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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,196

ChatGPT: Will It Transform the World of Health Care?

The recent introduction of the breathtaking AI tool ChatGPT has sparked a national dialogue about the future of artificial intelligence in health care, education, research, and beyond. In this session, four UCSF experts discuss AI’s current and potential uses, in areas ranging from research to education to clinical care. After a brief presentation by each speaker, DOM Chair Bob Wachter moderates a far-ranging panel discussion on the health care applications of ChatGPT.

Speakers:
Atul Butte, MD, PhD, professor of Pediatrics, Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics; director, UCSF Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute; chief data scientist, University of California Health System.

Daniel Lowenstein, MD, professor of Neurology; former executive vice chancellor and provost, UCSF

Sara Murray, MD, MAS, associate professor, Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health; associate chief medical information officer, Inpatient Care and Data Science, UCSF Health.

Aaron Neinstein, MD, associate professor, Division of Endocrinology at UCSF Health; vice president of Digital Health, UCSF Health; senior director, UCSF Center for Digital Health Innovation.

Note: Closed captions will be available within 48–72 hours after posting.

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Study: Blood Cancer Treatment Found to Kill Latent HIV-Infected Cells, Possible New Treatment

The blood cancer treatment venetoclax (Venclexta; Roche, Genentech, AbbVie) was found to kill latent HIV-infected cells, indicating a possible new treatment for the virus, according to the results of a preclinical study by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

When HIV-infected cells are latent, the virus remains in the body and is untreatable by therapies currently on the market, which is why patients with HIV must stay on treatment to suppress the virus. Currently, antiretroviral therapies (ART) are the standard of care treatment for patients with HIV, however, they cannot target latent infection.

Although antiretroviral therapies are the standard of care treatment for those with HIV, the drugs cannot target latent infections; however, venetoclax, a blood cancer treatment, shows promise.

Psychedelic drug MDMA eases PTSD symptoms in a study that paves the way for possible US approval

The psychedelic drug MDMA can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers reported in a new study published Thursday.

The company sponsoring the research said it plans later this year to seek U.S. approval to market the drug, also known as ecstasy, as a PTSD treatment when combined with talk therapy.

“It’s the first innovation in PTSD treatment in more than two decades. And it’s significant because I think it will also open up other innovation,” said Amy Emerson, CEO of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, the research sponsor.”

A study has found that the psychedelic drug MDMA, combined with talk therapy, can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

China May Have Built A Third Exascale Supercomputer — And May Be Hiding Its Real Capabilities

Computer performance is measured in FLOPS, or floating-point operations per second. The first supercomputer, which was developed in 1964, could run 3,000,000 FLOPS, i.e., 3 megaFLOPS. Exa means 18 zeros, meaning 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 FLOPS. An exascale computer can perform that many operations — something that is almost impossible to imagine.

Now, there is a huge advantage to commanding that kind of computing power in today’s world. Here is what the same McKinsey report says: “Exascale computing could allow scientists to solve problems that have until now been impossible. With exascale, exponential increases in memory, storage, and compute power may drive breakthroughs in several industries: energy production, storage, transmission, materials science, heavy industry, chemical design, AI and machine learning, cancer research and treatment, earthquake risk assessment, and many more.”

Put simply, China now may have the computing power at its disposal to match, or even overtake, technology leaders like the United States in several areas that could be key to becoming the dominant economic and military power in the world. China could also pair its advances in artificial intelligence with this mind-boggling computering power and achieve technological and military dominance quite quickly.

New vaccine technology could protect against future viruses and variants

Studies of a “future-proof” vaccine candidate have shown that just one antigen can be modified to provide a broadly protective immune response in animals. The studies suggest that a single vaccine with combinations of these antigens—a substance that causes the immune system to produce antibodies against it—could protect against an even greater range of current and future coronaviruses.

The antigen technology, developed by the University of Cambridge and spin-out DIOSynVax in early 2020, provided protection against all known variants of SARS-CoV-2—the that causes COVID-19—as well as other major coronaviruses, including those that caused the first SARS epidemic in 2002.

The studies in mice, rabbits and guinea pigs—an important step before beginning , currently underway in Southampton and Cambridge—found that the provided a strong immune response against a range of coronaviruses by targeting the parts of the virus that are required for replication. The vaccine candidate is based on a single digitally designed and immune optimized antigen.

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