Lifeboat Foundation

Cardiac alterations in structure and function, namely, the left ventricle, have been intensely studied for decades, in association with aging. In recent times, there has been keen interest in describing myocardial changes that accompany skeletal muscle changes in older adults. Initially described as a cardio-sarcopenia syndrome where alterations in myocardial structure were observed particularly among older adults with skeletal muscle sarcopenia, investigations into this syndrome have spurred a fresh level of interest in the cardiac-skeletal muscle axis. The purpose of this perspective is to summarize the background for this “syndrome of concern,” review the body of work generated by various human aging cohorts, and to explore future directions and opportunities for understanding this syndrome.

The traditional view of cardiovascular aging is that of age-related adaptations in the heart characterized by increased left ventricular (LV) mass (LVM) and LV hypertrophy (LVH), which are often secondary to increased systolic blood pressure mainly mediated by arterial stiffening (1, 2). These changes accumulate throughout the lifetime of an individual, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as heart failure (HF) and coronary artery disease. The incidence of CVD increases with age, rising from ∼78% among adults aged 60–79 years to ∼90% in those aged above 80 years. CVD is the leading cause of disease burden in the world, with global prevalence doubling from 271 million to 523 million between 1990 and 2019. Incident CVD mortality increased from 12.1 million to 18.6 million in the same period , and accounted for 32% of all deaths. With rapidly aging national populations, these numbers are expected to increase.

The researchers discovered a mutation in the thrombospondin-1 (THBS1) gene in three ethnically and geographically diverse families with a history of childhood glaucoma using advanced genome-sequencing technology. The researchers then confirmed their findings in a mouse model that had the genetic mutation and developed glaucoma symptoms due to a previously unknown disease mechanism.

ALSO READ: Check out these easy eye care tips to keep your eyes healthy as you age

This increase in pressure not only damages the optic nerve but can also affect other structures in a child’s eye like the cornea. Children with childhood glaucoma typically require surgeries as early as the first three to six months of life, followed by several more operations throughout their childhood.

Machine learning has increased considerably in several areas due to its performance in recent years. Thanks to modern computers’ computing capacity and graphics cards, deep learning has made it possible to achieve results that sometimes exceed those experts give. However, its use in sensitive areas such as medicine or finance causes confidentiality issues. A formal privacy guarantee called differential privacy (DP) prohibits adversaries with access to machine learning models from obtaining data on specific training points. The most common training approach for differential privacy in image recognition is differential private stochastic gradient descent (DPSGD). However, the deployment of differential privacy is limited by the performance deterioration caused by current DPSGD systems.

The existing methods for differentially private deep learning still need to operate better since that, in the stochastic gradient descent process, these techniques allow all model updates regardless of whether the corresponding objective function values get better. In some model updates, adding noise to the gradients might worsen the objective function values, especially when convergence is imminent. The resulting models get worse as a result of these effects. The optimization target degrades, and the privacy budget is wasted. To address this problem, a research team from Shanghai University in China suggests a simulated annealing-based differentially private stochastic gradient descent (SA-DPSGD) approach that accepts a candidate update with a probability that depends on the quality of the update and the number of iterations.

Concretely, the model update is accepted if it gives a better objective function value. Otherwise, the update is rejected with a certain probability. To prevent settling into a local optimum, the authors suggest using probabilistic rejections rather than deterministic ones and limiting the number of continuous rejections. Therefore, the simulated annealing algorithm is used to select model updates with probability during the stochastic gradient descent process.

Elon Musk is trying to help the paralyzed to move again, through electrodes in the cerebral cortex.

Neuralink, the strange and somewhat vague brainchild of Elon Musk, held an event Wednesday that the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter called a “show and tell.” And show and tell it did — as a monkey welcomed the audience by typing a message through a brain-computer interface.

Neuralink’s product records action potentials of neurons in the brain. This is done by placing an electrode close enough to the synapse of two neurons in the brain and taking a recording of its electrical impulse.

Researchers have created a deep learning method that can predict which patients might be eligible for life-saving medication that can prevent both diseases.

A new artificial intelligence model has been created that uses deep learning to predict the 10-year risk of death from a heart attack or stroke from a single X-ray. The results from the study were presented on Nov. 29 at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting.

AI used to predict patterns of heart attacks and strokes

Continue reading “AI and one X-ray can potentially predict the risk of a heart attack or stroke” »

Using the Versius surgical robot permitted a keyhole, or minimal access surgical approach, in an otherwise open surgery.

A robot at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (GRH), United Kingdom, saved the life of a 61-year-old patient by removing a cancerous tumor from their throat, in what can be called a first in the country.

“To have been given a second chance to see my grandchildren, my children, and my wife has meant so much to me. The team at the GRH saved my life, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for doing so,” Nugent told Gloucestershire Live in an interview.

Continue reading “In a first, robot removes a 2.3-inch cancerous tumor from a 61-year-old’s throat” »

Steven Parton [00:00:37] Hello everyone. My name is Steven Parton and you are listening to the feedback loop on Singularity Radio. This week our guest is business and technology reporter Peter Ward. Earlier this year, Peter released his book The Price of Immortality The Race to Live Forever, where he investigates the many movements and organizations that are seeking to increase the human lifespan from the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida to some of the biggest tech giants in Silicon Valley. In this episode, we explore Peter’s findings, which takes us on a tour from cryogenics to mind uploading from supplements to gene editing and much more. Along the way, we discuss the details of how one might actually achieve immortality, talking about senescent cells and telomeres. Discussing whether it’s better to live healthy than to live long. We also discuss the scams and failures that seem to dominate the longevity space, as well as the efforts that seem the most promising. And now, since we’re on the topic of discussing how precious life is, are waste no more of your precious time? So everyone, please welcome to the feedback loop. Peter Ward. Well then, Peter, thanks for joining me. I think the best place to start is in April of this year. You released a book called The Price of Immortality The Race to Live Forever and where I love to start with anyone who’s written a book is just hearing about your motivations for the book. Why did you decide that this was a topic worth exploring?

Dreaming about Immortality has a long history, almost as long as the failed quests to achieve it. And during all these years and years, the solutions for achieving immortality can fall in several categories. The first is to take some kind of “magic pill” – be it the fountain of youth, the elixir of life, the holy grail, till modern medicine of genetic engineering. After the magic “pills” proved to be a failure, the second attempt was through more creative endeavours, such as building a monastery, a temple, making a sculpture or painting, till nowadays when we talk about digital immortality and I guess soon about virtual immortality. And, of course, there were always the “party-spoilers”, the ones asking: why to be Immortal?

Humanity has changed in many ways, but the hope of the dream of Immortality remained and generation after generation, trying to find it in different ways or forms. So, keep with us as we travel alongside the deepest human dream, to see all (the failed) trials.

A new mechanism that enables bacteria to form resistance to antibiotics has been discovered in a recent study conducted by researchers in Perth, Australia. In a process currently undetectable using traditional laboratory testing methods, the team observed the bacteria group A Streptococcus – the cause of strep throat – absorbing nutrients from the host organism that, in turn, enable them to bypass antibiotic treatment.

For bacteria to grow and multiply, they produce folates. Bacteriostatic antibiotics work to stop the bacteria’s ability to produce these folates, thus disabling their ability to multiply. The group A Streptococcus bacteria observed in the study, however, were seen to be using folates from the host when their own folate production was inhibited, causing a resistance to treatment from bacteriostatic antibiotics and likely making any infection worse.

The human body cannot become resistant to antimicrobial treatments. Rather, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to bacteria or fungi’s resistance to antibiotics or antifungals, respectively. AMR is thought to pose a serious and rapidly growing threat to society.