The study shows that gliomas attack computational power from the brain by parasitizing neural plasticity, so as to grow at the expense of cognitive function.” This disrupted neuronal circuitry of the brain may in part account for the frequent manifestation of cognitive decline associated with progression of gliomas. Higher functional connectivity, as determined by magnetoencephalography, indicating more tumor-neuronal networking, was associated with more cognitive decline and worse survival. Taking this work considerably further, through 3-D organoid culture, tumor cells and mouse brain, the pivotal role of thrombospondin -1 (TSP-1), a protein participant of synapse formation, was demonstrated along with the potential of blocking this protein to reduce cognitive decline.
Intriguing, here is the original Nature article link:
I will later do a critical appraisal of this study but this linkage has important implications for understanding the course of glioblastomas and perhaps usher rethinking of other diseases?
Chatbots are trained on astronomical amounts of data taken from the internet. Operating in a way akin to predictive text, they build a model to predict the likeliest word or sentence to come after the user’s prompt. This can result in factual errors, but the plausible nature of the responses can trick users into thinking a response is 100% correct.
The role of critical thinking and health skepticism to be taught in schools, colleges and universities is more critical now than ever before. The onslaughts are coming, and discerning facts from fiction (worse, “directional nonsense”) will become a critical skill for an informed human being
Discussions are underway to broaden the platform to use by other researchers with support from other funders, and the finalised text encourages the EU member states to support turning it into “a collective, not-for-profit, large-scale open-access research publishing service for the public good”.
the thing is… we have data. Like I said, this is the most studied disease in history.
Those studies show, without a shadow of a doubt, that covid is a dire threat to everyone. Everyone. Even you.
The data is extremely clear on this too: the pandemic is not over. And, as I will argue in this article, in many ways we are worse off than ever.
The data also totally and irrefutably destroys this ridiculous, un-scientific notion that you can just “live your life” with no regards to your safety or the safety of others. It bears repeating. I promise you this: covid is a dire threat to your health and safety. Now. In 2023.
The tendency to think of A.I. as a magical problem solver is indicative of a desire to avoid the hard work that building a better world requires. That hard work will involve things like addressing wealth inequality and taming capitalism. For technologists, the hardest work of all—the task that they most want to avoid—will be questioning the assumption that more technology is always better, and the belief that they can continue with business as usual and everything will simply work itself out. No one enjoys thinking about their complicity in the injustices of the world, but it is imperative that the people who are building world-shaking technologies engage in this kind of critical self-examination. It’s their willingness to look unflinchingly at their own role in the system that will determine whether A.I. leads to a better world or a worse one.
The stubbornly high frequency of SARS-CoV-2 surges translates to large numbers of infections. Data from the now-defunct UK survey of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence suggested that the country experienced as many infections as it has residents in the last year, which equates to a 100% annual ‘attack rate’, says Bedford. In the future, “we can still imagine 50% attack rates every year, half the population getting infected”, compared with around 20% with influenza the paper and this link is archived at: