<h2>A Global Pain Crisis</h2>
<p>A new special report from the medical journal <em>Lancet</em> has revealed that more than 25 million people — including 2.5 million children — die every year around the globe in terrible pain. The world&#8217;s poor lack pain relief in many nations, either because of fears concerning addictive drugs held by authorities, or a simple refusal to acknowledge the needs of the less privileged. Access to morphine would solve this crisis.</p>
<p>&#8220;The world suffers a deplorable pain crisis: little to no access to morphine for tens of millions of adults and children in poor countries who live and die in horrendous and preventable pain,&#8221; commission co-chair Professor <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/12/more-than-25-million-people-dying-in-agony-without-morphine-every-year" target="_blank">Felicia Knaul told </a><i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/12/more-than-25-million-people-dying-in-agony-without-morphine-every-year" target="_blank">The Guardian</a></i>, calling the situation &#8220;one of the world’s most striking injustices.&#8221;</p>
<p>The three-year study found that almost half of all deaths worldwide — that&#8217;s 25.5 million annually — lack palliative care and pain relief, resulting in a high level of suffering. An additional 35.5 million people live with chronic pain and distress, bringing the total in crisis to 61 million annually. 5.3 million of the total are children. Many suffer from preventable conditions.</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-future-of-pain-management/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/05/Homepage-Thumbnail-900x600.png" alt="The Future of Pain Management" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-future-of-pain-management/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>As an example, Haiti offers neither hospices nor nursing homes, and most terminally ill patients suffer at home without effective pain relief. &#8220;Patients in pain from trauma or malignancy are treated with medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen,&#8221; University of Miami School of Medicine expert <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32513-8/fulltext" target="_blank">Antonia P. Eyssallenne testified in the report</a>. &#8220;Death in Haiti is cruel, raw, and devastatingly premature. There is often no explanation, no sympathy, and no peace, especially for the poor.&#8221;</p>
<p>The vast majority of this suffering (more than 80%) happens in low- and middle-income nations. Morphine is difficult or impossible to obtain in many countries. As an example of the world outlook in terms of ability to meet the need for morphine by country, Russia is able to meet 8% of its need, Vietnam 9%, and Uganda 11%. Palliative care with oral morphine does not exist in many of the poorest countries in the world.</p>
<p>Dr. M. R. Rajagopal testified about his palliative care experience in Kerala, India. He treated a man, Mr. S, suffering from lung cancer and in horrendous pain. Mr. S was given morphine and experienced immense pain relief. Upon returning to the clinic next month, morphine was unavailable, so he calmly told Dr. Rajagopal that he would hang himself without it. This is just one example of the difference morphine can make to the lives of patients.</p>
<h2>Options Exist for Pain Management</h2>
<p>The commission put forth a number of recommendations to deal with the global crisis of pain management. The most important of these is an &#8220;Essential Package&#8221; that meets minimum health standards for palliative care using medicine, medical equipment, and people who can administer the care.</p>
<p>Knaul expanded on this recommendation to <i>The Guardian</i>, saying, &#8220;immediate-release, off-patent, morphine that can cost just pennies should be made available in both oral and injectable formulations for any patient with medical need.&#8221; Access to morphine will ease patients&#8217; suffering from a number of painful conditions.</p>
<p>As countries like the United States grapple with opioid addiction, researchers work to parse out <a href="https://futurism.com/a-network-of-mini-brains-may-be-responsible-for-your-pain/" target="_blank">what really causes pain</a> — and how to stop it — potentially finding a solution that will help all humans everywhere. In the meantime, backlash against opioids and resistance to even <a href="https://futurism.com/medical-marijuana-preferred-93-patients-pain-management/" target="_blank">medical marijuana</a> are hurting patients in other countries who desperately need drugs like morphine to manage pain from devastating diseases like cancer.</p>


Pain relief is inexpensive but priceless to patients.

Lack of access to morphine causes 25 million people to die in pain every year

Health & Medicine

The Lancet Commission has found that people around the world are living — and dying — in excruciating pain because they have no access to morphine.

Lack of Access to Morphine Causes 25 Million People to Die in Pain Every Year

"The world suffers a deplorable pain crisis."

<h2>Air-Breathing Battery</h2>
<p>To survive on our planet we need the cleanliness of renewable energy. However, we also need it to be reliable, even when clouds obscure the Sun or the wind flags. Although we are already working to counter that natural variability with variety — sourcing energy to power the grid from a range of origins, including biomass, hydro, solar, waves, and wind, to break free of the need to switch back to coal and gas backup sources — we need large-scale energy storage systems.</p>
<p>A team of researchers at MIT has developed a new kind of “air-breathing” battery that could make this happen sooner. The battery stores energy for months at about one-fifth of the price of existing technologies. What really sets it apart, though, is that the battery inhales air from outside while discharging, and recharges the battery as it exhales oxygen.</p>
<p>“This battery literally inhales and exhales air, but it doesn&#8217;t exhale carbon dioxide, like humans — it exhales oxygen,” study co-author Yet-Ming Chiang <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2017/air-breathing-battery-making-renewable-power-more-viable-grid-1011" target="_blank">told </a><i><a href="http://news.mit.edu/2017/air-breathing-battery-making-renewable-power-more-viable-grid-1011" target="_blank">MIT News</a></i>. “What this does is create a charge balance by taking oxygen in and out of the system.”</p>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106667 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/air-breathing-battery-3-1200x686.jpg" alt="Image Credit: Felice Frankel/MIT" width="820" height="468" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Felice Frankel/MIT</figcaption></figure>
<p>The team designed a rechargeable flow battery, which means that its cathode and anode are actually liquids. The catholyte and anolyte, then,  exchange ions to store and release energy. The anolyte is a solution of water and sulfur, and the catholyte is an oxygenated liquid salt solution. This latter solution is what allows the battery to “exhale” oxygen. In fact, the “breathing” is what allows the battery to function. It inhales and creates negatively-charged hydroxide ions in the catholyte, and then recharges, creating hydrogen ions as it exhales oxygen, returning electrons to the anolyte.</p>
<p>“We went on a search for a positive electrode that would also have exceptionally low cost that we could use with sulfur as the negative electrode,” Chiang said to <i>MIT News</i>. “Through an accidental laboratory discovery, we figured out that it could actually be oxygen, and therefore air. We needed to add one other component, which was a charge carrier to go back and forth between the sulfur and air electrode, and that turned out to be sodium.”</p>
<h2>Making Renewables Reliable</h2>
<p><a href="https://newatlas.com/air-breathing-battery/51720/" target="_blank">Lithium-air batteries</a>, which have about the same energy density, work in the same way — but sulfur, salt, and water are far cheaper. Lowering cost has been essential to developing energy storage systems that can be scaled for use with the grid. The team estimates that a scaled-up version of their breathing battery would cost between  $20 and $30 (USD) per kilowatt hour (kWh) stored to run. By comparison, other storage systems currently available cost about $100 per kWh.</p>
<p>The prototype in this case is <a href="http://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(17)30032-6">about the size of a coffee cup</a>. However, the researchers are confident the design is scalable. The team plans to improve the battery next, making it less expensive, more efficient, and extending its working life beyond the 1,500 hours it currently boasts.</p>


"This battery literally inhales and exhales air, but it doesn't exhale carbon dioxide, like humans — it exhales oxygen."

Air-breathing battery makes renewable power viable for the grid

Earth & Energy

MIT researchers developed an "air-breathing" flow battery that exhales oxygen, stores power for months, and costs a fifth of current storage batteries.

Air-Breathing Battery Makes Renewable Power Viable for the Grid

The battery stores energy for months at about one-fifth of the price of existing technologies.

<h2>Limits of Gene Editing</h2>
<p>Technologies designed for editing the human genome are transforming biomedical science and providing us with relatively simple ways to modify and edit genes. However, precision editing has not been possible for cells that have stopped dividing, including mature neurons. This has meant that gene editing has been of limited use in neurological research — until now. Researchers at the <a href="https://www.maxplanckflorida.org/news-and-media/news/gene-editing-in-the-brain-gets-a-major-upgrade/" target="_blank">Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience</a> (MPFI) have created a new tool that allows, for the first time ever, precise genome editing in mature neurons. This relieves previous constraints and presents amazing new opportunities for neuroscience research.</p>
<p>This novel tool is based on <a href="https://futurism.com/crispr-is-on-the-cusp-of-eradicating-a-host-of-diseases/" target="_blank">CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing</a> technology. Originally, the CRISPR tool was discovered in bacteria, a defense mechanism against viral attacks. It works to “edit” the genomes in cells because, once inside them, it interrupts the DNA in a target location, causing damage, and then repairs it in one of two ways. <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-10/mpfi-gei101217.php" target="_blank">Scientists favor</a> damage repair via homology directed repair (HDR), which is less likely to result in errors, far more precise, and can allow for the insertion of specific genes. In other words, researchers use the HDR method because it enables them to add, delete, or modify genes to match their intended goal.</p>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106878 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/Single-AAV-Systems-for-HDR-Mediated-Genome-Editing-in-Vivo-1200x1566.png" alt="Image Credit: Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience" width="820" height="1070" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Gene editing capabilities are only growing. Image Credit: Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience</figcaption></figure>
<p>CRISPR&#8217;s use in neurons faced a critical obstacle — the HDR repair mechanism was historically believed to be possible only for cells that still dividing in the body. Neurons are mature brain cells, past the proliferation stage, and were unable to use the HDR repair mechanism. This was all true, but the development of this new strategy has created previously impossible opportunities with the use of mature neurons.</p>
<h2>Editing Neurons</h2>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.10.004" target="_blank">The technique is called</a> “vSLENDR (viral mediated single-cell labeling of endogenous proteins by CRISPR-Cas9-mediated homology-directed repair).” It allows neurons which are no longer mitotic to use the HDR repair mechanism, and it works by combining the adeno-associated virus (AAV) and CRISPR-Cas9. The AAV has been used by researchers to deliver various kind of genes and is nontoxic. It serves as a donor template, rendering the HDR technique more efficient.</p>
<p>The researchers first delivered the necessary genome editing equipment to the neurons of transgenic Cas9 expressing mice using the AAV. Next, the team created a similar dual-viral system that would work in animals that had not been modified to express Cas9. They tested this vSLENDER technique in an aged Alzheimer&#8217;s disease mouse model and proved that it could be applied, even at advanced ages, in pathological models.</p>
<p>In short, the team was able to demonstrate that vSLENDR makes the precise editing of genetic information possible in any kind of cell, in any part of the body. This could allow us to further understand neuropathological diseases, enhance our capacity to research and develop novel treatments, and even innovate and improve preventative therapeutics and cures.</p>


A previous obstacle in gene editing has been overcome.

Scientists developed a way to precisely edit genes in the human brain

Snow-02

Hard Science

Researchers have developed a technique that enables gene editing on neurons — something previously thought to be impossible.

Scientists Developed a Way to Precisely Edit Genes in the Human Brain

No doubt, this will lead to a whole host of advancements in the field.

<h2>“Living Drug” for Cancer</h2>
<p>On 18 October the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved <a href="https://futurism.com/the-u-s-fda-just-approved-a-treatment-that-reprograms-cells-to-fight-cancer/" target="_blank">the second</a> gene-altering cancer treatment for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), a blood cancer. The new therapy, Yescarta, is now approved only for adults who have had two or more failed chemotherapy regimens.</p>
<p>Yescarta, made by biopharmaceutical company Kite, is a kind of gene therapy. It works by re-engineering a patient’s own immune system and transforming their own cells into a “living drug” that can identify and kill cancer cells. This is a type of immunotherapy, treatments that combine medical and genetic techniques to equip the immune systems of patients to fight off diseases. In certain instances, these therapies have led to significant remissions, and even cures.</p>
<figure id="attachment_107294" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="hoverZoomLink wp-image-107294 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/Screen-Shot-2017-10-19-at-12.29.47-AM-1200x371.png" alt="Yescarta, a gene-altering cancer treatment, is made from re-engineered T cells which then encourage the body to fight off its cancer." width="1200" height="371" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Kite Pharma</figcaption></figure>
<p>“Today is an important day for patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma who have run out of options and have been waiting for new treatments that may help them in their fight against cancer,” Gilead Sciences President and CEO <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171018006639/en/" target="_blank">John Milligan said in a press release</a> (Gilead owns Kite as of 2016).</p>
<h2>Nothing to Lose</h2>
<p>Three of every five cases of aggressive NHL are the DLBCL variety. There are about 7,500 patients with refractory DLBCL in the US annually who are eligible for CAR T therapy. The need for new treatments is dire; only seven percent of patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma who receive the current standard of care attain a complete response, and as a group the patients typically have a median overall survival of about six months. Right now, almost half of patients with large B-cell lymphoma who survive to undertake second or later lines of therapy do not respond to treatment, and relapse quickly.</p>
<p>About 3,500 Americans each year could be candidates for Yescarta, a one-time intravenous infusion that is individually manufactured for each patient at a cost of $373,000. The treatment is risky, and can come with life-threatening side-effects, such as neurological problems, serious infections, and even death. However, since the eligible patients are facing such a high risk of death, most seem to think it&#8217;s worth the risk.</p>
<p>Tina Bureau, a lymphoma patient who participated in the drug&#8217;s study and is now in remission, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/health/immunotherapy-cancer-kite.html?smid=fb-nytscience&amp;smtyp=cur&amp;_r=0">told the <em>New York Times</em></a> no other treatment until Yescarta worked for her. “Yes, it can pose life threatening problems,” Bureau said. “But when you’re in a situation where your life’s threatened anyway, I don’t feel you have anything to lose.”</p>


The treatment is risky, but potentially worthwhile for patients with nothing left to lose.

FDA approves radical new gene-altering cancer treatment

Yescarta, the second gene-altering cancer treatment approved by the FDA, re-engineers a patient's cells to fight off an aggressive form of blood cancer.

FDA Approves Radical New Gene-Altering Cancer Treatment

It transforms the patient's cells into "living drugs."

<h2>“Real Food” Philosophy</h2>
<p>Kimbal Musk is Elon&#8217;s younger brother, who made his first money working in tech and went on to invest in his brother’s other businesses. He serves on the board of both Tesla and SpaceX today. However, Kimbal Musk&#8217;s first love is food, cooking, and how we eat. He opened his first restaurant, The Kitchen, in Colorado in 2004. But after a skiing accident into 2010 left him temporarily paralyzed, he had an epiphany: he would devote his life&#8217;s work to changing the way we eat in America.</p>
<p>Musk recently opened a satellite to his upscale Kitchen restaurant inside Shelby Farms, a 4,500-acre park in the urban center of Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently testing a small takeout spot there, offering well-prepared, locally-grown meals for around $5—an antidote to fast food. He also made 300 nearby acres, formerly used to grow cotton, part of that deal, and is now transforming that land into an organic farm.</p>
<p>Kimbal Musk&#8217;s food philosophy —that &#8220;real food&#8221; should sustain not just the human body, but also the planet and the food producer—is actually very similar to the community garden or farmers&#8217; market philosophy. Musk&#8217;s difference, promoted by him under The Kitchen brand, is that he wants to bring Silicon Valley scalability and innovation to the food system. <figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-rise-of-vertical-farms-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/06/HomeThumb-3.jpg" alt="The Rise Of Vertical Farms [Infographic]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-rise-of-vertical-farms-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure></p>
<p>“My way of working is very practical,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/dining/kimbal-musk-food.html" target="_blank">Musk said to the </a><i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/dining/kimbal-musk-food.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a></i>. “There are many wonderful solutions to real food, but I focus on what we can scale. The Slow Food guys were right, but what they didn’t know was how to scale. If you can’t scale, it doesn’t matter.”</p>
<p>For example: Musk is interested in school gardens, but criticizes the traditional school garden model—because it doesn&#8217;t scale. Although he purports to care most about cooking and eating food, and says he does not place scalability above those concerns. In several areas, this isn&#8217;t clear.</p>
<p>The nonprofit arm of the company, The Kitchen Community, has installed learning gardens along with materials and staff in 100 Memphis schools. They also exist in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh, and Musk aims to have them in at least 1,000 schools by 2020.</p>
<h2>Critics and Challenges</h2>
<p>Not everyone working in food is a fan of Kimbal Musk&#8217;s food philosophy, or the way he acts on it. His remarks have often been called tone-deaf, or lacking in broader knowledge about food systems.</p>
<p>After Musk suggested in an interview that food hadn&#8217;t yet seen the benefits afforded by technology, Ontario farmer Lawrence McLachlan tweeted in response: “You might want to visit a Farm Progress show. Or even a farm. I think you might have missed 70 years of Ag history. It’s Hi-Tech stuff bud.”</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">You might want to visit a Farm Progress show. Or even a farm. I think you might have missed 70 years of Ag history. It&#39;s Hi-Tech stuff bud</p>
<p>&mdash; Lawrence McLachlan (@LMcLachlan60) <a href="https://twitter.com/LMcLachlan60/status/908315341394206720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Musk has, mostly by happenstance, become symbolic of a divide between people working in the modern American food justice movement, where largely “old school” values such as growing food in soil take precedence, and those with “new school” values that emphasize business and tech-focused practices.</p>
<p>“It’s the divide between the technophile cornucopians and the techno-skeptic redistributors,” Krishnendu Ray, New York University nutrition and food studies department chairman, said to the <i>New York Times</i>. For some, like Bay Area chef and and school garden activist Alice Waters, Musk is a Johnny-come-lately who simply doesn&#8217;t have enough information.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to hear another word about scaling,” Waters told the<i> Times</i>. “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He’s very earnest about what he’s doing, but he doesn’t know enough about farming and about the soil. He wants to do the right thing, but he just hasn’t done his homework. Not everything has to be scalable.”</p>
<p>That won&#8217;t stop Musk, however. His <a href="https://squarerootsgrow.com/" target="_blank">Square Roots project</a>, which trains young farmers to grow greens for sale with nothing but LEDs and enhanced water in Brooklyn shipping containers, yields about as much produce per box as two acres of soil. Musk wants to start a similar program in every major American city.</p>
<p>While the program has its critics, it is part of a larger <a href="https://futurism.com/the-age-of-vertical-farming-is-officially-upon-us/" target="_blank">vertical farming trend</a>. Other programs like Musk&#8217;s, which grow <a href="https://futurism.com/this-innovative-farm-grows-food-three-times-faster-than-a-regular-garden/" target="_blank">faster than soil in less space</a>, are flourishing, <a href="https://futurism.com/your-produce-might-soon-grow-in-a-warehouse-down-the-block/" target="_blank">even in warehouses</a>. Big cities like Shanghai are creating <a href="https://futurism.com/shanghai-is-getting-a-massive-futuristic-district-with-towering-vertical-farms/" target="_blank">vertical farming districts</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/antarctica-is-getting-a-farm-that-can-grow-produce-even-when-its-100-degrees-fahrenheit-outside-take-a-look/" target="_blank">even Antarctica</a> is getting in on the action.</p>
<p>Philosophy aside, in a time of need and changing climate, even food staples we depend on <a href="https://futurism.com/world-food-supplies-threatened-by-sixth-mass-extinction/">may grow short</a>; growing more food in less space might be the winning strategy.</p>


But his business-influenced view has ruffled feathers in the slow food movement.

Kimbal Musk has a Silicon Valley-Style Plan to Feed America

Future Society

Kimbal Musk's food philosophy says food should sustain the body, the earth, and its producer. He's acting on that with low-cost fast food and urban gardens.

His latest efforts include healthy $5 fast food and growing produce in shipping containers.

<h2>Cancer Relapse</h2>
<p>New research has shown that <a href="http://cancerimmunolres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2017/10/12/2326-6066.CIR-17-0175">cancer cells that survive treatment</a> may effectively wake themselves up and resume growing by tapping into the body&#8217;s immune system as a power source. This work provides more insight into the puzzle of why, and how, cancer relapses, and has provided key insights into why the immune system may fail to fight cancer effectively. The research also revealed that, by restoring the body&#8217;s immune response to proper functioning, immunotherapy might prove effective at preventing relapse of the deadly disease.</p>
<p>The research question for this team was how a relatively tiny number of treatment-resistant cancer cells could become a deadly occupying force after remaining dormant for stretches of time. In an attempt to answer this question, the team studied immune responses in mice. They were watching to see how immune system cells operate before treatment for cancer, after treatment was declared a success, and once tumors returned.</p>
<p>Normally, immune cells trigger inflammation by releasing signals when they sense infection or trauma. This can, in some cases, help the immune system kill cancer cells. However, post-treatment cancer cells subvert these signals. In the study, researchers targeted the response to the post-treatment cells using immunotherapies, and were able to delay — or  in some cases prevent — relapse.</p>
<figure style="width: 530px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106883 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/Cancer-cells.jpg" alt="Image Credit: zzzi zeth/Flickr" width="530" height="380" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: zzzi zeth/Flickr</figcaption></figure>
<p>The key discovery was that a chemical signal called TNF-alpha can switch roles: it can either serve as an anti-tumor agent, supporting the immune response to cancer cells, or as a new type of relapse promoting signal. TNF-alpha was also able to trigger the resistant cells, prompting them to influence cells that kill cancer naturally not to attack.</p>
<h2>Cells Ignoring the Problem</h2>
<p>Specifically, the team found that the surfaces of resistant cancer cells had high levels of a certain molecule, PD-L1, on their surface. The PD-L1 on those cells can act with other PD-L1 on T cells, instructing them to ignore signals. These results suggest that, after surviving treatment, cancer cells wake themselves up and start growing again using the patient&#8217;s immune system. Once this mechanism is better understood, immunotherapy could provide potential treatment for humans. As such, this  is the next area of research the team plans to pursue.</p>
<p>“Our study finds the body&#8217;s own immune system seems to play a crucial role when cancer relapses,” co-author Professor <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-10/iocr-crl101317.php" target="_blank">Alan Melcher said in a press release</a>. “The immune system goes from keeping cancer cells in check to awakening and feeding residual cells, while turning a blind eye to their growth.”</p>
<p>“Excitingly, many of the methods employed by treatment-resistant tumours to re-grow and hide from the immune system can be blocked using existing immunotherapies.&#8221; The researchers also added that, based on recent supporting data from clinical trials, the potential of immunotherapy to reduce cancer relapse is good.</p>
<p>Co-author Kevin Harrington added: “It is becoming increasingly clear that the immune system is at the core of the puzzle of how we can treat cancer more effectively.”</p>


"The immune system goes from keeping cancer cells in check to awakening and feeding residual cells, while turning a blind eye to their growth."

Scientists just unlocked the catalyst for cancerous relapse

Cervical Cancer Cell

New research has found that cancer cells' interactions with the immune system after surviving treatment may be what allows dormant cancer cells to relapse.

Scientists Just Unlocked the Catalyst for Cancerous Relapse

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the immune system is at the core of the puzzle of how we can treat cancer more effectively."

<h2>High-Risk Breast Lesions</h2>
<p>A new study reveals that a machine learning tool can help to identify which breast lesions, already classified as “high-risk,” are likely to become cancerous. The researchers behind the study believe that the technology could eliminate unnecessary surgeries. Breast lesions are <a href="https://radiopaedia.org/articles/high-risk-breast-lesion" target="_blank">classified as high-risk</a> after a biopsy reveals they have a higher chance of developing into cancer. Surgical removal is typically the recommended treatment option for these lesions due to the increased risk, even though many of these lesions do not pose an immediate threat. With &#8220;less immediate&#8221; cases, surgery may be deemed unnecessary and follow up imaging or <a href="https://futurism.com/new-low-cost-cancer-treatment-could-kill-tumors-with-ethanol/" target="_blank">other treatments</a> may be found to be the preferred course of action — but only if there is a reliable way of differentiating between the lesions.</p>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106660 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/breast-lesions-1-1200x1363.jpg" alt="Image Credit: Radiological Society of North America" width="820" height="931" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Machine learning could drastically improve medical treatment for breast lesions. Image Credit: Radiological Society of North America</figcaption></figure>
<p>“There are different types of high-risk lesions,” Dr. <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-10/rson-mli101017.php" target="_blank">Manisha Bahl</a>, study author and radiologist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-10/rson-mli101017.php" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>. “Most institutions recommend surgical excision for high-risk lesions such as atypical ductal hyperplasia, for which the risk of upgrade to cancer is about 20 percent. For other types of high-risk lesions, the risk of upgrade varies quite a bit in the literature, and patient management, including the decision about whether to remove or survey the lesion, varies across practices.”</p>
<h2>A Machine Learning Solution</h2>
<p>A research team from MGH, MGH breast imaging experts, and researchers from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) collaborated to study how a machine learning tool could be used to discern which high-risk lesions were more or less likely to turn into cancer. Machine learning allows an artificial intelligence (AI) system to learn from its past experiences and improve its performance as a result, similar to the way in which humans learn.</p>
<p>The model, in this case, analyzed traditional risk factors, like lesion histology and patient age, along with a few more novel features like keywords in biopsy pathology reports. The team trained the machine learning model on patients with high-risk lesions confirmed via biopsy who had either had surgery or two-year imaging after the biopsy and high-risk determination. In the group, a total of 1,006 high-risk lesions were identified, and 115 of them, or 11 percent, later developed into cancer.</p>
<p>The researchers trained the model on two-thirds of the high-risk lesions, and then tested it on the 335 lesions that remained. The model correctly predicted cancer upgrades in 37 of the 38 lesions or 97 percent. The team found that, had the model been used, it would have helped to prevent nearly one-third of the surgeries conducted on benign lesions. The machine-learning model also found that the keyword terms “severely” and “severely atypical” in pathology reports were associated with a greater risk of developing cancer.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to apply the tool in clinical settings to help make more informed decisions as to which patients will be surveilled and which will go on to surgery,” Dr. Bahl said in the release. “I believe we can capitalize on machine learning to inform clinical decision making and ultimately improve patient care.” This is just one more example of how <a href="https://futurism.com/end-to-illness-machine-learning-is-revolutionizing-how-we-prevent-disease/" target="_blank">machine learning is transforming</a> how we treat, manage, and prevent disease.</p>


Machine learning and medicine work well together.

Machine learning identifies breast lesions likely to become cancer

Artificial Intelligence

Researchers have trained a machine learning system to discern between breast lesions classified as high-risk to help prevent unnecessary surgery.

Machine Learning Identifies Breast Lesions Likely to Become Cancer

Researchers teach AI to predict which high-risk lesions present the most risk.

<h2>Cracking Aging in Animals</h2>
<p>A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has identified a conserved molecular pathway that controls health and lifespan in nematode worms (<em>Caenorhabditis elegans</em>) — a frequently studied model organism in biological research.</p>
<p>“We find that by artificially increasing or decreasing the levels of a family of proteins called Kruppel-like transcription factors (KLFs), we can actually get C. elegans to live for longer or shorter time periods,” study first author <a href="http://www.sci-news.com/biology/molecular-pathway-aging-05324.html" target="_blank">Dr. Nelson Hsieh said to </a><i><a href="http://www.sci-news.com/biology/molecular-pathway-aging-05324.html" target="_blank">Sci News</a></i>. “Since this same family of proteins also exists in mammals, what is really exciting is that our data suggests KLFs also have similar effects on aging in mammals, too.”</p>
<p>Animal models are essential to biological research. To study a human disease or process you can’t perform most preliminary work on humans for ethical reasons. Therefore, you must instead develop a model. While some models can stay in vitro (outside a living body) eventually you must be able to produce the disease in a context that allows study — e.g. in a living body. Animal models, such as nematode worms and mice, enable a much closer approximation to a human response to disease and other processes.</p>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106881 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/KLFs-are-critical-determinants-of-aging-1200x1181.jpg" alt="Image Credit: Hsieh et al./Nature" width="820" height="807" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Hsieh et al./Nature</figcaption></figure>
<p>Mice share 99 percent of their DNA with humans, and have short  lifespans compared to humans and other mammals. Therefore, studies with mice involving “knockout” genes allows researchers to observe the effects of removing single genes. C. elegans is also useful, especially in aging research, for several reasons. For one, the worms have a short three day lifecycle, allowing researchers to observe many generations quickly. They are very simple organisms, which makes the effects of single proteins much easier to see. C. elegans&#8217; genome was sequenced <a href="http://wormclassroom.org/short-history-c-elegans-research" target="_blank">by the end of 1998</a>, so scientists have had ample opportunities to experiment with this relatively short, but very well-known, genome.</p>
<h2>Lessons Applied to Humans</h2>
<p>The research also demonstrated that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00899-5">C. elegans with high levels of KLF proteins</a> lived healthier, longer lives than normal worms. Similarly, mice with elevated levels of KLF proteins were found to exhibit a delay in age-related blood vessel dysfunction. The team determined that the KLF proteins&#8217; function is to control autophagy — a quality control mechanism that allows cells to clear up debris such as molecular byproducts and misfolded proteins that build over time, reaching critical mass in old age. Loss of this process of cleaning and recycling is a classic sign of aging.</p>
<p>Cells are less able to undertake these recycling functions as they age. Once an unsustainable level of toxic debris builds up, cellular survival is threatened. This is why the team observed worms without KLF proteins dying early, as their cells were no longer able to maintain autophagy. From here, the researchers plan to study how autophagy affects blood vessel function, and develop strategies for targeting KLF proteins in humans.</p>
<p>“The observation that KLF levels decrease with age and that sustained levels of KLFs can prevent the age-associated loss of blood vessel function is intriguing given that vascular dysfunction contributes significantly to diverse age-associated conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, and dementia,” senior author Professor Mukesh K. Jain said to <i>Sci News</i>.</p>
<p>“As our population ages, we need to understand what happens to our heart and arteries, as we rely on them to function perfectly later and later on in our lives,” Dr. Hsieh added to <i>Sci News</i>. “Our findings illuminate what can happen during aging, and provide a foundation to designing interventions which slow these processes.”</p>


Next up, the team hopes to develop strategies for targeting KLF proteins in humans.

We may have found a pathway that controls aging

Artwork of nerve cells.

Researchers have found that high levels of proteins that promote "debris cleanup" in nematode and mouse cells could help us understand aging in humans, too.

We May Have Found a Pathway That Controls Aging

"Our findings provide a foundation to designing interventions which slow these processes."

<h2>Membrane Vacuum Cleaner</h2>
<p>In the ongoing war to defeat antibiotic resistance, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-017-0046-x" target="_blank">a new study</a> has identified a protein that acts as a &#8220;membrane vacuum cleaner&#8221; — an attribute that means it could serve as a new target for antibiotics. The research indicates that the process of purging the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria of specific lipids (which requires a particular protein) might be a vulnerability drugs could target. More specifically, antibiotics could possibly enhance their existing effectiveness by using the protein researchers identified, or even decrease the virulence of many common bacteria such as E coli.</p>
<p>Gram-negative bacteria have two membranes — one inner and one outer. This new research implicates the outer rather than the inner membrane. The outer membrane is an asymmetrical bilayer composed of inner and outer leaflets. The inner leaflet is made up of phospholipids, and the outer leaflet is made up of mostly lipopolysaccharides, which create a sugar-coated surface that efficiently excludes hydrophobic molecules and resists antibiotics — as well as other compounds that might endanger the bacteria.</p>
<p>However, the outer leaflet requires a cleaning system, because phospholipids from the inner leaflet accumulate inside it creating “islands” that render the outer membrane more permeable to toxic compounds. This, in turn, makes the entire bacterium more vulnerable.</p>
<p>The asymmetry and permeability barrier of the outer membrane must be restored in order to keep the bacterium healthy, which means those phospholipid molecules must be removed. This is the job of the maintenance of lipid asymmetry (Mla) system, which most Gram-negative bacteria have. The focus of the recent research is the MlaA protein, a component of the Mla system.</p>
<p>Newcastle University Professor of Membrane Protein Structural Biology and lead author <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2017-10/nu-tio101317.php" target="_blank">Bert van den Berg explained in a press release</a>: “Our three-dimensional structures and functional data show that MlaA forms a donut in the inner leaflet of the outer membrane. This binds phospholipids from the outer leaflet and removes these via the central channel, somewhat similar to a vacuum cleaner.”</p>
<figure id="attachment_106664" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-infographicListing wp-image-106664" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/Cleaning-of-the-Outer-Membrane-by-MlaA-600x275.png" alt="antibiotic-resistance-bacteria-asymmetry" width="600" height="275" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Bert van den Berg/Newcastle University</figcaption></figure>
<h2>The Threat of Antibiotic Resistance</h2>
<p>The researchers plan to continue to study the MlaA protein as a target for antibiotics. This work is essential, as the development of new drugs is being <a href="https://futurism.com/the-development-of-new-drugs-isnt-matching-the-pace-of-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">outpaced by antibiotic resistance</a>. As such, many researchers have pivoted to focusing bacteria themselves; <a href="https://futurism.com/shape-shifting-space-bacteria-could-help-us-treat-earthly-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">in space</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/one-superbug-meets-another-ants-could-be-the-key-to-battling-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">in nature</a>, and even at the nanoscale for <a href="https://futurism.com/antibiotics-dosed-with-quantum-dots-are-1000-times-better-at-killing-superbugs/" target="_blank">quantum effects</a>. Researchers are also working to attack antibiotic resistance at the chemical and molecular level, searching for the <a href="https://futurism.com/researchers-discover-the-genetic-root-of-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">genetic roots of resistance</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-drug-uses-crispr-to-fight-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria/" target="_blank">using CRISPR</a> and otherwise <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-have-found-a-way-to-reverse-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">preventing expression</a> of genes that enable resistance. The issue itself is <a href="https://futurism.com/un-classifies-antibiotic-resistance-as-a-crisis-putting-it-on-par-with-ebola-and-hiv/" target="_blank">at a crisis point</a>, according to authorities like the <a href="https://futurism.com/antibiotic-resistance-will-soon-hit-the-tipping-point-unless-we-act/" target="_blank">World Health Organization</a>, the <a href="https://futurism.com/antibiotic-resistance-is-taking-away-our-last-line-of-defense-against-some-diseases/" target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/a-world-without-antibiotics-the-un-has-elevated-the-issue-of-antibiotic-resistance/" target="_blank">the United Nations</a>.</p>
<p>This new research will aid in our ongoing fight against this critical issue. Professor van den Berg commented in the release, “Our study illuminates a fundamental and important process in Gram-negative bacteria and is a starting point to determine whether the Mla system of Gram-negative pathogens could be targeted by drugs to decrease bacterial virulence, and to make various antibiotics more effective.”</p>


Researchers say this mechanism "could be targeted by drugs to decrease bacterial virulence, and to make various antibiotics more effective."

New research shows asymmetry in bacteria might help us fight antibiotic resistance

New research into a mechanism used by gram-negative bacteria to maintain the integrity of their outer membranes could help fight antibiotic resistance.

New Research Shows Asymmetry in Bacteria Might Help Us Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Understanding this mechanism could help better target antibiotics, and even weaken the virulence of certain bacteria.

<h2>Google&#8217;s AutoML</h2>
<p>Back in May, <a href="https://futurism.com/googles-new-ai-is-better-at-creating-ai-than-the-companys-engineers/" target="_blank">Google revealed</a> its AutoML project; artificial intelligence (AI) designed to <a href="https://research.googleblog.com/2017/05/using-machine-learning-to-explore.html" target="_blank">help them create</a> other AIs. Now, Google has announced that AutoML has beaten the human AI engineers at their own game by building machine-learning software that&#8217;s more efficient and powerful than the best human-designed systems.</p>
<p>An AutoML system recently broke a record for categorizing images by their content, scoring 82 percent. While that&#8217;s a relatively simple task, AutoML also beat the human-built system at a more complex task integral to autonomous robots and augmented reality: marking the location of multiple objects in an image. For that task, AutoML scored 43 percent versus the human-built system&#8217;s 39 percent.</p>
<p>These results are meaningful because even at Google, few people have the requisite expertise to build next generation AI systems. It takes a rarified skill set to automate this area, but once it is achieved, it will change the industry. “Today these are handcrafted by machine learning scientists and literally only a few thousands of scientists around the world can do this,” <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/googles-learning-software-learns-to-write-learning-software/" target="_blank">WIRED reports</a> Google CEO Sundar Pichai said. “We want to enable hundreds of thousands of developers to be able to do it.”</p>
<figure style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-106568 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/10/AutoML-1200x353.png" alt="Image Credit: Google" width="820" height="241" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Google</figcaption></figure>
<p>Much of metalearning is about imitating human neural networks and trying to feed more and more data through those networks. This isn&#8217;t — to use an old saw — rocket science. Rather, it&#8217;s a lot of plug and chug work that machines are actually well-suited to do once they&#8217;ve been trained. The hard part is imitating the brain structure in the first place, and at scales appropriate to take on more complex problems.</p>
<h2>The Future of Machine-Built AI</h2>
<p>It&#8217;s still easier to adjust an existing system to meet new needs than it is to design a neural network from the ground up. However, this research seems to suggest this is a temporary state of affairs. As it becomes easier for AIs to design new systems with increased complexity, it will be important for humans to play a gatekeeping role. AI systems can easily make biased connections accidentally — such as associating ethnic and gendered identities with negative stereotypes. However, if human engineers are spending less time on the grunt work involved in creating the systems, they&#8217;ll have more time to devote to oversight and refinement.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Google is aiming to hone AutoML until it can function well enough for programmers to use it for practical applications. If they succeed in this, AutoML is likely to have an impact far beyond the walls of Google. WIRED reports Pichai stated, at the same event from last week, that “We want to democratize this,&#8221; — meaning, the company hopes to make AutoML available outside Google.</p>


Google is aiming to hone AutoML so programmers can use it for practical applications.

Google's machine learning software has learned to replicate itself

Google's AutoML was designed to help humans create other AI systems. Now, it's creating more powerful and efficient systems than human engineers.

/Author

Karla Lant

Health & Medicine

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Hard Science

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Health & Medicine

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Kimbal Musk has a Silicon Valley-Style Plan to Feed America

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Machine Learning Identifies Breast Lesions Likely to Become Cancer

Hard Science

We May Have Found a Pathway That Controls Aging

Health & Medicine

New Research Shows Asymmetry in Bacteria Might Help Us Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Artificial Intelligence

Google’s Machine Learning Software Has Learned to Replicate Itself

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