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‘Machine learning’ may contribute to new advances in plastic surgery

Nice; however, I see also 3D printing along with machine learning being part of any cosmetic procedures and surgeries.


With an ever-increasing volume of electronic data being collected by the healthcare system, researchers are exploring the use of machine learning—a subfield of artificial intelligence—to improve medical care and patient outcomes. An overview of machine learning and some of the ways it could contribute to advancements in plastic surgery are presented in a special topic article in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

“Machine learning has the potential to become a powerful tool in plastic surgery, allowing surgeons to harness complex clinical data to help guide key clinical decision-making,” write Dr. Jonathan Kanevsky of McGill University, Montreal, and colleagues. They highlight some key areas in which machine learning and “Big Data” could contribute to progress in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Machine Learning Shows Promise in Plastic Surgery Research and Practice

Machine learning analyzes historical data to develop algorithms capable of knowledge acquisition. Dr. Kanevsky and coauthors write, “Machine learning has already been applied, with great success, to process large amounts of complex data in medicine and surgery.” Projects with healthcare applications include the IBM Watson Health cognitive computing system and the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

There’s a new sheriff in town in Silicon Valley — the FDA

Lookout Silicon Valley — FDA is here. I do suggest tech companies working on technologies that enhances or alters any bio living things to ensure that your certifications, processes are well defined and govern, and in some cases the engineers, etc. will need some level of a medical background and certifications as well. Why many have stated that future engineers and technologists will need a bio background through education, etc.


Helmy Eltoukhy’s company is on a roll. The start-up is a leading contender in the crowded field of firms working on “liquid biopsy” tests that aim to be able to tell in a single blood draw whether a person has cancer.

Venture investors are backing Guardant Health to the tune of nearly $200 million. Leading medical centers are testing its technology. And earlier this month, it presented promising data on how well its screening tool, which works by scanning for tiny DNA fragments shed by dying tumor cells, worked on an initial group of 10,000 patients with late-stage cancers.

Just one thing is holding the company back: Guardant Health has yet to get approval from Food and Drug Administration.

Long in the tooth, or just a redhead?

The results pointed to MC1R, known previously as a gene for red hair and freckles.

Scientists say they have made a leap in knowing why some people retain their youthful looks while others age badly.

The new study is the first time that “a gene has been found that explains, in part, why some people look older and others younger for their age”, Manfred Kayser, a professor of forensic molecular genetics at Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands and a senior author on the study, said in a statement.

Researchers Identify Potential HIV Vaccine Possibility With ‘Looped’ Antibodies

Scientists are now one step closer to neutralizing HIV.

In a study conducted at Vanderbilt University and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers isolated antibodies with a loop-like structure that binds tightly to HIV and disables it. Unlike traditional vaccines, which jump-start an immune response by exposing the patient to a pathogen, this newly discovered method could work even in people who have not previously been exposed to by the virus.

Using computer modeling, the researchers identified the amino acid sequences that bound most tightly to HIV and re-engineered them in an optimal sequence that simulated vaccination.

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