AI can help detect early larynx cancer from sound of voice: Study

New Delhi, (IANS): A team of US scientists showed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help detect early larynx or voice box cancer from the sound of the patient’s voice.Cancer of the voice box is an important public health burden. In 2021, there were an estimated 1.1 million cases of laryngeal cancer worldwide, and approximately 100,000 people died from it.Risk factors include smoking, alcohol abuse, and infection with human papillomavirus.The prognosis for laryngeal cancer ranges from 35 per cent to 78 per cent survival over five years when treated, depending on the tumour’s stage and its location within the voice box.Now, researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University showed that abnormalities of the vocal folds can be detected from the sound of the voice using AI.Such ‘vocal fold lesions’ can be benign, like nodules or polyps, but may also represent the early stages of laryngeal cancer.These proof-of-principle results open the door for a new application of AI: namely, to recognise the early warning stages of laryngeal cancer from voice recordings, said the team in the paper published in the journal Frontiers in Digital Health.“Here we show that with this dataset we could use vocal biomarkers to distinguish voices from patients with vocal fold lesions from those without such lesions,” said Dr Phillip Jenkins, postdoctoral...

Read More........→August 22, 2025

Hero Service Dog Senses Owner’s Irregular Heartbeat–Saving the Veteran From a Catastrophic Stroke

Hank Ford with Tommy – Photo Credit: Dogs IncThe Labrador usually lets Hank sleep late—but not on this particular day. Something was wrong. Very wrong.The service dog named Tommy had been with Hank Ford since he was a pup, and he knew his owner was at risk. He started nudging Hank with his nose, then pawing at him, and jumping on his body.Get up. Get up. Get up.Hank figured the dog needed to go outside a little earlier than normal. But when Hank stood up, he was light-headed and woozy, starting to sense that something was wrong too. He opened the door to let the dog outside, but Tommy didn’t budge.54-year-old Hank kept feeling worse. He decided to check his vital signs with a blood pressure cuff and was startled by the results.His pulse was a staggering 171 beats per minute.The military veteran who had served for more than 20 years, called his local veterans hospital, but they thought his vital readings were obviously wrong, that he simply misused the machine.Hank and Tommy both knew better, so the resident of Fort Lufton, Colorado, drove himself to the hospital, and the diagnosis arrived a few minutes later.“They were freaking out about it,” Hank recalled, when doctors confirmed his vital signs. “It was good that Tommy woke me up.“Something about the way he woke me up: He hasn’t done it before and he hasn’t done it since,” Hank...

Read More........→August 15, 2025

Gene essential for vitamin D absorption may boost cancer treatment

New Delhi, (IANS): Scientists have identified a key gene essential for vitamin D absorption, which may also boost treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases.The gene, called SDR42E1, is crucial for taking up vitamin D from the gut and further metabolising it -- a discovery with many possible applications in precision medicine, including cancer therapy."Here we show that blocking or inhibiting SDR42E1 may selectively stop the growth of cancer cells,” said Dr Georges Nemer, Professor at the University of College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar.Previous research showed that a specific mutation in the SDR42E1 gene on chromosome 16 is associated with vitamin D deficiency.The mutation caused the protein to be cut short, rendering it inactive.In the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology, the researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to transform the active form of SDR42E1 in a line of cells from a patient with colorectal cancer, called HCT116, into its inactive form.In HCT116 cells, the expression of SDR42E1 is usually abundant, suggesting that the protein is essential for their survival.Once the faulty SDR42E1 copy had been introduced, the viability of the cancer cells plummeted by 53 per cent, the researchers explained.The results suggest that inhibiting the gene can selectively...

Read More........→August 13, 2025

Scientists develop real-time genome sequencing to combat deadly superbug

IANS PhotoSydney, Aug, 12, 2026 (IANS): Australian scientists have made a breakthrough in combating Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as golden staph -- a superbug that causes more than a million deaths worldwide each year.The world-first initiative has demonstrated that real-time genome sequencing during severe infections allows doctors to quickly identify resistance mutations, and personalise treatment, Xinhua news agency reported.It will also help curb the spread of antibiotic resistance, said researchers from the Melbourne-based Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute).Collaborating with seven local hospitals, scientists from the Doherty Institute said that traditionally, hospital laboratories identify bacteria using standard tests that reveal only the species type, offering limited insight into antibiotic resistance or genetic changes.In contrast, genome sequencing provides a comprehensive genetic profile, uncovering mutations that can influence how bacteria respond to treatment.Previously, research into bacterial evolution was typically carried out retrospectively, often years after patients had completed treatment.In contrast, this new method enables clinicians to monitor bacterial changes in real-time, providing immediate and actionable insights for patient care, according to the study published...

Read More........→August 12, 2025

Discovery of Genetically-Varied Worms in Chernobyl Could Help Human Cancer Research

Worms collected in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone – SWNS / New York UniversityThe 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant transformed the surrounding area into the most radioactive landscape on Earth, and now the discovery of a worm that seems to be right at home in the rads is believed to be a boon for human cancer research.Though humans were evacuated after the meltdown of Reactor 4, many plants and animals continued to live in the region, despite the high levels of radiation that have persisted to our time.In recent years, researchers have found that some animals living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are physically and genetically different from their counterparts elsewhere, raising questions about the impact of chronic radiation on DNA.In particular, a new study led by researchers at New York University finds that exposure to chronic radiation from Chernobyl has not damaged the genomes of microscopic worms living there today, and the team suggests the invertebrates have become exceptionally resilient.The finding could offer clues as to why humans with a genetic predisposition to cancer develop the disease, while others do not.“Chernobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still don’t have a great grasp on the effects of the disaster on local populations,” said Sophia Tintori, a postdoctoral associate in...

Read More........→August 11, 2025