Breast cancer screening guidelines recommend women should start getting a mammogram every other year beginning at age 40.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 781
Artificial intelligence is becoming more common in many areas of our society. One area that we may start to see more of it is in the medical community, including when it comes to the management of chronic pain. Researchers recently put artificial intelligence to the test in helping people with managing their chronic pain, and the results turned up a promising outlook for those who may have difficulty accessing a therapist.
Cognitive pain therapy intervention can play an important role in helping people who suffer from chronic pain. Our thoughts regarding pain and what we are experiencing can influence the severity of pain that we experience and how well we manage through it. Having access to a therapist who can assist chronic pain patients with cognitive pain therapy can be a challenge for some people. This leads to people not receiving the therapy they could benefit from or not finishing treatment altogether.
Kristalyn Gallagher, DO, Kevin Chen, MD, and Shawn Gomez, EngScD, in the UNC School of Medicine have developed an AI model that can predict whether or not cancerous tissue has been fully removed from the body during breast cancer surgery.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools have received a lot of attention recently, with the majority of discussions focusing on proper use. However, this technology has a wide range of practical applications, from predicting natural disasters to addressing racial inequalities and now, assisting in cancer surgery.
A new clinical and research partnership between the UNC Department of Surgery, the Joint UNC-NCSU Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has created an AI model that can predict whether or not cancerous tissue has been fully removed from the body during breast cancer surgery. Their findings were published in Annals of Surgical Oncology.
Summary: Pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) has astoundingly synthesized the design of a functional walking robot in a matter of seconds, illustrating a rapid-fire evolution in stark contrast to nature’s billion-year journey.
This AI, operational on a modest personal computer, crafts entirely innovative structures from scratch, distinguishing it from other AI models reliant on colossal data and high-power computing. The robot, emerging from a straightforward “design a walker” prompt, evolved from an immobile block to a bizarre, porously-holed, three-legged entity, capable of slow, steady locomotion.
Representing more than mere mechanical achievement, this AI-designed organism may mark a paradigm shift, offering a novel, unconstrained perspective on design, innovation, and potential applications in fields ranging from search-and-rescue to medical nanotechnology.
The investigators carried out animal trials with the engineered AsCas12f system, partnering it with other genes and administering it to live mice. The encouraging results indicated that engineered AsCas12f has the potential to be used for human gene therapies, such as treating hemophilia.
The team discovered numerous potentially effective combinations for engineering an improved AsCas12f gene-editing system, and acknowledged the possibility that the selected mutations may not have been the most optimal of all the available mixes. As a next step, computational modeling or machine learning could be used to sift through the combinations and predict which might offer even better improvements.
And as the authors noted, by applying the same approach to other Cas enzymes, it may be possible to generate efficient genome-editing enzymes capable of targeting a wide range of genes. “The compact size of AsCas12f offers an attractive feature for AAV-deliverable gRNA and partner genes, such as base editors and epigenome modifiers. Therefore, our newly engineered AsCas12f systems could be a promising genome-editing platform … Moreover, with suitable adaptations to the evaluation system, this approach can be applied to enzymes beyond the scope of genome editing.”
Australian researchers have developed a molecular-sized, more efficient version of a widely used electronic sensor, in a breakthrough that could bring widespread benefits.
Piezoresistors are commonly used to detect vibrations in electronics and automobiles, such as in smartphones for counting steps, and for airbag deployment in cars. They are also used in medical devices such as implantable pressure sensors, as well as in aviation and space travel.
Breakthrough in Piezoresistor Technology.
Aging is a major risk factor for most chronic conditions, evidence shows, yet much of current research focuses on addressing specific diseases. The new translational geroscience initiative at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) seeks to change that approach by studying the effects of aging on various ailments.
“Yale School of Medicine has a long legacy in studying aging, but with this new initiative we are bolstering our ability to delineate basic mechanisms of healthy and accelerated aging,” said Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of the Yale School of Medicine and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine.
The mechanisms underlying the aging process are often also driving the development and progression of chronic conditions, explains Thomas Gill, MD, Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and professor of epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, and of investigative medicine at YSM, who leads the Yale Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.
Small and precise: These are the ideal characteristics for CRISPR systems, the Nobel-prize winning technology used to edit nucleic acids like RNA
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule similar to DNA that is essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. Both are nucleic acids, but unlike DNA, RNA is single-stranded. An RNA strand has a backbone made of alternating sugar (ribose) and phosphate groups. Attached to each sugar is one of four bases—adenine (A), uracil (U), cytosine ©, or guanine (G). Different types of RNA exist in the cell: messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and transfer RNA (tRNA).
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A recent study based on real-world community patient data confirms the effectiveness of the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE), developed by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology in 2013. The PCE is used to estimate a person’s 10-year risk of developing clogged arteries, also known as atherosclerosis, and guide heart attack and stroke prevention efforts. Study findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The new study highlights to patients and clinicians the continued reliability and effectiveness of the PCE as a tool for assessing cardiovascular risk, regardless of statin use to lower cholesterol.
The PCE serves as a shared decision-making tool for a clinician and patient to evaluate their current status in preventing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The calculator considers input in the categories of gender, age, race, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, treatment for high blood pressure, diabetes status, and smoking status.
Advances in imaging technologies are giving physicians unprecedented insights into disease states, but fragmented and siloed information technology systems make it difficult to provide the personalized, coordinated care that patients expect.
In the field of medical imaging, health care providers began replacing radiographic films with digital images stored in a picture and archiving communication system (PACS) in the 1980s. As this wave of digitization progressed, individual departments—ranging from cardiology to pathology to nuclear medicine, orthopedics, and beyond—began acquiring their own, distinct IT solutions.