A sneak peek of the current state and future use of artificial intelligence in pathology
Mar 8 2021
Artificial intelligence can already scan images of the eye to assess patients for diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of vision loss, and find evidence of strokes on brain CT scans. But what does the future hold for this emerging technology? How will it change how doctors diagnose disease, and how will it improve the care patients receive?
Artificial intelligence will have a dramatic impact on the field of pathology, a team of top experts predicts. Image Credit: UVA Health
A team of doctors led by UVA Health’s James H. Harrison Jr., MD, PhD, has given us a glimpse of tomorrow in a new article on the current state and future use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of pathology. Harrison and other members of the College of American Pathologists’ Machine Learning Workgroup have spent the last two years evaluating the potential of AI and machine learning, assessing its c
Discovery offers a precise route to treat inflammation associated with neuropathic pain
One of the hallmarks of chronic pain is inflammation, and scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have discovered that anti-inflammatory cells called MRC1
+ macrophages are dysfunctional in an animal model of neuropathic pain. Returning these cells to their normal state could offer a route to treating debilitating pain caused by nerve damage or a malfunctioning nervous system.
The researchers, who published their work in
Neuron, found that stimulating the expression of an anti-inflammatory protein called CD163 reduced signs of neuroinflammation in the spinal cord of mice with neuropathic pain.
Study reveals how cells build mini-muscles underneath their nucleus
Research groups at the University of Helsinki uncovered how motor protein myosin, which is responsible for contraction of skeletal muscles, functions also in non-muscle cells to build contractile structures at the inner face of the cell membrane.
This is the first time when such mini-muscles , also known as stress fibers, have been seen to emerge spontaneously through myosin-driven reorganization of the pre-existing actin filament network in cells. Defects in the assembly of these mini-muscles in cells lead to multiple disorders in humans, and in the most severe cases to cancer progression.
New method to enhance images of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
Researchers report a method of removing noise from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images using probabilistic generative models.
Electron microscopy (EM) is a technique used to see viruses and their infection processes, allowing us to see how it binds to cells and spreads through the body. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can provide high-resolution images at the nanometer scale, but these low-light images generally have an abundance of noise. Images of viruses often appear flat or 2-dimensional.
Several noise reduction algorithms have helped improve image quality, allowing better interpretation of the data. For the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), EM images have also been used to reconstruct 3-dimensional (3D) images of the virus.