Lifeboat Foundation

Chronic lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis, are the second leading cause of death in the world. Currently, only limited therapeutic options exist for chronic lung diseases; in particular, causative therapeutic approaches are missing. Lung transplantation remains the only available therapy for many patients with end-stage lung disease; however, the number of patients listed for lung transplantation by far surpasses the number of suitable donor organs.

Beyond lung transplantation, several approaches to repair and regenerate lung tissue, with the aim of restoring lung function, have made substantial progress in recent years and hold great promise for future therapies. Importantly, advancement in our understanding of the underlying pathogenesis of distinct chronic lung diseases will be crucial for the development of novel, targeted therapeutic approaches.

The mission of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) is to alleviate suffering from respiratory disease and promote lung health through research, knowledge sharing, and medical and public education. In support of this mission, the ERS hosts the annual Lung Science Conference (LSC) in Estoril, Portugal, which brings together leading experts (basic scientists, physician scientists and clinicians alike) on distinct topics of relevance to respiratory medicine. In addition, the ERS is strongly committed to encourage, nurture and mentor future generations of world class respiratory scientists and clinicians. The LSC represents one of the main platforms to encourage debate and interaction between young doctoral and postdoctoral scientists with established investigators. In particular, this is facilitated by special mentoring sessions and the Young Investigator Competition, which enables younger delegates to present themselves and their work to established investigators.

More than 100 COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Beijing are receiving injections of mesenchymal stem cells to help them fend off the disease. The experimental treatment is part of an ongoing clinical trial, which coordinators say has shown early promise in alleviating COVID-19 symptoms.

Several experts express skepticism of the trial’s early results, suggest resources would be better spent exploring other treatments.

During this extremely rare epoch of non-travel, it’s worth looking back at Magellan and the Age of Discovery. Exploration and freedom of movement have always come with a price.

Working around the clock, scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts can run about 2,000 COVID-19 tests per day. In places where testing is still scarce — which is to say much of the world — similar efforts can provide vital relief to public-health systems stretched to their limits. As they shutter their labs indefinitely, tens of thousands of scientists are volunteering to help the pandemic relief efforts in any way they can.

As labs shut down around the world, researchers are finding creative ways to donate their time, supplies and expertise.

Covid-19 is a respiratory infection that damages the lungs. New evidence has emerged that Covid-19 also causes damage to the heart even with no preexisting conditions:

Objective To explore the association between cardiac injury and mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study was conducted from January 20, 2020, to February 10, 2020, in a single center at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; the final date of follow-up was February 15, 2020. All consecutive inpatients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were included in this study.

Continue reading “Association of Cardiac Injury With Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China” »

Circa 2018

Discovery could provide environmentally friendly way to purify water contaminated by mining activity, say researchers.

Qualcomm is getting ready to usher in a new generation of super low-power Bluetooth earbud chips.

The QCC514X and the QCC304X will support Qualcomm’s TrueWireless Mirroring technology. This means that wireless connectivity is secured with a single earbud that is paired with another. When the user removes the primary earbud, the other mirroring bud takes over the connection without any interruption.

The units will also support active noise control, or noise cancellation, bringing the popular feature commonly found on high-end units to mid-priced and entry-level buds. Qualcomm says its hybrid ANC feature allows for ambient noise leak-through that allows substantial but not total external noise suppression. That makes it easier for users to speak with others while wearing the buds or to more easily hear car horns or alarms.

In recent years, researchers worldwide have been trying to develop sensors that could replicate humans’ sense of touch in robots and enhance their manipulation skills. While some of these sensors achieved remarkable results, most existing solutions have small sensitive fields or can only gather images with low-resolutions.

A team of researchers at UC Berkeley recently developed a new multi-directional tactile sensor, called OmniTact, that overcomes some of the limitations of previously developed sensors. OmniTact, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv and set to be presented at ICRA 2020, acts as an artificial fingertip that allows robots to sense the properties of objects it is holding or manipulating.

“Our lab recognized the need for a sensor for general robotic manipulation tasks with expanded capabilities than current tactile sensors,” Frederik Ebert, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. ‘“Existing tactile sensors are either flat, have small sensitive fields or only provide low-resolution signals. For example, the GelSight sensor provides high resolution (i.e., 400×400 pixel) images but is large and flat, providing sensitivity on only one side, while the OptoForce sensor is curved, but only provides force readings at a single point.”

Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) could have numerous useful applications, for instance, assisting humans in completing warehouse inventories or search and rescue missions. While many companies worldwide have already started producing and using MAVs, some of these flying robots still have considerable limitations.

To work most effectively, MAVs should be supported by an efficient pose estimation system. This is a system or method that can calculate a drone’s position and attitude, which can then be used to control its flight, adjust its speed and aid its navigation while it is operating autonomously and when controlled remotely.

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China have recently developed a new system for the pose estimation of MAVs in indoor environments. Their new approach, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXIv and set to be published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, leverages existing WiFi infrastructure to enable more effective navigation in small and agile drones.