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Improving Perceptions of Emerging Technologies for Health Care
More attention must be paid to improving perceptions of emerging technologies like AI-powered symptom checkers, which could ease the strain on health care systems, according to a recent study
Fighting Blood Diseases with Artificial Intelligence
Every day, cytologists around the world use optical microscopes to analyze and classify samples of bone marrow cells thousands of times. This method to diagnose blood diseases was established more than 150 years ago, but it suffers from being very complex. Looking for rare but diagnostically important cells is both a laborious and time-consuming task. Artificial intelligence has the potential to boost this method—however it needs a large amount of high-quality data to train an AI algorithm.
McGill scientists develop a biomaterial to repair the heart, muscles, and vocal cords
Combining knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering, scientists from McGill University develop a biomaterial tough enough to repair the heart, muscles, and vocal cords, representing a major advance in regenerative medicine.
Findings in mice point to potential therapies for blinding eye disease uveitis and multiple sclerosis.
Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have identified, isolated, and characterized a unique population of B cells that tamps down the immune system, reducing chronic inflammation. Infusions of purified IL-27 regulatory B cells (I27-Breg ) reduced symptoms in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and the eye disease autoimmune uveitis. The research suggests the cells may play a role in future human therapies.
Researchers Uncover Insights into How Moles Change into Melanoma
Moles and melanomas are both skin tumors that come from the same cell called melanocytes. The difference is that moles are usually harmless, while melanomas are cancerous and often deadly without treatment. A recent study explains how common moles and melanomas form and why moles can change into melanoma.
Key RNA 'Gatekeeper' in Gene Expression Points to Possible New Drug Targets
An important player in the healthy development of female embryos turns out also to play a key role in regulating the behavior of chromosome loops and gene expression in both sexes, according to a new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
MRI uncovers significant changes in the brain structure of fetuses exposed to alcohol
In the first MRI-based study to investigate pre-natal alcohol exposure, researchers found significant changes in the brain structure of fetuses exposed to alcohol compared to healthy controls.
Brain scans of athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts show white matter hyperintensities
A new study finds that brain scans taken during the lifetimes of athletes in contact sports, compared to changes in their brains at autopsy, showed that white matter hyperintensities were associated with neuropathological changes.
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: What we know so far
On November 24, 2021, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa. The Omicron variant has joined several other SARS-CoV-2 variants as a variant of concern (VOC), which indicates that this strain is associated with an increase in transmissibility and virulence, as well as the ability to reduce the effectiveness of public health and social measures, as well as available diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics.
UK study finds COVID-19 from Delta and Alpha infections are clinically similar
A recent study compares two severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants – the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant and the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant and showed that the clinical presentation of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant is similar to the illness caused by the Alpha variant.
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