When a person takes a puff on a cigarette, nicotine floods into the brain, latching onto receptors on the surface of neurons and producing feelings of happiness. But nicotine does not simply stay on the surface of cells - the drug actually permeates into neural cells and alters them from the inside out. Now, a team of scientists has developed a protein sensor that glows in the presence of nicotine, allowing the researchers to
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Smart Microrobots that can Adapt to their Surroundings
One day we may be able to ingest tiny robots that deliver drugs directly to diseased tissue, thanks to research being carried out at EPFL and ETH Zurich. The group of scientists - led by Selman Sakar at EPFL and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich - drew inspiration from bacteria to design smart, biocompatible microrobots that are highly flexible.
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AI Approach Outperformed Human Experts in Identifying Cervical Precancer
A research team led by investigators from the National Institutes of Health and Global Good has developed a computer algorithm that can analyze digital images of a woman's cervix and accurately identify precancerous changes that require medical attention. This artificial intelligence (AI) approach, called automated visual evaluation, has the potential to revolutionize cervical cancer screening, particularly in low-resource settings.
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First Smartphone App to Detect Opioid Overdose and its Precursors
At least 115 people die every day in the U.S. after overdosing on opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And in 2016, illegal injectable opioids became the most common drug involved in overdose-related deaths. This spike has led to a national public health crisis and epidemic.
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Stanford Researchers Create a Wireless, Battery-Free, Biodegradable Blood Flow Sensor
A new device developed by Stanford University researchers could make it easier for doctors to monitor the success of blood vessel surgery. The sensor, detailed in a paper published Jan. 8 in Nature Biomedical Engineering, monitors the flow of blood through an artery. It is biodegradable, battery-free and wireless, so it is compact and doesn't need to be removed and it can warn a patient's doctor if there is a blockage.
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Artificial Intelligence Advances Threaten Privacy of Health Data
Advances in artificial intelligence have created new threats to the privacy of people's health data, a new University of California, Berkeley, study shows. Led by UC Berkeley engineer Anil Aswani, the study suggests current laws and regulations are nowhere near sufficient to keep an individual's health status private in the face of AI development. The research was published Dec. 21 in the JAMA Network Open journal.
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Artificial Intelligence System Learns to Diagnose, Classify Intracranial Hemorrhage
A team of investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Department of Radiology has developed a system using artificial intelligence to quickly diagnose and classify brain hemorrhages and to provide the basis of its decisions from relatively small image datasets. Such a system could become an indispensable tool for
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