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The Department of Defense has teamed up with Google to build an AI-powered microscope that can help doctors identify cancer.

The tool is called an Augmented Reality Microscope, and it will usually cost health systems between $90,000 to $100,000.

Experts believe the ARM will help support doctors in smaller labs as they battle with workforce shortages and mounting caseloads.

Continue reading “Google and the Department of Defense are building an AI-powered microscope to help doctors spot cancer” »

Our hope is for COVID-19 to never repeat itself,’ said the new program’s executive director.

A program run by a Canadian university is seeking to improve global health care for the most vulnerable by examining how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance readiness for infectious disease epidemics in the Global South.

This is according to a report by CTV News published on Wednesday.

Continue reading “AI now used in the fight against global infectious diseases” »

Apple’s new “State of Mind” feature in the Health app is more than a tech update; it’s Apple’s foray into helping us understand our emotions. Beyond tracking physical activity with the Apple Watch, the company is now capturing our moods. This, combined with insights from a new Journal app (which Apple says will be woven into our life’s events and multimedia tapestry), aims to give a full picture of our daily experiences, both in body and mind.

Here’s how Apple envisions this feature will play out in real life.

Imagine a vacation in an unfamiliar city. At the start of your day, the Health app prompts you to record your mood. You describe it as “Very Pleasant” and indicate to the app that… More.

Continue reading “The Science Behind Apple’s ‘State Of Mind’ Feature, Explained By A Psychologist” »

Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders account for about 10% of all consultations in primary care and have a major impact on quality of life and health care resources. Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), H. pylori infection, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), coeliac disease, antibiotic-associated diarrhea (ADA), infectious diarrhea, are some common GI disorders.

The efficacy of probiotics in preventing and treating gastrointestinal disorders has received considerable attention in recent years. This article will shed light on how probiotics are more or less effective in treating different gastrointestinal disorders.

Indian Burden and Factors Affecting GI Disorders The prevalence of self-reported gastrointestinal disorders in India is around 18%. Whereas the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) ranges from 2.5% to 7.1% in most population-based studies in Asia.

Antibiotic resistance is a major danger to public health that threatens to claim the lives of millions of people per year within the next few decades. Years of necessary administration and excessive application of antibiotics have selected for strains that are resistant to many of our currently available treatments. Due to the high costs and difficulty of developing new antibiotics, the emergence of resistant bacteria is outpacing the introduction of new drugs to fight them. To overcome this problem, many researchers are focusing on developing antibacterial therapeutic strategies that are “resistance-resistant”—regimens that slow or stall resistance development in the targeted pathogens. In this mini review, we outline major examples of novel resistance-resistant therapeutic strategies. We discuss the use of compounds that reduce mutagenesis and thereby decrease the likelihood of resistance emergence. Then, we examine the effectiveness of antibiotic cycling and evolutionary steering, in which a bacterial population is forced by one antibiotic toward susceptibility to another antibiotic. We also consider combination therapies that aim to sabotage defensive mechanisms and eliminate potentially resistant pathogens by combining two antibiotics or combining an antibiotic with other therapeutics, such as antibodies or phages. Finally, we highlight promising future directions in this field, including the potential of applying machine learning and personalized medicine to fight antibiotic resistance emergence and out-maneuver adaptive pathogens.

The use of antibiotics is central to the practice of modern medicine but is threatened by widespread antibiotic resistance (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), 2019). Antibiotics are a selective evolutionary pressure—they inhibit bacterial growth and viability, and antibiotic-treated bacteria are forced to either adapt and survive or succumb to treatment. The stress of antibiotic treatment can enhance bacterial mutagenesis leading to de novo resistance mutations (Figure 1A), promote the acquisition of horizontally transferred genetic elements that confer resistance, or trigger phenotypic responses that increase tolerance to drugs (Davies and Davies, 2010; Levin-Reisman et al., 2017; Bakkeren et al., 2019; Darby et al., 2022;). Additionally, antibiotic treatment can select for the proliferation of pre-existing mutants already in the population (Figure 1B).

Research led by the Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Ohio, has investigated neuropeptide Y innervation in an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens of various primate species, including humans. The research was focused on understanding its role in brain evolution and any implications for human health, particularly regarding addiction and eating disorders.

In a paper, “Hedonic eating, obesity, and addiction result from increased neuropeptide Y in the nucleus accumbens during human brain evolution,” published in PNAS, the researchers suggest that the combination of increased neuropeptide Y (NPY) and dopamine (DA) within the human nucleus accumbens (NAc) may have allowed for enhanced brain development. This same configuration may have also made humans exceptionally vulnerable to eating disorders and substance abuse, hinting at addictive traits having a deep evolutionary origin.

NPY plays a role in the reward system, emotional behavior and is associated with increased alcohol use, drug addiction and fat intake. The NAc brain region is central to motivation and action, exhibiting one of the highest densities of NPY in the brain and is of great interest to researchers investigating brain-related promoters of addiction.

Imagine living in a cool, green city flush with parks and threaded with footpaths, bike lanes, and buses, which ferry people to shops, schools, and service centers in a matter of minutes.

That breezy dream is the epitome of urban planning, encapsulated in the idea of the 15-minute city, where all basic needs and services are within a quarter of an hour’s reach, improving public health and lowering vehicle emissions.

Artificial intelligence could help urban planners realize that vision faster, with a new study from researchers at Tsinghua University in China demonstrating how machine learning can generate more efficient spatial layouts than humans can, and in a fraction of the time.

Back to AI in healthcare – we’ve looked at this from a number of angles, but what about some of the pros and cons of using AI/ML systems in a clinical context? And also, what about how to conquer disease with AI models?

There’s a broader theory that AI is going to allow for trail-blazing research on everything from cancer and heart disease to trauma and bone and muscle health — and everything in between. Now, we have more defined solutions coming to the table, and they’re well worth looking at!

In this IIA talk, cardiologist Collin Stultz talks about the treatment of disorders, and new tools, starting with a dramatic emphasis on heart disease.

Multiple prominent government ministries in Colombia are responding to a ransomware attack that is forcing officials to make significant operational changes.

This week, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the country’s Judiciary Branch and the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce announced that a cyberattack on technology provider IFX Networks Colombia had caused a range of problems limiting the ability of both departments to function.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said it began facing issues on Tuesday after IFX Networks told them of problems affecting their data center.