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From the data, the GTEx team could identify the relationship between specific genes and a type of regulatory DNA called expression quantitative trait loci, or eQTL. At least one eQTL regulates almost every human gene, and each eQTL can regulate more than one gene, influencing expression, GTEx member and human geneticist Kristin Ardlie of the Broad Institute tells Science.

Another major takeaway from the analyses was that sex affected gene expression in almost all of the tissue types, from heart to lung to brain cells. “The vast majority of biology is shared by males and females,” yet the gene expression differences are vast and might explain differences in disease progression, GTEx study coauthor Barbara Stranger of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine tells Science. “In the future, this knowledge may contribute to personalized medicine, where we consider biological sex as one of the relevant components of an individual’s characteristics,” she says in a statement issued by the Centre for Genome Regulation in Barcelona, where some of the researchers who participated in the GTEx project work.

Another of the studies bolsters the association between telomere length, ancestry, and aging. Telomere length is typically measured in blood cells; GTEx researchers examined it in 23 different tissue types and found blood is indeed a good proxy for overall length in other tissues. The team also showed that, as previously reported, shorter telomeres were associated with aging and longer ones were found in people of African ancestry. But not all earlier results held; the authors didn’t see a pattern of longer telomeres in females or constantly shorter telomeres across the tissues of smokers as previous studies had.

Continue reading “New Map Charts Genetic Expression Across Tissue Types, Sexes” »

Volumetric Bioprinting

Recreating human body parts using a 3D printer. This is possible in the Netherlands with the new bioprinter developed by Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht. This printer can be used to make models of organs or bones, amongst other things. These printed models can be made up of living cells on which medication can be tested, for instance.

Conventional 3D printers work by stacking plastic layers on top of each other. This build-up of layers creates a three-dimensional figure. There are already countless possibilities with these standard 3D printers. Science has been looking for years at how this technique can be applied across different areas.

Continue reading “Ultra-fast 3D bioprinter makes body parts in a flash” »

Researchers at the Samsung AI Center in Moscow (Russia) have recently presented interesting work called Living portraits: they made Mona Lisa and other subjects of photos and art alive using video of real people. They presented a framework for meta-learning of adversarial generative models called “Few-Shot Adversarial Learning”.

You can read more about details in the original paper.

Here we review this great implementation of the algorithm in PyTorch. The author of this implementation is Vincent Thévenin — research worker in De Vinci Innovation Center.

The launch window opens on Oct. 22.

Virgin Galactic will fly to space again next month, if all goes according to plan.

September 14, 2020 — The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology to aid in image interpretation tasks is evolving, but many of the old factors and concepts from the computer-aided detection (CAD) era still remain, according to a Sunday talk at the Conference on Machine Intelligence in Medical Imaging (C-MIMI).

A lot has changed as the new era of AI has emerged, such as faster computers, larger image datasets, and more advanced algorithms — including deep learning. Another thing that’s changed is the realization of additional reasons and means to incorporate AI into clinical practice, according to Maryellen Giger, PhD, of the University of Chicago. What’s more, AI is also being developed for a broader range of clinical questions, more imaging modalities, and more diseases, she said.

At the same time, many of the issues are the same as those faced in the era of CAD. There are the same clinical tasks of detection, diagnosis, and response assessment, as well as the same concern of “garbage in, garbage out,” she said. What’s more, there’s the same potential for off-label use of the software, and the same methods for statistical evaluations.

“It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place, including even its nose,” and a preliminary analysis reveals it lived 22,000 to 39,500 years ago… See More.

In a statement issued by the university, researcher Lena Grigorieva emphasized that “this is the first and only find of its kind — a whole bear carcass with soft tissues.”

“It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place, including even its nose,” Grigorieva said. “This find is of great importance for the whole world.”

Continue reading “‘Completely preserved’ Ice Age cave bear found in Arctic Russia” »

SEEING THE STARS AS KITTY CAT SEES THEM. In addition to “naked eye Astronomy” and astronomy with a telescope, there will eventually be something which could be called, “kitty cat astronomy.” Cats have something like 6x the rod cells as human eyes do, but far less cone cells, meaning they can see very faint objects, but lack the human ability to see intricate colors and detail. Cats do not have better vision than humans, but better night vision. Humans have better vision for the things they have evolved for, such as reading books and working on machines during the day. If the human pupil were a bit less than an inch wide, we could theoretically see as brightly as a cat sees at night. Orion Telescope Company has actually produced a purely optical wide angle “binocular-google” that boosts human BRIGHTNESS vision by four times. With new flat lens optics, capable both of extremely short focal lengths as well as off-axis focusing, such a system could eventually be fitted into a pair of eyeglasses. The trick is getting all that aperture into an exit pupil under 7 mm wide, the width of the human pupil at maximum, in dark settings. Otherwise, that extra light is going to waste. Flat lens systems can be designed with ultra low focal ratios, such as F1 or F2, meaning that this would be possible. A pair of eyeglasses could incorporate an under-one-inch optical system, if it were thin enough. Note that it would not be the same as a simple pair of glasses, but an actual telescopic system, collapsed down into a very thin package—with magnification 1x, and brightness intensification 6x or 10x or whatever.

Moreover, since flat lens optics can just as easily create off-axis focal planes (not down the center of the objective lens as with traditional optics), such “binocular-googles” could also be made arbitrarily large. This is because the space between the eyes of about 1.5 inches complicates the size of diameters for the objective lenses. This is why binoculars have to reroute the images through mirrors or prisms, to fit into eyepieces that are the same distance apart as your eyes. However, with flat off-axis lenses, there could be a straight simple line directly to your eyes. (The focal point, instead of being perpendicular to the center of the lenses, could be designed to hit near the edge.) With moderately larger googles we could even see as well as an OWL, or even better. All of this is without even taking into account night-vision technologies which could be added. These are purely optical systems, with no power requirements and so on. When the latter function is added, note that the idea of having lights shining brightly throughout the night will become unnecessary. You could turn off almost all of the night lights in New York City, and everyone would be able to see just fine. Maybe your grandchildren will ask you, “Grampa, how did people see the stars a long time ago, if they had all those bright lights shining in their face?”

https://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-how-cats-see-the…ple%20need.

Continue reading “How cats see the world compared to humans” »

Electricity and magnetism are closely related: Power lines generate a magnetic field, rotating magnets in a generator produce electricity. However, the phenomenon is much more complicated: electrical and magnetic properties of certain materials are also coupled with each other. Electrical properties of some crystals can be influenced by magnetic fields—and vice versa. In this case one speaks of a “magnetoelectric effect.” It plays an important technological role, for example in certain types of sensors or in the search for new concepts of data storage.

A special material was investigated for which, at first glance, no magnetoelectric effect would be expected at all. But careful experiments have now shown that the effect can be observed in this material, it only works completely differently than usual. It can be controlled in a highly sensitive way: Even small changes in the direction of the magnetic field can switch the electrical properties of the material to a completely different state.