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Low-Cost Smart Glove Translates American Sign … – I-Connect007 – I-Connect007

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a smart glove that wirelessly translates the American Sign Language alphabet into text and controls a virtual hand to mimic sign language gestures. The device, which engineers call The Language of Glove, was built for less than $100 using stretchable and printable electronics that are inexpensive, commercially available and easy to assemble. The work was published on July 12 in the journal PLOS ONE.

In addition to decoding American Sign Language gestures, researchers are developing the glove to be used in a variety of other applications ranging from virtual and augmented reality to telesurgery, technical training and defense.

Gesture recognition is just one demonstration of this gloves capabilities, said Timothy OConnor, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at UC San Diego and the first author of the study. Our ultimate goal is to make this a smart glove that in the future will allow people to use their hands in virtual reality, which is much more intuitive than using a joystick and other existing controllers. This could be better for games and entertainment, but more importantly for virtual training procedures in medicine, for example, where it would be advantageous to actually simulate the use of ones hands.

The glove is unique in that it has sensors made from stretchable materials, is inexpensive and simple to manufacture. Weve innovated a low-cost and straightforward design for smart wearable devices using off-the-shelf components. Our work could enable other researchers to develop similar technologies without requiring costly materials or complex fabrication methods, said Darren Lipomi, a nanoengineering professor who is a member of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego and the studys senior author.

The Language of Glove

The team built the device using a leather athletic glove and adhered nine stretchable sensors to the back at the knuckles two on each finger and one on the thumb. The sensors are made of thin strips of a silicon-based polymer coated with a conductive carbon paint. The sensors are secured onto the glove with copper tape. Stainless steel thread connects each of the sensors to a low power, custom-made printed circuit board thats attached to the back of the wrist.

The sensors change their electrical resistance when stretched or bent. This allows them to code for different letters of the American Sign Language alphabet based on the positions of all nine knuckles. A straight or relaxed knuckle is encoded as 0 and a bent knuckle is encoded as 1. When signing a particular letter, the glove creates a nine-digit binary key that translates into that letter. For example, the code for the letter A (thumb straight, all other fingers curled) is 011111111, while the code for B (thumb bent, all other fingers straight) is 100000000. Engineers equipped the glove with an accelerometer and pressure sensor to distinguish between letters like I and J, whose gestures are different but generate the same nine-digit code.

The low power printed circuit board on the glove converts the nine-digit key into a letter and then transmits the signals via Bluetooth to a smartphone or computer screen. The glove can wirelessly translate all 26 letters of the American Sign Language alphabet into text. Researchers also used the glove to control a virtual hand to sign letters in the American Sign Language alphabet.

Moving forward, the team is developing the next version of this glove one thats endowed with the sense of touch. The goal is to make a glove that could control either a virtual or robotic hand and then send tactile sensations back to the users hand, Lipomi said. This work is a step toward that direction.

Researchers transform conservation tool with gold nanotechnology, lasers – UMN News

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Researchers revolutionize vital conservation tool with use of gold nanotechnology and lasers Cryopreservation study results have sweeping implications for wildlife conservation and human health

For more than 60 years, researchers have tried to successfully cryopreserve (or freeze) the embryo of zebrafish, a species that is an important medical model for human health. In a new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) provide the first-ever reproducible evidence for the successful cryopreservation of zebrafish embryos.

The study uses new gold nanotechnology and lasers to warm the embryothe stumbling block in previous studies. The results have profound implications for human health, wildlife conservation, and aquaculture.

The research is published today in ACS Nano, a leading scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society.

Theres no doubt that the use of this technology, in this way, marks a paradigm shift for cryopreservation and the conservation of many wildlife species, said MaryHagedorn, an SCBI research scientist and paper co-author who has been working on cryopreserving zebrafish embryos since 1992.

To get anything to work at such cold temperatures, you usually have to get creative. Here we take a unique approach by combining biology with an exciting engineering technology to do what has been impossible previously: to successfully freeze and thaw a fish embryo so that the embryo begins to develop, rather than falls apart, Hagedorn added.

By freezing sperm, eggs and embryos, conservationists can safeguard at-risk species and their genetic diversity, making it possible to bolster the genetic pool and therefore health of wild populations yearsor even centurieslater. Although scientists have successfully cryopreserved the embryos of many mammal species and the sperm of many species of fish, freezing fish embryos proved infinitely more complicated.

Successful cryopreservation of an embryo requires cooling the embryo to a cryogenically stable state, then warming it at a rate faster than it was cooled, and using an antifreeze (or cryoprotectant) to stop the growth of ice crystals, which are like pins in a balloon that pop the membrane and cause the embryo to fall apart. Fish embryos, however, are very large, making it difficult to thaw them quickly and avoid ice crystal development. In addition, because aquatic animals need to survive harsh environments, their embryonic membranes are mostly impenetrable, blocking the cryoprotectants out.

Enter laser gold nanotechnology, a rapidly growing technological field being developed for cryopreservation applications by University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering John Bischof that was critical for the success of the study and has a wide variety of biomedical applications.

Lasers have the exciting ability to act like a light switch that can turn biological activity on and off within gold nanoparticle laden biomaterials, said Bischof, senior author of the study. In this case, by careful engineering and deployment of gold nanoparticles within a cryogenically stored and biological inactive embryo, we can use a laser pulse to quickly warm the embryo back to ambient temperatures and switch biological activity, and therefore life, back on.

Gold nanorods are tiny cylinders of gold that convert absorbed light (from a laser, for example) into heat. The studys authors injected both the cryoprotectant and nanogold particles into the embryos. The gold particles transferred heat uniformly throughout the embryo when hit with a laser, warming the embryo from -196 degrees C to 20 degrees C in just one thousandth of a second. The amazingly fast warming rate, in combination with the cryoprotectant, prevented the formation of lethal ice crystals.

Embryos that underwent this process went on to develop at least to the 24-hour stage where they developed a heart, gills, tail musculature and movedproving their post-thaw viability.

The studys authors next aim to fine-tune the process to ensure that they can increase the survival rate of the embryos. They will also investigate the use of automation to bolster how many embryos they can successfully thaw at once.

Because the embryos of other aquatic animalsfish, amphibians and coralare very similar to those of zebrafish, this technology is directly applicable to the cryopreservation of many species embryos. The technology may also be customized to cryopreserve reptile and bird embryos and enhance the process of cryopreserving mammalian embryos, including giant pandas and large cats. In addition, the technology can help aquaculture farms become more efficient and cost effective, putting less pressure on wild populations.

Human health researchers use zebrafishwhich have a genome similar to that of humansas important disease models to study melanoma, heart disease and blood disorders, among other health issues. Cryopreserved zebrafish embryos will prevent the scientists from losing entire research lines and will give them the flexibility to bring the lines back as needed.

In addition to Hagedorn and Bischof, the lead authors of the paper are University of Minnesota Ph.D. students Kanav Khosla and Yiru Wang with help from former University of Minnesota Ph.D. student Zhenpeng Qin.

To read the full research paper, visit the ACS Nano website.

Researchers transform conservation tool with gold nanotechnology, lasers - UMN News

Light manipulated to make 2D surfaces appear as 3D objects – Optics.org

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

10Jul2017

Video game technique encodes 3D images into wafer-thin surfaces; method could benefit phone cameras, TV screens, security.

The research has been carried out by Kings College London alongside Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt Bonn, Germany, and is published in Nano Letters.

When light hits an object, the colour, texture, and shape of that object affect how the light is absorbed and reflected, allowing a viewer to perceive the object. By altering the surface to change how light is reflected, it is possible to manipulate how it appears.

The KCL and Bonn researchers developed layered materials, incorporating precisely designed nano-features smaller than the wavelength of light, called metasurfaces. This allowed them to precisely control how light is reflected, so that a 2D surface reflects light just as a 3D object would.

Borrowing a technique from 3D computer graphics called Normal Mapping, researchers encoded shadow effects into the image, creating 3D images said to be more realistic than holograms or 3D cinema. As a proof of concept, the researchers fabricated a flat metasurface imitating lighting and shading effects of a 3D cube (see above).

The researchers commented that the technique could have huge implications for the optical industries, including in TV screens and photography, as well as in security labels for protecting goods and banknotes from counterfeiting.

Amazing surface

Professor Anatoly Zayats of KCL said, Metasurfaces are amazing. They open up unprecedented freedom in directing and manipulating light. One might ultimately imagine a TV screen which appears exactly the same as you move around it, or a new movement of 3D art.

The ability to control light could bring new functionality to small camera lenses. A flat surface can be made to appear optically convex by designing appropriate metasurface properties. Future generations of smartphone cameras could use the tiny flat metasurfaces to mimic the properties of sophisticated curved camera lenses, allowing much greater control of angle and depth field.

Metasurfaces could also replace heavy optical lenses in applications such as satellites, where weight and size have a big impact on efficiency.

More immediately, the novel nano-materials can already be used to create unique complex 3D images for security and anti-counterfeiting applications, as well as for new measurement applications requiring precise control of light.

The researchers added that the metalens-formed image is much more than a hologram. Unlike holograms, which require a coherent light source such as a laser to be viewed, these surfaces manipulate the reflection of normal light so they appear as a realistic 3D object in any light condition and from any angle.

For the proof of concept, the researchers designed a cube using the normal mapping technique, which was encoded into the metasurface. When illuminated, the metasurface instantaneously computes how a 3D representation of the image should look and displays it.

Dr Alexander Minovich, The Royal Society Newton International Fellow at Kings College London, commented, The normal mapping demonstrated with our metasurface is a completely new concept, but it could have very important implications for a wide range of optical industries, both in introducing new functionality and making products smaller and lighter.

Excerpt from:

Light manipulated to make 2D surfaces appear as 3D objects - Optics.org

Ta-ta Nano – Hindu Business Line

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Its much touted USP finally turned out to be the millstone around its neck

Reports have it that the peoples car which Tata Motors launched with much fanfare at the 2008 Delhi Auto Expo will now be consigned to the archives. This is a sad end to what could have been a potential game-changer in Indias automobile industry. When Rata Tata announced over a decade ago that his company was working on a 1-lakh peoples car, the world sat up and took notice. This kind of pricing was unheard of for a full-fledged automobile and even while there were sceptics such as Osamu Suzuki, chief of Suzuki Motor Corporation, the likes of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, were visibly impressed. And Tata kept true to his word with the now immortal line at the Auto Expo: A promise is a promise when the 1-lakh price was announced for the base version. It was a heady moment for the then Tata Motors chairman who had, exactly a decade earlier, unveiled the Indica at the same venue to a rapturous audience. The Nano had taken the stakes to a new level with its astonishing price tag.

In retrospect, the cars USP of affordability would itself became a factor in its failure. The well-intentioned Tata who wanted to help middle-class families migrate to a car from a two-wheeler did not factor in their aspirations. Not for them a small box with four wheels that got them around the city. The aspirational middle-class car buyer desired bells and whistles to go with the basic functional features and there the Nano came unstuck. At its price point, the car could not obviously boast of features that even the next higher model did. With competitors flooding the market with affordable cars with all value-added features at only a slightly higher cost to the Nano, the fate of the car was sealed. It could be argued here though that the delay in the market entry of the car by more than a year due to the troubles at Singur proved crucial. With the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress staging massive protests against the then Left governments decision to allocate fertile farmland at Singur, Tata Motors was forced to abandon its plans for a factory there that was to produce the Nano.Valuable time was lost and even while Tata Motors began producing small numbers of the Nano at its Pantnagar facility, the initial momentum had slowed down.

There was more trouble in store when stories began doing the rounds of Nanos catching fire. Suddenly, the peoples car did not look so alluring with people wondering if this was the fallout of a 1-lakh price tag, never mind that the top-end version actually cost nearly twice as much. Tata Motors did attempt to reposition the car steering clear of the cheap car tag but the damage had been done. When the history of Indias automobile industry is written, the Nano will have a special place for sure. It may have failed in the market for various reasons but it certainly showcased Indias frugal engineering prowess.

(This article was published on July 12, 2017)

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Ta-ta Nano - Hindu Business Line

Out: Trumponomics. In: MAGAnomics. What’s missing? The entire 21st century technological revolution. – American Enterprise Institute

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

In the Wall Steet Journal, White House budget boss Mick Mulvaney introduces theportmanteauMAGAnomics, the Trump agenda for achieving 3% growth. As Muvlaney notes, for merely suggesting that we can get back to that level, the administration has been criticized as unrealistic.

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney (L) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (R) flank U.S. President Donald Trump as he hosts a strategic initiatives lunch at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 22, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Actually this criticism has come in two flavors. The first, noting chronically weak productivity growth and a demographic-driven decline in labor force growth, views 2% growth as the new 3%. Welcome to the New Normal. Indeed, the 2% growth forecast is actually too optimistic if productivity growth stays stuck at the0.5% average rate notched since 2010. In that case, well have more like a 1% growth economy.

But if you assume the sharp productivity slowdown is at least partly due to a cyclical recession hangover, figure a productivity rebound to 1.5%. That would produce 2% GDP growth when combined with 0.5% labor force growth.

So the core problem is boosting productivity growth another percentage point or so. Thats where smarter policy would probably have the most impact. And this is where the second flavor of criticism comes in: Faster growth is possible, but the Trump agenda wont get it done. Mulvaneys summation of MAGAnomics and how it would boost productivity and growth focuses on tax reform, deregulation, welfare reform, cheaper energy, improving infrastructure, fair trade, and spending restraint.

This is basically five-sevenths traditional Reagan Republicanism, with trade and infrastructure as the Trumpian bits. Noticeably left out is Ryan Republicanism. The words debt, entitlements, Medicare, and Social Security are not mentioned in the piece.

But, oddly, also no mention of innovation, technology, internet, robotics,drones, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, automation, immigration, entrepreneurship, or startups. Not a unicorn to be found. And I would think that it would be hard to create a modern pro-growth agenda without using those words and the policies they suggest.

As it happens, the Peterson Institute is just out with a report on boosting productivity. This graphic sums up their take on what is possible given ongoing technological progress:

So that would put us in the 2.5-3% growth range. The Peterson take also syncs with a recent analysisfrom AEI Visiting Fellow Bret Swanson and economist Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute, commissioned by the Technology CEO Council.

The 10-year productivity drought is almost over. The next waves of the information revolutionwhere we connect the physical world and infuse it with intelligenceare beginning to emerge. Increased use of mobile technologies, cloud services, artificial intelligence, big data, inexpensive and ubiquitous sensors, computer vision, virtual reality, robotics, 3D additive manufacturing, and a new generation of 5G wireless are on the verge of transforming the traditional physical industrieshealthcare, transportation, energy, education, manufacturing, agriculture, retail, and urban travel services. . . . Healthcare, energy, and transportation, for example, are evolving into information industries. Smartphones and wearable devices will make healthcare delivery and data collection more effective and personal, while computational bioscience and customized molecular medicine will radically improve drug discovery and effectiveness. Artificial intelligence will assist doctors, and robots will increasingly be used for surgery and eldercare. The boom in American shale petroleum is largely an information technology phenomenon, and its just the beginning. Autonomous vehicles and smart traffic systems, meanwhile, will radically improve personal, public, and freight transportation in terms of both efficiency and safety, but they also will create new platforms upon which entirely new economic goods can be created. . . .How much could these IT-related investments add to economic growth? Our assessment, based on an analysis of recent history, suggests this transformation could boost annual economic growth by 0.7 percentage points over the next 15 years

And where does policy come in? Again from the Peterson report (bold is mine):

The best way government could hasten this productivity revival is through continued adherence to a set of growth supporting policies that have received bipartisan support for decades. The first is robust federal investment in basic science. Although science is the foundation on which technological progress depends, markets will not invest in it to a sufficient degree; the argument for government support is clear and compelling (Stephan 2012).

Evidence also shows that immigrant scientists and entrepreneurs play a disproportionate role in driving the technological advances that power productivity growth in the United States (Kerr et al. 2016). Rather than dissuading highly skilled immigrants from seeking educational and employment opportunities in the United States, as the Trump administration seems to be doing, the federal government should make it easier for inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs from around the world to secure the right to work in the United States. The globalization of invention could undergird productivity growth in the United States but globalization of invention presupposes the continuation of an open global trading and investment system supported by the United States. Recent statements and policy steps by the new administration backing away from that longstanding bipartisan embrace of open trade and investment are likely to undermine, rather than support, future economic growth.

That said, openness to international trade, investment, and new technology often brings disruption. The safety net has not done nearly enough to limit the disruptive impact of trade and technology shocks in the United States. Many economists have long advocated wage insurance, which would compensate workers forced to move to jobs that paid less than they had been earning, as a useful addition to the safety net (Lalonde 2007). Such a system merits close consideration. Current proposals to curtail or weaken the safety net represent a significant step in the wrong direction.

New educational technologies are potentially transformative, but the fragmented and imperfect nature of the market for them could drastically limit their adoption and slow their diffusion. As Chatterji and Jones (2012) note, the officials making curricular decisions for the more than 13,000 school districts in the United States are constantly bombarded by (mostly false) claims regarding the efficacy of new educational products and curricular fadsclaims theygenerally lack the expertise to verify. They also face distorted incentives: If they adopt a new technology that fails, their careers are in jeopardy, whereas if they continue to underperform as badly as peer institutions, their jobs are secure. Given these market imperfections, Chatterji and Jones make the case for a public agency or public-private partnership that could certify the efficacy of new educational technologies in the same way the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certifies the safety and efficacy of new drugs, by supervising rigorous, randomized control trials. Modest policy effort in this direction could yield rich dividends in the form of much faster, more cost-effective human capital formation.

One key to growth is really along the lines of Thefutureis already here its justnotveryevenly distributed except its technological progress thats not evenly distributed. (Indeed, a good chunk of the paper discusses how the pace of IT innovation is much faster than official indexes suggest and business investment is much stronger than traditional measures indicate.) So I would like to see more focus on competition and dynamism policy as a way of encouraging diffusion. But I dont see that in MAGAnomics, either.

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Out: Trumponomics. In: MAGAnomics. What's missing? The entire 21st century technological revolution. - American Enterprise Institute

Global Bioinformatics Market is expected to $95365 million by 2025 – PR Newswire (press release)

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

The market revenue is also expected to rise from $12465 million in 2016 to $95365 million by 2025.

The fact that bioinformatics has emerged as a key tool for drug discovery processes due to its high throughput screening, aided by recent advancements in proteomics and genomics, is majorly responsible for driving the global market.

The various initiatives undertaken by the government coupled with the developments in IT sector are propelling the market growth.

The market is mainly segmented into service, market by products and market by application.

These three applications are further sub-segmented into other various applications.

The Genomics application which involves analysis of a complex set of genes, their expressions, and the subsequent role played in biology is anticipated to dominate the Global Bioinformatics market by growing at a faster CAGR of 32.50% during the forecast period.

The transcriptomic and metabolomics markets are also predicted to grow at a CAGR of 22% and 26% respectively.

The Bioinformatics platforms market that comprises of sequence analysis, sequence alignment, structural analysis, sequence manipulation and other platforms is expected to lead the Global Bioinformatics Market in terms of Product and Services with a CAGR of 28.93%.

KEY FINDINGS

The Global Bioinformatics market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 25.45% over the forecast period of 2016 2025. The market revenue is also expected to rise from $12465 million in 2016 to $95365 million by 2025. The fact that bioinformatics has emerged as a key tool for drug discovery processes due to its high throughput screening, aided by recent advancements in proteomics and genomics, is majorly responsible for driving the global market. The various initiatives undertaken by the government coupled with the developments in IT sector are propelling the market growth.

MARKET INSIGHTS The market is mainly segmented into service, market by products and market by application. These three applications are further sub-segmented into other various applications. The Genomics application which involves analysis of a complex set of genes, their expressions, and the subsequent role played in biology is anticipated to dominate the Global Bioinformatics market by growing at a faster CAGR of 32.50% during the forecast period. The transcriptomic and metabolomics markets are also predicted to grow at a CAGR of 22% and 26% respectively. The Bioinformatics platforms market that comprises of sequence analysis, sequence alignment, structural analysis, sequence manipulation and other platforms is expected to lead the Global Bioinformatics Market in terms of Product and Services with a CAGR of 28.93%. The molecular medicine held the highest market share of 30.36% in terms of products in 2016. But, it is the preventive medicine product sector that is expected to grow at a faster CAGR of 26.22% during the forecasted period

REGIONAL INSIGHTS The Asian bioinformatics market is estimated grow at CAGR of 24.84% owing to the emerging markets like China and India in this region and is anticipated to generate a net worth of $12895 Million 2025. The European countries like Germany and U.K. have a huge bioinformatics market which is stimulated by the continuous R&D activities in the region initiated by the European government. The market is expected to generate $30897 million by the end of the forecast period. However, it is the North American market that is anticipated to hold the largest share by the year 2025 by exhibiting the fastest CAGR growth of 27.46%. The rest of the world bioinformatics market consists of regions like North Africa and South Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The bio informatics market is expected to show a steady growth in these regions because of the growing bioinformatics platforms stimulated by proteomics and genomic growth.

COMPETITIVE INSIGHTS The Qiagen Company provides over 500 consumable products as well as a number of instrument solutions to fully automate the processing of almost all Qiagen biological materials used for sample preparation and their subsequent analysis in the field of molecular biology. Affymetrix Inc is another such company that offers life science products for the applications of genotyping and gene expression. Some of the other prominent players include Illumina Inc, Waters Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Sencel bioinformatics, S.A.F.A.N. Bioinformatics SAS, Biovia, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Biomax Informatics AG, Qiagen n.v., Inc, Geneva Bioinformatics SA, and Noray bioinformatics SLU. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4976566/

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Global Bioinformatics Market is expected to $95365 million by 2025 - PR Newswire (press release)

Researchers identify potentially safer substitutes for BPA – Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

A powerful, fast experimental approach to screen potential BPA substitutes

Earlier, Mancini and his colleagues developed a new, powerful experimental approach that combined high throughput microscopy techniques with specifically engineered cell lines and roboticized screening resources to individually test the effect of numerous compounds on biological functions; these experiments are highly efficient, generating a large number mechanistic and phenotypic measurements simultaneously, even with only very brief exposure of compounds to cells.

We previously established highly multiplexed, single cell-oriented model systems to identify mechanisms involved in complex hormonal biology, Mancini said. Unlike standard biochemical or toxicological assays, our approach quantifies levels of estrogen receptors, nuclear localization, DNA binding, large-scale chromatin modeling, protein interactions and transcription, and also include data on toxicity, cell proliferation and many other characteristics; all at the level of individual cells and in one assay that only takes a few hours.

A robotic system processes the samples and takes tens of thousands of images of the cells through an automated microscope. Later, in-house developed software analyzed and reported on more than 10 billion data points to create a comprehensive picture of what is going on inside and on the surface of the cells.

When the paper describing our novel approach was published, Valspar Corp., an industrial coatings company, approached our lab, Mancini said. They were interested in finding a compound that does not have activity on estrogen receptors, but still provides a means to extend the shelf life of canned foods. Traditional toxicology studies conducted in animals are time consuming, expensive and provide limited data regarding the mechanism involved. Our approach is much faster, sensitive and accurate as standard biochemical assays and allows for testing for numerous compounds at once.

The researchers used their automated approach to screen a number of BPA substitute candidates for their ability to bind to estrogen receptors and trigger their activity.

Using our high-throughput assay, we identified two compounds that are relatively inactive when compared to the negative effects attributed to BPA or the BPA-substitutes in use today, Szafran said.

The compounds we found passed our testing, but it doesnt mean that they are completely free of effects, Mancini said. This would need further testing in animal studies.

Other contributors to this wok include Fabio Stossi, Maureen G. Mancini and Cheryl L. Walker.

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) grants NIEHS R01 (1R01ES023206-01) and NIEHS P30 (ES023512-01) and the Center of Excellence in Environmental Health. Further support was provided by the Integrated Microscopy Core at Baylor College of Medicine with funding from the John S. Dunn Gulf Coast Consortium for Chemical Genomics, the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center (National Institutes of Health (NIH) P30CA125123), the NIH grants HD007495, DK56338 and K12DK0083014 and the multidisciplinary K12 Urologic Research Career Development Program. DeepBio, Inc received funds and material support from the Valspar Corporation.

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Researchers identify potentially safer substitutes for BPA - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

Scientists develop method for real-time glutathione measuring … – Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Glutathione is the most abundant natural antioxidant in cells. It protects them from damage and regulates a number of important functions, including cell proliferation and death, the synthesis of the genetic material and proteins and the activation of gene expression. These functions are regulated by changes in the concentration of glutathione, but the current methods do not allow for real-time measurements of glutathione levels inside cells. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital and Rice University have moved the field of glutathione research a step forward by developing a fluorescent probe they called it RealThiol that can measure real-time changes of glutathione concentration in living cells. Published in Nature Communications, this study offers a new tool to investigate the roles glutathione plays in aging, health and diseases such as cancer, Alzheimers and Parkinsons, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes, among others.

Until now, methods for measuring glutathione levels inside cells only allowed for one time point measurements, said corresponding author Dr. Jin Wang, associate professor of pharmacology and chemical biology and of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. We wanted to develop a method that would allow biologists to measure how glutathione concentration inside cells changes in real time.

How to measure glutathione changes in real time

Previous methods are based on irreversible chemical reactions that capture all the glutathione that is inside the cells, providing a one-time snapshot of its amount. Wang, who was trained as a physical organic chemist, and his colleagues looked for reversible chemical reactions that would capture and release glutathione, allowing for multiple measurements inside the same cell.

Other researchers had succeeded at developing chemical probes for measuring the dynamic changes of calcium and zinc in cells using reversible chemical reactions, Wang said. However, some researchers thought that the same could not be accomplished for glutathione.

In 2015, Wang and his colleagues published a proof of concept that a reversible reaction could be used to measure glutathione. Further research led to the current publication.

The key contribution of the current study is that we optimized the probe and made the reaction much faster; both the forward and the reverse reaction can be completed within one minute, allowing us to follow the dynamic changes on glutathione in living cells, Wang said. Our method requires very small amounts of the probe, which results in little toxicity and poses minimal perturbance of the antioxidant capacity in the cells, and the probe can be used in various applications, from microscopy to cell sorting experiments.

Using RealThiol, the researchers measured enhanced antioxidant capability of activated neurons and dynamic glutathione changes during ferroptosis, a form of cell death. The Wang group is currently developing glutathione probes with different sub-cellular specificities. This new tool set can potentially generate knowledge that could help develop new strategies to treat diseases involving glutathione-mediated processes.

Other contributors to this study include Xiqian Jiang, Jianwei Chen, Aleksandar Baji, Chengwei Zhang, Xianzhou Song, Shaina L. Carroll, Zhao-Lin Cai, Meiling Tang, Mingshan Xue, Ninghui Cheng, Christian P. Schaaf, Feng Li, Kevin R. MacKenzie, Allan Chris M. Ferreon, Fan Xia, Meng C. Wang and Mirjana Maleti-Savati.

The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01-GM115622 R01-CA207701, R01-AG045183, R01-AT009050, R21-EB022302, DP1-DK113644, R01-GM120033 and R01-NS100893), the Welch Foundation (Q-1912), the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT R1104 and RP130573), Whitehall Foundation (Research grant 2015-05-54), the Curtis Hankamer Basic Research Fund at Baylor College of Medicine and the Caroline DeLuca Scholarship. Further support was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service through Cooperative Agreement Number 58-6250-0-008, the IDDRC Microscopy Core (P30HD024064 and 1U54 HD083092 Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), the Optical Imaging and Vital Microscopy core, and the Cytometry and Cell Sorting Core at Baylor College of Medicine with funding from the NIH (AI036211, CA125123 and RR024574).

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Scientists develop method for real-time glutathione measuring ... - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

People are going ‘wild’ for these interactive games on Instagram – Mashable

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Mashable

People are going 'wild' for these interactive games on Instagram
Mashable
Many of us use Instagram Stories to upload snapshots of our everyday lives, be they pics of our hipster iced lattes or shots of our nights on the town. But, one rather inventive guy has found a creative way to turn Instagram Stories into interactive ...

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People are going 'wild' for these interactive games on Instagram - Mashable

Here’s seven top tips on how to avoid online ticket sale scams – Devon Live

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

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Summer is here and festival season is upon us - so that means a packed calendar of events ranging from festivals to music gigs.

However, while it is peak time for entertainment, the busy events season can also be a favourite time of year for online ticket scams.

A woman from Exeter and her sister were a victim to this kind of scam after they travelled to Cardiff to see Coldplay perform - only to get there and to be told their tickets had already been used.

Liz Silk, 64, travelled to Cardiff from Exeter, Devon, with her sister Gillian Benjamin, 66, to see the band on their first night of their visit to Cardiff.

The pair were only told when they tried to enter Principality Stadium staff that the tickets had already been used and they were left devastated.

Read more: Exeter woman and her sister travel miles and pay 300 for Coldplay tickets which turn out to be fake

With that in mind, here is the advice that the FraudHelpDesk website has published online as to how to avoid concert ticket fraud.

1. Check the seller's Facebook profile Many fraudsters quickly create a fake profile on Facebook, offering tickets to a concert or event, preferably one that is sold out. Their scams involve consumers paying for tickets and not receiving them, and paying for tickets but receiving fake ones.

If the Facebook account has been created recently, the chances are that you're dealing with a con artist. More sophisticated fraudsters manipulate their posts and change the date on them to make them look older. You can check this by clicking on the clock icon at the top right of a posted message or image. It will pop up the original posting date.

2. Check the number of Facebook friends and 'likes' To camouflage fake profiles, fraudsters will send friend requests to a large group of people. After all, there will always be a few among them who will accept any request that comes in.

Having 'friends' makes a fake Facebook profile look considerably more authentic. However, there is no exchange of messages on these fake profiles and the number 'likes' is limited. This gives them away, so always check this before you buy any tickets.

3. TicketSwap This website is designed to (re)sell concert tickets and is a lot safer than Facebook. Scams cannot be ruled out on TicketSwap, but the chances are definitely smaller. The website checks the reseller's Facebook profile, bank details and phone number. The seller will have to take the trouble to upload the ticket on the site, which they will if they are bonafide.

4. Check whether the seller is active elsewhere Scammers have a preference for sold out concerts or events. Check whether the seller offering the tickets you want to buy is also selling tickets for other concerts. If this is the case, then the chances are that you are dealing with a scammer.

Close-up image of software engineer typing on laptop

5. Always pay with online banking Many resellers prefer to sell their tickets to people who have an account with the same bank. The money transfer will proceed more quickly. Scammers have found a solution for accounts with a different bank. They will ask you to pay via a hyperlink which allegedly will speed up the transaction. In reality, you will buy bitcoins for the seller, who can then collect their money anonymously.

6. Check the seller's bank account details There are several websites offering up-to-date lists of bank account numbers used by scammers.

7. Use your common sense Many people fall for a scam simply because they are too eager to go to a concert. Use your common sense. Never transfer money to people who do not even live in the Netherlands, for example. How likely is it that this particular person abroad, of all people, still has tickets for an immensely popular festival?

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Here's seven top tips on how to avoid online ticket sale scams - Devon Live

Beautiful police officers not here to ‘quench your thirst’, says Mbalula – Citizen

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has taken to Twitter to outline what the duties of the South African Police Service (SAPS) officers are.

Mbalula was responding to a Twitter user who tweeted him a picture of a policewoman in uniform and asked where she was stationed.

I need to do an affidavit, he added.

However, the minister saw through the Twitter user and told him exactly what he needed to hear. He reminded the Twitter user that police officers were there to protect citizens, not what hehad in mind.

SAPS officers are here to protect you, not to quench your thirst. Buy [Schweppes] drink, have a sip and dont bother the Minister, he told him.

However, it seems even ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni has noticed all these police officers who have been the talk of the Twitter streets. Responding to Mbalula, he said he was in the wrong business, as the police service seems more appealing.

Some of his followers only laughed at Mbalulas clap back, while some said they too wanted to certify (or satisfy?) copies at the station the police officer was stationed at.

This was not the ministers first interaction with followers about attractive women in uniform. Recently, Mbalula appeared to playfully upload a picture of a beautiful SAPS officer, with this warning to men: Careful guys, you will be arrested.

With the way her hand is positioned, it could give the impression that she has just blown someone a kiss, though it appears to be some sort of drill exercise, because there is another officer behind her who also has her hand showing palm up.

While oneuser immediately warned Mbalulahe was being inappropriate (he was told by another user to improve his sense of humour, though its a sentiment that was widely shared), other men were quick to catch the ministers meaning, and joked that he was continuing with his yellowbone policy.

Mbalula posts picture of sexy police officer, then warns men

Population health expert highlights medicine’s third pillar – ModernMedicine

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

As the healthcare industry continues to explore and define population health strategies, it is important that upcoming physicians have a foundation in the topic.

Wilson

Natalia Wilson, MD, MPH, authored the Population Health chapter of the Health Systems Science textbook that is expected to be used in medical schools across the country. The book was released in December 2016, and is a first in an effort by the American Medical Association (AMA) to educate medical students about the third pillar of medicine. This education initiative includes patient safety, quality improvement, teamwork, leadership, healthcare policy and economics, clinical informatics and population health. The textbook was co-written by members of AMAs Accelerating Change in Medical Education consortium.

Population health is a dynamic area that is continually evolving, thus necessitating innovation in our approach to teaching, frequent update of our teaching materials, and consideration of new methods of practice for medical students and trainees, says Wilson, a clinical associate professor at the School for the Science of Health Care Delivery at Arizona University, who teaches at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.

Wilson talks with Managed Healthcare Executive (MHE) about the importance of population health being taught to the next-generation of physicians, and how it will transform care in the future.

MHE: How much are population health strategies being taught in medical schools today?

Wilson: Population health is a relatively new curricular area in medical schools that is expanding and evolving. Inclusion of population health curriculum and approach to education differs between medical schools. For instance, at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, medical students are required to earn a certificate in the science of health care delivery that is jointly taught with Arizona State University.

Examples from other medical schools include opportunity to pursue a dual Doctor of Medicine/Master of Science degree in population health, a population health scholar track, and involvement in population health initiatives during medical school.

MHE: What are some of the basic concepts that new physicians need to understand about population health?

Wilson: Accountability and responsibility for physicians is expanding to include the health of populations or groups of patients along with the traditional individual patient focus. Only 10% of the determinants of population health is attributed to healthcare. The majority is attributed to social circumstances, environmental factors and behavior.

The social determinants of health are recognized to be very influential on behavior and to contribute significantly to differences in health outcomes between groups of people. Improvement of population health will require focused work, influence and collaboration between multiple sectors that include healthcare delivery, the community, public health, policymakers, payers, employers and research.

MHE: How do you see population health changing what is being taught in medical schools?

Wilson: I see population health as augmenting and complementing the traditionally taught basic and clinical sciences. A population health focus has evolved in response to significant limitations in health and healthcare. The United States has high levels of chronic disease, an obesity epidemic, high healthcare costs, disparities in health and healthcare, and relatively poor population health. What has become necessary in response to these problems is expansion of knowledge and experiences for medical students, those training in health professions and in practice so considered in patient care is the impact of social determinants of health, community resources that could be used to support patients, data to better understand patients and groups of patients, health IT that can expand the reach of care, and a team approach. Very importantly, we are planting seeds in medical students that they are part of the solution.

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Population health expert highlights medicine's third pillar - ModernMedicine

With 95% of Basic Medicine Unavailable, Venezuelans Take to the Streets – Breitbart News

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Around 95 percent of expensive medicines are now unavailable, and hundreds of thousands of sick and injured Venezuelans lack the necessary treatments.

One of those people isMara Ayala, who suffers from stomach ulcers, with her condition worsening in recent months due to lack of treatment.

We dont want to feel like we are invisible, we want to live, Ayala told the AP during a protest outside the department of social security.

Some of the signs held by protesters read: death does not wait and we have no tomorrow.

The situation is alarming, there is a total absence of medicineaffecting around 300,000 people in Venezuela,said Francisco Valencia of the healthcare charity Codevida. We are living through an unprecedented crisis, mortalities are rising at an alarming rate and thousands have lost their quality of life.

As part of the socialist reforms of the countrys late leader Hugo Chvez, the right to health care was enshrined in the Venezuelan constitution. However, amid the countrys economic collapse, which could see inflation rise by a staggering 1700 percent, the government has been forced to make a series of drastic cuts, meaning hundreds of thousands of people cannot access adequate health care.

In March,Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro pleaded with the United Nations to deliver humanitarian aid in the form of medical supplies, blaming private companies for waging an economic war against the country.

The United Nations has the most advanced and complete plans in the world to recover the pharmaceutical industrys production capacity and direct it toward medicines for the people, Madurosaid on national television, urging the U.N. to act. I trust in you to keep advancing the strengthening of the productive engines of the Bolivarian economic agenda.

The chronic lack of medicine has led to a series of health issues, such as a rise in amputations of infected limbs due to a lack of antibiotics, mastectomies due to a lack of cancer treatment, as well as HIV and teen pregnancies due to the shortage of contraceptives.

Other shortages in Venezuela include food and basic sanitary products.The Venezuelan government sets price caps on food products such as pasta, rice, and flour, but people areforced to queuefor hours in hot temperatures to buy them, with latecomers missing out altogether. Products such as red meat, dairy, and fresh vegetables are now too expensive for many people to buy.

Arecent reportfound that over 15 percent of Venezuelans have resorted to scavenging for food, while a majority of people go to bed hungry.

Meanwhile, sanitary products such as shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, and tampons are also in short supply, with many forced to ration their usage.

Ive always loved brushing my teeth before going to sleep. I mean, thats the rule, right? cosmetic worker Ana Margarita Rangel told The Washington Post, from one of the slums, known asbarrios,25 miles west of Caracas. Now I have to choose. So I do it only in the mornings.

Maduro recentlyraised the minimum wageto 97,531 bolivars a month,which on Venezuelas official exchange rate equates to around $70 a month but only holds areal market worthof$12.53. However, due to levels of inflation, the currency is rapidly losing value.

Daily protests are now taking place across Venezuela amid the countrys economic and political crisis.According to an ongoing analysis from Venezuelan outlet RunRunes, atleast 108peoplehave died since the countrys opposition called for daily protests in April as police usebrutalityto contain the protesters.

You can follow Ben Kewon Facebook, on Twitter at@ben_kew,oremail him at bkew@breitbart.com.

P.S. DO YOU WANT MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX?SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY BREITBART NEWSLETTER.

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With 95% of Basic Medicine Unavailable, Venezuelans Take to the Streets - Breitbart News

More People Are Making Mistakes With Medicines At Home – NPR

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

The rate of serious medication errors that occur outside of health care facilities doubled from 2000 to 2012, a new study finds. Gillian Blease/Getty Images hide caption

The rate of serious medication errors that occur outside of health care facilities doubled from 2000 to 2012, a new study finds.

When people take medicine at home, mistakes happen.

Some people end up taking the wrong dose of a medication or the wrong pill. Sometimes, they don't wait long enough before taking a second dose.

Other times, it's a health professional who's at fault. A pharmacist might have dispensed a medication at the wrong concentration, for example.

These kinds of mistakes are on the rise, according to a study published Monday in the journal Clinical Toxicology.

The researchers looked at a small subset of the medication errors that happen in the U.S. every year. The FDA estimates that about 1.3 million people are injured by medication errors annually in the U.S.

The study analyzed data collected by poison control centers across the U.S. and counted only errors that happened outside health care facilities and resulted in serious medical outcomes. That's defined in the study as symptoms that typically require some treatment to life-threatening situations and even death.

They found that the number of these cases doubled, from 3,065 cases in 2000 to 6,855 cases in 2012. In the 13 years covered by the study, more than 67,000 such errors occurred, and 414 people died as a result. Most of the mistakes were preventable, the study finds.

"We know that a third of the cases in this study resulted in hospital admissions, so these aren't minor errors. These can be pretty significant," says Nichole Hodges, a research scientist at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the study's lead author. She says errors at home represent a significant public health burden and are likely undercounted.

"Since we're only including those non-health care facility errors that are reported to poison control centers, it's an underestimate of the true number," she says.

Jay Schauben, a former president of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, points out that not everyone calls a poison control center when they experience one of these events. And he says there could be "minor inaccuracies" in the data from poison control, because the employees who answer calls are relying on what the caller tells them, and if a physician calls about a patient, that physician might not know exactly what happened to the patient.

Despite these limitations, he says the study's findings are still valid and useful. And he says he's glad to see this study draw attention to medication errors happening at home.

"We focus on medication errors in health care facilities, and we tend to forget that these types of errors do occur in the home scenario and potentially go uncorrected, maybe unrecognized," Schauben says.

Cardiovascular drugs, including drugs used to treat high blood pressure, were associated with about one in five serious medication errors more than any other pharmaceutical category.

The number of errors with cardiovascular drugs doubled over the time period of the study, and errors linked to hormones and hormone antagonists mainly drugs used to treat diabetes more than tripled.

Hodges says they can't be sure about the reasons for these increases, but they have a theory.

"We know that use of cardiovascular medications is increasing. That's consistent with the findings of other studies," she says. "The same with the use of insulin. Because we have rising rates of diabetes in the U.S., prescribing of insulin is increasing. So we think that some of these increases in errors are a reflection of the increase in prescribing."

Cardiovascular medications and analgesics essentially painkillers, including acetaminophen and opioids were responsible for two-thirds of the deaths included in the study.

So what should people do to keep themselves safe from medication errors at home? Hodges has a few recommendations.

People who use weekly pillboxes to organize medicines should make sure they have some kind of lock and keep them out of sight of children, she says.

"The locks are great, but they're just child-resistant. They're not going to be child-proof," she says. "It basically buys you a little bit more time, but it's not going to keep the child out of it completely, so you still want to use safe storage."

And keeping a close eye on kids who are taking medication can also help them avoid taking the wrong pills, she says. The study found that kids in the 6- to 12-year-old group were the most likely to unintentionally take or be given another person's medication.

"Perhaps they are giving themselves their medication, especially if it's a daily," Hodges says. "They might be more likely to accidentally take someone else's medication."

She also recommends that parents and caregivers keep a written log to track the date and time when medications are given and the dose given especially when more than one person is giving medicine to the same person.

Schauben recommends that people call a poison control center if they have questions about medicines they're taking at home.

"It doesn't have to be an exposure," he says. "Those are questions that we could answer for them."

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More People Are Making Mistakes With Medicines At Home - NPR

FDA panel endorses cancer therapy performed in clinical trials at Nebraska Medicine – KETV Omaha

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

OMAHA, Neb.

A Food and Drug Administration panel this week endorsed what could be a groundbreaking cancer treatment. The panel of 10 voted unanimously to recommend CAR T-Cell therapy for children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.

In the next few months, the FDA could decide to approve the therapy, which would make it the first gene therapy available in the U.S. The therapy is already being used at Nebraska Medicine for clinical trials.

Doctors diagnosed Roger Belohlavy with ALL in August 2015. The cancer returned even after a bone marrow transplant.

"Disappointed that it came back, but I managed in spite of that disappointment (to) keep a pretty good attitude," said Belohlavy.

Belohlavy had few treatments options to consider, but his doctor at Nebraska Medicine proposed a CAR T-Cell clinical trial.

"He said the clinical trial is pretty promising because it could give you a more durable remission and possibly even lead to a cure," Belohlavy said.

Through CAR T-Cell therapy, doctors take T cells from the patient.

"I always describe it as, like, a cream separator, where the patient's blood comes out, we spin in through a cream separator, we open the door right where we want the T cells at," said Dr. Matthew Lunning, hematologist and oncologist at Nebraska Medicine.

The cells are then sent off to a processing center where they're "trained" to take out a person's cancer. The patient undergoes chemotherapy and then gets an infusion with the modified T cells.

"When you inject it back into the patient, it goes out there and is like a trained assassin," Lunning said.

The T cells kill the cancerous cells, but there are risks associated with the treatment.

"I went out with the neurotoxic reaction," said Belohlavy. "I was on life support for 7 1/2 days on a ventilator."

Days later, Belohlavy said, doctors told him he was in complete remission.

"It's given me a whole different outlook on what I want to do with my future," said Belohlavy.

CAR T-cell therapy could also help give others a brighter future. The FDA will soon decide whether to officially approve the treatment for young ALL patients.

"The technology could be paradigm-shifting in that we're really talking about a population that's very difficult to treat," said Lunning. "(These patients) have broken through our standard lines of chemotherapy and this isn't chemotherapy. This is your own body fighting off cancer. I think that this will reach an unmet need population within this country and I hope that not only does it take hold in this country, but globally."

Lunning said if the FDA approves this therapy, patients at Nebraska Medicine would benefit from it. He said with the Buffett Cancer Center, Nebraska Medicine is on track to be a leader for CAR T-Cell therapy.

If the FDA approves CAR T-Cell therapy for ALL leukemia patients that are either children or young adults, "We will be able to reach into the adult or young adult population if that approval does come from the FDA," Lunning said.

A similar trial for adults with ALL, in which Belohlavy participated, took place at Nebraska Medicine. It has since ended.

Nebraska Medicine is currently involved in a CAR T-Cell clinical trial for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Nationwide, the trial has had a 60 percent remission rate after 30 days and a 40 percent remission rate after 60 days.

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FDA panel endorses cancer therapy performed in clinical trials at Nebraska Medicine - KETV Omaha

Can we be imprecise in medicine? – ETHealthworld.com

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

With the help of data specialists and genomic specialists, one can assess large pools of information through the lens of the individual patient.By Taher Abbasi, CEO & Co-founder Cellworks

The phenomenon of personalization has permeated in all verticals of human life. The one-size-fits-all approach is no longer relevant for Retail, IT, Academia, Travel and Hospitality; it is also impacting Medicine paving the way for potentially remarkable changes that improve overall patient care.

This personalized era of precision medicine has dawned with customized medical therapies that are provided based on individuals own measurement reading of genes. This provides a roadmap for more clarity and informed decision vs. flying blind.This rapidly evolving field is getting mainstream with centre of excellence for precision medicine being established across institutions globally. The goals of precision medicine are simple: to offer individual patients the right medical care at the right time, by taking their genes and clinical information into account. And by understanding the patients tumor characteristics predict diet sources which support the treatment paradigm.However, to bring the promise of precision in health requires a fundamental change from population based solutions to sub-population based solutions with segmentation identified by genomic and clinical attributes.

Traditionally, medicine decision has been based on pre-defined one-size-fits-all treatment strategies. In the past few years, the amount of available patient data has exploded, to the point where it has become overwhelming. To take full advantage of these breakthroughs, doctors must add a working knowledge of data and molecular biology science to the clinical sciences that have traditionally been the focus of professional training. With the help of data specialists and genomic specialists, one can assess large pools of information through the lens of the individual patient.

Imprecision of modern medicine

Data reveal that drugs for diseases like cancer work in about 30% of patients, and also they are efficacious for a limited period of time. For cancer patients, treatment options are hit-or-miss. The oncologist can access large quantum of patient data but not the technology and tools to research the options, and then select one or more drugs that may impact the tumor. When one round of therapy does not work, another is tried, but there is no clear way to tell which treatment will work best for that patient, at that precise moment. Hence lack of precision is indeed a life-and-death situation for cancer patients. This hit-and-miss treatment strategy, coupled with the associate drug side effects to be managed by the physician, sky rocketing costs of treatments, further emphasis the implications of being imprecise.

Considering genetic variations of patients

The key characteristics of cancer is the variations in tumor abnormalities across patients. This heterogeneity is further complicated by the fact that the patient tumours are not static and change based on treatment pressures and other factors. While we now have technologies to measure patient specific tumor variations we are limited to looking at individual measurements or dots and do not have the means to connect all the dots. The treatment personalization using point information has improved treatment response rates but resistance to therapies are developed quickly. In this context being precise for treatments will imply patient specific measurements which holistically influence decision making for treatments. And also influence diet decisions namely precision diet.

In conclusion

The underlying intent of healthcare should be to diagnose a condition quickly and unambiguously, and then to match the diagnosis to a specific medicine or therapy, determined in part by the patients genotype or phenotype. Ineffective treatments, waste and late-stage pipeline attrition can be mitigated with precision medicine approaches. In cancer, for example, the one big variability is the cancer tumour across patients even within the same indication. And the technology to measure this variability exists now - making it possible to collect big data measurements per patient.

For the cancer patient on a wrong treatment path, can be life-and-death decision.Hence being precise benefits patients. The physicians benefit from not avoiding managing adverse effects of these treatments when not needed and rationale information for making treatment decisions. The pharma benefits for running smaller and very targeted clinical trials for getting drugs approved for marketing. Consequently, the time is now to make use of the genomics measurements and other clinical data to impact patient care and outcomes.

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Can we be imprecise in medicine? - ETHealthworld.com

Barbara Atkinson, UNLV medical school dean, recovering after health scare – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

Barbara Atkinson, the founding dean of the UNLV School of Medicine, is making positive gains every day in the hospital after suffering a very serious illness, university officials said Tuesday.

The comments came after the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an article quoting two sources familiar with the situation as saying the 74-year-old dean was fighting for her life at University Medical Center in Las Vegas after suffering a ruptured intestine that triggered a serious infection.

Hours later, UNLV officials responded. While saying they were limited in what they could disclose about Atkinsons condition by federal health privacy law, they indicated that she was improving.

UNLV administrator Maureen Schafer said Atkinson, the former dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, had undergone a very serious surgery (but) continues to make incremental positive gains every day.

Her doctors have advised the family that she can make a full, positive recovery, said Schafer, chief of staff at the medical school.

Diane Z. Chase, UNLV executive vice president and provost, said in a statement that Atkinson was admitted over the July 4th weekend to UMC, which will serve as the main clinical teaching center for the regions first public medical school, and underwent successful surgery.

On the brink of a milestone

The timing of Atkinsons illness could not have been worse, coming just days before she was to welcome the landmark medical schools first class of students on Monday.

The sources, who spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on condition of anonymity, said Atkinson suffered an intestinal rupture at home before being hospitalized, then battled an infection a not-uncommon aftereffect.

Citing privacy law, Schafer did not go into specifics on the deans surgery and hospitalization. But she said the dean is not now fighting an infection.

It was unclear how long Atkinson might be sidelined as she recovers, but UNLV officials, including Chase and President Len Jessup, have met to discuss appointing an acting dean to fill in until she is ready to resume her duties, said Dr. Mark Doubrava, a physician and member of the state Board of Regents.

That would be the normal process if a dean was absent for an extended length of time, Doubrava said.

Vince Alberta, chief marketing officer for UNLV, noted that Provost Chase met with faculty and staff early last week and has had followup communication with them for input on the potential appointment of an acting dean.

Because Atkinson is expected to need a lengthy recovery, Alberta said the appointment of an acting dean is a very real possibility.

We expect to get input from Dr. Atkinson about it, he said, noting that an acting dean would just be holding down the fort until Atkinson returned to work.

While saying she did not want to diminish the fact that the dean had a very serious surgery, Shafer also said she does not want to alarm people who care about UNLV, Atkinson and the new medical school.

There is a positive prognosis for her recovery, Shafer said. She said medical school students who learned of her illness have written personal cards to her and expressed their interest on a daily basis.

A dream come true

Three weeks ago, the renowned educational leader, clinician and researcher Atkinson was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997 said she was eager to see the first class of 60 students begin school.

This is going to be a dream come true for many people in Southern Nevada, said Atkinson, who didnt start medical school until her own children began grade school. I want to be there when they graduate in 2021.

Sources close to the medical school say that Atkinson has built a foundation for the school to carry on if she is forced into an extended absence.

She went after, and got the best people for this school, one said.

Doubrava expressed similar sentiments, saying that instruction will begin on time and that students will follow the curriculum as its been designed.

Atkinson came out of retirement in 2014 when UNLV officials sought her help in starting a medical school from scratch. In 2017 Nevada lawmakers provided $27 million to get the school up and running and in the recent Legislative session budgeted another $53 million.

Atkinson became planning dean for the school in May 2014 and was named founding dean 18 months later.

Its a huge job. She oversees installation of the curriculum and accreditation, recruits faculty and manages school operations, philanthropy and community outreach.

She has also crafted the framework for the schools faculty practice plan, graduate medical education program, hospital affiliation agreements and community clinical teaching sites.

Successful fundraiser

She has also succeeded as a fundraiser. With the Engelstad Family Foundations backing, she helped raise $13.5 million in 60 days in 2015 to fund 135 scholarships for future medical students including the entire charter class. The school will also give out 25 scholarships valued at $27,000 a year to the classes admitted in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

In June, a $25 million gift that Atkinson helped cultivate with Jessup the donor has chosen to remain an anonymous was given to the medical school. That gift, along with another $25 million chipped in by the Legislature, goes toward a $100 million medical education building to be built in the Las Vegas Medical District, the planned 674-acre cluster of medical offices, retail and residential space near UMC.

The medical school has interim space reserved at UNLVs Shadow Lane Campus, which is across the street from UMC and Valley Hospital.

Two weeks ago, Atkinson said she was confident that the additional $50 million needed for the new education building will be raised in the not too distant future.

Itll happen pretty soon, she said.

Doubrava said that he believes fundraising efforts are continuing as normal in Atkinsons absence.

Everyone is just waiting to see Dean Atkinsons return, he said.

Las Vegas city officials have predicted a big redevelopment spurt in the citys urban core from the new medical school. Betsy Fretwell, who leaves her city manager position this month, has said by 2020 the school will have a $600 million impact on the economy, resulting in more than 4,000 news jobs and an additional $30 million in tax revenue.

The new school also will go a long way toward bringing doctors to Nevada, according to Doubrava. Often, he said, medical school students and medical residents stay in the city they went to school or did their residences because they establish roots there.

With 198 physicians per 100,000 residents in 2010, Nevada falls far below the U.S. average of 272 doctors, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jessup was not immediately available for comment.

Contact Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702 387-5273. Follow Follow @paulharasim on Twitter. Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.

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Barbara Atkinson, UNLV medical school dean, recovering after health scare - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Study: Brody ranks as most affordable medical school in America – WNCT

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) A new study completed by Student Loan Hero ranks the Brody School of Medicine the most affordable medical school in the country.

The study looked at three factors: tuition, average medical school debt, and the percentage of students receiving financial aid from the institution.

According to the study, students at Brody pay $18,159 in tuition and graduate with an average debt of $112,692.

Keeping tuition manageable is critical in Brodys efforts to supply rural areas with primary care physicians, said Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Elizabeth Baxley.

Students need to be able to, physicians ultimately, need to be able to afford to live there and be able to support a practice there, and to pay off their loan debt, Baxley said.

She said the pay for primary care doctors is often lower than that of other fields in the medical profession. In order to have people in the field, they have to have less debt.

Despite having to raise tuition with rising costs over the years, Baxley said theyve been able to keep the increases manageable.

We have tried to benchmark that with other schools, we have tried to make sure that the increases are more in the range of $1,000 to $1,500 a year, she said.

UNC- Chapel Hill landed at 14th most affordable, while Dukes medical school landed at 39th.

To see the full report, click here.

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Study: Brody ranks as most affordable medical school in America - WNCT

UNR Ranks High in Affordable Medical School Survey – KTVN

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

We have good news for future doctors who need to save on their education and don't want to go far to start their career. Penny-pinching future doctorshave we got a deal for you.

Summer is a season of decision for students deciding where to pursue a medical degree. The biggest hurdle is the cost. It's a rewarding, but very costly careertoo costly for too many. Dr. Thomas Schwenk, Dean of the UNR School of Medicine told us, says its a growing concern. As he put it, "Its very intimidating for students to look at these numbers and say, 'I'm going to finish medical school with a debt of $140,000?'

Getting a good buy on a medical degree seems impossible, but you won't have to go far to find an affordable education it's just down the street. The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine just got noticed in one of the best possible ways by USA Today. As Dr. Schwenk told us, "Our student debt at graduation is lower than the national average." Getting a degree here will save you about $30,000 that he says you will need after you graduate: "Setting up a practice is very expensive. You have to hire staff and develop a patient population."

According to research compiled by Student Loan Hero, the average U.S. medical student accrues $164,800 in debt. At the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine it's $135,788, making it the 13th most affordable medical school. UNR ranks number 4 for students receiving institutional aid, 9th for lowest in-state tuition and 10th in lowest average medical school debt.

East Carolina Brody School of Medicine, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have the 3 least expensive medical degrees in the countrybut cheaper than us? Not when you factor the lower in-state tuition rate for locals. Dr. Schwenk says, "For a Nevada student, this is an incredible deal."

Other colleges have found other ways. U.C. Davis just started a program that fast-tracks primary care doctors to graduate in 3 years instead of 4. They say by making it more intense, and placing students in residencies instead of time spent interviewing.

Whatever can be done to cut the cost is so needed. People are living longer, and too many physicians are retiring with too few young doctors coming in to take their place. The U.S. is expected to face a shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians in the next 8 to 10 years. As Dr. Schwenk told us, "There are rural areas that are underserved, but there also urban areas that are under served, and we need to work to get physicians into those areas."

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UNR Ranks High in Affordable Medical School Survey - KTVN

UNR School of Medicine ranks among most affordable medical schools – Northern Nevada Business Weekly

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Danzig

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine ranks 13th in the nation's top 20 most affordable medical schools, according to a study released by USA Today.

Student Loan Hero researchers assessed three factors when determining the list: annual tuition costs, average indebtedness at graduation, and the percentage of borrowers receiving institutional aid. On average, aspiring medical students can expect to accrue more than $160,000 in medical school debt, while UNR Med students pay nearly $30,000 less due to low tuition rates and ample financial aid opportunities. Here's how UNR Med compares:

National Average

University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine

Of the top 12 schools on the list, UNR Med out-ranks eight in students receiving institutional aid, three in annual in-state tuition and two in average medical school debt.

What's more, as a community-based, research-intensive institution, UNR Med students receive unique opportunities for hands-on training and cutting-edge research, providing an invaluable medical school experience at a fraction of the cost. The school fosters a strong, collaborative environment for students and faculty and houses some of the nation's most widely cited, heavily-funded investigators.

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine is a research-intensive, community-based, statewide medical school that has served Nevada for more than 48 years as its first public medical school.

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UNR School of Medicine ranks among most affordable medical schools - Northern Nevada Business Weekly

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