Teen Develops Computer Algorithm to Diagnose Leukemia
“Brittany Wenger isn’t your average high-school senior: She taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia.
The 18-year-old student from Sarasota, Fla. built a custom, cloud-based “artificial neural network” to find patterns in genetic expression profiles to diagnose patients with an aggressive form of cancer called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL). Simply put, this means Wenger taught the computer how to diagnose leukemia by creating a diagnostic tool for doctors to use.”
Rock.
A single company owns the exclusive patent on the BRCA 1 and 2 mutations—and jacks up the price for a $200 genetic test for breast cancer risk to $3,000, just because they can.
In the wake of Angelina Jolie’s well-intention exhortation for “every woman” to explore their risk of breast cancer, one company stands to make a staggering profit.
(Source: thenationmagazine)
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The most significant differences between those who smoked marijuana and those who never or no longer did was that current smokers’ insulin levels were reduced by 16 percent and their insulin resistance (a condition in which the body has trouble absorbing glucose from the bloodstream) was reduced by 17 percent.
The Atlantic’s Lindsay Abrams, reporting on the results of a recent study on the health effects of marijuana. In addition, regular pot smokers were skinnier than those who abstained, “even after adjusting for factors like age, sex, tobacco and alcohol use, and physical activity levels,” and had higher levels of HDL (“good cholesterol”). source (via shortformblog)
(via abcsoupdot)
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DIY bionics - making kids smile again.
See the joy in Liam’s eyes as he is grasping a ball with his right hand for the first time. By the time this cute fellow grows up, he will have a bionic hand that will be connected to his neural-system and be indistinguishable from his biological body; but for now all Liam cares about is being able to play ball.
:’)
Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells
created personalized embryonic stem cells from a patient’s skin.
The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Cell, mark a long-sought step that many think is crucial for using stem cells to treat diseases.
“It’s been a holy grail that we’ve been after for years,” the University of Pennsylvania’s John Gearhart, who wasn’t involved in the study, tells Shots. “It is something investigators have been trying to do for over a decade.”
But the advance is already re-igniting an intense ethical debate. If the discovery holds up, it brings us one step closer to cloning humans.
Embryonic stem cells have almost magical powers. When given the right food and environment, they can transform into any cell type in the body — bones, muscles, blood, nerves — you name it.
Many scientists think these cells could eventually treat a slew of illnesses. “Diabetes, various types of neurological diseases, heart disease. It’s across the board, ” Gearhart says.
For such treatments to work, though, the stem cells need to be personalized. Their genetic code must perfectly match that of the patient’s, else the immune system will reject them.
One way to get personalized stem cells is by cloning.
Specifically, the method is called somatic cell nuclear transfer, and it’s deceitfully simple. Take an egg and remove it’s DNA. Then insert the DNA from a patient’s skin cell into the empty egg. As the embryo develops, it makes stem cells that scientists can harvest and grow in the lab.
The image shows a scientist removing the nucleus from a human egg. This is the first step in embryonic cloning. Image courtesy of OHSU Photos.
Study: Why Pot Smokers Are Skinnier (The Atlantic)
Marijuana users had smaller waists and scored higher across several measures of blood sugar regulation.PROBLEM: “Marijuana use is associated with an acute increase in caloric intake,” goes the clinical jargon for popular lore. Still despite eating more while high (by some measures, over 600 extra calories per day), marijuana users’ extra intake doesn’t seem to be reflected in increased BMI. Indeed, studies have identified a reduced prevalence of obesity in the pot smoking community.The full study, “The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults,” is published in The American Journal of Medicine.
The recognizable marijuana leaf with five to seven leaflets attached at a center point Photo:Marijuana.com
(via nursingisinmyblood)
Jane Austen, Game Theorist
Although whiffs of game theory have been discerned in writings as old as Plato, its conventional history begins with the 1944 publication of von Neumann’s seminal “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior.” The techniques gained prominence as a means of anticipating attacks and counterattacks among superpowers during the Cold War, and they played a role in determining the quantity and positioning of U.S. nuclear warheads.
“Austen’s novels are game theory textbooks. She’s trying to get readers to use their higher thinking skills and to think strategically.”
In many cases, by making tough choices and predicting how others will respond, Austen’s young (often financially deprived) heroines triumph over seemingly stronger forces, including well-to-do men and older women of higher status, he argues. In so doing, they find happiness and — just as importantly in an era with limited employment and inheritance possibilities for women — financial security.
“They build a theory of strategic thinking, not to better chase a Soviet submarine, but to survive.”
— From SF.
(Source: newsroom.ucla.edu)
At the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in Bronx, NY a medical procedure cost $38k. That same procedure cost $637k at the Stanford Hospital in Stanford, CA.
(via nursingisinmyblood)
