In a pilot-test application of the neural network, test case diagnoses made by the ART-2 neural network agreed with those made independently by nurses. The main conclusion is that the ART-2 neural network is promising as a decision-making aid. It can handle probabilistic and ill-defined data through a process of pattern recognition without programming rules. A disadvantage is that the ART-2 neural network requires "training" by the nurse using at least one example to define a diagnosis. In practice, however, this requirement does not affect its usefulness. Moreover, providing the ART-2 neural network with several training examples enables it to identify new patterns that are "close" to the textbook case but vary in one or more characteristics.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗

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Oxygen transport and oxygen consumption in shock.

A review of data from patients in shock, or with very low cardiac output, shows that oxygen consumption is maintained above 90 ml . min-1 . m-2, even at the lowest values of arterial oxygen transport. CAIN [3] has found a limiting value of oxygen delivery in anesthetized, hypoxic dogs of about 10 ml . kg-1 . min-1, below which oxygen consumption falls dramatically. No comparable value has been established for man in shock.

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