Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2004
Apr 24, 2019
Synthetic speech generated from brain recordings
Posted by Mike Ruban in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience
A state-of-the-art brain-machine interface created by UC San Francisco neuroscientists can generate natural-sounding synthetic speech by using brain activity to control a virtual vocal tractâan anatomically detailed computer simulation including the lips, jaw, tongue, and larynx. The study was conducted in research participants with intact speech, but the technology could one day restore the voices of people who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis and other forms of neurological damage.
Stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsonâs disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrigâs disease) often result in an irreversible loss of the ability to speak. Some people with severe speech disabilities learn to spell out their thoughts letter-by-letter using assistive devices that track very small eye or facial muscle movements. However, producing text or synthesized speech with such devices is laborious, error-prone, and painfully slow, typically permitting a maximum of 10 words per minute, compared to the 100â150 words per minute of natural speech.
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Apr 24, 2019
Imaging system helps surgeons remove tiny ovarian tumors
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: biotech/medical
Ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed only after it has reached an advanced stage, with many tumors spread throughout the abdomen. Most patients undergo surgery to remove as many of these tumors as possible, but because some are so small and widespread, it is difficult to eradicate all of them.
Researchers at MIT, working with surgeons and oncologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), have now developed a way to improve the accuracy of this surgery, called debulking. Using a novel fluorescence imaging system, they were able to find and remove tumors as small as 0.3 millimetersâsmaller than a poppy seedâduring surgery in mice. Mice that underwent this type of image-guided surgery survived 40 percent longer than those who had tumors removed without the guided system.
âWhatâs nice about this system is that it allows for real-time information about the size, depth, and distribution of tumors,â says Angela Belcher, the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science at MIT, a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the recently appointed head of MITâs Department of Biological Engineering.
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Apr 24, 2019
A first in medical robotics: Autonomous navigation inside the body
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, robotics/AI
Bioengineers at Boston Childrenâs Hospital report the first demonstration of a robot able to navigate autonomously inside the body. In an animal model of cardiac valve repair, the team programmed a robotic catheter to find its way along the walls of a beating, blood-filled heart to a leaky valveâwithout a surgeonâs guidance. They report their work today in Science Robotics.
Surgeons have used robots operated by joysticks for more than a decade, and teams have shown that tiny robots can be steered through the body by external forces such as magnetism. However, senior investigator Pierre Dupont, Ph.D., chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Childrenâs, says that to his knowledge, this is the first report of the equivalent of a self-driving car navigating to a desired destination inside the body.
Dupont envisions autonomous robots assisting surgeons in complex operations, reducing fatigue and freeing surgeons to focus on the most difficult maneuvers, improving outcomes.
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Apr 24, 2019
A new clue in the mystery of ALS, frontotemporal dementia
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience
A special focus on rogue proteins may hold future promise in stopping the progression of nerve cell destruction in people who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or frontotemporal dementia.
ALS, a rare but devastating disorder thatâs also known as Lou Gehrigâs disease, attacks the bodyâs nerve cells, resulting in progressive muscle weakness as the neurons degenerate over time. There is no cure. People with ALS eventually lose their strength and the ability to move their arms, legs and body.
About a third of those with ALS also develop frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a destruction of neurons in the brain that causes profound personality changes and disability. The two diseases are similar in both pathology and genetics. FTD tends to affect people earlier than Alzheimerâs disease, the most common type of dementia.
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Apr 24, 2019
Researchers identify neurotransmitter that helps cancers progress
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Using human cancer cells, tumor and blood samples from cancer patients, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have uncovered the role of a neurotransmitter in the spread of aggressive cancers. Neurotransmitters are chemical âmessengersâ that transmit impulses from neurons to other target cells.
The work, described in the April 9 issue of the journal Cell Reports, found that this neurotransmitter, called N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (NAAG) NAAG is more abundant in cancers with a tendency to grow and spread rapidlyâor so-called higher grade cancersâthan in lower grade tumors, making it a potential marker for tumor progression or regression during cancer therapy, the researchers say. The experiments also demonstrated that NAAG is a source of glutamate, a chemical that cancer cells use as building blocks to survive, in tumors that express an enzyme called glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII). The group also discovered that stopping the GCPII from being active by using a drug called 2-PMPA to treat human ovarian tumors implanted in ovaries of mice, reduced tumor weights and glutamate concentrations.
Apr 24, 2019
Researchers use machine-learning system to diagnose genetic diseases
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, robotics/AI
Researchers at Rady Childrenâs Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM) have utilized a machine-learning process and clinical natural language processing (CNLP) to diagnose rare genetic diseases in record time. This new method is speeding answers to physicians caring for infants in intensive care and opening the door to increased use of genome sequencing as a first-line diagnostic test for babies with cryptic conditions.
âSome people call this artificial intelligence, we call it augmented intelligence,â said Stephen Kingsmore, MD, DSc, President and CEO of RCIGM. âPatient care will always begin and end with the doctor. By harnessing the power of technology, we can quickly and accurately determine the root cause of genetic diseases. We rapidly provide this critical information to intensive care physicians so they can focus on personalizing care for babies who are struggling to survive.â
A new study documenting the process was published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The workflow and research were led by the RCIGM team in collaboration with leading technology and data-science developers âAlexion, Clinithink, Diploid, Fabric Genomics and Illumina.
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Apr 24, 2019
Self-powered âpacemaker for lifeâ in pigs unveiled
Posted by Quinn Sena in category: biotech/medical
Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a battery-free pacemaker that generates its energy from the heartbeats of pigs in what could pave the way for an âimplant for lifeâ in humans suffering from heart defects.
Millions of patients rely on pacemakers âsmall electrical implants in the chest of abdomenâto help regulate their heartbeats after chronic or acute illness.
Even with recent technological advances, pacemaker batteries can be rigid or bulky, and may need replacing several times over the lifespan of a device.
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Apr 24, 2019
Modified âwhite grapheneâ for eco-friendly energy
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: biotech/medical, materials
Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), together with colleagues from the United States and Germany, have found a way to obtain inexpensive catalysts from hexagonal boron nitride or âwhite graphene.â The technology can be used in the production of environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel.
The researchers have found a new way to functionalize a dielectric, otherwise known as white graphene, i.e. hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), without destroying it or changing its properties. Thanks to the new method, the researchers synthesized a polymer nano carpet with strong covalent bond on the samples.
Prof Raul Rodriguez from the TPU Research School of Chemistry & Applied Biomedical Sciences explains:
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Apr 24, 2019
Secret to lab-on-a-chip breakthrough: Matte black nail polish
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics
BYU electrical engineering students have stumbled upon a very unconventional method that could speed up lab-on-a-chip disease diagnosis.
When someone goes to the hospital for a serious illness, if a bacterial infection is suspected, it can take up to three days to get results from a bacteria culture test. By then, it is often too late to adequately treat the infection, especially if the bacteria are resistant to common antibiotics.
BYU students are working on a project to diagnose antibiotic resistant bacteria, or superbugs, in less than an hour. Their method relies on extracting bacteria from a blood sample and then pulling DNA from that bacteria. If specific genetic codes indicating antibiotic resistance are present in the DNA, fluorescent molecules can be attached to these sites. Laser light can then be shined on the DNA samples and the molecules will light up.
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