Lifeboat Foundation

He further mentioned that the AI tool functioned like an “extra pair of eyes,” identifying potential tumors within the video footage.

In short, the AI tool assists junior doctors during colonoscopies by analyzing video footage from the endoscope and identifying potential tumors. It aids in detecting adenomas, particularly those smaller than five millimeters (mm) in diameter.

Scientists have fused brain-like tissue with electronics to make an ‘organoid neural network’ that can recognise voices and solve a complex mathematical problem. Their invention extends neuromorphic computing – the practice of modelling computers after the human brain – to a new level by directly including brain tissue in a computer.

The system was developed by a team of researchers from Indiana University, Bloomington; the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, Cincinnati; and the University of Florida, Gainesville. Their findings were published on December 11.

In a new study published in Cancer Cell, YSM researchers at Yale Cancer Center find immunotherapy could benefit thousands of additional patients with colorectal and endometrial cancers who are not currently being offered it:

A new study shows thousands more patients diagnosed with colorectal and endometrial cancers could benefit from immunotherapy than are currently offered it. Researchers showed the importance of looking at DNA Mismatch Repair Deficiency (MMR-D) as a guiding marker for treatment decisions using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). MMR-D is associated with an increased risk of developing several types of cancer and is the most common cause of hereditary endometrial cancer.

The study, which published in Cancer Cell on December 28, compared two lab testing methods to diagnose cancers— traditional immunohistochemistry (IHC) (a lab technique that uses antibodies to detect antigens in tissues) — and next-generation sequencing (NGS) — a new technology used for DNA sequencing that can detect specific patterns of mutations. The researchers discovered that NGS offers a more accurate assessment of MMR status.

Continue reading “Research Alert: More Colorectal and Endometrial Cancers Could Be Treated with Immunotherapy, Study Shows” »

Voyager Therapeutics entered a strategic collaboration and capsid license agreement with Novartis to advance potential gene therapies for Huntington’s disease and spinal muscular atrophy, providing Novartis a target-exclusive license to access its TRACER capsids and other intellectual property.

Novartis obtains target-exclusive access to Voyager’s TRACER capsids related to Huntington’s disease and spinal muscular atrophy.

The world’s first partial heart transplant has achieved what researchers have spent more than a year hoping for—functioning valves and arteries that grow along with the young patient, as hypothesized by the pioneering team behind the procedure at Duke Health.

The procedure was performed in the spring of 2022, in an infant who needed heart valve replacement. The previous standard of care—using valves that were non-living—would not grow along with the child, requiring frequent replacement, entailing surgical procedures that carry a 50% mortality rate.

A study led by Duke Health physicians, appearing online Jan. 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that the new manner of valve procurement used during the partial heart transplant led to two well-functioning valves and arteries that are growing in concert with the child as if they were native vessels.

2024 is expected to be the year when drone delivery finally takes flight.

What’s different about this year?

Well, most regulatory hurdles have been cleared, opening the door for retailers, medical centers, and logistics platforms to start offering drone delivery.

Continue reading “2024 is Expected to Be the Year of Drone Delivery” »

In a recent study in mice, researchers have experimented with a potential vaccine that might help lower levels of bad cholesterol.

Just like a doctor adjusts the dose of a medication to the patient’s needs, the expression of therapeutic genes, those modified in a person to treat or cure a disease via gene therapy, also needs to be maintained within a therapeutic window. Staying within the therapeutic window is important as too much of the protein could be toxic, and too little could result in a small or no therapeutic effect.

Although the principle of therapeutic window has been known for a long time, there has been no strategy to implement it safely, limiting the potential applications of gene therapy in the clinic.

In their current study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine report on a technology to effectively regulate gene expression, a promising solution to fill this gap in gene therapy clinical applications. A Research Briefing on the breakthrough has been published in the same journal issue.

Although artificial skins can facilitate the healing of damaged skin, the restoration of tactile functions remain a challenge. Here, Kang et al. report an artificial skin with an implantable tactile sensor that can simultaneously replace the tactile function by nerve stimulation and promote skin regeneration.