Category Archives: Human Longevity

Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, the worlds leading producer of biofuels, received the George Washington Carver Award at a July 24 ceremony at the BIO World Congress in Montreal. The Carver Award recognizes significant contributions by individuals in the field of industrial biotechnology and its application in biological engineering, environmental science, biorefining and biobased products.

I am very humbled by this award. George Washington Carver was an historic leader in finding new potential in agricultural products to meet the worlds needs, Broin said. Thats what we strive to do each day at POET, whether its producing biofuel from starch and cellulose or finding new or better ways to produce co-products such as distillers grain, corn oil, fiber, liquefied CO2 and more. I believe agriculture is the key to solving many of our worlds challenges.

Related: POET DSM Opens First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in the U.S.

Creating new markets for ag products

Carver was a true visionary," Broin said. "At POET, we follow that vision, developing additional products and bioprocesses to replace petroleum-based products. We believe the agricultural potential of the world is virtually untapped. The world is beginning to learn that we need to return to the sun, the soil and the seed.

Jeff Broin is one of the great innovators and entrepreneurs in the industrial biotechnology sector, said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIOs Industrial & Environmental Section. He ranks among the most influential leaders in agriculture as well. Biofuels have created new markets for agricultural products and rejuvenated rural America. Jeff Broin has positioned POET at the forefront of developing cellulosic ethanol and improving the economics of biofuel production.

As POET CEO, Broin grew the company from a 1-million-gallon-per-year facility in 1987 into the world's largest biofuels producer, with 1.8 billion gallons of annual fuel production and 10 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed, among other products.

Success in developing new technology

Broin says POET has always placed a high priority on research, from the laboratories at its headquarters in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to its pilot plant/research facility in Scotland, South Dakota, to its commercial-scale demonstration cellulosic biofuel plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, as part of POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels. This focus has led to industry-leading technology such as BPX (POETs proprietary no-cook production process), total water recovery technology, unique corn oil and distillers grains products, cellulosic biofuel development and more.

The George Washington Carver Award is also sponsored by the Iowa Biotechnology Association. Joe Hrdlicka, executive director of the Iowa Biotechnology Association, said, Jeff Broin has created an environment at POET where new ideas thrive throughout the value chain of new economic opportunities for American agricultural producers and rural communities. His business model truly reflects the ideas and passion spawned by George Washington Carver a century ago.

Past Carver Award Recipients:

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Jeff Broin receives George Washington Carver Award - Wallace's Farmer

10 A.M.It is hot and sultry in the slums of the Campina Barreto neighborhood on the north side of Recife, in Brazil, and a public health worker named Glaucia has just taken a blood sample from a young, pregnant patient. Glaucia feeds it into a portable sequencer the size of a USB stick, plugs the sequencer into her computer and waits for the results. The device identifies genetic markers of the Zika virus, but flags the fact that this is a mutated strain that could be resistant to existing vaccines. She reports the information to her colleague, Franco, at the nearest hospital and to public health authorities. They need to know that this could signal the start of an outbreak.

This scenario is imaginary, but researchers around the world now use pocket-size genomic sequencers to rapidly detect resistant pathogenic strains in hospitals, explore microbial diversity in Antarctic ice valleys, and diagnose infectious agents in food supply and aboard spaceships (the device works in microgravity). In 2015, for example, Johanna Rhodes from Imperial College London relied on portable sequencers to identify the genetic makeup of Candida auris, a multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen that had caused an outbreak in a London hospital. The same year, a research team from Birmingham University flew to Guinea and used the same technology to detect strains of Ebola in human blood. In a few months, they had sequenced 142 Ebola genomes on the spot, producing results less than 24 hours after receiving an Ebola-positive sample.

But what if sequencer-equipped researchers were able to transmit what theyre learning directly to others? Imagine students in universities becoming the first sequencing line of defense by detecting bacteria resistant to antibiotics and educating their neighbors about them. Imagine the same neighbors equipped with portable sequencers to identify microorganisms in soils capable of fighting resistant pathogens. These new bio-citizens would be socially responsible actors who use biology as the main language to understand themselves and the world around them, playing an increasing role in protecting global health and ecosystems.

This is the utopian version of what visionaries call the second genomic revolution, where sequencing our genomes and those of other species becomes a pervasive data market in which DNA is the primary currency. Yet we must remain lucid about who will primarily contribute and who will reap the rewards of streaming our DNA to the cloud. The way forward is to make sure that this trove of data does not benefit only those who already reign over our digital infrastructures but build counter powers, global commons where citizens can learn to turn their own data into innovations.

The new lab-in-your-hand technology is the product of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a British company, whose ambition is to democratize genomic sequencing. Its sequencer, called MinION is as small as a USB-stick and easy to use for any apprentice scientist who knows how to prepare samples of blood, bodily fluids or water to be fed into the device. Such preparation is easily done by amateur biologists in DIY bio labs. Researchers and clinicians across the world have now adopted these portable sequencers, some to detect foodborne outbreaks in hospital, others to analyze the DNA of new species in the jungle. As early skepticism fades away, industry giants (Illumina and Roche) and newcomers (Genapsys) alike are showing interest in following Oxford Nanopores head start in portable sequencing.

If the ambition is to promote more distributed use of genomic sequencing, users also need a ready-made platform for interpreting genetic data. Oxford Nanopore has designed an intelligent cloud lab, Metrichor, to be used for genomics data storage in conjunction with smartphone apps that interpret the meaning of DNA sequences.

The convergence of automation technologies, intelligent algorithms and cloud computing is progressively making genomics available to less skilled actors. While this does not necessarily ensure democratization, it does enable us to imagine it. And so, what if it actually happens?

The world around us would be equipped with increasingly sophisticated bio-sensing capacity: the ability to identify the genetic composition of our bodily fluids, species surrounding us and microorganisms on our skins and in our backyards. Portable genomic sequencers in our pockets and cell phones would become part of our networks of sensorswhat we already call the Internet of things (IoT).

The attributes of a new bio-citizen then look like this: scientists, patients, congressmen, employeeseveryonewill be monitoring the DNA of their own bodies on shared cloud labs. Portable genomic sequencers, the size of a USB stick and connected to our smartphones, would also be integrated to our most strategic technical systems, including agro-food facilities, airports, battlefields and hospitals. These DNA-reading sensors would identify the nature, transmission paths and mutations of deadly viruses, engineered bacteria and even forgotten lethal pathogens that could one day be freed by the melting permafrost. In their home, individuals would have access to liquid biopsies blood tests that could track their most vital biomarkers and identify at an early stage the pieces of DNA shredded by a cancer tumor or a viral agent. If millions of citizens were streaming these data to the cloud, they would build the most powerful data set for preventive and precision medicine the world has ever known. The genetic identity of any living thing, then, acquires a new life on the Internet. We enter the age of the Internet of living things (IoLT).

The amount of genomics data to be stored, curated and protected in the digital bio-space will keep growing, requiring powerful and expensive computing platforms. It will create a complex architecture with new needs related to the governance of such an increasingly data-driven society.

Without access to the cloud, as provided by Google and Amazon, many biomedical projectsfrom J. Craig Venters Human Longevity to genome-wide analyses focused on autism and Alzheimerscould hardly have taken shape. Google and Amazon offer a deal too tempting to refuse: the most sophisticated cybersecurity strategies as well as analytical speed and power. These services seldom come free; universities, companiesin the future, hospitals, doctors and citizenswill likely keep paying for each genome to be stored, analyzed or transferred to a different repository.

Another hard truth is that most analyses of genomic data are comparative, meaning what can be learned about a new and potentially important genomic sequence is based on some existing point of reference. Yet, genomic sequences of interest risk being held by private databasesthink 23andMethat gain a competitive advantage by selling access to their genetic gold.

As a consequence of the growing number of players that may be involved in the process of generating, collecting and processing the data, determining the legal ownership of such data may prove increasingly complex. Like our personal information gathered by the IoT, our genetic secrets might end up trapped by 10,000-word-long consumer agreements.

The powerful and lucrative alliance between genetics and a data-driven society has already made tech giants in Silicon Valley and Seattle the new masters of our digital identities. If we consider the current privatization of consumers data and the erosion of digital privacy, it is not difficult to imagine, in the future, large corporations using their vast computing and machine-learning platforms to commodify continuous streams of genetic data about humans and ecosystems. Global conflicts over ownership would have to be balanced by open-source efforts to ensure that research, data and technological tools primarily serve the public good. The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health is an example, a thriving effort to share genomes across disciplinary and geographical boundaries.

For the Internet of living things to realize its promises, U.S. policymakers and regulators, in collaboration with technologists, should have an ambitious conversation about global data commons. How open and resilient should our big data architectures be, in particular those used for monitoring vital public health and environmental factors?

Experts will also need to consider the challenge and cost of ensuring accuracy when dealing with biological and microbial samples. One can imagine an IoLT node monitoring for Ebola virus and sending a positive signal, which, if not substantiated, could cause panic. The potential of monitoring for biological threats is enormous, but methods to validate data and address personal and collective liability issues are needed.

What is more troubling as we slowly enter the age of ubiquitous genomics sequencing is that we face an increasing socio-economic disparity between the technological elitesSilicon Valley or the new Shenzhen tech Eldoradoand the majority of citizens, the ones who provide data. While I have no hope that this gap will soon be closed, the next decade will first tell us if the new bio-citizen is just in our imagination.

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The Internet of Living Things - Scientific American (blog)

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Fondation IPSEN Longevity Prize was created in 1996 to recognize the global importance of the continuing increase in human life expectancy. The 2017 prize will be given, today, during the 21st International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, in San Francisco (2-3.30 pm). The international jury chaired by Professor Thomas Kirkwood (Newcastle University, UK and Copenhagen University, Denmark), has unanimously decided to award the prize to Andrzej Bartke for his pioneeringanalysis of the molecular and hormonal mechanisms that can extend mammalian longevity in mice.

The Fondation IPSEN Longevity Prize was created in 1996 to recognise the global importance of the continuing increase in human life expectancy. This remarkable increase has implications for a very wide range of scientific disciplines as well as for the organisation of society in all of its aspects.

The Fondation IPSEN is justifiably proud to have created an award that recognises the intrinsic scientific interest and importance of the topic. Over more than twenty years, the distinguished list of laureates of the Longevity Prize highlights the complementary ways in which the relevant disciplines are making their contributions, says Thomas Kirkwood, President of the jury (Newcastle University, UK and Copenhagen University, Denmark).

In 2017, the recipient of the Longevity Prize is Dr. Andrzej Bartke (Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, USA) for his pioneeringanalysis of the molecular and hormonal mechanisms that can extend mammalian longevity in Ames dwarf mice.These studies firmly establish neuroendocrine factors as key contributors to the aging processes that affect lifespan.

During this event, Dr. Bartke will present a lecture entitled Growth and aging; the hidden costs of stature. Elimination of growth hormone (GH) actions by mutations or targeted gene deletion produces a remarkable extension of longevity in both sexes of laboratory mice. Long-lived GH-deficient and GH-resistant animals are characterized by small body size, delayed puberty, reduced fecundity and a striking delay in multiple symptoms of aging, including the decline of gonadal function. These findings lead to a somewhat counterintuitive conclusion that the normal actions of GH incur significant costs in terms of the impact on aging and longevity. Studies in genetically normal (wild type) mice, domestic dogs and various human populations indicate that GH signaling is indeed negatively associated with life expectancy across mammalian species. The evolutionary history of the genetic variation underpinning the trade-offs between growth, maturation, reproductive functions, stress resistance, age-related disease and longevity is difficult to decipher. However, persistence of a wide range of the corresponding phenotypes may benefit survival of populations under challenging environmental conditions.

Andrzej Bartke is Professor of Internal Medicine at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois, USA. The focus of his research is on the genetic and hormonal control of aging in mammals. Current work is aimed at identifying mechanisms that link reduced growth hormone action with delayed aging and extended longevity. For this work, he is using mutant mice that live longer than normal mice and show various symptoms of delayed aging, including retention of cognitive function and protection from age-related disease.

The Longevity Prize

Created in 1996, this Prize of the Fondation IPSEN has been awarded every year to renowned specialists in Longevity:

Caleb E. Finch (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA), Vano Kannisto (Odense University, Denmark) , Roy L. Walford (formerly University of California Los Angeles, USA), John E. Morley (St. Louis University, USA), Paul B. and Margret M. Baltes (formerly Free University of Berlin, Germany), Justin D. Congdon (University of Georgia, Aiken, USA), George M. Martin (University of Washington, Seattle, USA), James W. Vaupel (Max-Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany), Linda Partridge (University College London, UK), Sir Michael Marmot (University College London, UK), Cynthia Kenyon (University of California, San Francisco, USA), David J.P. Barker (University of Southampton, UK), Gerald McClearn (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA), Jacques Vallin (French National Institute of Demography, Paris, France), Judith Campisi (Buck Institute for Age Research, Novato, USA), Thomas Kirkwood (Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Linda Fried (Columbia University, New York, USA), Gary Ruvkun (Harvard Medical School - CCIB, Boston, US), Luigi Ferrucci (National Institute on Aging, NIH, Baltimore, USA), Steven N. Austad (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA) and Kaare Christensen (Odense University, Denmark).

Members of the jury

Thomas Kirkwood, President (Newcastle University, UK Copenhagen University, Denmark), Judith Campisi (Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, USA), Eileen Crimmins (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA), Caleb Finch (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA), Bernard Jeune* (University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark), George Martin* (University of Washington, Seattle, USA), Yasuyuki Gondo (Osaka University, Japan), Jean-Marie Robine (INSERM, Dmographie et Sant, Montpellier, France), Bruno Vellas (University of Toulouse, France), Marja Jylh (University of Tampere, Finland), Steven N. Austad (University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA), Luigi Ferrucci (National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, USA) and a Fondation IPSEN representative.

(* Former Jury Members).

The Fondation IPSEN

Established in 1983 under the aegis of the Fondation de France, the ambition of the Fondation IPSEN is to initiate a reflection about the major scientific issues of the forthcoming years. The long-standing mission of the Fondation IPSEN is to contribute to the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge by fostering interaction between scientists and clinicians. It has developed an important international network of scientific experts who meet regularly at meetings known as Colloques Mdecine et Recherche, dedicated to three main topics: neurosciences, endocrinology and cancer science. Moreover the Fondation IPSEN has started several series of meetings in partnership with the Salk Institute, the Karolinska Institute as well as with the science journals Cell and Science. The Fondation IPSEN produced several hundred publications and more than 250 scientists have been awarded prizes and grants.

http://www.fondation-ipsen.org

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Longevity Prize of the Fondation IPSEN is Awarded to Andrzej Bartke - Business Wire (press release)

1167 1 Posted on Jul 21, 2017, 8 a.m.

Researchers find that a targeted removal of senescent cells could delay the onset of age-relateddegenerative joint conditions,such as osteoarthritis.

An international team of professional researchers joined forces to conduct a study that confirmed the targeted removal of senescent cells that collect in vertebrate tissue across the aging process contributes to delaying the onset of pathologies related to aging. The research was led by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researcher Dr. Chaekyu Kim. He worked in tandem with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Dr. Ok Hee Jeon. Additional contributors from the University of California, Berkeley, the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, the University Medical Center Groningen and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Unity Biotechnology, Inc. also played a part in the research. The findings were published this past April in the journal Nature Medicine.

About the Study

The research team presented a new pharmacologic candidate for the alleviation of degenerative joint conditions like osteoarthritis (OA) that are age-related. This occurs through the selective destroying of senescent cells known as SnCs. Such cells gather throughout the aging process in the body's vertebrate tissues. They are located at areas where age-related pathology occurs. Though such cells play an important role in the healing of wounds and repairing injured body sites, they might also lead to the onset of cancer within tissues. As an example, in particular joints like the knees and other cartilage tissues, SnCs are not always cleared from the area following the injury. This leads to the continuation of OA development.

In order to test the notion that SnCs might play a role in OA development, the researchers cut the anterior cruciate ligaments in young and old mice to a mimic a similar injury in human beings. The researchers applied injections of the experimental drug known as UBX0101 to remove SnCs following the anterior cruciate ligament transection surgery.

Preclinical studies in human and mice cells suggest removing SnCs dramatically decreases the development of post-traumatic OA as well as related pain. Removing SnCs also creates a prochondrogenic environment that allows for the growth of new cartilage and joint repair

The Findings

The findings suggest the selective removal of aged cells from the body's joints might decrease the development of post-traumatic OA. This selective removal might also allow for the growth of new cartilage and the repairing of joints. Aged mice did not show signs of any cartilage regeneration following the treatment applied through UBX0101 injections. The findings are relevant to human disease through validation with the use of chondrocytes isolated from patients who suffer from arthritis. The findings offer important insights into therapies keying in on the use of SnCs to treat trauma as well as degenerative joint disease related to the aging process.

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Removal of Aging Cells to Increase Longevity - Anti Aging News

Mike Cagney, CEO and co-founder of SoFi.

Mike Cagney is in no rush to take SoFi public.

In a conversation with Fortune's Erin Griffith, the CEO and founder of the online lending and personal finance startup spoke about the company's delayed IPO plans (see video above).

Mike Cagney, CEO and co-founder of SoFi.

"The industry in general was getting hit pretty hard on the public market side," Cagney said. "We were able to raise capital from a tier one investor [Silver Lake] at a valuation that was a premium to the last round we did."

Earlier this year, SoFi raised $500 million in Series F financing led by tech investor Silver Lake. The investment round brought the San Francisco-based company's total equity funding to $1.9 billion a large chunk of that comes from the $1 billion it raised from SoftBank.

SoFi, which recently opened up a Manhattan office at 860 Washington St., intends to be opportunistic, Cagney explained.

"Our view is we'll go public when we're ready to. We're profitable. We're growing at a very aggressive pace right now," he said. "I wouldn't say we're not ready. It's a process of getting the right folks in place."

Dan Macklin, one of SoFi's original four co-founders, announced in May that he would be stepping down as vice president of community and member success. Before that, former SoFi president and CFO Nino Fanlo also left the company.

Fanlo switched over to San Diego-based biotech Human Longevity Inc.

Cagney's fellow co-founder, Ian Brady, also left the company. He is currently the chief product officer of Kensho and the CEO of Boston-based nutritional firm Ava.

Sofi started its business refinancing student loans. It has since expanded into blockchain, insurance and mortgages.

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SoFi CEO on going public: "There's no urgency to do it." - New York ... - New York Business Journal

American physician and surgeon William J. Mayo, one of the founders of the famed Mayo Clinic, stated, The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life, the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician. Emerging applications of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as medical research trends, suggests that we are moving toward fulfilling medicines aim and achieving its ideal.

Health care organizations appear to be preparing themselves for the next technological step. For instance, in 2014 health care providersspent4.2 percent of their revenues on IT, compared to a 3.3 percent cross-industry average. Penetration of electronic health care recordsgrewfrom 40 percent in 2012 to 67 percent in 2017. With its wealth of smart machines, health care is expected to be among the fastest growing industries in terms of data generated. Ciscoestimatesa 2015-2020 CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of machine-to-machine connections in health care to be 30 percent, more than the expected 29 percent growth rate for connected cars.

The next big thing in health care is also anticipated by investors, who have increased their bets on the segment. Venture capital investment in cutting-edge, AI-driven medical technologies like computer vision, machine learning (ML), and robotics hasskyrocketedfrom $30 million in 2012 to $892 million in 2016.

Studying the academic and funding dimensions of the medical AI ecosystem, we see that the movement towards Mayos vision is taking place. Prediction and prevention, wellness and rehabilitation, amelioration of aging, and technological augmentation of doctors are all noticeable themes.

Prediction and prevention are well-known concepts for health care professionals. Now they appear to be revitalized and reinforced by machine learning. A dive into PubMed databases demonstrates that the pace of research activity for ML-powered prediction and prevention is currently higher than the research activity associated with these concepts without involving ML.

AI health care startups working with predictive and preventive medicine are a new phenomenon that seems to embrace growing research. Out of 218 health care AI startups selected from an industry database, 54 were involved in predictive medicine, with 44 founded in 2010 or later.

Some companies, likeJvionandHBI Solutions, provide health care organizations with patient-level predictions and risk scores. Others, likeOcuvera, bring prevention to hospitals operations by, for example, by identifying a patients proclivity to fall and helping to avoid the accident.

Activity in the wellness segment of the health care value chain also reflects growing interest in the preventive aspect of medicine. Wellness appears to be the fastest-growing segment among the core segments of the health care value chain.

Researchers attention to the wellness segment is matched by entrepreneurs interest. Out of 218 AI health care startups, 21 develop wellness applications.

Startup funding data suggests that younger startups tend to work with wellness applications. About 95 percent of AI-powered wellness startups were founded in 2010 or later, compared with 57 percent of those tackling surgery-related issues.

Wellness applications may use almost unlimited data from healthy populations, the collection of which is accelerated by new devices entering the market. The more data from healthy patients is available, the more insight one can get. Traditional health care uses data that is limited by the number of cases and more severe sampling requirements.

Prevention and prediction segments start from research into cells and genetics, aiming to eliminate the underlying causes of dangerous diseases. Machine learning drives these research topics as well.

Founding data for AI startups helps to identify the uptick in launching startups working with cell and genetic research. For example, notable companies such asHuman Longevity,BenevolentAI,Recursion Pharmaceuticals, and at least seven others were launched between 2010 and 2017.

Following Mayos vision, health care researchers and founders try to make life longer by battling aging and making rehabilitation smoother. Medical research on aging is growing rapidly, compared with research on the leading causes of death in the U.S. It is also one of the fastest accelerating research area in the past six years.

Not being a disease in the traditional sense, aging is an excellent target for tech disruption, with no critical state (i.e., the fast deterioration of a patient) and developing across the whole lifespan. Aging research may benefit from lots of data collected during a patients life.

Already amassed data and evolving data collection technologies, combined with machine learning, contribute to fighting aging. For instance, this technology can check if senescence acceleration is taking place and estimate biological age more precisely. Then relevant treatment options can be selected.BioageLabsandInsilico Medicineuse machine learning to discover anti-aging drugs.

Rehabilitation is experiencing a growing research interest as well. It also benefits from AI as it requires long-term commitment, repetitive actions, and a continuous feedback loop. Twelve startups are moving the field of rehabilitation forward by, for instance, working with brain dysfunction rehabilitation likeIntenduor helping joint replacement patients likePeerwell.

The examples given above suggest that tech is moving medicine toward preventing diseases from happening. This can be done by tweaking genes, detecting early signs of diseases, and altering human behavior for health benefits. Currently AI tech penetrates just a part of the list of dangerous diseases.

Perhaps at some point, all diseases will be preventable and there will be no need for a physician. But can tech eliminate physicians before it eliminates diseases by replacing human doctors with robots and algorithms? Our observation suggests that this goal is not a heavy area of interest. Instead, AI-powered health tech looks to assist physicians and make them more accessible for patients.

Studying 35 companies that employ computer vision in health care, one may conclude, that their primary approach is to augment professionals, rather than to replace them. For example,BayLabsdevelops technology to simplify the process of recording, editing and sharing of video, whileMindshare Medicalaims to empower clinicians and health care providers by utilizing medical imaging.Oxford Heartbeathelps clinicians accurately plan and rehearse stent placements inside blood vessels.

Telemedicine is also empowering health care professionals rather than replacing them. In a world where 400 million people do not haveaccessto basic health care services, telemedicine is a viable option to keep doctors busy, even after efficiency grows manifold and demand in well-off regions starts decreasing. Out of 218 companies, 39 are in one way or another providing telemedicine technologies. Some help patients to navigate medical knowledge and make a preliminary diagnosis (Babylon,YourMD), while others give doctors unprecedented monitoring tools (Sentrian,AiCure) and provide valuable health-related information and advice (ZoiHealth,Flo). Medical research in telemedicine is also growing rapidly, rocketing from 317 articles in 2010 to 845 in 2016.

Our inquiry suggests that the vision of medicine coined by Mayo is closer to life then we think, thanks to AI. Cognitive technologies fit nicely with the popular research themes explored above. Moreover, at the current stage, where diseases are not eliminated entirely, tech empowers rather than displaces health professionals. Therefore, we expect to see more exciting AI health tech to emerge and suggest entrepreneurs consider opportunities in this space.

Notes on data collection: Trends on research activity are derived from searching titles and abstracts at PubMed. Data on AI health tech companies is from a keyword search and manual selection at Pitchbook.Flint Capital is an investor in Flo, an AI-powered period and ovulation tracker referred to in this article.

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The role of AI in the future of health care | VentureBeat | AI | by Peter ... - VentureBeat

If we widen our gaze from income inequality, it should be almost immediately apparent that a number of remarkable worldwide trends that are not only improving the human condition overall, but also making that condition markedly less unequal.

@cdw21 via Twenty20

Is the human condition becoming more unequal? A chorus of authoritative voices today insists that the answer is yes, unquestionably so. Inequality, the voices say, is sharply on the upswing in America, as everyone is supposed to know. It is also on the rise throughout other affluent democracies, they inform. We further hear that growing worldwide inequality is all but foreordained by the global triumph of capitalism: in 2014s runaway international bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty even has a formula to prove it.

The trouble with todays received wisdom about growing inequality, though, is that it focuses almost exclusively on the matter of economic inequality, and usually more narrowly still on only income inequality. Although this distinction may sound unobjectionable, it is actually quite problematic in two key respects.

For one thing, our true ability to measure economic inequality remains far less precise than is generally understood. Even in data-rich America, for example, statistics on the nations wealth distribution are at best rudimentary. Estimates of economic inequality differ dramatically depending on whether one looks at personal income or instead examines personal consumption, which seems to be distributed much more evenly.

This excerpt is part of a chapter that appears inAnti-Piketty Capital for the 21stCentury, 2017 the Cato Institute. Used by permission. Copies are availablehere.

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Longevity, education, and the huge new worldwide increases in ... - American Enterprise Institute

If we widen our gaze from income inequality, it should be almost immediately apparent that a number of remarkable worldwide trends that are not only improving the human condition overall, but also making that condition markedly less unequal.

@cdw21 via Twenty20

Is the human condition becoming more unequal? A chorus of authoritative voices today insists that the answer is yes, unquestionably so. Inequality, the voices say, is sharply on the upswing in America, as everyone is supposed to know. It is also on the rise throughout other affluent democracies, they inform. We further hear that growing worldwide inequality is all but foreordained by the global triumph of capitalism: in 2014s runaway international bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty even has a formula to prove it.

The trouble with todays received wisdom about growing inequality, though, is that it focuses almost exclusively on the matter of economic inequality, and usually more narrowly still on only income inequality. Although this distinction may sound unobjectionable, it is actually quite problematic in two key respects.

For one thing, our true ability to measure economic inequality remains far less precise than is generally understood. Even in data-rich America, for example, statistics on the nations wealth distribution are at best rudimentary. Estimates of economic inequality differ dramatically depending on whether one looks at personal income or instead examines personal consumption, which seems to be distributed much more evenly.

This excerpt is part of a chapter that appears inAnti-Piketty Capital for the 21stCentury, 2017 the Cato Institute. Used by permission. Copies are availablehere.

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Longevity, education, and the huge new worldwide increases in equality - American Enterprise Institute

July 17, 2017 M. rufoniger carcass, found in Gosudonggul cave, Danyang, in South Korea. Credit: UNIST

A recent study, affiliated with the Korean Genomics Industrialization and Commercialization Center (KOGIC) at South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has presented the first whole genome sequence and analyses of the Myotis rufoniger, one of the most well-known and iconic protected wild animals in South Korea, known as the golden bat.

This breakthrough comes from a research, conducted by Professor Jong Bhak of Life Science at UNIST and Professor Doug-Young Ryu of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration.

Recent studies have indicated that bats live longer than any other mammals of their sizes on earth. Myotis rufoniger is a species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It is a rare bat species that face imminent threat of disappearance from the face of Earth. Being designated as a Korean natural monument No. 452, only 450 to 500 of these bats survive in the wild in South Korea, presently. The reseach team expects that this study will provide a genetic foundation for the restoration and conservation of the critically endangered M. rufoniger.

In their study, published in the July issue of the world's largest scholarly journal, PLOS ONE, the research team, led by Professor Bhak's research team provides a whole genome analysis of M. rufoniger by producing massively parallel short DNA sequences with its genomic features and unique amino acid sequences, accompanied by its demographic history and genetic diversity.

The genomic DNA from the wild carcass of M. rufoniger found in Gosudonggul cave, Danyang, in South Korea, was used in this study to investigate the demographic history of Myotis bats. The research team also investigated the genomic diversity of the M. rufoniger and compared it to those of the other 13 mammalian genomes (seven bat genomes and six other mammalian genomes).

The research team confirmed that these bats also have bat-specific sequences, which have already been published to be related to bat's delayed ovulation during hibernation, long lifespan, powered flight, echolocation, and low vision. Given bats' long lifespan, the genetic structure of M. rufoniger will contribute to a better understanding of human longevity.

Bats are typically brown or black in color, but they also occur in a variety of color schemes. In the study, the research team found specific genetic variations that are likely responsible for the M. rufoniger's rusty orange fur color, which distinguish it from the other bats. Moreover, they also found that an elemental analysis in the tissues from the M. rufoniger individual analyzed also showed a very high concentration of (As) in its intestinal tissue. This suggests an evolutionary correlation that M. rufoniger can survive in a cave, contained a high level of As.

A genome contains all of the genetic information of a given organism, including its evolutionary origins. The demographic history analysis in the present study found that the population size of the M. rufoniger was dramatically decreased during the latter part of the last glacial period. It is also shown that there was a consistent decline of Myotis bat family's effective population size since ~30 k years ago. In particular, M. rufoniger's effective population size was the lowest in Myotis bats, confirming its relatively low genetic diversity.

"The primary reason for the rapid decline in the population of bats is due to very recent human encroachment into and destruction of wildlife," said YoungJune Bhak, the lead author of the study. "Further studies are needed to determine if the declining bat populations in the present study is a bat-wide phenomenon, as well as to find out what are the possible ways to prevent the rapid decline in bat populations."

"Bats are one of the country's most valuable biological resources to humans, as they are biologically interesting as whales and also have a relatively long lifespan," says Professor Bahk. "We must turn these genomic data into usable information that improves individual and population health."

He adds, "We hope to unravel the basis for logevity by finding genetic loci associated with extreme logevity in bat genome, and further utilize it for cancer treatment and prolongation of human life."

Explore further: Blind as bats: Echolocation study reveals key evolutionary trade-offs with other senses

More information: Youngjune Bhak et al, Myotis rufoniger genome sequence and analyses: M. rufoniger's genomic feature and the decreasing effective population size of Myotis bats, PLOS ONE (2017). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180418

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By Bob Levey By Bob Levey July 16 at 7:42 PM

Bob Wolff, a Hall of Fame sportscaster who spent more than 75 years as the voice of professional athletic events and who served as the first TV announcer for the Washington Senators, died July 15 at his home in South Nyack, N.Y. He was 96.

The cause was not yet known, but Mr. Wolff had been recovering from a cold, said his son Rick Wolff.

Guinness World Records certified in 2012 that Mr. Wolff, whose career began on CBS Radio in 1939 and continued through recent years on Cablevisions News 12 Long Island, had the longest known vocation in sports broadcasting.

In his prime, Mr. Wolff called two of the most famous games in American sports history: Don Larsens perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series and the 1958 National Football League championship game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, often called the greatest game ever played.

In addition to broadcasting Senators games for 14 years, Mr. Wolff did play-by-play for the Washington Redskins and the University of Maryland, national baseball and football broadcasts for the old Mutual radio network, and even several inaugural parades in Washington. In all, he broadcast eight different sports an impressive range and averaged more than 250 live events each year until he was well into his 80s.

He also wrote three books, appeared as a local radio and TV sportscaster in Washington and New York, and found time to be the announcer for the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at New Yorks Madison Square Garden for more than 30 years.

Mr. Wolff once estimated that he had covered more than 11,000 sporting events and that he had spent more than eight days of his life standing for the playing of the national anthem.

I felt the one thing that gave me longevity was coming up with angles, creative points, story lines, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2005. I approached every sport with the soul of a sportswriter.

He was the only broadcaster to have called the championship games in all four major professional sports: baseball, football, basketball and hockey. He was also one of only two broadcasters, along with Curt Gowdy, to be enshrined in both the national baseball and basketball Halls of Fame.

His preparation and specificity to detail were unparalleled, Curt Smith, the author of Voices of the Game and other books about sportscasters, told The Washington Post in 1995. He speaks in sentences and full paragraphs. His voice is erudite but not unapproachable. He has a sense of humor with the old Senators, he had to and he was always honest.

Mr. Wolffs broadcasting style was unadorned and uninflected, and he often said he belonged to the less-is-more school. Unlike many younger sportscasters, he never developed a signature call or a series of Wolff-isms.

He was known for playing it straight, speaking in a midrange baritone with a prodigious vocabulary at his command.

Great calls used to be based upon the use of words as an art form, but now TV has changed that considerably, he told USA Today in 2011. ...Words carry nuance. I believe a part of my strength is matching the right nuances with the right words and not just using the same ones over and over again.

He also prided himself on meticulous some colleagues said obsessive preparation. For more than 40 years, Mr. Wolffs wife, Jane, would drive him to assignments so he could grab extra time to bone up on his pregame notes.

But when the action and tension grew more intense, so did Mr. Wolffs delivery. In his broadcast of the 1956 World Series for Mutual, he set the scene in the ninth inning as the New York Yankees Larsen faced Dale Mitchell of the Brooklyn Dodgers:

Two strikes and a ball Mitchell waiting, stands deep, feet close together. Larsen is ready, gets the sign. ... Here comes the pitch. Strike three! A no-hitter! A perfect game for Don Larsen! Yogi Berra runs out there. He leaps on Larsen and hes swarmed by his teammates. Listen to this crowd roar!

One of the greatest moments in baseball history became one of Mr. Wolffs signature calls as a broadcaster.

It just burst out of me, he told USA Today. You channel the emotion, excitement and tension.

In Washington, Mr. Wolff was the TV face and voice of the hapless Senators from 1947 to 1960. Only once in those years did the teams record exceed .500, which forced Mr. Wolff to develop a habit of never telling his listeners who was ahead.

Id look for human interest stories all the time to keep people listening to the game, he told the New York Times in 2013. Id just say, Well, folks, its 17-3, and they knew which team was losing.

He was at the microphone for one of the Senators lowest moments the famous 565-foot home run that the Yankees Mickey Mantle hit off hurler Chuck Stobbs in 1953. The home run is believed to be the longest ever hit in a major league baseball game.

When the Senators left Washington after the 1960 season, Mr. Wolff accompanied the team to its new home in Minnesota. After one season as the play-by-play voice of the Twins, he moved to New York, where he broadcast events at Madison Square Garden until he was nearly 80, including play-by-play coverage of the NHLs New York Rangers and, for 27 years, the NBAs New York Knicks.

He also did weekly baseball broadcasts for NBC-TV, teaming with former catcher Joe Garagiola.

With the Senators, Mr. Wolff often had to deliver commercials on live television. Once, he couldnt pry the lid off a can of Prince Albert pipe tobacco, straining and yakking until the lid finally flew open, spilling tobacco everywhere.

Prince Albert abdicated as a sponsor soon after that, Mr. Wolff recalled.

National Bohemian beer required Mr. Wolff to drink its product during breaks between innings.

By the seventh inning, I was kind of weaving my way through the broadcast, he recalled to the New York Daily News in 2003. He eventually prevailed on his bosses to hire a designated drinker.

Robert Alfred Wolff, whose father owned an engineering firm, was born Nov. 29, 1920, in New York City and grew up in the Long Island community of Woodmere. A self-described sports addict from a young age, he captained his high school basketball team and was one of the citys top baseball prospects.

He went to Duke University in Durham, N.C., to play baseball, but during his freshman year he broke his ankle during a baserunning drill.

He was invited to be a guest on a radio station broadcasting Dukes games and soon was serving as a color analyst and as the host of a daytime sports variety show. Although he was eager to return to the playing field, his college coach gave him a bit of advice: If you want to get to the big leagues, I suggest you keep talking.

He graduated in 1942, then served with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. After his discharge, he resumed his radio career in Durham. In 1946, he got an offer to join WINX-AM in Washington and, a year later, became the first TV announcer for the Senators.

Mr. Wolff, who was about the same age as most of the Senators players, traveled with the team and grew close to the players, often tossing batting practice before games.

He formed the Singing Senators, a group of players who sang barbershop tunes while Mr. Wolff strummed the ukulele.

He crooned Take Me Out to the Ballgame, accompanying himself on the ukulele, when he was inducted into the broadcasters wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 2013, Mr. Wolff donated more than 1,000 hours of tapes to the Library of Congress, including his on-air interviews with such historic sports figures as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson.

In 1945, he married Jane Hoy, a former naval nurse whom he met during the war. Besides his wife, survivors include three children: Rick Wolff of Armonk, N.Y., Robert Wolff of Boston, and Margy Clark of Avon, Conn.; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

During his years in Washington, Mr. Wolff often ventured outside the booth to roam the stands at the old Griffith Stadium, interviewing die-hard Senators fans. Between the games of a doubleheader in 1957, he approached a spectator sitting near the dugout, telling him: Lets play a game. Dont say your name until were finished talking.

They spoke about the game and various players before Mr. Wolff asked the fan about himself.

What sort of work do you do, sir?

I work for the government, the fan responded.

Oh, for the government?

Well, Richard M. Nixon finally said, Im the vice president.

Bob Levey is a retired Washington Post columnist.

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Bob Wolff, Hall of Fame sportscaster of astonishing longevity, dies at 96, - Washington Post