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Aug 1, 2023

New genetic clues uncovered in largest study of families with multiple children with autism

Posted by in categories: genetics, health, neuroscience

UCLA Health researchers have published the largest-ever study of families with at least two children with autism, uncovering new risk genes and providing new insights into how genetics influence whether someone develops autism spectrum disorder.

The new study, published July 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides genetic evidence that language delay and dysfunction should be reconsidered as a core component of autism.

Most genetic studies of autism have focused on families with one child affected by the neurodevelopmental disorder, sometimes excluding families with multiple affected children. As a result, few studies have examined the role of rare inherited variation or its interaction with the combined effect of multiple common genetic variations that contribute to the risk of developing autism.

Aug 1, 2023

Serendipity reveals an opportunity to improve the success of chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Researchers identified a tumor protein signature that predicts chemotherapy sensitivity and favorable clinical outcomes.

Jul 31, 2023

Clever DNA tricks

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Every person starts as just one fertilized egg. By adulthood, that single cell has turned into roughly 37 trillion cells, many of which keep dividing to create the same amount of fresh human cells every few months.

But those cells have a formidable challenge. The average dividing cell must copy — perfectly — 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA, about once every 24 hours. The cell’s replication machinery does an amazing job of this, copying genetic material at a lickety-split pace of some 50 base pairs per second.

Jul 31, 2023

Complex brain cell connections in the cerebellum more common than believed

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, sustainability

The STAR party’s vision for Canada includes the research and development of self sustainable Mobile Airborne Cities; or Airborne Arcologies. Being an obviously semi-long term goal, the objective would be to at first, allocate budgeting towards research and development of components to build this project in a phased manner… and the scaling of the project as technology allows for it.

Phase I: research and development of scalable micro-prototypes.

Phase II: multiple prototype development / testing stages.

Continue reading “Complex brain cell connections in the cerebellum more common than believed” »

Jul 31, 2023

Paralyzed NY man can move and feel again — thanks to AI ‘miracle’ surgery

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

A Long Island man who was paralyzed in a diving accident has regained motion and feeling in his body after a breakthrough, machine learning-based surgery that successfully “connected a computer to his brain” through microelectrode implants.

Now, the successful case of Massapequa’s Keith Thomas, 45, is being heralded throughout the medical world as a “pioneer” case for AI-infused surgeries to treat or cure impassible illnesses like blindness, deafness, ALS, seizures, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s, experts at Manhasset’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research boast.

“This is the first time a paralyzed person is regaining movement and sensation by having their brain, body and spinal cord electronically linked together,” Chad Bouton, a professor at Feinstein’s Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, told The Post.

Jul 31, 2023

Scientists Create New Material Five Times Lighter and Four Times Stronger Than Steel

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Materials possessing both strength and lightness have the potential to enhance everything from automobiles to body armor. But usually, the two qualities are mutually exclusive. However, researchers at the University of Connecticut, along with their collaborators, have now crafted an incredibly strong yet lightweight material. Surprisingly, they achieved this using two unexpected building blocks: DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Jul 31, 2023

In Search of Future Life

Posted by in category: futurism

614 — In Search of Future Life.
Airdate: December 6, 1981
Writer and Director: Greg Goldman.

What might the world be like for our children?

Jul 31, 2023

Symptoms of Cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Cancer can cause different, such as abnormal bumps, night sweats, or unexplained weight gain or loss. Only a doctor can tell if are caused by cancer or some other problem.

Jul 31, 2023

Stanford Medicine researchers map morphing placenta

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The STAR party’s vision for Canada includes the research and development of self sustainable Mobile Airborne Cities; or Airborne Arcologies. Being an obviously semi-long term goal, the objective would be to at first, allocate budgeting towards research and development of components to build this project in a phased manner… and the scaling of the project as technology allows for it.

Phase I: research and development of scalable micro-prototypes.

Phase II: multiple prototype development / testing stages.

Continue reading “Stanford Medicine researchers map morphing placenta” »

Jul 31, 2023

Is AI up to snuff? Cardiac clinical trial points to yes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, information science, robotics/AI

There’s a lot of talk about the potential for artificial intelligence in medicine, but few researchers have shown through well-designed clinical trials that it could be a boon for doctors, health care providers and patients.

Now, researchers at Stanford Medicine have conducted one such trial; they tested an artificial intelligence algorithm used to evaluate heart function. The algorithm, they found, improves evaluations of heart function from echocardiograms — movies of the beating heart, filmed with ultrasound waves, that show how efficiently it pumps blood.

“This blinded, randomized clinical trial is, to our knowledge, one of the first to evaluate the performance of an artificial intelligence algorithm in medicine. We showed that AI can help improve accuracy and speed of echocardiogram readings,” said James Zou, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical data science and co-senior author on the study. “This is important because heart disease is the leading cause of death in the world. There are over 10 million echocardiograms done each year in the U.S., and AI has the potential to add precision to how they are interpreted.”