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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1678

Feb 3, 2020

New quantum switch turns metals into insulators

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, quantum physics

Most modern electronic devices rely on tiny, finely-tuned electrical currents to process and store information. These currents dictate how fast our computers run, how regularly our pacemakers tick and how securely our money is stored in the bank.

In a study published in Nature Physics, researchers at the University of British Columbia have demonstrated an entirely new way to precisely control such electrical currents by leveraging the interaction between an electron’s spin (which is the quantum it inherently carries) and its orbital rotation around the nucleus.

“We have found a new way to switch the electrical conduction in materials from on to off,” said lead author Berend Zwartsenberg, a Ph.D. student at UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (SBQMI). “Not only does this exciting result extend our understanding of how electrical conduction works, it will help us further explore known properties such as conductivity, magnetism and superconductivity, and discover new ones that could be important for quantum computing, data storage and energy applications.”

Feb 3, 2020

This exoskeleton will obey your brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI

Roboticists at the California Institute of Technology launched an initiative called RoAMS, which uses the latest research in robotic walking to create a new kind of medical exoskeleton. With the ability to move dynamically, using neurocontrol interfaces, these exoskeletons allow users to balance and walk without the crutches. Learn more in the latest IEEE Spectrum article! https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8946313 #RoAMS #exoskeletons


Bipedal robots have long struggled to walk as humans do-balancing on two legs and moving with that almost-but-not-quite falling forward motion that most of us have mastered by the time we’re a year or two old. It’s taken decades of work, but robots are starting to get comfortable with walking, putting them in a position to help people in need.

Feb 3, 2020

Dr. Michael Fossel, President of Telocyte

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, bitcoin, life extension, neuroscience

He remarks that we are at Kittyhawk as far as life extension goes. Most folks, including the Wright brothers, did not see a widespread use for aircraft at the time. Today in life extension the scientists working on it really do know what they are chasing.


My mission is to drastically improve your life by helping you break bad habits, build and keep new healthy habits to make you the best version of yourself.

Continue reading “Dr. Michael Fossel, President of Telocyte” »

Feb 3, 2020

Waon therapy improves the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

We developed a Waon therapy (soothing warm therapy) and have previously reported that repeated Waon therapy improves hemodynamics, peripheral vascular function, arrhythmias, and clinical symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Waon therapy on the prognosis of CHF patients.

We studied 129 patients with CHF in NYHA functional class III or IV who were admitted to our hospital between January 1999 and March 2001. In the Waon therapy group, 64 patients were treated with a far infrared-ray dry sauna at 60 °C for 15 min and then kept on bed rest with a blanket for 30 min. The patients were treated daily for 5 days during admission, and then at least twice a week after discharge. In the control group, 65 patients, matched for age, gender, and NYHA functional class, were treated with traditional CHF therapy. The follow-up time was scheduled for 5 years.

Recent, complete follow-up data on each patient were obtained. The overall survival rate was 84.5% (Kaplan–Meier estimate). Twelve patients died in the control group and 8 patients died in the Waon therapy group at 60 months of follow-up. Cardiac events due to heart failure or cardiac death occurred in 68.7% of the control group but only 31.3% of the Waon therapy group (P < 0.01) at 60 months of follow-up.

Feb 3, 2020

A reboot for chronic fatigue syndrome research

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Circa 2018


Research into this debilitating disease has a rocky past. Now scientists may finally be finding their footing.

Feb 3, 2020

The scent of a rose improves learning during sleep

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education, health, neuroscience

Fragrance helps learning even during sleep!


Effortless learning during sleep is the dream of many people. The supportive effect of smells on learning success when presented both during learning and sleep was first proven in an extensive sleep laboratory study. Researchers at the University of Freiburg—Medical Center, the Freiburg Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) and the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg have now shown that this effect can be also achieved very easily outside the lab. For the study, pupils in two school classes learned English vocabulary—with and without scent sticks during the learning period and also at night. The students remembered the vocabulary much better with a scent. The study was published in the Nature Group’s Open Access journal Scientific Reports on 27 January 2020.

“We showed that the supportive effect of fragrances works very reliably in and can be used in a targeted way,” said study leader PD Dr. Jürgen Kornmeier, head of the Perception and Cognition Research Group at the Freiburg-based IGPP and scientist at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Freiburg—Medical Center in Germany.

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Feb 3, 2020

AI-formulated medicine to be tested on humans for the first time

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, information science, robotics/AI

The drug, known as DSP-1181, was created by using algorithms to sift through potential compounds, checking them against a huge database of parameters, including a patient’s genetic factors. Speaking to the BBC, Exscientia chief executive Professor Andrew Hopkins described the trials as a “key milestone in drug discovery” and noted that there are “billions” of decisions needed to find the right molecules for a drug, making their eventual creation a “huge decision.” With AI, however, “the beauty of the algorithm is that they are agnostic, so can be applied to any disease.”

We’ve already seen multiple examples of AI being used to diagnose illness and analyze patient data, so using it to engineer drug treatment is an obvious progression of its place in medicine. But the AI-created drugs do pose some pertinent questions. Will patients be comfortable taking medication designed by a machine? How will these drugs differ from those developed by humans alone? Who will make the rules for the use of AI in drug research? Hopkins and his team hope that these and myriad other questions will be explored in the trials, which will begin in March.

Feb 3, 2020

Magnetic Thread in Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

This magnetically steerable thread could one day be used to clear blockages in your blood vessels.

Feb 3, 2020

Why Naked Mole Rats Don’t Get Cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Circa 2013 o.o! This could allow for a cancer cure.


Hint: What makes their skin elastic helps them fight tumors.

Feb 3, 2020

The tiger genome and comparative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Circa 2013


Tigers and their close relatives (Panthera) are some of the world’s most endangered species. Here we report the de novo assembly of an Amur tiger whole-genome sequence as well as the genomic sequences of a white Bengal tiger, African lion, white African lion and snow leopard. Through comparative genetic analyses of these genomes, we find genetic signatures that may reflect molecular adaptations consistent with the big cats’ hypercarnivorous diet and muscle strength. We report a snow leopard-specific genetic determinant in EGLN1 (Met39Lys39), which is likely to be associated with adaptation to high altitude. We also detect a TYR 260GA mutation likely responsible for the white lion coat colour. Tiger and cat genomes show similar repeat composition and an appreciably conserved synteny. Genomic data from the five big cats provide an invaluable resource for resolving easily identifiable phenotypes evident in very close, but distinct, species.