast cancer has been reported to be the most aggressive and deadly carcinoma sub-type. Patients diagnosed with this subtype have a less than 50% five-year survival. In addition, many studies have reported that this sub-type is more prevalent in specific ethnic groups and is believed to be a key factor that drives certain ethnic disparities in mortality. In order to effectively study this sub-type and determine unique gene expression and biochemical pathways which sustain this cancer’s growth, we sought to identify human breast cancer cell lines that represent a model for the basal-like subtype. Here, we report our findings which indicate the African American cell line CRL-2335 is a true representative of basal-like breast carcinoma

Employees balance and stability as key points in organizational performance

System analyses deal with interrelationships between different variables that keep the system in balance. In many analysis of complex thinking, a system is viewed as a complex unit in which the ‘whole’ is not reduced to the ‘sum’ of its parts; the system becomes an ambiguous item because it consists of several entities that interact with unforeseen results or, in other words, it is situated at a transdisciplinary level, it is impossible for an area to have a complete reading of its complexity. It was also mentioned that the concept of the open system best describes complexity by stating that ‘the laws of the organization are not equilibrium, but an imbalance that is restored or compensated for by stabilized dynamics’. This idea originated from the field of thermodynamics and the second law, in which the imbalance that it maintains allows the system for an apparent balance. This fragile steady state has something of a paradox, since the structures remain the same, but their constituents are changeable. The concept of open system undoes the door to a theory of evolution that can only derive from the interactions between a system and its ecosystem. Within this systemic approach, the focus of the analysis takes into account the ambiguity, multidisciplinary and complexity associated with system adjustment, i.e. it is intended to qualify an employee job based on their experience and knowledge as a measure of their impact on the organization performance

Quantum field theory representation in quantum computation

Recently, from the deduction of the result MIP* = RE in quantum computation, it was obtained that Quantum Field Theory (QFT) allows for different forms of computation in quantum computers that Quantum Mechanics (QM) does not allow. Thus, there must exist forms of computation in the QFT representation of the Universe that the QM representation does not allow. We explain in a simple manner how the QFT representation allows for different forms of computation by describing the differences between QFT and QM, and obtain why the future of quantum computation will require the use of QFT.This work has been supported by “FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Some considerations on quantum computing at sub-atomic scales and its impact in the future of moore’s law

The contemporary development of Quantum Computers has opened new possibilities for computation improvements, but the limits of Moore’s law validity are starting to show. We analyze here the possibility that miniaturization will continue to be the source of Moore’s law validity in the near future, and our conclusion is that miniaturization is no longer a reliable answer for the future development of computer science, but instead we suggest that lateralization is the correct approach. By lateralization, we mean the use of biology as the correct format for the implementation of ubiquitous computerized systems, a format that might in many circumstances eschew miniaturization as an overly expensive useless advantage whereas in other cases miniaturization might play a key role. Thus, the future of computer science is not towards a miniaturization that goes from the atom-scale (its present application scale) towards the nucleus-scale, but rather in developing more integrated circuits at the micrometer to nanometer scale, so as to better mimic and interact with biological systems. We analyze some ”almost sci-fi” approaches to the development of better computer systems near the Bekenstein bound limit, and unsurprisingly they fail to have any realistic feasibility. Then, we use the difference between the classical vs. quantum version of the Hammerstein-Clifford theorem to explain why biological systems eschewed quantum computation to represent the world but have chosen classical computation instead. Finally, we analyze examples of recent work which indicate future possibilities of integration between computers and biological systems. As a corollary of that choice by the biological systems, we propose that the predicted lateralization-driven evolution in computer science will not be based in quantum computers, but rather in classical computers.NFL thanks Eduarda Sousa for support. NFL also thanks the conversations with Esteban R. Martinez, Leonardo G. Sciarra, and Miguel Pais-Vieira. All the funding was provided by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia): NFL was funded by a fellowship of project MEDPERSYST-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016428 and by the INESC-ID multiannual funding from the PIDDAC program (UID/CEC/50021/2019); AHB was funded by UID/FIS/04564/2016; and the work of both JN and VA has been supported within the project scope of UID/CEC/00319/2019

Entropy and organizational performance

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of the workers’ behavior in terms of their emotions and feelings in system’s performance, i.e., one is looking at issues concerned with Organizational Sustainability. Indeed, one’s aim is to define a process that motivates and inspires managers and personnel to act upon the limit, i.e., to achieve the organizational goals through an effective and efficient implementation of operational and behavioral strategies. The focus will be on the importance of specific psychosocial variables that may affect collective pro-organizational attitudes. Data that is increasing exponentially, and somehow being out of control, i.e., the question is to know the correct value of the information that may be behind these numbers.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019

Targeting host nucleotide biosynthesis with resveratrol inhibits emtricitabine-resistant HIV-1

ObjectiveThe M184V mutation in the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase gene is frequent (>50%) in patients, both in resource-rich and resource-limited countries, conferring high-level resistance (>100-fold) to the cytosine analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors lamivudine and emtricitabine. The reverse transcriptase enzyme of M184V HIV-1 mutants has reduced processivity, resulting in reduced viral replication, particularly at low deoxynucleotide (dNTP) levels. We hypothesized that lowering intracellular dNTPs with resveratrol, a dietary supplement, could interfere with replication of M184V HIV-1 mutants.Design and methodsEvaluation of the activity of resveratrol on infection of primary peripheral blood lymphocytes by wild-type and M184V mutant HIV-1. We assayed both molecular clones and primary isolates of HIV-1, containing M184V alone and in combination with other reverse transcriptase mutations. Viral infection was quantified by p24 ELISA and by quantitative real-time PCR analysis. Cell viability was measured by colorimetric 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays.ResultsIn virus-infectivity assays, resveratrol did not inhibit replication of wild-type NL4-3 (resveratrol EC50 > 10 μmol/l), but it inhibited NL4-3 184V mutant (resveratrol EC50 = 5.8 μmol/l). These results were confirmed by real-time PCR analysis of early and late products of reverse transcription. Resveratrol inhibited molecular clones and primary isolates carrying M184V, alone or in combination with other reverse transcriptase mutations (resveratrol EC50 values ranging from 2.5 to 7.7 μmol/l).ConclusionsResveratrol inhibits HIV-1 strains carrying the M184V mutation in reverse transcriptase. We propose resveratrol as a potential adjuvant in HIV-1 therapy, particularly in resource-limited settings, to help control emtricitabine-resistant M184V HIV-1 mutants