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Category: biotech/medical – Page 887

Researchers create magnetic microrobots that work together to assemble objects in 3D environments

For the first time ever, researchers at the Surgical Robotics Laboratory of the University of Twente successfully made two microrobots work together to pick up, move and assemble passive objects in 3D environments. This achievement opens new horizons for promising biomedical applications.

Imagine you need surgery somewhere inside your body. However, the part that needs surgery is very difficult for a surgeon to reach. In the future, a couple of robots smaller than a grain of salt might go into your body and perform the surgery. These microrobots could work together to perform all kinds of complex tasks. “It’s almost like magic,” says Franco Piñan Basualdo, corresponding author of the publication.

Researchers from the University of Twente successfully exploited two of these 1-millimeter-sized magnetic microrobots to perform several operations. Like clockwork, the microrobots were able to pick up, move and assemble cubes. Unique to this achievement is the 3D environment in which the robots performed their tasks.

Spectacular Vision: Physicists Boost Microscopes Beyond Diffraction Limits

New technique could be used in medical diagnostics and advanced manufacturing.

Ever since Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered the world of bacteria through a microscope in the late seventeenth century, humans have tried to look deeper into the world of the infinitesimally small.

There are, however, physical limits to how closely we can examine an object using traditional optical methods. This is known as the ‘diffraction limit’ and is determined by the fact that light manifests as a wave. It means a focused image can never be smaller than half the wavelength of light used to observe an object.

Tucatinib plus Trastuzumab Effective in HER2+ Biliary Cancer

Next generation sequencing is now essential for patients with metastatic biliary cancer given the identification of targetable pathways, including fibroblast growth factor receptor and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1, for which there are approved treatments. HER2 has emerged as a target in metastatic biliary cancer, with studies finding 5% to 15% of cancers positive for overexpression or gene amplification.

Investigators now report results of an industry-sponsored, phase 2 basket study (SGNTUC-019) testing the combination of tucatinib — a HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor — and trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive advanced biliary cancer that progressed on first-line gemcitabine/cisplatin–based chemotherapy. Local testing for HER2 was permissible via immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, or next generation sequencing of tissue or blood.

Of 30 patients, half were men, 77% were Asian, half had gallbladder primaries, and half had intrahepatic or extrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas. During a median follow-up of 10.8 months, the primary endpoint of antitumor response rate was 46.7%, and duration of response was 6 months. The median progression-free survival was 5.5 months; median overall survival was 15.5 months. Treatment-related grade 3 or 4 serious adverse events were uncommon and attributable to tucatinib in 10% of patients and to trastuzumab in 6.7%; grade 3 diarrhea occurred in 6.6%.

Potential Therapeutic Treatment for Kidney Failure in Children Discovered

An international team of researchers led by the University of Bristol report they have discovered a potential treatment for the world’s leading cause of kidney failure in children needing dialysis.

The findings are published in Med in an article titled, “Shiga toxin targets the podocyte causing hemolytic uremic syndrome through endothelial complement activation.”

“The most common cause of kidney failure in children is due to toxin-producing bacteria that enter the circulation through the gut resulting in a disease called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS),” wrote the researchers. “This commonly requires kidney dialysis, with approximately 5% of children developing life-long kidney failure or dying. It has been unclear why this toxin has a predilection for the kidney and what its mechanism of action is. This study shows the kidney podocyte cell is an important target of the toxin and signals to blood vessels through cellular crosstalk, causing complement activation and HUS.”

VR’s Healthcare Revolution: Transforming Medical Training at CHLA

Recently, we partnered with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) to build a VR simulation that places medical students and staff in rare yet high-risk pediatric trauma situations where split-second decisions determine whether a patient lives or dies. Thanks to the immersive power of VR, we can replicate these training scenarios in true-to-life fashion, complete with paramedics rattling off symptoms, nurses and techs urging you to make a decision, and distraught parents praying for their child’s survival.

These visceral, interactive exercises up the stakes compared to traditional educational tools like non-VR simulations and mannequins. Powered by AiSolve and brought to life by the Hollywood VFX magic of BioflightVR, these virtual scenarios based on actual CHLA case studies let doctors and students practice and learn in realistic workplace conditions. Not only does this new innovation stand to significantly reduce the time and cost associated with mannequin-based training, it also better prepares people to respond in the real world.

Official Oculus Channels:
Oculus: http://ocul.us/Oculus.
Facebook: http://ocul.us/Facebook.
Twitter: http://ocul.us/Twitter.
Instagram: http://ocul.us/Instagram

Study discovers new subset of retinal neurons impacting vision

Investigators have discovered a new subtype of interneurons in the retina that allows the eye to see and identify objects better in both the light and in the dark, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Communications.

The findings dismantle previous notions about the inner workings of the eye and also have broader implications for informing future neuroscience research, according to Yongling Zhu, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology, of Neuroscience and senior author of the study.

In a mammalian eye, the retina converts light into that the then sends to the brain, enabling vision. Before being transmitted to the brain, the electrical signals are processed in a dense, synaptic layer within the retina, which is divided into two halves.

Diabetes: AI and 10-second voice recording may aid diagnosis

Currently, the most common and accurate methods for diagnosing type 2 diabetes involve blood work. A new study, however, asserts that type 2 diabetes can now be diagnosed based on the sound of a person’s voice.

Researchers from Klick Applied Science have developed a tool they say can diagnose type 2 diabetes in women and men, respectively, with up to 0.89 and 0.86 accuracy.

To achieve this, the researchers used an ensemble model that also factored in women’s body mass index (BMI) and men’s age and BMI.

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