Lifeboat Foundation

An example graph of polypharmacy side effects derived from genomic and patient population data, protein–protein interactions, drug–protein targets, and drug–drug interactions encoded by 964 different polypharmacy side effects. The graph representation is used to develop Decagon. (credit: Marinka Zitnik et al./Bioinformatics)

Millions of people take up to five or more medications a day, but doctors have no idea what side effects might arise from adding another drug.*

Now, Stanford University computer scientists have developed a deep-learning system (a kind of AI modeled after the brain) called Decagon** that could help doctors make better decisions about which drugs to prescribe. It could also help researchers find better combinations of drugs to treat complex diseases.

Continue reading “How to predict the side effects of millions of drug combinations” »

A combination of nanomaterials that can mimic nerve impulses (“spikes”) in the brain have been discovered by researchers at Kyushu Institute of Technology and Osaka University in Japan.

Current “neuromorphic” (brain-like) chips (such as IBM’s neurosynaptic TrueNorth) and circuits (such as those based on the NVIDIA GPGPU, or general purpose graphical processing unit) are devices based on complex circuits that emulate only one part of the brain’s mechanisms: the learning ability of synapses (which connect neurons together).

Continue reading “Nanomaterials that mimic nerve impulses (spikes) discovered” »

Wouldn’t you just love to carry on sleeping on a Monday morning without having to submit to the Monday morning blues and get ready for work? What type of heaven would you envisage if you were paid to stay in bed; it would be a glorious one wouldn’t it? If only it were possible!!! But!! Hold it right there, don’t be disappointed because what if we told you it is possible!! You can get paid a huge sum of money just staying in bed for two whole months and by you know who?? NASA no less!!!

Yes the American space agency NASA is paying $100,000 to stay in bed for 60 days. Find out why and if it is really too good to be true.

The HPV vaccine has eliminated skin cancer in a 97-year-old woman — giving doctors and patients hope it could be used to treat aggressive cases of skin cancer, such as squamous cell carcinoma.

A 97-year-old woman’s severe case of an untreatable form of squamous cell carcinoma was cleared with injections of the HPV vaccine, her doctors report.

CIMON says: take me to space! 🚀.

Finger pricks and daily insulin injections are currently the leading regimen for those with type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the body’s insulin producing cells beta cells are destroyed. And it’s not foolproof.

Patients can often face risks over overcorrecting their blood sugar levels, which can potentially lead to hypoglycemia – low blood sugar – and coma.

Insulin is responsible for regulating the amount of sugar in the blood, and dysfunctions with it can cause diabetes.

Continue reading “Human Trials Show a 30-Year-Old Heart Disease Drug Could Help Treat Type 1 Diabetes” »

In an experiment with global implications, Australian scientists have successfully wiped out more than 80% of disease-carrying mosquitoes in trial locations across north Queensland.

The experiment, conducted by scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and James Cook University (JCU), targeted Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread deadly diseases such as dengue fever and Zika.

In JCU laboratories, researchers bred almost 20 million mosquitoes, infecting males with bacteria that made them sterile. Then, last summer, they released over three million of them in three towns on the Cassowary Coast.

Continue reading “Australian experiment wipes out over 80% of disease-carrying mosquitoes” »

12-hour days, 730 days a year. Could you cope with that?

These super-realistic VR experiences tricked our senses.