Biology & Medicine News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

3D vein viewer sees right through your skin
By Michael Franco
October 17, 2024

If a medical professional has ever had a hard time getting a needle into your veins, you'll welcome this new gizmo from Adison Technology. By effectively turning your skin transparent, it makes needle sticks more accurate and therefore less painful.

Blood draws are often one of the first tests a doctor will order when trying to evaluate a patient's health. And for patients in the hospital, peripheral venous catheters, often known as an IV, is the most commonly used invasive medical device in health care.

Both of these procedures rely on medical personnel being able to insert a needle in a vein. While this is a fairly straightforward procedure for those with veins that are visible through their skin, it is a bit more complicated when veins are hard to find. What's more, inserting needles into the veins of infants is extra difficult because of the thick layer of fat that hides them from view.

https://newatlas.com/medical-devices/ad ... in-viewer/

[Time_Traveller]

Britons most likely in Europe to turn to unregulated alternative therapies

1 hour ago

People in the UK are the most likely in Europe to seek unregulated alternative therapies and advice from social media, new research shows.

A poll of 3,500 people across the UK, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, showed one in five UK consumers claim to use alternative medicines such as medication and mindfulness. This compares to 7 per cent in Italy, 9 per cent in France, and 12 per cent in Germany.

Savanata, a market research company, which carried out the research suggested the UK’s openness to alternative medicine treatments was partially driven by waiting times in the NHS and the increased influence of social media.

The NHS waiting list has continued to grow this year and hit 7.63 million in August.

According to the poll, 17 per cent of UK consumers are most likely to seek medical advice from social media, compared to 9 per cent of Italians, 11 per cent of those in the Netherlands and 12 per cent in Spain.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/heal ... 31536.html

[firestar464]

Accurate prediction of disease-risk factors from volumetric medical scans by a deep vision model pre-trained with 2D scans

https://doheny.org/wp-content/uploads/2 ... rticle.pdf

The paper presents SLIViT, a deep-learning vision model developed for accurately predicting disease risk factors from volumetric biomedical scans using 2D pre-trained models. Traditional machine learning for 3D medical images suffers from limited annotated data, making volumetric image analysis challenging. SLIViT addresses this by transforming 3D scans into 2D slices, applying a 2D feature extractor (ConvNeXt), and then using a vision transformer (ViT) to integrate the extracted features for final prediction.

Key highlights include:
- Pre-training: SLIViT is pre-trained on abundant 2D annotated datasets, then fine-tuned for 3D volumetric data. This allows efficient learning even from small datasets.
- Versatility: SLIViT works across multiple imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and ultrasound. It has been tested on various medical tasks, including retinal disease diagnosis, cardiac function analysis, liver fat level prediction, and pulmonary nodule malignancy detection.
- Performance: SLIViT consistently outperformed state-of-the-art models in multiple tasks, matching or surpassing the accuracy of clinical specialists. It was also highly efficient, requiring only a fraction of the time clinicians typically spend on manual annotation.

The paper suggests that SLIViT’s architecture allows for generalizing 3D biomedical imaging tasks without needing modality-specific adaptations, potentially reducing the cost and time of medical research and clinical diagnoses.

[Time_Traveller]

Number of people with chronic pain in England to rise by 1.9m by 2040

Mon 21 Oct 2024 05.00 BST

Almost 2 million more people will be suffering from sore backs, necks and other body parts by 2040 due to a surge in chronic pain caused by England’s ageing population, new research shows.

The number of people in England aged 20 and over with chronic pain is set to soar from 5.345 million in 2019 to 7.247 million by 2040, according to projections by the Health Foundation thinktank.

That 1.9m rise means the proportion of the population whose lives are blighted by the condition will increase from one in eight (12.4%) to one in seven (14.4%). That will add to the strain on NHS GP services and hospitals and also increase their spending on pain-relieving drugs.

Those aged 50 to 69 will be the most affected, with some left in such pain that they cannot work, adding to the record 2.8 million people across the UK who are already too ill to do so.

Women will bear the brunt of the increase, as consistent evidence shows that they are already on average about 50% more likely than men to develop persistent pain.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... 9m-by-2040

[weatheriscool]

Handheld diagnostic performs 1-hour blood tests from a finger prick
By Michael Irving
October 21, 2024

Nobody enjoys giving blood samples, but it’s a necessary part of many hospital stays and doctor visits. Soon we might not have to, thanks to a new device that can isolate biomarkers for different diseases using sound waves, from a single drop of blood, in around an hour.

Usually, blood tests involve taking a sample with the dreaded needle in the arm, which is then sent off to a lab to check for certain molecules that can indicate the presence or progression of a disease or condition. But that can take from several hours to a few days, which isn’t ideal for some fast-changing diseases – not to mention the discomfort or, for some, downright fear, associated with the collection method.

Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new handheld device that can scan for given biomarkers in around one hour, from a single drop of blood. This means that potentially, blood samples could be taken from a finger prick like those used for diabetes, then analyzed right there from a patient’s bedside.

https://newatlas.com/imaging-diagnostic ... -one-hour/

[caltrek]

Scientists Revived a Pig's Brain Nearly a Whole Hour After It Died
by Michelle Starr
October 23, 2024

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Scientists have revived activity in the brains of pigs up to nearly an hour after circulation had ceased. In some cases, functionality was sustained for hours through a surprising discovery by researchers in China.

This achievement represents a huge step forward in working out how to restore brain function after a patient has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. It suggests that doctors may be able to widen the brief window for successful resuscitation of patients following cardiac arrest.

The trick? Incorporating the patient's unharmed liver – the organ the body uses to purify its blood – into the life support system used to revive the brain after the time had elapsed.

Sudden cardiac arrest causes a lot of problems in the body due to the rapid cessation of blood flow. The subsequent drop in circulation to parts of the body is called ischemia, and when it occurs in the brain, it can cause serious, irreparable damage within minutes. This is why the resuscitation window for cardiac arrest is so short.

It's known that multi-organ ischemia plays a role in the brain's ability to recover after a cardiac arrest, but the individual organs have not been fully investigated.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientist ... -it-died

[weatheriscool]

Scientists Revived a Pig's Brain Nearly a Whole Hour After It Died
by Michelle Starr
October 23, 2024

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Scientists have revived activity in the brains of pigs up to nearly an hour after circulation had ceased. In some cases, functionality was sustained for hours through a surprising discovery by researchers in China.

This achievement represents a huge step forward in working out how to restore brain function after a patient has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. It suggests that doctors may be able to widen the brief window for successful resuscitation of patients following cardiac arrest.

The trick? Incorporating the patient's unharmed liver – the organ the body uses to purify its blood – into the life support system used to revive the brain after the time had elapsed.

Sudden cardiac arrest causes a lot of problems in the body due to the rapid cessation of blood flow. The subsequent drop in circulation to parts of the body is called ischemia, and when it occurs in the brain, it can cause serious, irreparable damage within minutes. This is why the resuscitation window for cardiac arrest is so short.

It's known that multi-organ ischemia plays a role in the brain's ability to recover after a cardiac arrest, but the individual organs have not been fully investigated.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientist ... -it-died

Imagine cloning a copy of your body and being able to remove your brain and putting it inside of the clones head. That is one way to extend life span. The thing is this advance increases the odds that it maybe successful.

[firestar464]

Noninvasive malaria test could aid in global reduction efforts

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10- ... ction.html

[weatheriscool]

Scientists engineer 'glowing' gel to improve eye surgery
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10- ... rgery.html
by Catherine Graham, Johns Hopkins University

Cataracts—a condition that causes clouding of the eye's lens and deteriorating vision—will affect nearly everyone who lives long enough. Now Johns Hopkins scientists have pioneered a new color-changing hydrogel that could reduce complications from cataract surgery, one of the world's most commonly performed procedures.

During cataract surgery, doctors remove the cloudy lens and replace it with an artificial one. The procedure requires injecting a clear hydrogel to keep the eye inflated and protect the cornea. However, incomplete removal of this gel can lead to increased eye pressure, pain, and even long-term vision loss.

Erick Rocher, Engr '24, and Allen Eghrari, associate professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, have created a clear gel that turns fluorescent green under blue light, allowing surgeons to verify complete removal following surgery. This innovation could enhance both the safety and efficiency of cataract surgery and other eye procedures, according to the researchers.

[firestar464]

New gene discovery aids HIV vaccine progress

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10- ... ccine.html

[firestar464]

Researchers show nanoplastics can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics

https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nanoplast ... otics.html

[weatheriscool]

Shit like this is why Trump would literally destroy medical science. This man with idiots like RFK jr will push us back to the dark ages...If you don't think this is a threat to anti-aging and more along side the reality taht they'll literally ban you from body modification. Well, you're an idiot.

[firestar464]

More on that by NBC:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e ... rcna178570

God wtf

[firestar464]

Researchers challenge longstanding theories in cellular reprogramming

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-longstand ... mming.html

[Yuli Ban]

Oh! Well what's this?
Fungal ‘Brains’ Can Think Like Human Minds, Scientists Say

• A new study claims that fungi possess great intelligence to the point that they can make decisions.
• A group of scientists tested how fungi would grow across patterns of blocks, and found that they grew in strategic, resource-preserving ways that indicate the ability for communication across the entire mycelial network.
• These findings could not only lead to a better understanding of these relatively mysterious organisms, but to better comprehension of intelligence itself.

How interesting....

[firestar464]

I wonder if the mushooms are sentient then.

The Atlantic- Genetic Discrimination Is Coming for Us All

https://archive.is/pGVXW

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

'Hacked' brain hormone targets gut pain – in totally new class of oral drugs
By Bronwyn Thompson
November 18, 2024

A peptide hormone produced in the brain that triggers physiological reproductive responses has been 'hacked' by scientists to form an effective, safe and non-invasive way to treat chronic gut pain. It's being deemed an entirely new class of painkiller.

University of Queensland (UQ) researchers have built on an emerging body of evidence focused on the peptide hormone oxytocin and its potential for therapeutic pain relief, changing the chemical structure to produce a treatment that won't be rapidly broken down by gut enzymes before it takes effect. This breakthrough could prove significant, given the challenge of harnessing oral peptides for therapeutics.

"There are two hurdles for producing oral peptide drugs: One, instability against gastrointestinal enzymes/digestion and, two, size restriction to cross the gut-blood barrier," study lead Markus Muttenthaler, an associate professor from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at UQ, told New Atlas. "In this work we addressed one, and focused on a drug target in the gut, so we didn’t have to get the peptide drug lead across the gut-blood barrier, which also reduces the chance of any unwanted systemic side effects, making it a safer approach."

https://newatlas.com/chronic-pain/new-a ... ainkiller/

[firestar464]

Origin of life research finds RNA can favor both left- and right-handed proteins

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-life-rna- ... teins.html

[firestar464]

Network theory insights lead to a mathematical representation of Parkinson's disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11- ... ation.html