Humans must merge with machines or become irrelevant in AI age.

Billionaire Elon Musk is known for his futuristic ideas and his latest suggestion might just save us from being irrelevant as artificial intelligence (AI) grows more prominent. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on Monday that humans need to merge with machines to become a sort of cyborg. "Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence," Musk told an audience at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he also launched Tesla in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "It's mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output." Musk explained what he meant by saying that computers can communicate at "a trillion bits per second", while humans, whose main communication method is typing with their fingers via a mobile device, can do about 10 bits per second. In an age when AI threatens to become widespread, humans would be useless, so there's a need to merge with machines, according to Musk.continue

Global pet trade and spread of infectious disease.

The exotic animal trade is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the US is the world’s leading importer. While the US government is on the alert for well known animal-transmitted diseases, there is no mandatory health surveillance for most animals coming though US ports for commercial distribution.

 Live animal imports could bring new diseases into the US and infect endemic wildlife, with devastating consequences as, for example, was seen with the worldwide exposure of amphibians to Chytrid fungus which resulted in the decline of more than 200 species. 

 The legal commercial exotic animal trade is a booming enterprise that ships ornamental fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians around the world. 

These pets, livestock and other animals can carry unexpected infectious diseases from their homelands. If these non-native species escape or are released to the wild, they can create epidemics among susceptible endemic wildlife. 

 Four US agencies oversee live animal imports, but there is currently no systematic screening for disease in most live animal imports. The majority of animals processed through American ports for the pet industry fall under the aegis of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has no authority to conduct health inspections. 

 Livestock imports are regulated by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), with oversight by the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection. Species known to carry certain diseases (rabies in dogs, or tuberculosis in monkeys, for example) are monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

 According to a 2010 report from the US Government Accountability Office, a lack of interagency collaboration creates gaps in health surveillance that could leave native wildlife and people exposed to disease. 

These risks could potentially be enormous. A single fungal disease, Chytrid, for example, devastated more than 200 amphibian species worldwide.

 A related pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, originating with the Asian salamander trade, wreaked similar havoc on native populations in the Netherlands and Belgium. 

If this fungus gains a foothold in the US — a salamander biodiversity hotspot — experts fear entire species could be wiped out. continue

How to stop brain cancer—with rabies.

A ruthless killer may soon help brain cancer patients. The rabies virus, which kills tens of thousands of people a year, has a rare ability to enter nerve cells and use them as a conduit to infect brain tissue. Now, scientists are trying to mimic this strategy to ferry tumor-killing nanoparticles into brain tumors. So far the approach has been shown to work only in mice. 

If successful in people, these nanoparticles could one day help doctors send treatment directly to tumors without harming healthy cells. The rabies virus, transmitted largely through the bites of infected animals, has evolved over thousands of years to hijack nerve cells, which it uses to climb from infected muscle tissue into the brain. 

That allows it to bypass a major hurdle: the blood-brain barrier, a selective membrane that keeps out most pathogens that travel through the bloodstream. But the barrier also prevents treatments—like cancer drugs—from reaching infected cells, limiting options for patients. To get around this problem, scientists are looking to the virus for inspiration. Already, researchers have packaged cancer-fighting drugs into nanoparticles coated with part of a rabies surface protein that lets the virus slip into the central nervous system. continue

Veterinarians and global health .

The World Health Organization recently declared that the Zika virus is no longer a global health emergency, other diseases are growing more threatening each day. Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease transmitted through infected animal urine claimed dozens of human lives in the Caribbean in 2016., or cysticercosis, a disease contracted from the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, that causes hundreds of thousands of people to suffer seizures. It's no coincidence that these diseases are transmitted by animals as nearly 60 percent of all human diseases are and such illnesses kill over two million people each year. Today's veterinarians aren't merely tasked with giving Fido his shots as they're asked to serve as public-health warriors, leading the attack against diseases of zoonotic nature. The lives and livelihoods of millions of people depend on them receiving the proper training. Mosquitoes have caused deadly diseases for generations such as dengue fever that affects up to 400 million people annually while malaria strikes another 200 million. The blood-sucking pests aren't the only source of threats. Dogs transmit 99 percent of rabies which without prompt treatment, the disease is nearly always fatal for people. Animal-borne diseases can also infect local economies. Lets look at the Zika virus, which causes birth defects in babies. The latest outbreak hit over 61 countries and as the virus spread, tourism in affected areas dropped precipitously. Consider Miami's $24 billion tourism industry, because of Zika, the price of plane tickets to Miami dropped 17 percent in August, a sign of depressed demand. One local restaurant owner reported losing 70 percent of his customers. continue

Vector control in Artemisa

The Municipal Health Department in San Antonio de los Baños will develop actions to increase vector control from February 13 to 18, as part of the fight against diseases transmitted by the mosquito Aedes Aegypti, including Chikungunya, Dengue, Yellow Fever and Zika. The strategy includes the student mobilization for the completion of the intensive focal, says María Eugenia Pérez Pérez, Integral Postgraduate Methodologist at the Municipal Public Health Department in Ariguanabo. The specialist adds that the Universities of Medical Sciences throughout the country join these actions in favor of health. She points out the necessary cooperation of the Ariguanabenses to help with the strategy. The students will be organized in duos, visit homes and exchange with the residents about preventive measures, such as destroying artificial deposits and the application of bactivec, among other indications. Maria Eugenia explains that health promotion and prevention actions include research on family members who have fever, rash or conjunctivitis, joint or muscle pain. Before these manifestations we should immediately go to the family doctor office. source

Scientists build new ultrasound device using 3-D printing technology .

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a new ultrasound device that produces sharper images through 3-D printed lenses.With clearer images, doctors and surgeons can have greater control and precision when performing non-invasive diagnostic procedures and medical surgeries. The new device will allow for more accurate medical procedures that involve the use of ultrasound to kill tumours, loosen blood clots and deliver drugs into targeted cells. This innovative ultrasound device is equipped with superior resin lenses that have been 3-D printed. In current ultrasound machines, the lens which focuses the ultrasound waves are limited to cylindrical or spherical shapes, restricting the clarity of the imaging. With 3-D printing, complex lens shapes can be made which results in sharper images. The 3-D printed lenses allow ultrasound waves to be focused at multiple sites or shape the focus specially to a target, which current ultrasound machines are unable to do. more

How to Use 3D Medical Models as Teaching and Communication Tools.

When you work in the medical industry, much of your job involves education. This is obviously the case with those in the medical education field, but it’s also true for medical professionals. In today’s digital world, 3D medical model technology is an integral part of that educational process. Research is also an integral part of the medical world, especially for those in the fast-paced world of biotechnology. For firms large and small, 3D medical models help communicate research concepts, helping those firms acquire funding so that new treatments can be developed and approved in order to save lives. Here are just a few of the places you’ll find 3D medical model technology hard at work. 3D medical models bring the world of visual creativity and science together in order to help researchers actually see their theories in action. Sometimes, a device or treatment doesn’t work the same way on paper as it does in reality. 3D medical models help biotech firms understand how certain treatments could work in the real world. A 3D medical model can help demonstrate how a new medication could work systemically or even at the cellular level. So, when the biotech firm brings the drug to the market, the 3D medical model is a key tool in their advertising arsenal. more