A Pseudociência do Design Inteligente

A Clinical & Biomedical Research publicou uma carta muito interessante em sua última edição. O autor apresenta a teoria do "design inteligente” (DI), definindo-a como “uma teoria científica que defende que certas características do universo e dos seres vivos são mais bem explicadas por uma causa inteligente ao invés de processo não direcionado, como a seleção natural”1

Man vs. machine : predicting hospital bed demand

Background: The recent literature reports promising results from using intelligent systems to support decision making in healthcare operations. Using these systems may lead to improved diagnostic and treatment protocols and to predict hospital bed demand. Predicting hospital bed demand in emergency department (ED) attendances could help resource allocation and reduce pressure on busy hospitals. However, there is still limited knowledge on whether intelligent systems can operate as fully autonomous, user-independent systems. Objective: Compare the performance of a computer-based algorithm and humans in predicting hospital bed demand (admissions and discharges) based on the initial SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) records of the ED. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study that compared the performance of humans and machines in predicting hospital bed demand from an ED. It considered electronic medical records (EMR) of 9030 patients (230 used as a testing set, and hence evaluated both by humans and by an algorithm, and 8800 used as a training set exclusively by the algorithm) who visited the ED of a tertiary care and teaching public hospital located in Porto Alegre, Brazil between January and December 2014. The machine role was played by Support Vector Machine Classifier and the human prediction was performed by four ED physicians. Predictions were compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: All graders achieved similar accuracies. The accuracy by AUROC for the testing set was 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.77–0.87], 0.80 (95% CI: 0.75–0.85), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.71–0.81) for novice physicians, machine, experienced physicians, respectively. Processing time per test EMR was 0.00812±0.0009 seconds. In contrast, novice physicians took on average 156.80 seconds per test EMR, while experienced physicians took on average 56.40 seconds per test EMR. Conclusions: Our data indicated that the system could predict patient admission or discharge states with 80% accuracy, which was similar the performance of novice and experienced physicians. These results suggested that the algorithm could operate as an autonomous and independent system to complete this task

Modelos animais de declínio cognitivo e uso de transplantes neurais de células-mãe como terapia

There are few animal models of cognitive decline that could be considered as prominent as the cholinergic lesion model of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with aging with accentuated progressive cognitive impairment. Its multiple complex sequential and interactive neural pathways may lead to the understanding that a single agent intervention might be insufficient to impact the course of this disease. The current pharmacological treatment is palliative and, although it may slow down the disease’s progression, it still cannot offer cure. The combination of drugs and antioxidant substances has been investigated, nevertheless there are few studies demonstrating optimal and consistent results based on this combination. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to highlight cell-based therapies as prospective treatment of peripheral and central nervous system disordersExisten pocos modelos animales de degeneración cognitiva que podrían ser considerados tan importantes como el modelo de lesión colinérgica de la enfermedad de Alzheimer. La enfermedad de Alzheimer es una patología neurodegenerativa asociada con el envejecimiento y con degeneración cognitiva acentuada y progresiva. Sus complejas y múltiples vías neurales secuenciales pueden conducir a la comprensión de que las intervenciones de agente único pueden ser insuficiente para impactar el curso de esta enfermedad. El tratamiento farmacológico actual es paliativo y, aunque pueda retardar el progreso de la enfermedad, no es capaz de ofrecer una cura. La combinación de drogas y sustancias antioxidantes han sido investigadas, sin embargo, existen pocos estudios que demuestran resultados consistentes basados en esta presunción. Así, el objetivo de este artículo fue destacar las terapias basadas en la reposición celular como potencial tratamiento para enfermedades del sistema nervioso periférico y central.Existem poucos modelos animais de declínio cognitivo que poderiam ser considerados tão importantes como o modelo de lesão colinérgica da doença de Alzheimer. A doença de Alzheimer é uma patologia neurodegenerativa associada com o envelhecimento e com acentuada e progressiva disfunção cognitiva. Suas complexas e múltiplas vias neurais sequenciais e pode conduzir à compreensão de que as intervenções de agente único pode ser insuficiente para impactar o curso desta doença. O tratamento farmacológico atual é paliativo e, embora possa retardar a progressão da doença, não é capaz de oferecer a cura. A combinação de drogas e substâncias antioxidantes tem sido investigada, no entanto, existem poucos estudos que demonstram resultados consistentes baseados nesta presunção. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo foi destacar as terapias baseadas na reposição celular como potencial tratamento para doenças do sistema nervoso periférico e centra

Distração no campo aberto induz à redução da aprendizagem e déficit de memória

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Distração no campo aberto induz à redução da aprendizagem e déficit de memória

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