ABSTRACTPurpose:To assess whether retinal and central nervous system (CNS) comorbidities are risk factors for complications following robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP).Materials and Methods:A retrospective review of our RALP database identified 1868 patients who underwent RALP by a single surgeon between December 10, 2003-March 14, 2014. We hypothesized that patients with preexisting retinal or CNS comorbidities were at a greater risk of suffering retinal and CNS complications following RALP. Perioperative complications and risk of recurrence were graded using the Clavien and D'Amico systems, respectively.Results:40 (2.1%) patients had retinal or CNS-related comorbidities, of which 15 had a history of retinal surgery and 24 had a history of cerebrovascular accident, aneurysm and/or neurosurgery. One additional patient had a history of both retinal and CNS events.Patients with retinal or CNS comorbidities were significantly older, had elevated PSA levels and CCI (Charlson Comorbidity Index) scores than the control group. Blood loss, length of stay, surgical duration, BMI, diagnostic Gleason score and T-stage were not statistically different between groups.No retinal or CNS complications occurred in either group. The distribution of patients between D'Amico risk categories was not statistically different between the groups. There was also no difference in the incidence of total complications between the groups.Conclusions:RALP-associated retinal and CNS complications are rare. While our RALP database is large, the cohort of patients with retinal or CNS-related comorbidities was relatively small. Our dataset suggests retinal and CNS pathology presents no greater risk of suffering from perioperative complications following RALP.

Este artículo ofrece una visión no técnica de los problemas de la consciencia y mi tratamiento de ellos. Distingo entre los problemas fáciles y el problema fuerte de la consciencia, y argumento que el problema fuerte elude los métodos de explicación convencionales. Sostengo que se requiere una nueva forma de explicación no reductiva y planteo algunos movimientos hacia una teoría detallada no reductiva.

This paper gives a nontechnical overview of the problems of consciousness and my approach to them. In it I distinguish between the easy problems and the hard problem of consciousness, and argue that the hard problem eludes conventional methods of explanation. I argue that we need a new form of nonreductive explanation, and make some moves toward a detailed nonreductive theory.

El artículo intenta defender la tesis según la cual el escenario que se describe en The Matrix no corresponde a ninguna hipótesis escéptica. Antes bien, las experiencias que se viven en el interior de la matrix pueden ser tan reales como las que se dan por fuera de ella. Asimismo, y aunque el mundo de la matrix es completamente simulado, las experiencias que se viven en su interior no tienen por qué ser completamente falsas e incluso pueden ser verdaderas. Para desarrollar estas ideas, se exponen varias hipótesis que ayudan a clarificar el problema. De igual forma, se responden las objeciones que se han planteado contra estas tesis.

This paper tries to defend the thesis that the scenario described in The Matrix does not correspond to any skeptical hypothesis. Quite the contrary, the experiences that one has inside the matrix can be as real as those one has in the external world. Furthermore, though the matrix' world is totally simulated, the experiences one has inside it do not have to be entirely false, they may be even true. To argue for these ideas, several hypotheses are examined. Finally, the objections raised against these theses are answered.