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Category: health – Page 169

New immune-evading Omicron subvariant BA.5 is now dominant in the U.S.—and previous heavy hitter “stealth Omicron” is now a shadow of its former self, according to federal health data released Tuesday.

BA.5 is estimated to have caused nearly 54% of COVID infections in the U.S. last week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Along with twin variant BA.4, it swept South Africa this spring thanks to its ability to evade immunity from both prior infection and vaccination.

The week before that, the two variants combined made up slightly more than half of U.S. cases. But last week, BA.5 accomplished the same feat alone, without the help of BA.4, which came in third at 16.5%.

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A new UC Davis-led study sheds light on cell type-specific biomarkers, or signs, of melanoma. The research was recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Melanoma, the deadliest of the common skin cancers, is curable with and treatment. However, diagnosing clinically and under the microscope can be complicated by what are called melanocytic nevi—otherwise known as birth marks or moles that are non-cancerous. The development of melanoma is a multi-step process where “melanocytes,” or the cells in the skin that contain melanin, mutate and proliferate. Properly identifying melanoma at an early stage is critical for improved survival.

“The biomarkers of early melanoma evolution and their origin within the tumor and its microenvironment are a potential key to early diagnosis of melanoma,” said corresponding author of the study Maija Kiuru, associate professor of clinical dermatology and pathology at UC Davis Health. “To unravel the mystery, we used high-plex spatial RNA profiling to capture distinct gene expression patterns across cell types during melanoma development. This approach allows studying the expression of hundreds or thousands of genes without disrupting the native architecture of the tumor.”

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Near-invisible graphene tattoos deliver high-speed and long-term continuous monitoring of blood pressure with high accuracy.

Wrapping a cuff around a patient’s arm and inflating it to measure blood pressure is one of the most routinely performed medical tests. It provides a quick and reliable assessment of cardiovascular health, as blood pressure is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. But such arm cuffs are bulky and uncomfortable, making them impractical for continuous monitoring outside of clinics.

For this reason, researchers are developing cuffless alternatives with the goal of unlocking new possibilities for patient diagnostics and management, as well as providing new understanding of physiology. However, none of these tools has become a mainstay yet.

One option, acoustic sensors, slide during movements and are too large to be easily incorporated into untethered ambulatory sensors. Meanwhile, optical modalities such as smart watches are limited by the low penetration of light into tissues, which hinders their ability to capture haemodynamic parameters in the arteries. Studies also show that optical sensors are sometimes inaccurate when used with darker skin tones or larger wrists.

Continue reading “Graphene tattoo provides cuffless blood pressure monitoring” | >

Chinese researchers have reportedly developed artificial intelligence (AI) that can read the minds of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.

A video report detailed the software’s features and attributed it to the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, a relatively new institute focused on health and environment, energy research, information management and artificial intelligence.

The technology essentially tests one’s level of loyalty to the CCP. According to the center, it would “further solidify their [members’] confidence and determination to be grateful to the party, listen to the party and follow the party.”

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Hear from Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna on the four ways that CRISPR gene editing technologies will revolutionize healthcare.

In her 31 March talk at the Frontiers Forum, Prof Jennifer Doudna outlined how CRISPR-based therapies are already transforming the lives of patients with previously limited treatment options. She also gave her vision for how her serendipitous discovery will revolutionize healthcare for us all. The session was attended by over 9,200 representatives from science, policy and business across the world.

Jennifer’s keynote talk was followed by a discussion with global experts on access and ethical considerations:
• Prof Andrea Crisanti, Imperial College London.
• Prof Françoise Baylis, Dalhousie University.
• Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization.

2022 marks the 10th anniversary of Jennifer’s groundbreaking development of CRISPR-Cas9 as a genome-engineering technology, with collaborator Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier. The two earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work, which has forever changed the course of human and agricultural genomics research. Jennifer Doudna is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair and a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute.

Continue reading “Jennifer Doudna | Four ways that CRISPR will revolutionize healthcare” | >

Assistance robots are typically mobile robots designed to assist humans in malls, airports, health care facilities, home environments and various other settings. Among other things, these robots could help users to find their way around unknown environments, for instance guiding them to a specific location or sharing important information with them.

While the capabilities of assistance robots have improved significantly over the past decade, the systems that have so far been implemented in real-world environments are not yet capable of following or guiding humans efficiently within crowded spaces. In fact, training robots to track a specific user while navigating a dynamic environment characterized by many randomly moving “obstacles” is far from a simple task.

Researchers at the Berlin Institute of Technology have recently introduced a new model based on deep reinforcement learning that could allow to guide a specific user to a desired location or follow him/her around while carrying their belongings, all within a crowded environment. This model, introduced in a paper pre-published on arXiv, could help to significantly enhance the capabilities of robots in malls, airports and other public places.

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Cosmologist, noted author, Astronomer Royal and recipient of the 2015 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest Lord Martin Rees delivers a thought-provoking and insightful perspective on the challenges humanity faces in the future beyond 2050. [3/2016] [Show ID: 30476]

Frontiers of Knowledge.
(https://www.uctv.tv/frontiers-of-knowledge)

Explore More Science & Technology on UCTV
(https://www.uctv.tv/science)
Science and technology continue to change our lives. University of California scientists are tackling the important questions like climate change, evolution, oceanography, neuroscience and the potential of stem cells.

UCTV is the broadcast and online media platform of the University of California, featuring programming from its ten campuses, three national labs and affiliated research institutions. UCTV explores a broad spectrum of subjects for a general audience, including science, health and medicine, public affairs, humanities, arts and music, business, education, and agriculture. Launched in January 2000, UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California — teaching, research, and public service – by providing quality, in-depth television far beyond the campus borders to inquisitive viewers around the world.

Continue reading “Looking Beyond 2050 — On Earth and in Space with Lord Martin Rees” | >

Mobile robots are now being introduced into a wide variety of real-world settings, including public spaces, home environments, health care facilities and offices. Many of these robots are specifically designed to interact and collaborate with humans, helping them to complete hands-on physical tasks.

To improve the performance of on interactive and manual tasks, roboticists will need to ensure that they can effectively sense stimuli in their environment. In recent years, many engineers and material scientists have thus been trying to develop systems that can artificially replicate biological sensory processes.

Researchers at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Sapienza University of Rome and other institutes in Italy have recently used an artificial skin and a that could be used to improve the tactile capabilities of both existing and newly developed robots to replicate the function of the so-called Ruffini receptors. Their approach, introduced in a paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, replicates the function of a class of cells located on the human superficial dermis (i.e., subcutaneous skin tissue), known as Ruffini receptors.

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Research led by Suresh Alahari, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at LSU Health New Orleans schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies, suggests a combination of drugs already approved by the FDA for other cancers may be effective in treating chemo-resistant triple-negative breast cancer. The results are published in Molecular Cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors lack estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). A subtype representing 12–55% of tumors has androgen receptors (AR). Since stimulate tumor cell progression in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers, they have become a target of triple-negative breast cancer therapy. As well, since a substantial number of patients with triple-negative breast cancer develop resistance to paclitaxel, the FDA-approved chemotherapeutic agent for triple-negative breast cancer, new therapeutic approaches are needed.

Working in a mouse model and tissue from patients with triple-negative breast cancer, the research team screened 133 FDA-approved drugs that have a therapeutic effect against androgen receptor cells. They found that ceritinib, an FDA-approved drug for lung cancers, efficiently inhibited the growth of androgen receptor triple-negative breast cancer cells. To improve the response, they also selected enzalutamide, an FDA-approved androgen receptor antagonist for prostate cancer treatment.

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Environmental sensors are a step closer to simultaneously sniffing out multiple gases that could indicate disease or pollution, thanks to a Penn State collaboration. Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics in the College of Engineering, and Lauren Zarzar, assistant professor of chemistry in Eberly College of Science, and their teams combined laser writing and responsive sensor technologies to fabricate the first highly customizable microscale gas sensing devices.

They published their technique this month in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

“The detection of gases is of critical importance to various fields, including pollution monitoring, public safety assurance and personal health care,” Cheng said. “To fill these needs, sensing devices must be small, lightweight, inexpensive and easy to use and apply to various environments and substrates, such as clothing or piping.”

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