Lifeboat Foundation

Shai Ben-David, Professor at the University of Waterloo, gave Machine Learning Course composed of 23 Lectures (CS 485/685) at the University of Waterloo on Jan 14, 2015…

Machine learning is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed. In the past decade, machine learning has given us self-driving cars, practical speech recognition, effective web search, and a vastly improved understanding of the human genome. Machine learning is so pervasive today that you probably use it dozens of times a day without knowing it. Many researchers also think it is the best way to make progress towards human-level AI.

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence and Magnificent Brain” »

The US is in a opioid addiction crisis that has been described as a national epidemic by health officials. Each day 91 people die after overdosing on the drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More Americans now die from drug overdoses than in car accidents or from gun violence put together, and more than 2.6m are addicted to opioids, according to CDC figures.

Health insurance system is partly to blame for the epidemic that is costing companies $18bn a year.

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, have made a breakthrough in understanding the origin of the ageing process. They have identified that genes belonging to a process called autophagy — one of the cells most critical survival processes — promote health and fitness in young worms but drive the process of ageing later in life. This research published in the journal Genes & Development gives some of the first clear evidence for how the ageing process arises as a quirk of evolution. These findings may also have broader implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease where autophagy is implicated. The researchers show that by promoting longevity through shutting down autophagy in old worms there is a strong improvement in neuronal and subsequent whole body health.

Getting old, it’s something that happens to everyone and nearly every species on this planet, but the question is, should it? In a recent publication in the journal Genes & Development titled “Neuronal inhibition of the autophagy nucleation complex extends lifespan in post-reproductive C. elegans,” the laboratory of Dr Holger Richly at IMB, has found some of the first genetic evidence that may put this question to rest.

As Charles Darwin explained, natural selection results in the fittest individuals for a given environment surviving to breed and pass on their genes to the next generation. The more fruitful a trait is at promoting reproductive success, the stronger the selection for that trait will be. In theory, this should give rise to individuals with traits which prevent ageing as their genes could be passed on nearly continuously. Thus, despite the obvious facts to the contrary, from the point of evolution ageing should never have happened. This evolutionary contradiction has been debated and theorised on since the 1800s. It was only in 1953 with his hypothesis of antagonistic pleiotropy (AP) that George C. Williams gave us a rational explanation for how ageing can arise in a population through evolution. Williams proposed that natural selection enriches genes promoting reproductive success but consequently ignores their negative effects on longevity.

Continue reading “Why we did not evolve to live forever: Unveiling the mystery of why we age” »

Nanostructured systems have the potential to revolutionize both preventive and therapeutic approaches for treating cardiovascular disease. Given the unique physical and chemical properties of nanostructured systems, nanoscience and nanotechnology have recently demonstrated the potential to overcome many of the limitations of cardiovascular medicine through the development of new pharmaceuticals, imaging reagents and modalities, and biomedical devices. A recent review offers an outline of critical issues and emerging developments in cardiac nanotechnology.

Summary: Researchers are testing a new vaccine and oral medication that could delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing in those with a genetic predisposition.

Source: Keck Medicine USC.

The Keck School of Medicine of USC launches a study exploring whether two different therapies can prevent a leading cause of death.

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Scientists at Tufts University were able to graft eyes to the tails of blind Xenopus, giving the tadpoles the ability to detect colors, focus on objects, and consistently follow patterns.

In a breakthrough for regenerative medicine, researchers have developed working eyes attached to the tails of blind Xenopus tadpoles. The tadpoles were able to process visual information from their environment upon the augmentation, helping scientist understand the process of promoting innervation (a part of the body’s nerve supply) in regenerative medicine.

Continue reading “Scientists Grafted Eyes Onto a Blind Organism’s Back, and It Could See” »

Scientists in Australia are developing new compounds that they claimed could stop scars from forming in the first place. The compounds job is to stop an enzyme called lysyl oxidase, which enables the collagen in wound healing to crosslink, resulting in scar formation.

If you sustained an injury, whether it’s large or small, you’ll likely end up with a scar. Scars, after all, are the natural outcome of wound healing, and there’s typically few ways to avoid it. Until now, that is.

Nerve cells in the gut play a crucial role in the body’s ability to marshal an immune response to infection, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

The study, published in Nature, shows that the immune system and nervous system have co-evolved to respond to infectious threats. This means that scientists looking for ways to treat diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or asthma that involve an excessive immune system response may also have to address the nervous system’s role.

“The immune system and neuronal system don’t act independently,” said senior author Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “They are working together.”

Continue reading “Immune and Nerve Cells Work Together to Fight Gut Infections” »