#Detecting Eye diseases With Help of a Smartphone Researchers at the Medical and Surgical Center for Retina developed software that detects eye diseases such as diabetic macular edema using a smartphone.
The system is aimed at general physicians who could detect the condition and refer the patient to a specialist.
The software was developed in collaboration with biomedical engineers from the ITESM and uses the camera of the phone to detect any abnormality in the thickness of the retina. he idea is to detect
and prevent diseases in general practice. We are not replacing the specialist we want to know which patients have a disease
and make an early detection, says Dr. Juan carlos Altamirano Vallejo, medical director of the Medical and Surgical Center for Retina.
He adds that the technology is designed for general physicians, ho support the health system in Mexico and,
even without in depth knowledge of ophthalmology, can, with this tool, detect certain abnormalities and send the patient to the specialist. sing the software will reduce costs
and streamline the Mexican health system. With just having the app on the cell phone
and focusing the camera on the eye, immediate results will be obtained. e start off the fact that it is much cheaper to prevent than to cure blindness. he app also has utility in rural communities,
where expertise areas such as ophthalmology have not arrive yet because equipment to detect these diseases are expensive and so far only the visiting specialist can do this kind of diagnosis. t will help those that
when they go to the eye doctor are already blind, we needed to go a step back,
to know who is at risk and needs to go to a specialist. Not wait for a doctor
says Altamirano Vallejo. Software development has been satisfactory and is expected to soon be marketed and incorporated the basic health system.
Altamirano Vallejo comments that the Medical and Surgical Center for Retina is a small company with just ten employees dedicated to ophthalmology and retina special medical care.
It it also dedicated to biomedical and pharmaceutical research, to develop diagnostics and equipment, applicable to society. e want to give back to our community everything it gives to us,
trying to pay the mortgage we all have with Mexico. ource: Investigación y Desarrolloimage Credit:
Image is credited to Investigación y Desarroll e
#Novel Disease Gene Linked to Neurodegenerative Disorders Identified Researchers at the University of Miami (UM) have discovered
and characterized a previously unknown disease gene linked to the degeneration of optic and peripheral nerve fibers.
The study titled utations in SLC25A46, encoding a UGO1-like protein, cause an optic atrophy spectrum disorderis published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Patients with mutations in this gene present symptoms similar to optic atrophy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2 (CMT2), including vision loss and weakening of the lower leg and foot
muscles beginning in the first decade of life. The novel variants occur in a gene called SLC25A46 that functions in mitochondria
organelles inside animal cells known as the ellular engines. They transform food into fuel that allow cells to carry out energy-demanding functions. itochondria play a large role in human health,
said Alexander Abrams, Ph d. student in Neuroscience at the UM Miller School of medicine and first author of the study. lthough we study rare diseases such as CMT2 and optic atrophy,
the implications encompass all forms of neurodegeneration including Lou Gehrig and Parkinson Diseases. Mitochondria constantly undergo fusion
and fission to respond to cellular energy demands. By changing their size and connectivity through fusion and fission
mitochondria can travel to regions in cells where they are needed. ur study reveals that disrupting SLC25A46 causes mitochondria to become both more highly interconnected
and improperly localized in cells, said Julia E. Dallman, assistant professor of Biology in the UM College of Arts and Sciences and a senior author of the study. hese data support a critical role for SLC25A46 and mitochondrial dynamics in the establishment and maintenance of neuronal processes.
SLC25A46 encodes an atypical protein in the SLC25 family. SLC25 family members act like a channel, transporting molecules across the bilayer membranes inside mitochondria.
Mutations in the genes associated with mitochondria dynamics OPA1 and MFN2 are linked to similar mitochondrial disorders.
Homologous genes in baker yeast, work in combination with a gene called UGO1, which has ancestral similarities to SLC25A46.
Given the similarities between the diseases caused by mutations in OPA1, MFN2 and SLC25A46, these genes could be involved in common pathological mechanisms of neurodegeneration,
the study says. his finding builds on our discovery of MFN2 as a major disease gene in this area over 10 years ago,
said Dr. Stephan Züchner, professor and chair of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human genetics, at UM Miller School of medicine,
and a senior author of the study. nly through the new genome sequencing methods and active global data exchange were we able to solve this puzzle. r
#Herpes used in cancer treatment Researchers used a modified herpes virus to successfully treat patients with aggressive skin cancer
and believe the method could pave the way for a new generation of cancer treatments.
The technique is called virotherapy and uses biotechnology to convert viruses into therapeutic agents, effectively allowing them to go on seek
and destroy missions in sick patients. his is the big promise of this treatment, said Dr Kevin Harrington, professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research London (ICR),
who headed the trials. t the first time a virotherapy has been shown to be successful in a phase 3 trial,
he said. The herpes-based drug is called T-VEC and has already been sent to the US Food
and Drug Administration and the European Medical Agency for approval and researchers hope it will be available for consumers as early as next year.
According to a statement from the ICR, T-VEC works by multiplying inside cancer cells and bursting them from within.
The study was is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and included 436 patients all of whom had aggressive malignant melanoma.
durable benefit for people with melanoma, said Dr Harrington. Professor Paul Workman, Chief executive of the ICR, said in a statement,
e may normally think of viruses as the enemies of mankind, but it their very ability to specifically infect
and kill human cells that can make them such promising cancer treatments. Australian has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world and according to the Cancer Council,
two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70. While the trials have provided great optimism in regards to future cancer treatments,
the successful results have yet to be replicated. The Australian Cancer Research Foundation refrained from commenting on the story
and are waiting for more clinical trials to be done in the field of virotherapy and cancer.
However Dr Hayley Frend, science information manager at Cancer Research UK said she was excited by the results. sing a virus to both kill cancer cells
and nudge the immune system into attacking them is exciting, she said. While previous testing has shown benefits of such treatments,
#Google working with Levis on smart clothes GOOGLE says it working with iconic US jean maker Levi strauss to make clothing from specially woven fabric with touch-screen control capabilities.
The internet titan used its annual developers conference in San francisco to reveal its so-called Project Jacquard
Project Jacquard is in the hands of a small Google team called Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP),
which is different from the Google (x) lab that develops big-vision innovations such as self-driving cars. e are enabling interactive textiles,
or computer screens with finger strokes on a blue cloth covering a table in the display area behind him. t is just like normal fabric.
and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms, according to Google. Anything involving fabric,
from suits or dresses to furniture or carpet, could potentially have computer touchpad style control capabilities woven.
with miniaturised electronics that can use algorithms to recognise touches or swipes, ATAP says. The data can be sent wirelessly to smartphones or other devices,
enabling actions such as making phone calls or sending messages with brushes of fabric. n our hyper-digital world,
people constantly struggle to be physically present in their environment while maintaining a digital connection,
who took part in a Google presentation at the gathering. he work that Google and Levi are embarking upon with Project Jacquard delivers an entirely new value to consumers with apparel that is emotional, aspirational and functional. i
#Aussie student proves existence of plasma tubes floating above Earth AN AUSTRALIAN scientist has discovered that giant, invisible,
moving plasma tubes fill the skies above Earth. It a finding that was met initially with a considerable degree of scepticism within the field of astrophysics,
but a University of Sydney undergraduate student Cleo Loi, 23, has proven that the phenomenon exists.
Ms Loi has proven that the Earth atmosphere is embedded with these strangely shaped, tubular plasma structures.
and we are transitioning to the plasma of outer space. e saw a striking pattern in the sky where stripes of high-density plasma neatly alternated with stripes of low-density plasma.
and aligned beautifully with the Earth magnetic field lines, like aurorae. e realised we may be onto something big.
the astronomers gave the MWA a set of 128 antenna tiles spread over 9sq km in the desert the power to see in 3d. his is like turning the telescope into a pair of eyes,
No one had looked at the data in this way before, she said. lot of the people were convinced pretty is was some problem with the imaging,
I guess being a student and being a bit stubborn, I was so curious, so mystified. was careful about
They flow in these tubular structures that are aligned with the Earth magnetic field. And they can then move of their own accord.
Ms Loi said the drifting plasma tubes could distort astronomical data, especially satellite-based navigation systems.
Ms Loi supervisor Tara Murphy said her work was impressive. t is to Cleo great credit that she
As an undergraduate student with no prior background in this, that is an impressive achievement, said Dr Murphy, also of CAASTRO and the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. hen they first saw the data,
#This device brings dead batteries back to life DID you know when a disposable battery stops working,
there is still close to 80 per cent of its power remaining? The team from the Batteroo office in Silicon valley certainly did
and now they have created a new device to ensure batteries are operating to their full capacity.
Known as Batteriser, the device crafted from. 1mm thin stainless-steel slides over a range of battery types
Founder Bob Roohparvar, a computer science professor at California State university, likened the technology a tube of toothpaste. f you just squeeze from the top,
Mr Roohparvar said he hoped the product would shake up the $14 billion disposable battery market. atteroo is the first to unleash existing unused power from a seemingly powerless battery
and by extending battery life by up to eight times, Batteriser pays for itself with the very first purchased pack,
he said. hy throw away perfectly good batteries, or waste money buying new batteries, when we now have a technology that saves money, saves energy,
and can cut the number of batteries that end up in landfills by more than half. Currently the only device of its kind, Batteriser will be available for AA, AAA, C and D-cell batteries,
and will retail at under $us10. 00 for a pack of four sleeves. The product will be available for purchase on Amazon later this year z
#The revolution of military aircraft For anyone with a fascination for flying it is a surreal experience to stand in a hangar with five Bell 407 helicopters and not a single pilot in sight.
Out on the flight line at the Point Mugu United states Naval Air station, north of Los angeles, a ground crew is preparing an unmanned MQ-8c Fire Scout chopper for takeoff,
but the ilotis sitting in a small, windowless shipping container about 200 metres away. Welcome to the future of naval aviation fleets of unmanned helicopters flying on and off warships conducting missions as diverse as missile strikes
surveillance and ash and trashresupply flights. Aerospace giant Northrop grumman is at the cutting edge of this technology with its Fire Scout system
and the company has built 24 MQ-8b models that are already in service with the US NAVY
and 19 of the bigger models have been ordered so far with another 10 expected this year.
which is the machine of choice for the Royal Australian Navy for its future frigate and other platforms,
and then emansthem and converts them into Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) using advanced systems and sensors. Program director for the US NAVY Captain Jeff Dodge likened the upgrade from the MQ-8b based on a smaller airframe to the model aircraft to a brain transplant. e are taking the computer
and putting it on a bigger, stronger helicopter, he said in a hangar at Webster Field near Pax River Naval Air station on Chesapeake bay.
and 5500 metres up and can lift more than 3000kg of payload and fuel. That gives tactical planners incredible flexibility
At the other extreme of the unmanned aircraft spectrum is the $80 million Northrop grumman built US NAVY Triton maritime surveillance aircraft.
News coverage from Afghanistan means that most people are familiar with modern-day fixed-wing military UAVS such as missile armed Reapers
and Predators or the smaller unarmed Heron aircraft flown by the RAAF on surveillance missions from Kandahar airfield.
Northrop grumman is taking the unmanned concept to the next level with the Triton and Fire Scout and the most incredible of them all the X47-B unmanned combat jet that has landed already
and taken off from an aircraft carrier. Pilots such as Lieutenant commander David Selew, who have thousands of hours of flying experience,
He is a PC-3 Orion pilot by trade and while he is prepared not to write the obituary for airborne pilots just yet he understands that unmanned systems are booming,
Lt Commander Selew said. Sensors on the ground at Point Mugu mimic a ship landing system so the chopper simply picks up a radio beam
and is guided to the deck. f there is a communications problem it will just fly right back to where it started
and touch down smoothly, Lt Commander Selew said. Another major advantage of an unmanned machine is that
if it crashes or is shot down there is no terrible news to pass to the families of the aircrew just a pile of crumpled metal.
Deputy Triton Program director for the US NAVY at Pax River Commander Jason Rider is an enthusiastic advocate for the pilotless system that he says has achieved already an 88 per cent.
With a wingspan as wide as a Boeing 737 passenger jet the Triton can fly up to 20,000 metres high
and remain aloft for more than 24 hours tuning it powerful 360 degree multi-function radar
and others sensors over a vast swathe of ocean without the problems of a manned system that include risk
As United states P-3 numbers drop off in coming years support staff and pilots will be used to fly Tritons that will be deployed forward at US fleet bases around the world The same approach will apply to the RAAF fleet of Orions as they retire during the next decade to be replaced by either Triton or the Boeing P-8 Poseidon manned
aircraft. They won be based forward but they will operate away from Adelaide at places such as Tindal,
and investigate, Commander Rider said. He said the aircraft sensors were very powerful and the turret under the nose was the same as the Reaper
and Predator and could provide extreme hi-resolution imagery. f you want to read what kind of shirt a guy is wearing you would need to be at 5000 feet,
and identifying small vessels in various sea states as well as oil and gas platforms and if the RAAF wants others systems such as weather radar
but the top brass will recommend an ordinary (low risk) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) buy that will also exclude Australian industry from the system global supply chain.
mission payload operators and a tactical commander who are located in a control room with three large TV screens on the wall
and each operator working a keyboard, mouse and a bank of computer screens. There is no joystick and the system is ly by mousewith the operator using the computer mouse to control the aircraft
even if it is flying thousands of kms away. The future has arrived and as sure as night follows day it will involve fewer airborne pilots and increasing numbers of unmanned aircraft systems.
have seen we the last of piloted aircraft? Probably not, but it will become increasingly difficult in the years ahead to find a military pilot who actually takes to the air i
#Aussie bricklaying robot can build house in two days WORLD, meet your new bricklayer. A robotic, fully-automated machine is being developed in Perth,
a world-first that could raise the brick shell of a new home within two days.
It can work 24 hours, 365 days compared to the human variety who can put in anywhere from four to six weeks of backbreaking work for a typical home.
Local inventor Mark Pivac, an aeronautic and mechanical engineer, said his interest in the idea of developing the robot was sparked during Perth bricklaying crisis of 2005. eople have been laying bricks for about 6000 years and ever since the industrial revolution
they have tried to automate the bricklaying process, Mr Pivac told Perthnow. ee at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it now possible to do it,
and that what wee done. adrianthe robot named after the famous Roman defensive wall of antiquity will be commercialised first in WA, then nationally and then globally.
Laying 1000 bricks per hour, it can work day and night, with the potential to erect 150 homes a year.
It works by creating a 3d computer-aided design (CAD) laying program of a house or structure
then calculates the location of every brick and creates a program that is used to cut
and lay the bricks in sequence from a single, fixed location. A 28m articulated telescopic boom goes to work
and mortar or adhesive is delivered under pressure to the robotic laying head and applied to the brick
which is laid then in the correct sequence as per the program. The robot de-hacks, measures, scans for quality and cuts to length the bricks and routs for electrical and other services.
Mr Pivac father was a mining surveyor so he grew up around measuring instruments from a young age.
Working for the Air force the engineer says he was xposed to some pretty nice high technology, really modern manufacturing methods,
instrumentation and a lot of complex systems But it was while working in the area of computer-controlled machinery
and witnessing the shortage of Perth bricklayers that the idea of a bricklaying robot really took hold.
Nearly two billion bricks are manufactured a year in Australia, which added fuel to the fire of the inventor imagination.
The project has been 10 years in the making and Mr Pivac said it had been a team effort. e have absolutely nothing against bricklayers,
This week, investment company DMY Capital Limited announced its conditional agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Australian robotic building technology company, Fastbrick Robotics,
Fastbrick Robotics said it had received significant support from both Federal government grants and major industry parties such as Brickworks Ltd, a group of Australian-owned companies centred on clay and concrete products.
and its innovative robotic bricklaying technology has the potential to service the overwhelming demand for housing,
quicker and cheaper than ever before. excited to see the company gain further funding support
Desmond Ramirez and Todd Oakley of the University of California at Santa barbara shone light on samples of skin from the octopus and within around 6 seconds,
"Our data are the clearest demonstration to date that Octopus bimaculoides skin is intrinsically light-sensitive, "they report.
because chromatophores sacs of pigment in the skin are stretched by the surrounding muscle, expanding the sacs to create large brown patches.
#Brain implant allows paralysed man to sip a beer at his own pace A brain implant that can decode what someone wants to do has allowed a man paralysed from the neck down to control a robotic arm with unprecedented fluidity
People with similar injuries have controlled previously prosthetic limbs using implants placed in their motor cortex an area of the brain responsible for the mechanics of movement.
Richard Andersen at the California Institute of technology in Pasadena and his colleagues hoped they could achieve a more fluid movement by placing an implant in the posterior parietal cortex a part of the brain involved in planning motor movements."
where he presented the work this month. Neuron control Andersen's team placed two implants measuring 4 millimetres squared into Sorto's posterior parietal cortex.
Each contained electrodes that recorded the activity of hundreds of individual neurons.""We weren't actually sure
what we would find as it's entirely new territory, "said Andersen.""The posterior parietal cortex is a fascinating area as it doesn't control the muscles so much as the plans you make to do something."
"For nearly two years, the team recorded the patterns of electrical activity from each neuron firing
paper, scissors Next, the team sent information from the implant to a computer, which translated it into instructions to move a separate robotic arm.
scissors and to switch on a blender to make a smoothie. Most importantly to him, he was able to smoothly pick up a beer
In their paper, Anderson's team hypothesises that as the world becomes increasingly technologically connected it might be possible to also decode non-motor intentions to control one's environment for example,
and have that trigger the television to switch on? Touchy feely For now though, the next step is to give people like Sorto back their sense of touch.
but this is not possible for people with a spinal injury because the messages from the nerves cannot reach the brain.
Miguel Nicolelis at Duke university Medical centre in Durham, North carolina, showed that stimulating the somatosensory cortex an area that processes feelings of touch let monkeys feel the texture of virtual objects without physically touching anythingmovie Camera.
people undergoing brain surgery have had their somatosensory cortex stimulated and reported feeling things such as"a wind rushing over my hand
At the conference, Andersen announced that the team has placed an implant in their first volunteer
race is on to log global heritage Ancient buildings are sitting ducks in war. But efforts are growing to preserve them digitally
in case disaster strikes, says Emma Cunliffethe ancient city of Palmyra is a Syrian archaeological treasure and a UNESCO World heritage site.
Now it's controlled by ISIS fighters, who have threatened to destroy it as part of their campaign against religious idolatry.
This is the worst in a string of threats to the site. Even before this engagement
destroying sites in the process. Before its retreat, the Syrian army evacuated as much of Palmyra's population as possible, together with the museum collections,
but the ancient city was left and is at the mercy of the invaders. Dedicated Syrians are focused on rescuing collections and buildings if possible.
But too often the beautiful buildings and ruins cannot be saved from those determined to damage them,
as happened at the ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq in March. var ord=window. ord Math. floor (Math. random()*10e12);
document. write(''''Palmyra now stands as a mute demonstration of the dilemma afflicting heritage specialists today.
many other sites have been damaged in this and other conflicts and even more are harmed by activities such as development and agriculture.
Some were destroyed before they were surveyed even and are known now only through historic satellite imagery, such as the 1960s images provided by the Corona Atlas of the Ancient Near east.
A charitably funded team at the universities of Oxford and Leicester has started a project called Endangered Archaeology of the Middle east and North africa.
By examining satellite imagery and historic aerial photography, the team looks for and records sites, monitoring the extensive landscape changes of the past 70 years.
working with local heritage agencies to better protect the sites in the future. Others are looking to new technologies to help, such as 3d scanning.
a leader in this field, is scanning as many heritage sites, objects, famous landmarks, and even rock-art sites, as possible.
It is making them internationally accessible online but also creating records that could be used for reconstruction.
Some of these sites are now in areas of great risk, such as Babylon and Mosul in Iraq.
Cyark's goals include scanning 500 heritage sites in the next five years. Such technology is improving exponentially quickly:
new 3d scanning devices are as small as mobile phones, and NGOS hope to deploy them in conflict areas including Syria.
It is also possible to create 3d data even from tourist photographs, often using crowdsourced images.
More than 85 per cent of Polish capital Warsaw was razed deliberately in the second world war: afterwards it was rebuilt meticulously,
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011