Lifeboat Foundation

The results of a clinical trial into a new malaria vaccine candidate (RH5.1/Matrix-MTM) show it is well-tolerated and offers effective protection against the blood-stage of the disease—the first inoculation to do so.

Malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites, is a leading cause of death in children under five in many parts of Africa. Blood-stage malaria —when the parasite infects red blood cells —causes symptoms of the disease like fever and chills, and can lead to severe, life-threatening complications such as anemia and organ failure.

The study has been run by scientists at the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN) at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Burkina Faso, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the U.K. and the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the U.S., with support from other partners including the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd, Novavax and ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies ApS.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have demonstrated that the brain’s ability to learn certain skills can be significantly enhanced if both the brain and nervous system are primed by carefully-calibrated, precisely-timed electrical and magnetic stimulations. This new research has the potential to open entirely new perspectives in rehabilitation and possibly elite sports.

Scientists meticulously calculate the process. First, electricity is delivered to a nerve in the forearm of a test subject. Milliseconds later, magnetic stimulation is applied to the motor area of their brain using a coil placed on their head. The immediate effect is visible as small, involuntary twitches in the subject’s hand. Ten seconds later, the process is repeated.

While this may evoke images of Dr. Frankenstein at work, the reality is that of pioneering research into the brain’s capacity to learn that could unlock new understandings of brain function and provide new avenues for motor training and rehabilitation. The young, healthy test subjects reportedly felt almost nothing during the process, but displayed enhanced benefits from their motor training session thereafter.

Human fingerprints are detailed, unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity. Could the same concept be used to help identify cancer? A new study by researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona reveals different types of cancer have unique molecular “fingerprints” that are detectable in the early stages of the disease and can be picked up with near-perfect accuracy by small, portable scanners in a few hours. The discovery lays the groundwork for creating new, noninvasive diagnostic tests that detect different types of cancer faster and earlier than currently possible.

The findings are published in the journal Molecular Cell in an article entitled “Epitranscriptomic rRNA fingerprinting reveals tissue-of-origin and tumor-specific signatures.”

“Our ribosomes are not all the same. They are specialized in different tissues and carry unique signatures that reflect what’s happening inside our bodies,” explained ICREA research professor Eva Novoa, PhD, lead author of the study and researcher at the CRG. “These subtle differences can tell us a lot about health and disease.”

PillBot’s thrusters and high-res cameras make remote stomach diagnostics a reality—revolutionizing gastroenterology.

Endiatx’s swallowable camera uses pumpjet thrusters for remote stomach exams, replacing invasive procedures and advancing telemedicine.

Continue reading “Pillbot: Swallowable robot with thrusters performs endoscopy at home” »

Anyone who has operated a 3D printer before, especially those new to using these specialized tools, has likely had problems with the print bed. The bed might not always be the correct temperature leading to problems with adhesion of the print, it could be uncalibrated or dirty or cause any number of other issues that ultimately lead to a failed print. Most of us work these problems out through trial and error and eventually get settled in, but this novel 3D printer instead removes the bed itself and prints on whatever surface happens to be nearby.

The printer is the product of [Daniel Campos Zamora] at the University of Washington and is called MobiPrint. It uses a fairly standard, commercially available 3D printer head but attaches it to the base of a modified robotic vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner is modified with open-source software that allows it to map its environment without the need for the manufacturer’s cloud services, which in turn lets the 3D printer print on whichever surface the robot finds in its travels. The goal isn’t necessarily to eliminate printer bed problems; a robot with this capability could have many more applications in the realm of accessibility or even, in the future, printing while on the move.

Continue reading “3D Printer Eliminates The Printer Bed” »

Originally published on Towards AI.

In its most basic form, Bayesian Inference is just a technique for summarizing statistical inference which states how likely an hypothesis is given any new evidence. The method comes from Bayes’ Theorem, which provides a way to calculate the probability that an event will happen or has happened, given any prior knowledge of conditions (from which an event may not happen):

Here’s a somewhat rough rendering of Bayes’ Theorem:

Assuming dark matter exists, its interactions with ordinary matter are so subtle that even the most sensitive instruments cannot detect them. In a new study, Northwestern University physicists now introduce a highly sensitive new tool, which amplifies incredibly faint signals by 1,000 times—a 50-fold improvement over what was previously possible.

Called an atom interferometer, the incredibly precise tool manipulates atoms with light to measure exceptionally tiny forces. But, unlike other atom interferometers, which are limited by the imperfections in the light itself, the new tool self-corrects for these imperfections to reach record-breaking levels of precision.

By boosting imperceptible signals to perceptible levels, the technological advance could help scientists who are hunting for ultra-weak forces emitted from a variety of evasive phenomena, including dark matter, dark energy and gravitational waves in unexplored frequency ranges.

A quantum experiment revealed two observers can experience different, coexisting realities.

Our understanding of reality is often shaped by biases—our senses, cultures, and knowledge influence how we see the world. But even science, often regarded as a path to objective truth, may not always offer a single, consistent version of reality. A recent experiment testing a 1961 thought experiment by Nobel Prize winner Eugen Wigner highlights this issue, showing that two versions of reality can coexist in the quantum world.

Published in Nature Communications, a new study led by the University of Minnesota Medical School and Duke University found that a DNA sequencing test for advanced prostate cancer patients can distinguish between patients with poor and favorable prognoses.

The new blood-based test —called AR-ctDETECT—is designed to detect and analyze small fragments of tumor-derived DNA in the blood of certain patients with advanced, metastatic prostate cancer.

In this new study, the AR-ctDETECT test was used to analyze DNA from more than 770 blood samples from a phase 3 clinical trial of advanced prostate cancer patients. The test identified circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in 59% of patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Patients with detectable circulating tumor DNA had significantly worse overall survival compared to those without. These results demonstrate the potential of the AR-ctDETECT test to provide key genetic information to tailor treatments based on similar characteristics among patients.