Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 3,010

The things we need to know for the 2016 robotic experience — robot clusters, manufacturing & logistics, food & healthcare, A3 Mexico Coming Soon and robotics integration.

Bold predictions for Collaboration, Connectivity and Convergence rang in 2015. One industry insider even called them prescient. Looking back a year later, we see the five-year forecast materializing faster than expected.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) is more than a buzzword. With drones taking to the skies and autonomous robots navigating our warehouses, local eateries, hotels, hospitals, and stores, and soon our roadways – the differences between industrial, collaborative, and service robots continue to blur. No longer are robots reserved for multinational conglomerates or the rich eccentric with a sweet tooth for high-tech toys. SMEs and your average homeowner can now join the party. Sensors, software, and hardware are getting smarter and cheaper. We’re democratizing robotics for the masses.

It’s taken longer than some had hoped. But we’re approaching the tipping point for many automation technologies. We’re envisioning a world where robots will help the elderly and infirm with everyday tasks, so they can live independently longer. We’re moving closer to Asimov’s robots and to the “mobile, sensate robot” Engelberger anticipated. It’s the paradigm shift foretold by visionaries past and present.

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Further progress with telomeres by Maria Blasco which clearly demonstrates the link between telomeres and aging and why they are a primary “clock”.

“These findings suggest that it is the ability of different species to maintain telomeres rather than average telomere length per se that may be determinant of species longevity”

So if we maintain telomeres (either directly or by repairing the cause of that damage) as many biologically immortal creatures do could we expect to see life extension? So far in animals tested that answer is yes! Its not the only thing that needs to be addressed to combat aging but it looks like an important one.

Read the latest article version by Christian Bär, Maria A. Blasco, at F1000Research.

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Creative way to treat Cataracts.

What affects 20 million people, robs the global economy of billions of dollars and can be fixed with a five-minute procedure?

The answer is cataract blindness. The disease, which begins with clouding of the eyes and can lead to loss of vision without treatment, will probably afflict 12 million more people by 2020, as a shortage of skilled doctors limits access to care in developing nations, according to the Rand Corporation.

Jim Ueltschi wants to change that. Through his nonprofit HelpMeSee, he wants to train 30,000 people for a procedure to remove the impairment using a virtual-reality simulator that replicates the human eye and feel of live surgery. Restoring vision to the “avoidably blind,” as the afflicted are often described, could inject $517 billion into the world’s poor economies over a decade at a cost of $128 billion, according to reports by PricewaterhouseCoopers commissioned by the Fred Hollows Foundation.

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“According to many industry observers, we are today on the cusp of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Developments in previously disjointed fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and genetics and biotechnology are all building on and amplifying one another…”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) published an analysis today on the technological and sociological drivers of employment.

The report, titled The Future of Jobs, validates the accelerating impact of technology on global employment trends, and also highlights serious concerns that job growth in certain industries is still very much outpaced by large scale declines in other industries.

The report surveyed senior executives and chief human resources officers of various companies “representing more than 13 million employees across 9 broad industry sectors in 15 major developed and emerging economies and regional economic areas.”

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People with a family history of some inheritable diseases like cystic fibrosis can now be tested to see if they carry the genes for the condition. If neither parent has the disease, but both carry the corresponding gene or genes, the odds of having a child with the condition are higher.

Cambridge diagnostics company Good Start Genetics has partnered with Helix, a startup in California, to bring its genetic tests to a bigger market.

People with a family history of some inheritable diseases like cystic fibrosis can now be tested to see if they carry the genes for the condition. If neither parent has the disease, but both carry the corresponding gene or genes, the odds of having a child with the condition are higher.

Good Start is among the companies that specializes in such “carrier testing” and sells tests for 23 diseases, including cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy.

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Can you say “amazing” — brain tumor removed without surgery.

The Neurosurgery wing of the Local Apollo hospital here successfully conducted a rare, modern at the same time sensitive method of removal of a brain tumor tissue for diagnosis sending a small needle deep in to the brain without opening the skull and anesthesia. This sophisticated and critical process known as ‘Stereotactic Biopsy was conducted on a 50 year old woman Thalari Chinnammayi, without any complications and with hardly two days of hospitalization. Claiming such Biopsy application as the first of its kind in Coastal Andhra region, Dr M V Kiran Kumar senior consultant Neuro surgeon of Apollo hospital, said it would involve less expenditure and almost risk free and not warrant a repeated biopsy. Presenting the patient before the press persons here today, he said, she was suffering from chronic headache for the past one month and during clinical examination it was found she was having small tumor in the brain that too in a very deep lesion.‘ The tumor in size of 1.5x 2cms was located in the left side of the brain at a place called as Caudate Nucleus. A small piece of brain tissue was removed by performing stereotactic biopsy and during examination it was diagnosed as grade-3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma (cancerous growth). She was referred to Oncologist for treatment either by chemo therapy or Radiation he added. Dr C Suryaprakasarao Medical director of the hospital said that the Neurology department was strengthened by acquiring modern sophisticated equipment besides appointing Dr Kamaraju as a Neuro physician. I. V.V Ramana hospital chief administrator said that they were going to introduce the ‘Deep brain stimulation therapy utilising the expertise of Dr Kiran Kumar. UNI XR/DP KVV AK1935.

– (UNI) — C-1–1-DL0415-554045.Xml.

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The technique, which also has near-term implications for growing organ-like tissues on a chip, was developed by researchers at MIT and is unveiled in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Growing organs on demand, using derived from patients themselves, could eliminate the lengthy wait that people in need of a transplant are often forced to endure before one becomes available.

It could also reduce the risk of a patient’s immune system rejecting the transplant, since the tissue would be grown from the patient’s own cells, according to Ron Weiss, professor of biological engineering at MIT, who led the research.

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