What are artifacts on MRI? Medical encyclopedia - artifact Artifact: the meaning of the word.

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Most modern people understand the meaning of the word “artifact” through the prism of the game world. That is, the meaning is perceived as an amazing and mystical find of humanity, which has unprecedented power or some symbolism. And older people cannot really identify him at all. They just wonder: what is this artifact?

Artifact: meaning of the word

For the first time the word was spoken in Latin. It has been established: this is a complex fusion of two fundamentals “art” and “fact”, and literally translated means "artificially made". It is impossible to name the place where the term was first used. Due to the fact that each ethnic group in ancient times had its own designation, which corresponded to the word in question. There is some speculation that the Middle East was the first to pronounce a term that vaguely resembles the sound of “artifact.” Unfortunately, it is impossible to derive a definition in such a way as to please all branches of civilization.

A little later, with the development of civilization, the word began to take on other meanings. Due to the ease of memorization and ease of expression, this word is used in almost every field of human activity. This includes not only the computer sphere:

Culture.
Archeology.
Story.
Medicine.
Programming.

The path of a word through time, a cultural artifact

The word sounds great and easily adds an epic feel to the sentence. It's worth acknowledging this. In modern culture it is quite easy to find all the meanings of the word artifact. Wikipedia offers small explanations regarding different stages of human development.

All culturologists insist that this word initially defines any material product created by man. Why? It is known that the word “fact” in ancient times meant accuracy in the immaterial world. That is, facts were the spoken words from a person’s mouth that were confirmed and recognized as true. Something similar happened with the use of our chosen word. It is generally accepted that culture is divided into only two branches:

The material world (everything that can be seen and touched).
Spiritual world (tangible only by the mind or through the soul).

However, most cultural scientists also identify a completely new branch - human relations. This all leads to the fact that absolutely any information that is present in our world has no specifics, and leads to the creation of the phenomenon of symbolism. A similar process occurred with the “artifact”. The meaning went beyond its branch and was able to absorb some other knowledge into itself. Yes, all this looks quite naive. However, no one has yet provided any refutable evidence of such a theory, including culture.

The concept of an artifact in other areas

An archaeological artifact is called a certain material object that was found as a result of excavations and is provided as the property of mankind, and in a single copy.

Programming as a science appeared relatively recently, and has a rather narrow specialization, therefore it is oversaturated with terms. And among them the word “artifact” could find an echo. It denotes a certain created element of a programmed final product that can function due to the effectiveness of this element. So to speak, the missing puzzle for perceiving the integrity of the whole picture.

In laboratory-type studies The word artifact is also present in the general dictionary of terms. Most often, artifacts are called a certain reaction resulting from intentional interference in the naturalness of ongoing processes, or an accidental reaction that resulted from unplanned actions. Sometimes it is accompanied by synonyms “miracle” or “really.” Most often this happens in biological and physico-mathematical research centers.

Let's return a little to the beginning of the article and again plunge into the gaming and cinematic world. In addition to what has already been said, a few sentences should be added.

In the world of games, the word "artifact" has always been associated with a mysterious powerful object possessing incredible power. Distinctive features were complex obstacles and quests to obtain it, a deep history and a mandatory impact on the outside world and on the person who took possession of it. It's easy to remember the famous game of the beginning of the third millennium, WarCraft. You can clearly see any artifact in it. The essence of a “gamer” artifact is that it is most often a material vessel for an intangible force. So to speak, it is the unifying link of the two main branches of culture.

However, all this “gamer” generation of artifacts originated from cinema. For the first time, people began to use the word artifact in active vocabulary thanks to cinema. It was this that gave rise to the development of this term in the computer world. All the features mentioned above, one way or another, apply to cinema.

It is difficult to imagine a good science fiction book without a well-written world, a strong and memorable protagonist, an equally charismatic villain and an important artifact, because of which, in general, further actions take place. Who decided to use this word for the first time as a term for the meaning of a certain object, possessing power and strength, it is unlikely to be installed. Nowadays, thousands of different books are written every day in the world, where you will come across this word several times. The strange thing is that many writers, and even modern people, perfectly understand the meaning of the word, but are unable to explain it at the proper level.

It’s enough just to take one famous king of the last century, “The Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien. It would seem that, according to all the canons, there is only one mysterious object in the book - the Omnipotence Ring, however, in the story we come across other objects - the staff of magicians, the sword of the King of Gondor, mithril, and so on. It would seem that they do not meet some of the criteria for “actuality”, but are still considered as such. The term artifact, the definition of which is rather vague, is changing.

For younger readers, let's give an example using the Harry Potter books. There is no main artifact in it. But they are present many minor artifacts, which are necessary only to reveal the characters and temporarily use them to achieve the goal. Invisibility cloak, magic wand, soul stone, and so on. Again, it is almost impossible to specify this term without going beyond the boundaries of literature.

artifact

Artifact (from Latin ars, artis - art, factum - made) - 1) in histological technology - artificial structures found in a histological specimen during microscopy; 2) in x-ray diagnostics - extraneous shadows on x-rays resulting from technical errors.

Histological artifacts are most often formed under the influence of fixing fluids, causing coagulation and precipitation of colloids of the cytoplasm and cell nucleus, and sometimes their dissolution and change in shape. Artifacts may occur during pouring, cutting, painting, and enclosing preparations. Artifacts are easily formed during supravital microscopy of tissue under the influence of altered composition of the environment, temperature, mechanical pressure and other factors. It is especially important to detect artifacts in ultrathin sections using electron microscopy. The complexity of producing ultrathin sections, studying them under vacuum conditions and electron bombardment create the prerequisites for the emergence of A.

Artifacts in histochemical studies are associated with post-mortem diffusion of the detected substance into structures that do not actually contain it. In histoautoradiography, A. mostly depend on the conditions of exposure and processing of the photographic emulsion combined with the histological section.

Radiographic artifacts can be systematized primarily as light areas on the radiograph and areas of more intense blackening compared to their surroundings. Morphologically, they appear as focal, linear, banded, ring-shaped, diffuse shadows and shadows of indeterminate shape. Some artifacts of apparently random origin (for example, scratches), while reducing the quality of radiographs, do not significantly interfere with their diagnostic use. Of much greater importance are those A. that are similar in appearance to the manifestations of a number of pathological processes and may therefore turn out to be a source of diagnostic errors.

Some artifacts arise already during the factory production of films. In most cases, they are easily recognized even by non-specialists. The appearance of extraneous shadows is also possible due to improper storage of X-ray films (for example, in conditions of high humidity or in the area of penetrating radiation), or careless handling of them. In this case, a so-called friction veil may appear, i.e., blackening of the film when it is developed in places of mechanical action on the photosensitive emulsion, or general veiling of the film under the influence of penetrating radiation or daylight and artificial light, which cannot always be easily taken into account on an x-ray image.

The most important from a diagnostic point of view are defects in the images that are obtained during the process of radiography itself and during photographic processing of films: extraneous shadows, for example from clothing, bandages, hair on the head, rolled into a bun or braided, some medicinal substances, etc.

Artifacts also include general or partial exposure of films, which is often a consequence of insufficiently inactive darkroom lights and malfunctioning cassettes that transmit light. During conventional x-ray photography with intensifying screens, defects present on some screens are reflected on x-ray images as shadows similar to metal fragments (which is especially important to consider in ophthalmological practice), with stones, with various structural changes in the substrate (for example, in bone fractures), etc. Sometimes extraneous shadows appear due to errors in the development, fixation and drying of films, creating a resemblance to destructive foci, areas of compaction in the bone substance or a fracture line. Some artifacts are similar to patterns of tissue calcification. The given examples do not exhaust the possibilities of the formation of extraneous shadows on radiographs. At the same time, pathological shadows should not be mistaken for A.

ARTIFACT

(lat. artefactum artificially made) a phenomenon observed during the study of an object, unusual for this object and distorting the results of the study.

Medical terms. 2012

Side lobe artifact

Incorrect object display on the screen due to echoes produced by the side lobes accompanying the ultrasonic beam.
Side lobe artifact looks like a curved line in an anechoic structure.

Meaning: These artifacts may be mistaken for echoes originating from the internal structures of cystic organs (septa, sediment).
Differentiation with a real object: Changing the sensor angle or scanning plane easily causes the artifact to disappear.

ARTIFACT(Latin artefactum artificially made) is a phenomenon observed during the study of an object, which is unusual for this object and distorts the results of the study. ARTIFACTS can arise as a result of the impact of random factors on an object, non-compliance with established rules and instructions, as well as as a result of organizational, methodological and technical errors. In these cases, ARTIFACTS are observed during histological, histochemical, bacterioscopic, bacteriological studies as a result of improper fixation and dehydration, as well as due to defects in the preparation of preparations when obtaining sections, pouring, staining, and performing histochemical reactions. In histological preparations, artifacts can be microorganisms from instruments, glasses, dyes, air and water. An artifact may be a decrease in the volume of cells, nuclei, the appearance of individual inclusions in preparations, hemolysis of blood caused by washing the tissues with water during the section. Such artifacts are observed when examining material removed from corpses, as well as during biopsy and preparation of smears (see Microscopic research methods, Histological research methods).

Artifacts can occur during autoradiography (see), electron microscopy (see), radiography (see). Thus, artifacts on X-ray photographs can be caused by defects in films, plates or intensifying screens, as well as technical errors in photo processing. Artificial shadow formations on radiographs can be mistakenly regarded as pathological conditions (fractures, inflammatory processes, etc.) or foreign bodies. Artifacts of similar origin can also be found in spectrography, various types of photography used for illustrative and research purposes.

In forensic medical practice, artifacts are encountered in the form of foreign inclusions entering objects intended for microscopic or other laboratory research (soot or particles from charred corpses), metallization of the edges of wounds from sectional instruments, when a study is carried out to identify the metal of the instrument that caused the injury, and also when toxic substances enter from preservative solutions into objects sent for forensic chemical analysis, etc. In addition, there are artifacts that are reproduced for a biased purpose: artificially induced or maintained diseases or injuries, as well as individual symptoms of diseases (see. Factitious diseases, Self-harm).

Artifacts should not include deviations from the usual picture of the development of a biological or pathological process, changes in the corpse, the course of laboratory reactions, etc., as well as the occurrence of changes that imitate various phenomena and conditions. For example, the following are not artifacts: postmortem microbial invasion of the internal organs of a corpse, simulating intravital bacteremia by pathogenic microbes; an area of post-mortem drying of the skin, simulating an intravital abrasion; rapidly occurring postmortem autolysis of pancreatic tissue, simulating intravital necrosis; formaldehyde pigment in the reticuloendothelium of the liver or spleen, deposited during the process of tissue fixation, similar to malaria pigment, etc.

Suspicion of an artifact arises when one fact does not correspond to other data obtained during research or observation. Therefore, to establish a true diagnosis (depending on the origin of the artifact), appropriate clinical laboratory or control (testing) studies aimed at excluding it should be used.

Bibliography: Boyd J. A. Autoradiography in biology and medicine, trans. from English, M., 1957, bibliogr.; Voino-Yasenetsky M.V. and Shabotinsky Yu.M. Sources of errors in morphological research, D., 1970, bibliogr.; Goldin L. S. Fundamentals of histological technology of electron microscopy, M., 1963, bibliogr.; Zavarzin A. A. and Rumyantsev A. V. Histology course, p. 48, M., 1946; Merkulov G. A. Course of pathological-histological techniques, D., 1969, bibliogr.; Roskin G.I. and Levin-s o N L.B. Microscopic technology, M., 1957, bibliogr.; Uemov A.I. Logical errors, M., 1958.

A. P. Zagryadskaya.

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What are artifacts on MRI? Medical encyclopedia - artifact Artifact: the meaning of the word.

Artifact: meaning of the word

The path of a word through time, a cultural artifact

The concept of an artifact in other areas

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what ARTEFACT is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

Side lobe artifact