#4 | Deaf Children Gain Hearing Ability

Quote of the Week 💬 

Five Children With Hereditary Deafness Gain Hearing Ability

⌛ The Seven Second Summary: A gene therapy trial was conducted on a group of children diagnosed with a specific type of hereditary deafness. After 26 weeks, five out of the six treated children exhibited significant improvements in their hearing abilities.

🔬 How It Was Done:

• Six deaf children were chosen to participate in the study based on various criteria, including the presence of a hereditary disease known as DFNB9. This disease prevents the OTOF gene from producing proteins capable of transmitting sound signals from the ear to the brain.

• At the start of the study, all six children “had total deafness”, meaning their auditory nerves did not respond to sounds below 95 decibels. This noise level is equivalent to the sound of a motorcycle engine, lawn mower, and other power tools.

• A single gene therapy injection was administered to each child, and periodic follow-up assessments were conducted to evaluate for hearing improvements and monitor for adverse side effects.

🧮 Key Results: After 26 weeks, the auditory nerves of five out of the six children were responding to sounds 40-57 decibels quieter. For context, if a child could not hear anything below 95 decibels at the start of the study, by the end, they would be able to hear people talk at a normal volume.

💡 Why This May Matter: As we mentioned in our post last week, the FDA has recently demonstrated a willingness to approve gene therapies once they are proven to be safe and effective. The early indicators of this small study is promising, which paves the way for further research and potential approval for broader use.

🔎 Elements To Consider: The hereditary disease that was the focus of this study only accounts for 2% to 8% of all cases of hereditary deafness. In order to treat all forms of hereditary deafness in the future, many different types of gene therapies will need to be utilized.

🧵 Thematic Thread: Imagine what it must feel like to gain a new sense, as these children have. What new sense would you want to have? How would you interact with your environment differently?

📚 Learn More: Mass Eye & Ear. The Lancet.

Stat of the Week 📊 

An AI System To Predict Sepsis Before Symptoms Emerge

17%

⌛ The Seven Second Summary: Researchers from UC San Diego introduced an AI system into emergency health department settings and found the AI was able to improve patient mortality rates of the department by predicting patients at risk for sepsis infection.

🔬 How It Was Done:

• The study ran from January 2021 to April 2023. Between January 1, 2021 and December 6, 2022, no AI system was utilized and 5065 patient outcomes were assessed. The AI system was introduced on December 7, 2022, and 1152 patient outcomes were assessed before the study concluded.

• The AI system was integrated into the health record and communication system of the emergency departments. Its goal was to predict when patients were on the onset of experiencing sepsis symptoms based on patient data it was monitoring, including lab results, vital signs, and medical history.

• If the AI predicted a patient was on the onset of sepsis, it would send real-time alerts to clinicians. This allowed the healthcare providers to check on the patient and intervene as necessary.

🧮 Key Results:

• The emergency departments experienced a 17% relative reduction in sepsis-related patient mortality rates once the AI was introduced into its system.

• Furthermore, the emergency departments experienced a 10% relative increase in sepsis bundle compliance once the AI was introduced into its system.

💡 Why This May Matter: As AI continues to sharpen its predictive capabilities, healthcare workers can utilize AI’s precision to significantly improve patient safety and healthcare outcomes in emergency settings.

🔎 Elements To Consider: This was not a randomized study. Without further research, it may be preemptive to draw a definitive conclusions about the causal relationship between this AI system and its ability to improve patient outcomes.

🧵 Thematic Thread: This study represents just one example of how AI could be applied in healthcare settings. How many potential lives might AI help save within our lifetimes?

📚 Learn More: UC San Diego. Nature.

AI x Science 🤖

A Foundation Model To Analyze & Summarize Chest X-Rays

Stanford researchers released a paper where they introduced an AI system to analyze and summarize chest X-rays. First, they designed CheXinstruct, which is a dataset of 28 publicly-available chest X-rays, containing over 1.2 million images. Then, they developed CheXagent, which is an AI system that can read radiology reports, process chest X-ray images, and make sense of the information from both the written reports and the visual data it receives. Finally, they designed CheXbench, which is a method to assess the performance of an AI chest X-ray system across eight clinically relevant interpretation tasks, such as disease detection, localization, and severity assessments. When the researchers tested their AI, CheXagent outperformed both general-domain and medical-specific models across various tasks related to image perception and interpretation, in many cases by significant margins. This paper represents another step forward in advancing medical imaging technology to improve the assessments made by trained professionals. Stanford. arXiv. Github.

Our Full AI Index

• Business: Planet, in collaboration with Microsoft, the Natural Capital Project, and the Gund Institute, released a white paper outlining strategies for companies to improve sustainability and biodiversity tracking. The proposed approach involves leveraging Earth observation data, AI, and advancements in ecosystem science. Planet.

• Consortium: The U.S. National Science Foundation announced it is leading a consortium effort between 10 other federal agencies and 25 private sector, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to advance AI research, development and responsibility. NSF.

• Cultural Events: Rie Qudan, a Japanese author, was recently awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for her latest novel, Tokyo-to Dojo-to. During her acceptance speech, Qudan mentioned “this is a novel written by making full use of a generative AI… probably about 5% of the whole text is written directly from generative AI.” Japan Times.

• Policy: The Federal Trade Commission announced it is launching an inquiry into the investments and partnerships between major cloud service providers and emerging generative AI companies. The companies mentioned in the FTC’s inquiry include Google, Microsoft, Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic. FTC.

• AI Ethics: UNESCO released its Government AI Readiness Index that it uses to help nations evaluate their preparedness to implement AI across multiple dimensions to ensure alignment with ethical standards and societal goals. UNESCO.

🧵 Thematic Thread: CheXagent is another example of the emerging trend where AI systems are becoming multimodal like humans, capable of interpreting data in various formats, including text, audio, images, and videos, rather than being limited to a single data format. What other potential value might multimodal AI unlock for the life sciences?

Other Observations 📰

U.S. Cancer Mortality On A 30-Year Decline

The American Cancer Society recently released its annual report documenting the state of Cancer in the United States. The report notes between 1991 and 2021, cancer mortality declined by 33%, averting over 4 million deaths. The authors largely attribute this trend to a reduction in smoking, earlier detection for some cancers, and improved treatment options. American Cancer Society. ACS Journal.

Our Full Science Index

• Business: In a first-of-its-kind deal, humanoid robots will begin working in BMW manufacturing plants as early as this year, starting in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Axios. PR Newswire.

• Space: NASA astronomers reported the Hubble Space Telescope observed an exoplanet just 97 light-years away from Earth with detectable water vapor in its atmosphere. NASA.

• Public Health: Cameroon became the first country in the world to rollout the malaria vaccine to its citizens outside of the vaccine’s initial pilot program. Cameroon is among the 11 countries most affected by the disease globally, recording more than 3 million cases and over 3800 deaths in 2021. WHO.

• Dementia Research: A team of researchers from UT Health San Antonio reported a thinning area of the brain may be an accurate biomarker for people who will develop dementia symptoms 5 - 10 years later. UT Health San Antonio. Alzheimer’s Association.

• Energy: Last but not least, a trifecta of news shared last week demonstrate progress in the world’s clean energy transition.

  • The International Energy Agency released its latest report. It now projects clean sources of energy will be able to cover all of the world’s additional electricity demand over the next three years. IEA.

  • According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the EU’s CO₂ emissions saw a year-on-year decrease of 8% in 2023, reaching levels unseen since the early 1960s. Energy & Clean Air.

  • According to Carbon Monitor’s latest data release and update, global CO₂ emissions across all sectors of the economy only saw a year-over-year increase of 0.1%. This data reinforces the IEA’s latest estimates that “global energy-related CO₂ emissions will peak by 2025.” Carbon Monitor. IEA.

🧵 Thematic Thread: As early cancer detection and treatment options continue to improve, the rate of cancer mortality will hopefully decline with it. How much further might cancer mortality decline as state-of-the-art technologies become cheaper and easier to use for healthcare providers around the world?

Media of the Week 📸 

After 3 Years On Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has ended its mission on Mars after widely surpassing expectations. The drone was initially expected to perform up to five experimental test flights over the course of 30 days. Instead, it ended up performing 72 flights and flying more than 14 times farther than its initial plan. JPL NASA. 

Video Camera System Captures The World As Animals See It

A team of researchers from a number of universities developed an open-source camera and software system to capture and display animal-perceived colors in moving objects under natural lighting conditions with over 90% accuracy. Does this mean AR glasses with a honeybee lens are coming to a store near you? GMU. PLOS.

Webb Telescope Captures The Birth Of A Star Cluster

The James Webb Space Telescope captured its latest photo of a massive, star-forming gas cloud. This particular gas cloud spans roughly 1,630 light-years. ESA.

This Week In The Cosmos 🪐

No major astronomical events this week! How disappointing…

Until Next Time 💭

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