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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2382

Sep 18, 2017

Hospital Captures First Commercial Volta GPU Based DGX-1 Systems

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

At well over $150,000 per appliance, the Volta GPU based DGX appliances from Nvidia, which take aim at deep learning with framework integration and 8 Volta-accelerated nodes linked with NVlink, is set to appeal to the most bleeding edge of machine learning shops.

Nvidia has built its own clusters by stringing several of these together, just as researchers at Tokyo Tech have done with the Pascal generation systems. But one of the first commercial customers for the Volta based boxes is the Center for Clinical Data Science, which is part of the first wave of hospitals set to use deep learning for MR and CT image analysis.

The center, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has secured a whopping four DGX-1 Volta appliances, which sport the latest GPUs with eight per node with the NVlink interconnect. The Next Platform talked with Neil Tenenholtz, senior data scientist at the center, about where deep learning will yield results for hospitals and medical research and about their early experiences with the four machines.

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Sep 17, 2017

Bacteriobot Holds ‘A Lot Of Promise’ To Treat Cancer, Says Doctor

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology, Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI

The new self-propelled, cancer-seeking bacteriobot swims right into the tumor and zaps it with a deadly payload of cancer drugs.

The recently perfected #bacteriobot holds ‘a lot of promise’ in treating #cancer says a physician. Cancer patients at a hospital in Montreal may be the first to be treated with these #nanorobots built out of bacteria.


Summary: The recently perfected bacteriobot holds ‘a lot of promise’ in treating cancer says a physician. Cancer patients at a hospital in Montreal may be the first to be treated with nanorobots built out of bacteria. The new self-propelled, cancer-seeking bacteriobot swims right into the tumor and zaps it with a deadly payload of cancer drugs. [Cover image: Getty Images/iStock.]

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Sep 17, 2017

M. Fossel — How to Reverse Aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education, ethics, life extension, neuroscience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx3qbJ2E-hY

Full Interview ► https://goo.gl/PvUjjU

Michael B. Fossel, M.D., Ph.D. (born 1950, Greenwich, Connecticut) was a professor of clinical medicine at Michigan State University and is the author of several books on aging, who is best known for his views on telomerase therapy as a possible treatment for cellular senescence. Fossel has appeared on many major news programs to discuss aging and has appeared regularly on National Public Radio (NPR). He is also a respected lecturer, author, and the founder and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine (now known as Rejuvenation Research).

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Sep 17, 2017

Artificial Intelligence and Magnificent Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Shai Ben-David, Professor at the University of Waterloo, gave Machine Learning Course composed of 23 Lectures (CS 485/685) at the University of Waterloo on Jan 14, 2015…

Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed. In the past decade, machine learning has given us self-driving cars, practical speech recognition, effective web search, and a vastly improved understanding of the human genome. Machine learning is so pervasive today that you probably use it dozens of times a day without knowing it. Many researchers also think it is the best way to make progress towards human-level AI.

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Sep 16, 2017

Time of reckoning for US employers over opioid abuse

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

The US is in a opioid addiction crisis that has been described as a national epidemic by health officials. Each day 91 people die after overdosing on the drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More Americans now die from drug overdoses than in car accidents or from gun violence put together, and more than 2.6m are addicted to opioids, according to CDC figures.


Health insurance system is partly to blame for the epidemic that is costing companies $18bn a year.

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Sep 15, 2017

Why we did not evolve to live forever: Unveiling the mystery of why we age

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, have made a breakthrough in understanding the origin of the ageing process. They have identified that genes belonging to a process called autophagy — one of the cells most critical survival processes — promote health and fitness in young worms but drive the process of ageing later in life. This research published in the journal Genes & Development gives some of the first clear evidence for how the ageing process arises as a quirk of evolution. These findings may also have broader implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease where autophagy is implicated. The researchers show that by promoting longevity through shutting down autophagy in old worms there is a strong improvement in neuronal and subsequent whole body health.

Getting old, it’s something that happens to everyone and nearly every species on this planet, but the question is, should it? In a recent publication in the journal Genes & Development titled “Neuronal inhibition of the nucleation complex extends lifespan in post-reproductive C. elegans,” the laboratory of Dr Holger Richly at IMB, has found some of the first genetic evidence that may put this question to rest.

As Charles Darwin explained, natural selection results in the fittest individuals for a given environment surviving to breed and pass on their genes to the next generation. The more fruitful a trait is at promoting reproductive success, the stronger the selection for that trait will be. In theory, this should give rise to individuals with traits which prevent ageing as their genes could be passed on nearly continuously. Thus, despite the obvious facts to the contrary, from the point of evolution ageing should never have happened. This evolutionary contradiction has been debated and theorised on since the 1800s. It was only in 1953 with his hypothesis of antagonistic pleiotropy (AP) that George C. Williams gave us a rational explanation for how ageing can arise in a population through evolution. Williams proposed that natural selection enriches genes promoting reproductive success but consequently ignores their negative effects on longevity.

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Sep 15, 2017

The application of nanotechnology to cardiovascular nanomedicine

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

Nanostructured systems have the potential to revolutionize both preventive and therapeutic approaches for treating cardiovascular disease. Given the unique physical and chemical properties of nanostructured systems, nanoscience and nanotechnology have recently demonstrated the potential to overcome many of the limitations of cardiovascular medicine through the development of new pharmaceuticals, imaging reagents and modalities, and biomedical devices. A recent review offers an outline of critical issues and emerging developments in cardiac nanotechnology.

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Sep 15, 2017

Study Investigates Vaccine and Oral Medication to Stop Alzheimer’s Years Before it Begins

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Summary: Researchers are testing a new vaccine and oral medication that could delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing in those with a genetic predisposition.

Source: Keck Medicine USC.

The Keck School of Medicine of USC launches a study exploring whether two different therapies can prevent a leading cause of death.

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Sep 15, 2017

Fat cells converted into stem cells can repair any damaged tissues

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

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Sep 15, 2017

Scientists Grafted Eyes Onto a Blind Organism’s Back, and It Could See

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Scientists at Tufts University were able to graft eyes to the tails of blind Xenopus, giving the tadpoles the ability to detect colors, focus on objects, and consistently follow patterns.

In a breakthrough for regenerative medicine, researchers have developed working eyes attached to the tails of blind Xenopus tadpoles. The tadpoles were able to process visual information from their environment upon the augmentation, helping scientist understand the process of promoting innervation (a part of the body’s nerve supply) in regenerative medicine.

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