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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1267

This year, an estimated 100,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with melanoma, a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer — and even if they beat it, they’ll be at a high risk of developing melanoma again.

That might not always be the case, though, as a personalized skin cancer vaccine developed from patients’ own tumor cells has shown promise in a very small trial, involving eight melanoma survivors.

“We found evidence of everything we look for in a strong, sustained immune response,” study co-leader Patrick A. Ott said in a press release.

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Earlier this month, Airtable announced it’s now worth $11 billion after its latest funding round. The company’s “code-for-everyone-else approach allows professionals who aren’t fluent in coding languages such as Java or Python, and don’t have their desk buried deep within the stack, to play a part in rethinking and remaking the consumer and client digital experience,” reports Riley de León of CNBC. “The low-code movement has attracted an even higher level of attention as a result of the pandemic, during which organizations from hospitals to government entities and corporations have had to develop online offerings at a faster pace than ever expected and for new use cases.”

This movement is part of an increasing democratization of programming — borne of extreme necessity. At a time when digital transformation is everywhere, “relying on IT departments and professional programmers is unsustainable,” an O’Reilly report states. “We need to enable people who aren’t programmers to develop the software they need. We need to enable people to solve their own computational problems.”

Engineers from National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a robotics system they say can grip various objects, ranging from soft and delicate to bulky and heavy. Designed to be configurable, the robotic hand is touted to address the needs of sectors such as vertical farming, food assembly, and fast-moving consumer goods packaging, and with a 23% improvement in efficiency.

These industries increasingly were automating more of their operations, but currently required manual handling for some processes, according to NUS. The human hand’s natural dexterity remained necessary for these tasks.

Rave Yeow, associate professor from NUS Advanced Robotics Centre and Department of Biomedical Engineering, said: “An object’s shape, texture, weight, and size affect how we choose to grip them. This is one of the main reasons why many industries still heavily rely on human labour to package and handle delicate items.”

Cambridge scientists have identified a key signal that the fetus uses to control its supply of nutrients from the placenta, revealing a tug-of-war between genes inherited from the father and from the mother. The study, carried out in mice, could help explain why some babies grow poorly in the womb.

As the fetus grows, it needs to communicate its increasing needs for food to the mother. It receives its nourishment via blood vessels in the placenta, a specialised organ that contains cells from both baby and mother.

Between 10% and 15% of babies grow poorly in the womb, often showing reduced growth of blood vessels in the placenta. In humans, these blood vessels expand dramatically between mid and late gestation, reaching a total length of approximately 320 kilometres at term.

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A recent study published in Nutrients1 found that a patented complex of bonded arginine silicate called Nitrosigine (from Nutrition 21, based in Harrison, NY) supported cognitive health and memory. In the randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 19 young adults either consumed the arginine silicate or placebo. Participants completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and two digital cognitive assessments before consuming the supplement, then completed the same battery of tests an hour after consumption.

Results showed that those taking the supplement saw significantly improved RBANS and immediate memory scores by 11% and 27%, respectively, compared to placebo. Nitrosigine has been linked to increased nitric oxide availability, which is associated with enhanced vasodilation, blood flow, exercise performance, and mental acuity.

“The results of this study further aligned with previous findings that show how administering Nitrosigine can improve mental focus, memory, and acuity due to an increase in NO levels,” said Danielle Greenberg, PhD, FACN, vice president, scientific affairs, Nutrition21, in a press release. “Therefore, consuming products made with Nitrosigine can help those looking to get in the zone and maximize their performance during a workout, while taking a test, or when performing other tasks of a similar nature.”

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What a challenge COVID-19 has had on our global supply chains, exposing vulnerabilities in production capacity, shipping logistics and in particular last mile enablements. According to a recent report of Technavio, the last mile delivery market will grow to USD $14.96B from 2021 to 2025, with a CAGR of 15.06%. Also according to tier one market research firm, Gartner Group, by 2023, 50% of leading global enterprises will have invested in real-time transportation visibility solutions.

Last mile delivery is defined as the transportation of goods and services from a distribution hub to the final customer destination, within a reasonable time at an affordable rate and in mint condition. Supply chain focus on the last mile has significantly become top of mind given the COVID-19 global pandemic, as organizations have had to refresh/rethink their conveyance systems and develop new creative strategies to build more proficient conveyance intelligence.

In times of unprecedented challenges, especially in the past two years, companies are accelerating their investments in robotics, trade channel expansion, laser precision targeted product and supply chains, and last mile intelligence systems.

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