#Germ-slaying robots fight infections Here's the problem: According to the CDC there are about 1. 7 million hospital-acquired infections in the U s. each year,
and complications arising from those infections lead to nearly 100,000 deaths annually. The health care and liability costs associated with infections are astronomical,
and despite increasingly rigid policies and best practices designed to keep hospitals sterile, human workers aren't great at disinfecting the thousands of surfaces in a hospital room where viruses
and bacteria may linger. Enter the robots. An emerging class of robotic technology uses UV LIGHT to fuse the DNA of viruses
and bacteria and prevent them from reproducing, and in the last couple years these bots have seen rapid adoption across the country.
The robots are inelegant and tend to look like tall shadeless lamps on wheels, but some hospital administrators have come to view them as the first must-have robot tech in a health care industry that's bracing for big changes with the imminent arrival of robot cleaners, diagnosticians, surgeons, and nurses."
"The acquisition of this technology is simply another way that we're working to protect the integrity of our health care environment,
and ultimately safeguard the well-being of every single patient who walks through our doors, "says Khiet N. Trinh, M d.,chief medical officer at Bon Secours St mary's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia,
which last month acquired a system from TRU-D, one of the companies leading the charge."
"Here's how it works: After a hospital staff member cleans the room using traditional methods, a bot is rolled in to finish the job.
and can disinfect an entire room-including shadowed spaces-from one location, eliminating the need to move it to multiple places.
TRU-D's system analyzes the variables of the room and floods the space (both line-of-site and shadowed spaces) with the proper dose of UV LIGHT energy.
The system also tracks infection control data and simultaneously uploads the information to the hospital's web portal,
meaning it integrates well into a new health care paradigm centering around data collection and analysis."With rising issues around health care-associated infections,
hospitals that provide an extra level of care for patients by disinfecting rooms with TRU-D are not only protecting patients'well-being,
but also ensuring that patients aren't being held financially responsible for things like preventable hospital-acquired infections,
"says Chuck Dunn, president of TRU-D LLC.""TRU-D can achieve 99.99 percent disinfection of all viruses and bacteria.
It takes the guesswork out of previous protocols and ensures confidence in clinicians and patients alike."
"The market for disinfection robots is expected to grow to $80 million by 2017. In part this is thanks to the Ebola scare.
When nurses in Dallas became infected, they inadvertently drew attention to the problem of hospital-acquired infections.
Hospitals are interested in technology that integrate into existing protocols and workflows, which these bots do need,
and that has led to lots of activity in the space. TRU-D's biggest competitor is Xenex,
which, according to Modern Healthcare,"is backed by three venture funds--Battery Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II,
It announced about $11 million in funding in November 2013 and reported more than $20 million in revenue in 2014."
In 2014 the company entered the disinfection robot market when it announced plans to distribute a system built by California-based Ultraviolet Devices.
such as those used in the Clorox-distributed system, are toxic, and that Xenex's system works faster than Clorox's. Xenex,
which uses xenon gas in its bulbs instead of mercury, then sued Clorox in an effort to see its claims validated.
though UV disinfection systems have been shown to be generally effective in independent tests, the competing technologies have various strengths and weaknesses
what technology works best and whether their use reduces rates of hospital-acquired infections. As more hospitals adopt the robots,
it's expected that more data will become available about the advantages and flaws of each product
#Spain's 3d food printing lab: Bringing technology to the table Technology has been encroaching into the professional kitchen for years.
Back in 2005, Homaro Cantu, chef at the now-shuttered Chicago restaurant Moto, printed an image of a hamburger on edible paper.
It wasn't 3d, but it was first step in fusing tech and food. In 2011, researchers at the University of Exeter made headlines with a 3d printer that created designs in chocolate,
and MIT research associate David Carr followed up with a machine that printed out people's faces in the same medium.
The Catalan government believes the region's food sector is a prime candidate for boosting the the area's economy,
an encyclopedia aimed at changing the way cooks work. In addition, Catalonia will be the European region of gastronomy for 2016.
It was against this background that the the University of Barcelona (UB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Fundació CIM, an organization
LAB OPENS ITS DOORS The facility is located in the Torribera campus of the University of Barcelona,
around 10km from the city and set in an enviably green environment. To get there, you have to climb a series of stairs.
Mens sana in corpore sano. The laboratory has a multidisciplinary team led by Pere Castells, a chemist and authority on science and cooking.
As well as working on projects related to 3d printing, the team also those experiments with the use Big data in the kitchen-for example
"3d printing offers new opportunities for personalized cuisine, a concept that will revitalize both the food industry and the restaurant business,
"Printing flat designs can be done, but 3d is said something else Castells as he demonstrated how layers of chocolate are used to build up three-dimensional structures,
The foundation, attached to Polytechnic University of Catalonia and working on an open hardware basis, has been selling 3d printers since 1998, according to Felip Fonollosa, its director general.
It has incorporated recently a paste extruder system into its printers, using it to control the amount of material deposited by each layer through the pressure exerted by the piston of a syringe.
The new tool can use a variety of materials to create different designs, making it useful for creative cuisine.
In fact, Carme Ruscalleda, the Catalan chef behind the three Michelin starred restaurant Sant Pau, used it to make an edible model of one of the stained-glass windows of Santa maria del Mar, a gothic church in Barcelona."
a more 3d shape rather than a flat design-and also some experts in temperature control,
which he believes is a key factor in making food printing a success."Chocolate is a difficult product to work with,
because it has to enter the syringe in liquid form and then solidify to form layers
"Our flagship product, the BCN3D Sigma, works very well with plastic, "but"chocolate is a difficult one as it has to keep a certain temperature".
"and has room to grow, said Fonollosa.""We have to establish a culture of food machine usage.
the agreement signed by the two Catalan universities is for an initial three-year period,
with room to be extended. It's also part of a larger project to create the Center for Gastronomic Studies and Research of Catalonia, an initiative by the University of Barcelona,
the Alicia Foundation-a center devoted to technological innovation in food and promoting healthy eating,
and the Institute for Research and Technology, a Catalonian government organisation which promotes research and technological development in the area of agrifood
#Google shuffles leadership structure with new CEO, Alphabet company Google made waves on Monday afternoon with the surprise announcement of a new CEO and leadership structure.
First, Google's product chief Sundar Pichai has been promoted to the top gig at the Internet giant, replacing cofounder Larry page as CEO.
or a"collection of companies,"according to Page's blog post. Page specified Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet."
"We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity's most important innovations,
and is the core of how we index with Google search, "Page exclaimed.""We also like that it means alphabet (Alpha is investment return above benchmark),
which we strive for! I should add that we are not intending for this to be a big consumer brand with related products--the whole point is that Alphabet companies should have independence
"Google crafted Alphabet to both consolidate and scale its multiple businesses, according to the 8-K form.
Basically, the top leaders of Google have shifted over to the new Alphabet leadership structure, with some overlaps.
For example, the 8-K noted Porat will also be CFO at Google. Other product leadership roles will remain the same, such as Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity. All Google shares will automatically convert into the same number of shares for Alphabet with all of the same rights.
However, both classes of shares will continue to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbols GOOGL and GOOG.
Pichai is slated to takeover the company when the deal goes through. Google plans to separate financial reporting from the rest of Alphabet businesses on the fourth quarter earnings report.
But the decision to promote Pichai is perhaps the least surprising bit of news in all of this as his status at the tech behemoth has risen dramatically in the last two years.
Pichai was appointed head of both of Google's operating systems in 2013, taking over Android from the unit's founder Andy Rubin,
who then moved elsewhere within Google to work on more innovative, moonshot-like projects. He was promoted eventually to oversee Google's entire product portfolio, encompassing Google maps, research, search, commerce and ads and infrastructure on top of his prior existing duties.
Page highlighted the recent launches of Google Now and Google Photos as examples of Pichai's success during his tenure thus far."
"I feel very fortunate to have talented someone as as he is to run the slightly slimmed down Google
and this frees up time for me to continue to scale our aspirations, "Page wrote.
As for those aspirations, Page dropped a few hints, highlighting some recent works from the secretive Google X lab, such as drone delivery dream Project Wing,
as well as incubators tied to Google Ventures and Capital. Acknowledging that the entire shift overall--let alone the new name--might be asserted puzzling,
Page, "But in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant
#Windows 10 Mobile preview 10512 goes to testers It's been a month since Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 10 Mobile test Build on August 12,
Microsoft pulled the trigger on Build 10512, which it made available to Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring."
"Our major focus on Windows 10 Mobile right now is on improvements to core quality, "said Gabe Aul, the head of the Windows Insider program,
in announcing availability of the new build. Among the list of what's new in today's new Windows 10 Mobile test build:
There are a number of known issues, as usual, which Aul itemizes in today's post. Also worth noting:
The Insider Hub is not yet back in the new build. No new Windows phone devices beyond those already supported are able to run today's build.
Microsoft is expected to make Windows 10 Mobile available on new Windows phones and to and existing Windows phone users later this fall l
#Twitter lifts 140 character limit on direct messages, further enhancing DM functionality There are plenty of services available that allow you to carry out private conversations across platforms.
With today's announcement, Twitter makes it easier to serve as your messaging service. Previously, direct messages were limited to the same 140 character limit as a public Tweet.
Starting today, that limit has been lifted to 10,000 characters for direct messages. This should provide more than enough capacity for even the chattiest person.
Twitter made a few other changes to make private conversations easier back in April and this move is another way it is encouraging the use of DMS.
You may recall back in January 2015 Twitter also added support for direct messages for up to 20 people.
when you know they are on Twitter, but may not be connected in another service. I use direct messaging a couple times a week,
Do you use Twitter for carrying out private conversations? If not, do you use text messaging or another service e
#inuxone: IBM's new Linux mainframes SEATTLE--At Linuxcon, IBM launched Linuxone, a new pair of IBM mainframes along with Linux and open-source software and services.
These new systems are the Linuxone Emperor, which built on the IBM z13 mainframe and its z13 CPU,
and its little brother, Rockhopper, which uses the older z12 processor. IBM's new Linuxone mainframes aren't only powerful,
they're very affordable. IBM claims that Linuxone Emperor is capable of scaling up to 8, 000 virtual machines or tens of thousands of containers and that's more than any other single Linux system.
Linuxone Rockhopper is an entry-level mainframe. It's designed for clients and emerging markets seeking mainframe speed
security and availability but for a smaller price-tag. The z13 mainframe series can hold up to 10 TBS of memory.
Its 8-core z13 CPU can run up to 5ghz. On IBM benchmarks, a loaded Linuxone could perform 30-billion Representational State Transfer (RESTFUL) transactions a day using Node. js and Mongodb in Docker containers.
In brief, these are spectacularly speedy systems. IBM also states that the Linuxone are the most secure Linux systems ever with advanced encryption features built into both the hardware and software to help keep customer data and transactions confidential and secure.
This is done with dedicated crypto processors and cards so your company can handle millions of transactions per second securely.
Linuxone isn't just a new use of hardware. IBM has enabled key open source and industry software for Linuxone and IBM z Systems.
This includes Apache Spark, Node. js, Mongodb, Mariadb, Postgresql and Chef. These technologies work seamlessly on the mainframe
just as they do with other platforms, requiring no special skills and with compelling performance advantages.
Is that really true? You can see for yourself. IBM, in partnership with Marist College and Syracuse University's School of Information Studies will host clouds that provide developers access to a virtual IBM Linuxone at no cost.
IBM will also create a special cloud for independent software providers (ISVS) hosted at IBM sites in Dallas, Beijing,
and Boeblingen, that provide application vendors access and a free trial to Linuxone resources to port, test and benchmark new applications.
Ross Mauri, IBM's General manager of z Systems said in a Linuxcon keynote speech, that Linuxone comes with a new financing model.
With this you can have a Linuxone Emperor or Rockhopper on site but, like a public cloud, you'll only pay for the resources you use.
In an interview, Mauri added,"You can still buy or lease a mainframe. The elastic pricing is meant mostly for emergencing markets and service providers.
IBM will work with existing customers who want to move to the new elastic pricing model."
"Why would customers who already own or lease mainframes want to do that? Mauri explained, "With a Rockhopper and elastic pricing, this is the least expensive entry option ever for a mainframe. m
#Personalized cellular therapy achieves complete remission in 90 percent of acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients studied Ninety percent of children
and adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who had relapsed multiple times or failed to respond to standard therapies went into remission after receiving an investigational personalized cellular therapy CTL019 developed at the Perelman School of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The results are published this week in The New england Journal of Medicine. The new data which builds on preliminary findings presented at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in December 2013 include results from the first 25 children and young adults (ages 5 to 22
) treated at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and first five adults (ages 26 to 60 treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Twenty-seven of the 30 patients in the studies achieved a complete remission after receiving an infusion of these engineered hunter cells
and 78 percent of the patients were alive six months after treatment. The patients who participated in these trials had relapsed as many as four times including 60 percent
whose cancers came back even after stem cell transplants. Their cancers were so aggressive they had no treatment options left said the study's senior author Stephan Grupp MD Phd a professor of Pediatrics in Penn's Perelman School of medicine and director of Translational Research in the Center
for Childhood Cancer Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The durable responses we have observed with CTL019 therapy are unprecedented.
Shannon Maude MD Phd an assistant professor of Pediatrics and a pediatric oncologist at CHOP and Noelle Frey MD MSCE an assistant professor of Medicine and an oncologist at Penn's Abramson's Cancer Center
are co-first authors of the new study. The research team is led by Carl June MD the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Translational Research in the Abramson Cancer Center
along with David Porter MD the Jodi Fisher Horowitz Professor in Leukemia Care Excellence and director of Blood and Marrow Transplantation in the Abramson Cancer Center.
CTL019 manufacturing begins with a patient's own T cells which are collected via an apheresis process similar to blood donation then reprogrammed in Penn's Clinical Cell
and Vaccine Production Facility with a gene transfer technique that teaches the T cells to target
and kill tumor cells. The engineered cells contain an antibody-like protein known as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)
which is designed to bind to a protein called CD19 found on the surface of B cells including the cancerous B cells that characterize several types of leukemia.
The modified hunter cells are infused then back into the patient's body where they both multiply
and attack the cancer cells. A signaling domain built into the CAR promotes rapid multiplication of the hunter cells building an army of tumor-killing cells that tests reveal can grow to more than 10000 new cells for each single engineered cell patients receive.
Nineteen patients in the study remain in remission 15 with this therapy alone including a 9 year old who was the first ALL patient to receive the therapy more than two years ago.
The follow-up periods reported in the study are more than six months for most patients with a range from 1. 4 to 24 months.
Five patients went off-study for alternate therapy three of whom proceeded to allogeneic stem cell transplants while in remission.
Seven patients relapsed between 6 weeks and 8. 5 months after their infusions including three
whose cancers returned as CD19-negative leukemia that would not have been targeted by the modified cells.
All patients who received the CTL019 hunter cells experienced a cytokine release syndrome (CRS) within a few days after receiving their infusions--a key indicator that the engineered cells have begun proliferating and killing tumor cells in the body.
which included varying degrees of flu-like symptoms with high fevers nausea and muscle pain.
Eight patients developed severe CRS which required treatment for low blood pressure and breathing difficulties. Nine patients were treated with tocilizumab an immunosuppressant drug that blocks the effects of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6
Six patients also received short courses of steroids to combat CRS symptoms. All patients on these studies fully recovered from the CRS.
which also express the CD19 protein had been eliminated along with their tumors. The researchers note that persistent absence of normal B cells following CTL019 treatment indicates continued activity of the gene-modified T cells
which are thought to provide long-term vaccine-like activity preventing tumor recurrence. Since B cells play a role in helping fight infection patients typically receive immunoglobulin replacement to maintain healthy immune function.
Our results support that CTL019 can produce long-lasting remissions for certain heavily pre-treated ALL patients without further therapy Frey said.
For our patients who have relapsed already after stem cell transplants or don't have any options for donors this option has provided new hope.
In July 2014 the U s. Food and Drug Administration granted CTL019 its Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of relapsed and refractory adult and pediatric ALL a step
which is intended to expedite the development and review of new medicines that treat serious or life-threatening conditions if a therapy has demonstrated substantial advantages over available treatments.
CTL019 is personalized the first cellular therapy to receive the designation. The first multicenter CTL019 trial has opened recently in the U s
. and additional multisite trials are expected to initiate by the end of the year. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Pennsylvania School of medicine e
#Optimal particle size for anticancer nanomedicines discovered Nanomedicines consisting of nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to specific tissues
and cells offer new solutions for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Understanding the interdependency of physiochemical properties of nanomedicines in correlation to their biological responses
and functions is crucial for their further development of as cancer-fighters. To develop next generation nanomedicines with superior anticancer attributes we must understand the correlation between their physicochemical properties--specifically particle size
--and their interactions with biological systems explains Jianjun Cheng an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Cheng
and his collaborators systematically evaluated the size-dependent biological profiles of three monodisperse drug-silica nanoconjugates at 20 50 and 200 nm.
There has been a major push recently in the field to miniaturize nanoparticle size using novel chemistry
and engineering design Cheng added. While most current approved anticancer nanomedicines'sizes range from 100-200 nm recent studies showed that anticancer nanomedicines with smaller sizes--specifically of 50 nm
or smaller--exhibited enhanced performance in vivo such as greater tissue penetration and enhanced tumor inhibition. Over the last 2-3 decades consensus has been reached that particle size plays a pivotal role in determining their biodistribution tumor penetration cellular internalization clearance from blood plasma and tissues as well as excretion from the body--all of
which impact the overall therapeutic efficacy against cancers stated Li Tang first author of this PNAS article.
Our studies show clear evidence that there is an optimal particle size for anticancer nanomedicines resulting in the highest tumor retention.
Among the three nanoconjugates investigated the 50 nm particle size provided the optimal combination of deep tumor tissue penetration efficient cancer cell internalization as well as slow tumor clearance exhibits the highest efficacy against both
primary and metastatic tumors in vivo. To further develop insight into the size dependency of nanomedicines in tumor accumulation
and retention the researchers developed a mathematical model of the spatiotemporal distribution of nanoparticles within a spherically symmetric tumor.
The results are extremely important to guide the future research in designing new nanomedicines for cancer treatment Cheng noted
In addition a new nanomedicine developed by the Illinois researchers--with precisely engineered size at the optimal size range--effectively inhibited a human breast cancer
and prevented metastasis in animals showing promise for the treatment of a variety of cancers in humans.
Cheng a Willett Faculty Scholar at Illinois is affiliated with the departments of Bioengineering and of Chemistry the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory the Institute of Genomic Biology the Frederick
Seitz Materials Research Laboratory and University of Illinois Cancer Center. Tang who obtained his Phd degree from the University of Illinois with Jianjun Cheng is currently a CRI Irvington postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts institute of technology.
Collaborators and co-corresponding authors of the paper at Illinois include Timothy Fan associate professor veterinary clinical medicine;
Andrew Ferguson assistant professor materials science and engineering; and William Helferich professor food science and human nutrition. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Illinois College of Engineering g
#Weather history time machine created During the 1930s North america endured the Dust bowl a prolonged era of dryness that withered crops
and dramatically altered where the population settled. Land-based precipitation records from the years leading up to the Dust bowl are consistent with the telltale drying-out period associated with a persistent dry weather pattern
but they can't explain why the drought was pronounced so and long-lasting. The mystery lies in the fact that land-based precipitation tells only part of the climate story.
Building accurate computer reconstructions of historical global precipitation is tricky business. The statistical models are complicated very the historical data is often full of holes
and researchers invariably have to make educated guesses at correcting for sampling errors. Hard sciencethe high degree of difficulty and expertise required means that relatively few climate scientists have been able to base their research on accurate models of historical precipitation.
Now a new software program developed by a research team including San diego State university Distinguished Professor of Mathematics
and Statistics Samuel Shen will democratize this ability allowing far more researchers access to these models.
In the past only a couple dozen scientists could do these reconstructions Shen said. Now anybody can play with this user friendly software use it to inform their research
and develop new models and hypotheses. This new tool brings historical precipitation reconstruction from a'rocket science'to a'toy science.'
'The National Science Foundation-funded project is a collaboration between Shen University of Maryland atmospheric scientist Phillip A. Arkin and National oceanic and atmospheric administration climatologist Thomas M. Smith.
Predicting past patternsprescribed oceanic patterns are useful for predicting large weather anomalies. Prolonged dry or wet spells over certain regions can reliably tell you
whether for instance North america will undergo an oceanic weather pattern such as the El nino or La Nina patterns.
The problem for historical models is that reliable data exists from only a small percentage of Earth's surface.
About eighty-four percent of all rain falls in the middle of the ocean with no one to record it.
Satellite weather tracking is only a few decades old so for historical models researchers must fill in the gaps based on the data that does exist.
and Sustainability Studies Area of Excellence is an expert in minimizing error size inside model simulations.
Shen and his SDSU graduate students Nancy Tafolla and Barbara Sperberg produced a user friendly technologically advanced piece of software that does the statistical heavy lifting for researchers.
SOGP 1. 0 which stands for a statistical technique known as spectral optimal gridding of precipitation is based on the MATLAB programming language commonly used in science and engineering.
New tool for climate change modelsfor example Shen referenced a region in the middle of the Pacific ocean that sometimes glows bright red on the computer model indicating extreme dryness
Combining this data with land-record data the model can retroactively demonstrate the Dust bowl's especially brutal dry spell.
Shen hopes that its ease of use will encourage climate scientists to incorporate this historical data into their own models improving our future predictions of climate change.
Researchers interested in using SOGP 1. 0 can request the software package as well as the digital datasets used by the program by e-mailing sogp. precip@gmail. com with the subject line SOGP precipitation product request followed by your name
The original article was written by Michael Price. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
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