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Application of Nanomaterials in the Field of Medicine – Medical News Bulletin

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

There has been a growing interest in the different applications of nanomaterials in the field of medicine. An article published in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine showed the ways in which Laponite, a synthetic clay made of nanomaterials, can be of use in clinical practice.

Current advances in technology have provided many opportunities to develop new devices that improve the practice of medicine. There has been a growing interest in the different applications of nanomaterials in the field of medicine.

An article published in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine reviewed Laponite, a non-toxic synthetic clay composed of nanomaterials which has different uses in the field of medicine. Laponite can be used in drug delivery systems, as the synthetic clay protects substances from degradation in physiologic environments. Different experiments show that Laponite is effective not only in protecting drugs from degradation, but also in transporting and releasing drugs into the body. The degradation of Laponite in the physiologic environment also releases products which have biological roles, especially in bone formation.

Laponite has been shown to induce osteogenic differentiation of cells in the absence of other factors which are known to promote differentiation and cell growth. The application of nanomaterials in bioimaging has also been studied. In one experiment, Laponite was incorporated with gadolinum, a dye used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), resulting in brighter images and prolonged contrast enhancement for 1 hour post-injection. Laponite has also proven to be of use in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. This synthetic clay can elicit specific biologic responses, act as a carrier for biochemical factors, and improve the mechanical properties of scaffolds used for tissue growth.

In summary, nanomaterials and synthetic clays such as Laponite have many applications in the field of medicine. Although current published literature state no toxic effects on the human body, further studies are needed to assess safety before it can be applied to clinical practice.

Written By:Karla Sevilla

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Nanotech manufacturing conference set in Greensboro – WRAL Tech Wire

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Posted Jul. 31, 2017 at 6:15 a.m.

Published: 2017-07-31 06:15:00 Updated: 2017-07-31 06:15:00

By BARRY TEATER, NCBiotech Writer

Research Triangle Park, N.C. Participants and vendors have only a few weeks left to get tiny pricing for Nano Manufacturing 2017, a conference devoted to the production of extremely small things, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 27, in Greensboro.

Vendors have until Aug. 31 to secure early-bird pricing of $250 a 50 percent discount for exhibition space at the conference. Other participants have until Sept. 15 to get advance price breaks $199 instead of $250 for professionals and $60 instead of $75 for students.

The fifth annual conference is expected to draw about 150 people from industry, academia, government and nonprofit organizations. The program will include a keynote speaker, four sessions, a poster session, awards and prizes, and an evening networking reception.

This conference continues to be informative and relevant to individuals and organizations looking to create new markets, accelerate R&D and understand more about advanced manufacturing techniques, particularly those involving particles at the nano scale, said Nancy Johnston, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Office of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a conference sponsor.

More than a dozen speakers will address issues, opportunities and challenges around innovation, startup companies, nanomanufacturing facilities and nanomanufacturing processes. Speakers will include Elizabeth Cates, vice president of R&D and materials scientist at Innegra Technologies; Steve Wilcenski, president of BN Nano; Courtney Warren, life science practice chair at Marsh & McLennan Agency's Mid-Atlantic Region; and Sandeep Dav, chief business officer at AM Technical Solutions.

"This Conference is a real opportunity for those interested in learning more about advanced manufacturing technologies and how the application of these new technologies can help grow the manufacturing sector in North Carolina and the U.S.," said Joe Magno, executive director of the North Carolina Center of Innovation Network (COIN).

The conference will be held at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, an academic collaboration between North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro. The Joint School is located on the South Campus of Gateway University Research Parkin Greensboro.

The conference provides an opportunity for the Joint School to demonstrate its unique capabilities as a statewide asset at Gateway University Research Park right here in the Piedmont Triad, said Johnston. People and place are important when facilitating industrial/academic networking and transforming communities.

The conference is organized by the Joint School, Gateway and COIN.

For more information or to register, visit the conferences registration page or contact Elie Azzi, e_azzi@uncg.edu, 336-285-2802.

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Enabling extreme performance in optics – Novus Light Technologies Today

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Novus Light Technologies Today

Enabling extreme performance in optics
Novus Light Technologies Today
With the control of nano-engineering using CVD techniques, synthetic diamond can be produced in exceptionally pure form. It is this purity that places it at the heart of the many ground-breaking achievements in quantum physics that may have ...

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Enabling extreme performance in optics - Novus Light Technologies Today

New research could make dew droplets so small, they’re invisible – Phys.Org

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

July 31, 2017 Essentially, when the nanopillars are tall and slender, the droplets formed inside and on the crevices can jump off the surface at a much smaller size, down to two micrometers. Likewise, short and stout pillars increase the size of the droplet required to jump -- up to 20 micrometers in the case of Mulroe's experiment. Credit: Virginia Tech

By better understanding the behavior of water in its smallest form, a Virginia Tech professor and his undergraduate student could be improving the efficiency of removing condensation in a major way.

Jonathan Boreyko, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, has been studying "jumping" dew droplets since he discovered the phenomenon in graduate school.

According to Boreyko, dew droplets only jump from water-repellent surfaces when they reach a large enough sizeabout 10 micrometersbut it was unclear why until Boreyko and his students made a breakthrough discovery, soon to be published in the high-impact journal ACS Nano.

In Boreyko's lab, then-undergraduate Megan Mulroe experimented with the surface of silicon chips to see how the nanoscopic topography of the surface might impact the jumping ability of condensation.

By creating and testing six different types of surfaces covered with so-called nanopillarsreminiscent of stalagmites on a cave floorMulroe found that the critical size of the jumping droplet can be fine-tuned based on the height, diameter, and pitch of the nanopillars.

"These results, correlated with a theoretical model, revealed that the bottleneck for jumping is how the droplets inflate inside of the surface after they first form," Boreyko said.

Essentially, when the nanopillars are tall and slender, the droplets formed inside and on the crevices can jump off the surface at a much smaller size, down to two micrometers. Likewise, short and stout pillars increase the size of the droplet required to jumpup to 20 micrometers in the case of Mulroe's experiment.

While the jumping droplets phenomena has been found to be the most efficient form of condensation removal, the ability to tweak the size of the droplets can allow for improved efficiency in removing condensation from surfaces.

"We expect that these findings will allow for maximizing the efficiency of jumping-droplet condensers, which could make power plants more efficient and enable robust anti-fogging and self-cleaning surfaces," Boreyko said. "The ultimate goal is for all dew droplets forming on a surface to jump off before they are even visible to the eye."

Mulroe, who was first author on the paper, conducted all of the experiments, while graduate student Farzad Ahmadi, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics, backed up the findings with a theoretical model.

The research will be published July 31 in ACS Nano.

Explore further: Forget defrosting your car at a glacial pace: New research speeds process up tenfold

Journal reference: ACS Nano

Provided by: Virginia Tech

Jonathan Boreyko turned on the defroster in his car one cold winter morning and waited for the ice on the windshield to melt. And kept waiting.

In a completely unexpected finding, MIT researchers have discovered that tiny water droplets that form on a superhydrophobic surface, and then "jump" away from that surface, carry an electric charge. The finding could lead ...

A mathematical model that predicts how water condenses around tiny particles could help to improve chemical industrial processes, including the production of drug tablets, fertilizers and catalysts.

Sometimes, liquid drops don't drop. Instead, they climb. Using computer simulations, researchers have now shown how to induce droplets to climb stairs all by themselves.

(Phys.org) A simple new technique to form interlocking beads of water in ambient conditions could prove valuable for applications in biological sensing, membrane research and harvesting water from fog.

In a discovery that may lead to ways to prevent frost on airplane parts, condenser coils, and even windshields, a team of researchers led by Virginia Tech has used chemical micropatterns to control the growth of frost caused ...

(Phys.org)Assessing and ranking research institutes is important for awarding grants, recruiting employees, promoting institutes, and other reasons. But finding a fair and accurate method for assessing the performance ...

A newly discovered collective rattling effect in a type of crystalline semiconductor blocks most heat transfer while preserving high electrical conductivity - a rare pairing that scientists say could reduce heat buildup in ...

Los Alamos National Laboratory has produced the first known material capable of single-photon emission at room temperature and at telecommunications wavelengths. These carbon nanotube quantum light emitters may be important ...

Scientists searching for traces of drugs, bomb-making components and other chemicals often shine light on the materials they're analyzing.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have, for the first time, observed the formation of a crystal gel with particle-level resolution, allowing them to study the conditions by which these new materials form.

Science and the IT industry have high hopes for quantum computing, but descriptions of possible applications tend to be vague. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now come up with a concrete example that demonstrates what quantum ...

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New research could make dew droplets so small, they're invisible - Phys.Org

The importance of vocalizations between mice and their offspring – Medical Xpress

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

August 1, 2017 Credit: martha sexton/public domain

A study by a research team at the Max Delbrck Center in Berlin that appears in the journal PNAS has found a group of neuronal cells in the brain stem that coordinate exhalation and tension of muscles in the larynx of baby mice without which they are mute. The cries of human babies may well depend on similar connections, which could also be impaired in speech disorders.

Almost immediately after birth, mouse pups that are separated from their mother are able to make calls to summon her. The generation of these calls requires vigorous exhalation and the tensioning of laryngeal muscles, which requires the coordinated activity of two muscle groups. This is achieved by neurons in the brainstem, according to a study by Carmen Birchmeier's lab at the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

In series of experiments, the researchers have shown that the cells of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) are linked to cells that control tension in the abdominal muscles, enabling vigorous exhalation, and the muscles in the larynx. The nucleus also receives sensory information from the vocal folds, the tongue and the lung. During vocalization, it coordinates sensory inputs and motor outputs. However, if the genes for the transcription factors Olig3 or Tlx3 are mutated, the nerve cells in this particular nucleus cannot mature properly in the fetus. Without it, the pups cannot vocalize after birth.

The mother ignores mute offspring

Newborn mice need proximity to their mother for survival. As soon as a newborn mouse pup escapes the safety of the nest, it emits salvos of four to six calls with a frequency of 75 kHz. These sounds are not audible to the human ear. During each call, the newborn mouse exhales deeply. The mother responds immediately, looking for her lost pup and reuniting it with the rest of the litter. Even recorded ultrasound calls will prompt her to seek her offspring. If a baby mouse in distress is unable to emit these calls, the mother cannot respond.

"We suspect that the calls are an evolutionarily conserved signal that indicates the offsprings' fitness and health," Carmen Birchmeier says. "The mute mice are also a model for investigating the importance of vocalization for the interaction between mother and baby," first author Luis Hernandez-Miranda says.

Another theory is that the functional faults in the nucleus could be involved in the development and manifestation of speech disorders, which are often seen in patients after strokes, those who have tumors or are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.

Explore further: Gut microbiome of mother found to impact immunity of mice pups

More information: Luis Rodrigo Hernandez-Miranda et al, Genetic identification of a hindbrain nucleus essential for innate vocalization, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1702893114

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The importance of vocalizations between mice and their offspring - Medical Xpress

Molecular profile hints at inflammatory processes in chronic fatigue – Reuters

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

(Reuters Health) - - People with severe symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome have a molecular signature in their blood made up of 17 immune system signaling molecules that are elevated, which may provide insight into how inflammation contributes to the mysterious condition.

Inflammation is the immune systems response to injuries and illnesses. The study identified variations in molecules known as cytokines that are responsible for sending messages and sounding an alarm, including several that can trigger inflammation.

Chronic fatigue syndrome can involve years of crippling pain and exhaustion, but is a controversial diagnosis because patients cant take a test to prove they have it. The current study results build on earlier experiments linking inflammation to the condition and might one day help create a blood test to diagnose it or lead to effective treatments, researchers say.

What is at stake here is proof of concept that this disease is real, said lead study author Dr. Jose G. Montoya of Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

Patients have been humiliated, ostracized, and ignored, Montoya said by email.

Millions of people worldwide, including more than 1 million in the U.S. alone, suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, the researchers note in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Doctors may diagnose the condition, also called myalgic encephalomyelitis, when people have at least six months of debilitating fatigue that cant be explained by other causes and make it difficult for them to keep up with school, work or social activities. Symptoms can appear in different combinations and intensities and may include sleep problems, cognitive impairment, fever, sore throat, or sensitivity to noise, light or certain foods.

The National Academy of Medicine recently proposed a new name for the condition, systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), because of its hallmark symptom of crushing fatigue after any kind of exertion, the authors note.

Many, but not all, chronic fatigue syndrome patients experience flu-like symptoms common in diseases caused by inflammation, they add.

For the current study, researchers examined blood samples from 192 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and a control group of 392 healthy people.

The scientists found that some cytokine levels were lower in patients with mild forms of chronic fatigue syndrome than in the group of healthy individuals, but higher in people with severe symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.

One protein in particular, tumor growth factor beta (TGF-beta), was higher in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome than in the healthy controls, while another protein, resistin was lower.

However, the study team also found that the concentrations of 17 of the 51 cytokines they examined were associated with disease severity. Thirteen of those 17 cytokines are pro-inflammatory, the authors note.

Taken together, the findings build on previous research demonstrating that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real illness, and not something patients make up or experience only for psychological reasons, experts say.

Many people with (chronic fatigue syndrome) report that their illness began with symptoms associated with a typical respiratory infection including fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, muscle weakness and fatigue, but the clinical course was atypical and they never fully recovered, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a researcher at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.

Many of these symptoms can be explained by circulating immune system molecules described by Montoya and colleagues in this paper, as well as by others who have reported similar findings, Lipkin, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

The development of a biomarker such as a diagnostic blood test for chronic fatigue syndrome would be a major advance in understanding the condition and treating it, said Dr. Shaheen Lakhan, a neurology researcher at California University of Science and Medicine in San Bernardino who wasnt involved in the study.

We currently do not have such a test, Lakhan said by email. Not only will it permit objective diagnosis, it may guide new drug development and be used to monitor disease activity and responsiveness to treatments.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2tY29nF Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online July 31, 2017.

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Molecular profile hints at inflammatory processes in chronic fatigue - Reuters

The Conquest of Death – HuffPost

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Recently, Ive begun teaching Son meditation to a hospice patient. A couple of years ago MRIs revealed that her internal organs were riddled with tumors. After an excruciating treatment of chemotherapy, her doctors informed her there was nothing more they could do. She moved into a hospice and her physicians now predict she has between six months and two years to live.

When I met her, it was hard to guess her age. I couldnt tell whether the chemotherapy had aged her prematurely, but she looked elderly. Still, among the elderly theres a difference between those who expect to live longer and those who think theyll die soon. She obviously belonged to the latter group and the first thing that struck me was the look in her eyes. Im dying.

At our first meeting, she got right to the point, Whats going to happen to me?

Like so many people these days, she didnt belong to any religion, but she considered herself spiritual.

I said, There are two scenarios. In the first one, your consciousness will disappear. In this case, death isnt an experience. Its the end of experience. Its the end of suffering. From this point of view, death is unfamiliar, but its not actually something to be afraid of. Death is literally nothing at all.

The second scenario is that some part of consciousness will somehow survive physical death. It will move on to or manifest itself in some other mode of existence. Maybe it will go to another realm. Maybe it will move into another body. But if a part of consciousness survives, then, again, theres no actual death. One way or the other, death does not exist as a thing to be afraid of. But, on a human level, were afraid of it anyway. We fear the pain of dying, we fear the unknown.

I first became a monk because I wanted an answer to the reality of death and impermanence. I had always been highly aware that all life, including mine, ends in death. But my awareness was only mental. I was a young man, I had a young body. My body didnt feel like it was going to die any time soon. The truth is, it felt like it would never die. There was a disjuncture between what my mind knew and what my body felt. Every dead bug, dried up leaf, meal on my plate, and bit of roadkill that I passed on the highway told me in no uncertain terms what was coming for me. But my body felt glowingly alive and my heart stupidly beat on with clockwork reliability. Like it would do that forever.

But the years passed. One day I looked in the mirror and noticed again, with mild disapproval, the white hairs forming on my head. And then it hit me. Im really going to die. An animal shudder passed through my body. My heart shriveled and I felt my stomach turn inside-out.

Everything changed after that. For the first time in my life, what my mind knew and what my body experienced were in sync.

The patient told me that her chemotherapy treatment had been a nightmare. Every day now she was racked with agonizing pain and she spent all of her energy just enduring it.

But that was nothing, she said, compared to the fear. The not knowing where Im gonna be. That, according to her, was the worst thing.

Would you get on a boat for a year-long voyage without asking where the boat was headed? Would you just gamble with a year of your life like that?

Would you be willing to ride that boat for 70 or 80 years without ever confirming the final destination?

Would you ride that boat the whole time without asking any questions if you knew for a fact that at the end of the trip it will go over a waterfall?

Then, why do we live our entire lives the way we do?

Our society, our culture, our civilization, and each of our individual life plans are built upon a pathological denial of the reality of death. The signs of death the sight of human corpses and terminally ill patients are hidden away in places that people under normal circumstances avoid like theyre radioactive. The symptoms of aging are covered over by make-up, dyes, and wardrobe or theyre literally cut away by cosmetic surgery. Our media subject us to a torrential downpour of the most irrational, obviously deceptive propaganda that has ever been invented: Stay young forever! Look years younger!

Open talk about death is taboo and you broach the topic at the risk of being labeled morbid. At the risk of social censure.

Such a denial of any other obvious fact of life would be considered a symptom of outright mental illness.

But we keep on denying it because we think theres nothing we can do about it. Because, as smart as we think we are, we just cant get our heads around it. Because no one ever taught us how to balance the twin realities of having to live and having to die.

You actually have to know how to do both.

You know that you didnt start dying when you got cancer, right? I asked the patient.

Her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, Yes, yes, I know exactly what you mean! But I didnt know it until now. Were always dying.

Every day of life is a day closer to death.

Its not rocket science, but it never fails to astonish me how poorly even the most brilliant minds think when it comes to the subject of death. Fear completely distorts our reason.

Take, for example, the two most well-publicized ways which scientists have considered for defying death: Cryogenics and uploading our mind into a computer. Even if we could manage such feats, the most obvious thing we can see here is that these are ways of delaying death, not actually eradicating it.

Let's think about this clearly. Either the universe is eternal or its not. If its eternal, then it means that no matter how successfully you clone and enhance your body or how indestructible and replicable the robot body that you build for your mind may be, there is one-trillionth of a chance that some accident will irretrievably destroy this new vehicle for your mind. But in an eternal universe a one-in-a-trillion probability at any given moment is a 100% certainty over time. Eventually, over trillions of trillions of eons, somethings going to get you.

On the other hand, in an impermanent cosmos, the universe will eventually collapse or expand out of existence. How will your indestructible, endlessly replicable mind/body then live without a place to live in? Without energy or space?

And if we think we may be satisfied with an incredibly long lifetime, we need to remember theres an important difference between longevity and immortality.

The difference is this: No matter how long we live, no matter how long our happiness lasts, when its time for us to give up something that we want to keep, it feels too soon. We say, It feels like just yesterday when

This is the obvious truth of impermanence, why its so painful for most of us: When something disappears, its disappears so thoroughly its like it was never there.

Look at an elderly, dying patient and you literally cannot guess what they looked like when they were twenty. Fall out of love and your body and heart dont register at all anymore the nearness of someone you once felt so close to. Lose your passion for doing something and the place where you worked so hard for so long now feels foreign.

Whether you live seventy years, a hundred years or a thousand years, when your time is up, it always feels sudden. Something in your mind always goes, Thats it? Its really over?

So how then shall we conquer death?

Ive chosen to bet that some part of consciousness what Son Buddhists call the source or root of consciousness lives on. Im trying to find Awaken to exactly what part of me that is. I choose this path because a life lived in the shadow of death while nervously, self-deludedly trying to ignore the reality of death is awful.

But its also the choice where I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. In this choice, there is a possibility, however remote, of attaining some form of transcendence over death.

If Im wrong and delusional and at death my mind is completely destroyed, then who cares? Its what would have happened anyway. There will be no me" to be embarrassed or regretful that I was wrong. And it will be the end of suffering.

On the other hand, if Im correct, then I may attain peace in the face of human mortality. Indestructible, eternal peace. I mean that literally. Because Ill be enlightened to the one part of my mind or my existence or reality itself that survives and transcends physical death. And a whole new realm of existence will open up before me. That prospect is actually exciting. Thrilling even.

So I choose the seemingly unlikely possibility that the source of consciousness survives over the 100% certainty that, even if I could freeze my body or upload my mind into a new body or computer, the vehicle of my mind will be destroyed. And I certainly choose it over a desperate and hopeless reliance on diet fads, low-body-fat-at-all-costs workout regimens, botox, and clothes that make me look skinny.

Its a truism among hospice caregivers that people die in the same way that they lived. If we spend our lives in relentless, pathological denial of death, theres no way to measure the helplessness, frustration, and terror we feel on the day that were given a terminal diagnosis. All of the fear and uncertainty that we suppressed come roaring back after us with a vengeance.

But if, while we live, we are able to Awaken to some other timeless dimension of life within ourselves somewhere, well, Id prefer to be illuminated like that when my body finally gives out and theres nothing more I can do but just take it.

It seems like a better way to die.

To learn more about Son meditation please visit Hwansan Sunim: Son Meditation for the Modern World and for updates please visit International Son Buddhist Meditation Program. Questions can be sent to: ask.hwansan@gmail.com.

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The Conquest of Death - HuffPost

SIGGRAPH: Neurable Lets You Control A Virtual World With Your … – UploadVR

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Ive used my eyes to interact with a virtual world before, but startup Neurable just enhanced that experience by reading my thoughts too.

At SIGGRAPH this week the Boston-based startup is showing its modified HTC Vive which include EEG (Electroencephalography)sensors along the interior of the headstrap. This is combined with eye-tracking technology from German firm SMI, which may have just been acquired by Apple. The EEG sensors comb-like structure dug through my hair to subtly make contact against my scalp where they detected brain activity. It is definitely alarming to hear someone outside VR say my brain is looking good.

What followed was a brief training session where a group of objects floated in front of me a train, ball and block among them. Each time one of them rotated I was told to focus on that object and think grab in my mind. I did so a number of times for several of the objects, all successful.

Afterward there was a test. I was told to just think of the object I wanted. I tried not to stare directly at the object I wanted but five out of five times the correct object was picked as I thought about it. A sixth time the wrong object was selected but it occurred as someone was talking to me and I was distracted. As I refocused, almost immediately the correct object moved toward me.

In the video above you can see each of the objects flash. Neurable CEO and President Ramses Alcaide says they are able to detect these flashes in my brain even though they register subconsciously. He said the eye tracking inside the headset wasnt active during the training and test portion of the demonstration. It became active during the next portion of the demo meant to show the potential of the system in a game environment. Heres how Neurable describes it:

Neurable is debutingAwakening,a VR game preview made in partnership witheStudiofuture, at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles.Awakeningis a futuristic story reminiscent ofStranger Things: you are a child held prisoner in a government science laboratory. You discover that experiments have endowed you with telekinetic powers. You must use those powers to escape your cell, defeat the robotic prison guards, and free yourself from the lab. The game allows you to manipulate objects and battle foes with your mind, and is played entirely without handheld controllers.

According to Neurable, this works using machine learning to interpret your brain activity in real time to afford virtual powers of telekinesis. The company offers an SDK so Unity developers can integrate the system into a game.

I was able to select a group of objects on the ground of my holding cell just by thinking about them and then use them to try and escape. I was offered some hints from outside VR to escape the room but the selection with my mind worked to grab the objects I wanted. As I moved into a lab, I looked around at the counter tops and thought about the objects to toss at a robot approaching me. One of them was a keyboard. As I thought the word grab it floated toward me. Object after object I tossed at the incoming robots until I progressed through to the end of the level.

We have two modes. Pure EEG mode, which just determines the object you want and brings it to you directly, and we have a mode that is a hybrid BCI [brain-computer interface] mode, and in that mode we can use the eyes as a type of mouse where you can move your eyes nearthe object you want to select, said Alcaide. From there your brain tells us which one you clicked on.

In the video above you can see me sort of covering my face as a kind of surprised reaction each time the system correctly identified which object I wanted. I was frankly in shock I really didnt expect it to work as well as it did.Both this brain-computer interface and the earlier eye tracking demo I tried felt like true super powers.

According to Alcaide, Neurable raised around $2 million and has 13 employees.

I think the future of mixed reality interactions is an ecosystem of solutions that incorporates voice, gesture control, eye tracking and the missing link to that entire puzzle which is brain-computer interfaceswe need some sort of system that prevents the action from happening until the user wants it to happen, and thats where brain-computer interfaces come in, said Alcaide. In my opinion mixed reality cannot become a ubiquitous computing platform like the iPhone, or like the computer, until we have brain-computer interfaces as part of the solution.

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Men, Here are 5 Things You Should Keep In Mind When Dating A Fashionista – India.com

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

So your girls hair is always set, her clothes always look beautiful and trendy and her makeup is on point. Is this how your girl is most of the times? Well by now we are sure you might have realized that you are dating a woman who is an absolute fashion lover. She is not the kinds to pick any random clothes when she is out shopping. A fashionista also ensures that even her man is dressed to the nines. No wonder you fell in love with her right? The way she puts in much thoughts and effort to look is so fascinating. However, there is more to a fashionista than just this. And these are things that every man must know about. So for your better understanding, here are the 5 most important things that you should know about dating a fashionista.

If you are dating a fashion lover , this is one fact about her that you should know and accept gracefully. If you have plans of going out, whether it is a date or just a simple walk, tell her in advance. If the plan includes stepping out of home, your girl needs to get dressed. Do not even dare asking why, because fashion lovers just need reasons to get dressed and if you do not tell her in advance, consider your plan to be cancelled.

Every single day for a fashion lover is a special day. They want to look good every day. Whether you are going for a late night movie or just a house party, they will still get dressed up.

A fashion lover just needs excuses to shop. Every time there is an occasion,she will shop and you dare not stop her. She is sad, happy or stressed, only shopping can make her feel better. You being her guy have no option but to deal with it. In fact she will even insist you to shop so that even your wardrobe is updated.

So she is dressed up each time she goes out and she obviously would love to put it up on social media. It can get a tad annoying but mostfashion lovers areaddicted to social media. Either to upload pictures or to take fashion inspiration from around. They just love being connected to fashion.

So we told you how you will find your fashion lover girl getting dressed up irrespective of whether there is an occasion or not. Now another fact is that she will take some time to get ready. She has to ensure her hair is done right, her make up is on point and she will also try out a few outfits before she finalizes one. Deal with it men!

So gentlemen, these are the 5 things that you need to keep in mind if your girl loves fashion. Be prepared for a makeover yourself, because she makes the fashion decisions.

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Men, Here are 5 Things You Should Keep In Mind When Dating A Fashionista - India.com

ACT Fibernet launches 150 Mbps broadband speed in Delhi, revises older plans – The Indian Express

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

By: Tech Desk | Updated: August 1, 2017 2:35 pm ACT has announced 150 Mbps speeds in Delhi. Here are details for the new broadband plans.

ACT Fibernet, which is the third largest internet service provider, (ISP) in India, has announced plans of introducing 150 Mbps broadband speeds in Delhi from today. ACT also revised the current fixed term broadband plans for customers in Delhi and the pricing for the plans has not been changed. ACT will upgrade its plan for retail customers as well small office and home office users.

For retail customers, ACT Bronze plan will now have 75 Mbps speed on their broadband line with 250 GB data transfer. This includes 125 GB FUP for uploads and 125 GB for downloads with the price remaining at Rs 999. The earlier speed offered in this plan was 40 Mbps with 100 GB data in total.

The ACT Silver plan under retail also gets upgraded to 75 Mbps speed, though this one has 350 GB data transfer, of which 175 GB is for uploads, while 175 GB is for downloads. The plan cost remains at Rs 1,199. In the retail segment, ACT Gold plan will now have 100 Mbps speeds and 500 GB data transfer option. In this 250 GB data is for uploads and 250 GB data for downloads. The price of the plan remains at Rs 1,499, and earlier it had offer 75 Mbps speeds with 200 GB data.

Finally, the most expensive plan for retail customers is ACT Platinum and this one will have 150 Mbps speed, an upgrade from the earlier 100 Mbps. The price of the plan remains at Rs 1,999, and it has a total of 600 GB data transfer option with 300 GB data for uploads, and 300 GB data for downloads as the limit.

After the FUP is exhausted, the internet speed will be reduced to 512 Kbps in these plans, except for ACT Platinum where the speed will be reduced to 1 Mbps. For small office and home office plans, ACTs basic Remarkable plan will come with 125 Mbps speed and 850 data transfer out of which 425 GB is for uploads and 425 GB for downloads. The plan price is Rs 2,999 and it earlier offered 100 Mbps speeds.

The plans ACT Exceptional will be upgraded to 150 Mbps speed with 1100 GB FUP limit of which 550 GB is for uploads and 550 GB for downloads. The plan price is Rs 3,999 and it remains the same; this plan earlier offered 125 Mbps speeds with 500 GB of data.

ACT Phenomenal plan will now offer 150 Mbps speed, but with 1400 GB FUP limit (700 GB upload and 700 GB download at a price of Rs 4,999. Once the user exhausts the FUP, the speed in these plans is reset to 2 Mbps.

In Delhi we have always witnessed an ever growing demand among consumers for high-speed broadband connectivity. Keeping this in mind, we have revised and upgraded our plans to offer better speeds at no additional costs. We provide promised speeds to our customers so a customer on 150 mbps plan can expect 150 mbps 24*7,365 days on his connection. We believe this upgrade will further strengthen our presence in the market and help us bring new customers on board, Bala Malladi, CEO, Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt Ltd commented in a press statement.

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ACT Fibernet launches 150 Mbps broadband speed in Delhi, revises older plans - The Indian Express

Alien: Isolation Returns To VR With Unofficial Rift And Vive Mod – UploadVR

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

In a way, Alien: Isolation was one of the first games to support VR. All the way back in 2014, two years before the consumer Oculus Rift would release, Oculus headed to E3 with a playable demo of the game for its shiny DK2 headset along with other games like Luckys Tale.

The demo was a terrifying experience, taking a slice of the first-person horror game that aimed to capture the dim atmosphere and chilling scares of the first Alien movie. Sadly, full support never made its way into the game and developer Creative Assembly has since moved onto new projects. Around release, DK2 owners were able to get the game running on their headsets with makeshift support, but it was impossible to do the same on the consumer VR headsets released last year. That is until now.

A team of modders has just released an alpha version of MotherVR, which allows the entire game to play played using either an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Simply download this patch, copy the DLL file from the archive into the game folder and youll be ready to go (provided you have bought the game itself, of course). Thats still with a gamepad, mind you; the team has done a great job converting the original game into the uncharted territory of the VR port, but it sticks with the original controls (mouse and keyboard are also compatible).

Be warned, though, this isnt a professionally-made VR port, and thus you can expect some comfort and immersion-breaking issues throughout. If walking with artificial locomotion isnt your thing then youll have to give this one a miss and, even if youre not, forced camera turns and other issues might get your stomach rolling a little. If youre up to it, though, theres a lengthy and worthwhile campaign to see through, and staring down the iconic Xenomorph in VR is truly a frightening ordeal. You can even play the DLC expansion that released later on, retelling the events of the original movie.

This is probably as close as youll ever get to playing the full game in VR, so show the team some support if you can.

Alien: Isolation Returns To VR With Unofficial Rift And Vive Mod - UploadVR

Chinese Traditional Medicine Highlighted – Liberian Daily Observer

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Liberian Daily Observer

Chinese Traditional Medicine Highlighted
Liberian Daily Observer
Dr. Wang Tao, a Chinese medical doctor assigned at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Medical Center in Monrovia, has underscored the importance of his country's traditional medicine as compared to orthodox treatments. Dr. Wang was speaking over the weekend ...

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Chinese Traditional Medicine Highlighted - Liberian Daily Observer

Big Data shows big promise in medicine – Livemint

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Physicians arent likely to be replaced by algorithms, at least not right away, but their skill sets might have to change. Photo: iStock

In handling some life-or-death medical judgements, computers have already surpassed the abilities of doctors. Were looking at the promise of self-driving cars, according to Zak Kohane, a doctor and researcher at Harvard Medical School. On the roads, replacing drivers with computers could save lives that would otherwise be lost to human error. In medicine, replacing intuition with machine intelligence might save patients from drug side effects or otherwise incurable cancers.

Consider precision medicine, which involves tailoring drugs to individual patients. And to understand its promise, look to Shirley Pepke, a physicist who migrated into computational biology. When she developed a deadly cancer, she responded like a scientist and fought it using Big Data. And she is winning. She shared her story at a recent conference organized by Kohane.

In 2013, Pepke was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. She was 46, and her children were nine and three years old. It was just two months after her annual gynaecological exam. She had symptoms, which the doctors brushed off, until her bloating got so bad she insisted on an ultrasound. She was carrying six litres of fluid caused by the cancer, which had metastasized.

She did what most people do in her position. She agreed to a course of chemotherapy. She also did something most people wouldnt know how to doshe started looking for useful data. After all, tumours are full of data. They carry DNA with various abnormalities, some of which make them malignant or resistant to certain drugs. Armed with that information, doctors design more effective, individualized treatments. Already, breast cancers are treated differently depending on whether they have a mutation in a gene called HER2. So far, scientists have found no such genetic divisions for ovarian cancers.

But there was some data. Years earlier, scientists had started a data bank called the Cancer Genome Atlas. There were genetic sequences on about 400 ovarian tumours. To help her extract information, she turned to Greg ver Steeg, a professor at the University of Southern California, who was working on an automated pattern-recognition technique called correlation explanation (CorEx). It had not been used to evaluate cancer, but she and Ver Steeg thought it might work. She also got genetic sequencing done on her tumour.

In the meantime, she found out she was not one of the lucky patients cured by chemotherapy. The cancer came back.

But CorEx had turned up a clue. Her tumour had something common with those of the luckier women who responded to the chemotherapyan off-the-charts signal for an immune system product called cytokines. She reasoned that in those luckier patients, the immune system was helping kill the cancer, but in her case, there was something blocking it.

Eventually she concluded that her one shot at survival would be to take a drug called a checkpoint inhibitor, which is geared to break down cancer cells defences against the immune system. At the same time, she went in for another round of chemotherapy.

The checkpoint inhibitor destroyed her thyroid gland, she said, and the chemotherapy was damaging her kidneys. She stopped, not knowing whether her cancer was still there or not. To the surprise of her doctors, she started to get better. Her cancer became undetectable. Still healthy today, she works on ways to allow other cancer patients to benefit from Big Data the way she did.

Kohane, the Harvard Medical School researcher, said similar data-driven efforts might help find side effects of approved drugs. Clinical trials are often not big enough or long-running enough to pick up even deadly side effects that show up when a drug is released to millions of people. Thousands died from heart attacks associated with the painkiller Vioxx before it was taken off the market.

Last month, an analysis by another health site suggested a connection between the rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra and heart attack deaths, though the drug had been sold to doctors and their patients without warning of any added risk of death. Kohane suspects there could be many other unnecessary deaths from drugs whose side effects didnt show up in testing.

So whats holding this technology back? Others are putting big money into Big Data with the aim of selling things and influencing votes. Why not use it to save lives?

First theres the barrier of tradition, said Kohane, whose academic specialty is bioinformatics, a combination of math, medicine and computer science. Medicine does not understand itself as an information-processing discipline, he said. It still sees itself as a combination of intuitive leaps and hard science. And doctors arent collecting the right kinds of data. Were investing in information technology thats not optimized to do anything medically interesting, he said. Its there to maximize income but not to make us better doctors.

Physicians arent likely to be replaced by algorithms, at least not right away, but their skill sets might have to change. Already, machines have proven themselves better than humans in the ability to read scans and evaluate skin lesions. Pepke ended her talk by saying that in the future, doctors may have to think less statistically and more scientifically. Her doctors made decisions based on rote statistical information about what would benefit the average patientbut Pepke was not the average patient. The status quo is an advance over guessing or tradition, but medicine has the potential to do so much better. Bloomberg View

Faye Flam is a Bloomberg View columnist.

Comments are welcome at views@livemint.com

First Published: Tue, Aug 01 2017. 02 03 AM IST

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Big Data shows big promise in medicine - Livemint

Madison doctor headed to new Idaho medical school – Rexburg Standard Journal

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

REXBURG A local doctor has been chosen to help head Idahos first medical school.

Dr. Rodney Bates, a former hospitalist at Madison Memorial Hospital, will become the chair of the Primary Clinical Department at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.

In an interview with Madison Memorial Hospital public relations specialist Lucas Handy, Bates said he was excited for the opportunity to join the medical school.

Its a neat opportunity for Idaho to serve the students and work with them, he said.

Bates first moved to Rexburg with his family 12 years ago after finishing his residency. He said when he moved to Rexburg, he didnt expect to find the family atmosphere that he will miss when he leaves.

It just feels like a big family, especially the (hospital) staff, he said. As far as Rexburg goes, thanks for letting me be a part of your lives.

Bates added that working at the hospital has been a great training opportunity for me.

They call it a medical practice for a reason, he said.

Bates' absence at Madison Memorial Hospital was not unplanned for. Stepping in for Bates will be Jack Clark, M.D. Clark attended medical school at the University of Utah School of Medicine and completed his residency at Penn State University Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania.

Doug McBride, head of Madison Memorial Hospital public relations, said Bates will be missed.

We are really excited for this new adventure hell be going on, McBride said, but well be sorry that hes gone. Hes been a wonderful asset to the hospital. We couldnt be more happy for what hes done.

McBride said Bates encouraged focusing on patients while at the hospital and hopes that Bates will take that mindset with him to the new medical school.

His whole philosophy is patient-oriented. If he can train those students to be anything like he is, well have a really good thing going, he said.

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Madison doctor headed to new Idaho medical school - Rexburg Standard Journal

3 Lessons from the UVM Medical School Active Learning Pivot – Inside Higher Ed (blog)

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

3 Lessons from the UVM Medical School Active Learning Pivot
Inside Higher Ed (blog)
Those in positions of postsecondary leadership should be watching the UVM Larner College of Medicine example closely to see what impact these shifts have on the finances and reputation of the school. My hypothesis is that a willingness to commit to ...

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3 Lessons from the UVM Medical School Active Learning Pivot - Inside Higher Ed (blog)

Medical school welcomes first class at Chaffee Crossing – Times Record

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

By Alex Golden Times Record agolden@swtimes.com

Fort Smiths new medical school opened to its inaugural class Monday with a main mission in mind serving the medically under-served.

Hollywood does not need more plastic surgeons. Real America needs caring, compassionate physicians who believe that their call in their life is to serve, said John Taylor, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education.

The Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine at Chaffee Crossing in Fort Smith is the first installment of ACHE. The College of Health Sciences is expected to open in 2020.

This is a historic event. Youre the first class that took a chance to come to a brand new medical school, President and CEO Kyle Parker said Monday morning.

As the students sat in one of the schools lecture halls just before 9 a.m., the room got quiet when a presentation appeared on the screen in front of them. Shortly after the words, Please take your seat, a 60-second countdown and the song, Celebration played, soliciting a round of clapping and then cheers when countdown hit zero, officially kicking off the first day of medical school.

The real celebration begins in your heart today in this lecture hall, Provost and Dean Ray Stowers said to the 162 students.

About 3,860 students applied, Parker said.

For student Samantha Skinner, who is from Alabama and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2015, the community support for the school struck her.

"I felt like Fort Smith the entire town was really behind the school," Skinner said.

Skinner lives at the medical school's student apartments, The Residents.

"Super convenient," she said. "I walked here this morning."

Skinner lived in Guatemala for 10 years while her mother was in medical missions. She is now ready to serve the under-served, she said.

Student John Young did not initially take the medical route he was a lawyer for 10 years. He then went to the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith to take the science prerequisites he needed to get into medical school.

"I was looking for a change," he said.

Student Bryce Hendrix is from Kansas. Hendrix, a former firefighter and paramedic, described his route to medical school as a winding path.

"I've always been centered on helping people ever since I got out of high school," he said. "The more I learned about medicine, the more I found that niche. I loved learning about it and loved helping people."

Hendrix was impressed with the faculty and the state-of-the-art facilities, he said.

"Of all the places I've seen and interviewed, it was easily the best," he said.

Student Sajan Sarker was raised in Dallas and went to the University of Texas at Austin. He was working at UAMS in Little Rock when he met ARCOM's director of admissions at an event and learned about the school.

Sarker took care of his late father when he was sick.

"I think just taking care of him over that period of time I just got immersed in the medical field. That really grew my passion," he said.

Student Roshni Patel is from Hot Springs and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

"I came here, and I absolutely fell in love with it," she said. "I had never been treated so well ever in my life before I came to this school. Everyone was so nice to me all the staff and faculty they were literally waiting outside for me in 19-degree weather for my interview day to welcome with me in."

Patel also said the brightness and atmosphere of the building itself was a factor.

"It was very obvious this was the place to be," she said.

Medical school welcomes first class at Chaffee Crossing - Times Record

Trauma course added to medical school curriculum – News from Tulane

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Tulane University School of Medicine third-year students in surgery rotations practice bleeding-control techniques as part of a new trauma course. (Photo from Tulane School of Medicine)

When a gunman attacked members of Congress at a baseball practice in June, a lawmaker who served in Iraq was able to deliver critical aid to victims before emergency responders arrived. The veteran had learned bleeding-control techniques designed to save the lives of those critically wounded on the battlefield.

Now all third-year students at Tulane University School of Medicine will get similar training thanks to a new program launched by trauma surgeons. Students will be required to complete a "Stop the Bleed" course, designed by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, during their surgery rotation.

"We want to make sure anybody who graduates knows how to stop bleeding whether they have seen it in real life or not," said Dr. Rebecca Schroll, assistant professor of trauma and critical care, who is leading the program. "To our knowledge, we are the first medical school in the country to incorporate this course into the standard medical student curriculum."

The Stop the Bleed program was designed to teach police and first responders how to use tourniquets and other techniques to stop bleeding from gunshot wounds or other life-threatening injuries after an active-shooter or mass-casualty event. The idea to train first responders in trauma care was championed by legendary Tulane trauma surgeonDr. Norman McSwain.

Schroll hopes that students will pass the knowledge on to others after they graduate by becoming certified instructors.

"Our intention is that all Tulane graduates will be competent in bleeding-control techniques and can comprise a network of qualified instructors who can go out into communities to educate an exponentially expanding number of the lay public, who will be able to stop life-threatening bleeding and save lives.

Like this article? Keep reading: TUPD learns skills to save lives in active shooter events

NC is home to the most affordable medical school in the country, study says – Charlotte Observer

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Charlotte Observer

NC is home to the most affordable medical school in the country, study says
Charlotte Observer
A recent report by Student Loan Hero named the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine the most affordable of 110 U.S. medical schools. The schools were surveyed based on annual tuition costs, average debt at graduation and percentage of ...

NC is home to the most affordable medical school in the country, study says - Charlotte Observer

Essential California: More questions about how USC handled its … – Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, July 31, and heres whats happening across California:

Liberty has three on preseason STATS FCS All-America team – Augusta Free Press

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Danzig

Published Monday, Jul. 31, 2017, 10:46 pm

Front Page Sports Liberty has three on preseason STATS FCS All-America team

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The day prior to Liberty opening its preseason training camp, three Flames were named to the 2017 STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team.

Long snapper Hunter Winstead was named to the second team, while defensive lineman Juwan Wells and kicker Alex Probert were both third team honorees. The trio of players all received postseason All-America honors in 2016.

Libertys three honorees were among the seven Big South players who were named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team.

Joining Libertys selections were first team honorees Anthony Ellis (DL/Charleston Southern) and Mike Basile (DB/Monmouth), second team selection Solomon Brown (LB/Charleston Southern) and third team member Frank Cirone (OL/Charleston Southern).

Winstead was a 2016 STATS FCS All-America third team honoree. The three-year starter finished the last two seasons with a 100.0 percent snap rating. He also recorded two assisted tackles in 2016, giving him six for his Liberty career.

Winstead, a native of Raleigh, N.C., has worked side by side with punter Trey Turner, helping Turner earn All-Big South honors the last two seasons. Turner finished second in the Big South in punting last year after leading the conference as a freshman and sophomore. Turner ranked No. 37 in the country in punting in 2016, averaging 41.0 yards per punt.

Wells was named to the 2016 HERO Sports FCS Sophomore All-America squad. He had a breakout season for the Flames, leading the team with a career-best 79 tackles. He ranked third in the Big South in total tackles and finished the season fifth in the Big South in tackles for a loss (11.0) and fourth in sacks (5.5).

The 2016 All-Big South first team honoree has recorded 18.5 tackles for a loss and 10.5 sacks during his first two years at Liberty. The native of Dublin, Ga., also finished last season with a team-best nine pass breakups and posted four double-digit tackle efforts.

Probert finished his first year at Liberty as an honorable mention selection to the 2016 HERO Sports FCS Freshman All-America team. He finished last year with 78 points, the most by a freshman in school history.

The native of Andover, Minn., earned All-Big South first team honors after leading the Big South and ranking No. 10 in the country in field goals per game (1.36). Probert was named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List, which honors the top FCS freshman in the country, and finished in 17thplace in the awards final voting.

Liberty will begin its preseason training campon Tuesday, holding its first team practice of the year from9:20 to 11:45 a.m.The Flames will open the season at Baylor onSept. 2and welcome Morehead State to Williams Stadium for their home opener onSept. 9.

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Liberty has three on preseason STATS FCS All-America team - Augusta Free Press

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