Thursday, July 30, 2020

Insurgence of Diabetes insipidus: A Rare Condition That Keeps You Constantly Thirsty

Diabetes insipidus is very different from type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by overloading the blood with glucose. This form of diabetes is linked to a problem with the anti-diuretic hormone (ADH).. This hormone allows the body to reabsorb water. That is to say, it prevents the body from rejecting all the water from being absorbed .
 

WHAT IS DIABETES INSIPIDUS?

Normally, the absorbed water is processed by the kidneys, which clean and sort it: one part is kept to hydrate the body, and the other part is discharged as urine . But in people with diabetes insipidus, the kidneys fail to reabsorb the treated water . Then everything is rejected via urination. This disorder is divided into two symptoms: extreme thirst (called polydipsia) and a large amount of urine that is passed out, very clear (polyuria). Often the sick manifest an insatiable and overwhelming thirst. With the wrong balance: They are either overhydrated and have headaches, nausea, or dehydrated when they can't drink as much as they need. There too, there are two types of this diabetes : nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, called DIN which makes the kidneys resist anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), even if it is secreted normally. And central diabetes insipidus (DIC) which causes the hypothalamus to not secrete enough of this DHA hormone, preventing the body from absorbing water. This second form is the most common.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF DIABETES INSIPIDUS?

In 40% of cases, it is not known where diabetes insipidus comes from . But certain causes have been identified for the rest of the cases of central diabetes insipidus: after encephalitis, certain neurosurgical operations, certain diseases (tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, meningitis ), it can also be the consequence of a head trauma. For the nephrogenic type, hereditary causes are possible. It can also be due to a succession of kidney problems or even follow the absorption of certain drugs (anesthesia with methoxyflurane, aminoglycosides, lithium salts). Very recently a diabetes insipidus drug has been recalled for overdose and will be on hold until at least 2021.

HOW TO TREAT DIABETES INSIPIDUS?

Although diabetes insipidus is rare (one in 30,000 people), it can be treated. The objective is to prevent the patient from over-hydrating, or becoming dehydrated. This is then treated with desmopressin , which mimics the function of the anti-diuretic hormone. There are two medicines, Minirin and Minirinmelt, which are taken either orally or through the nose.

Monday, June 15, 2020

Can machines become conscious?

There is no doubt that computers will become more and more "intelligent." But the question of subjectivity and the feeling of existing is much more debated.



The rapid progress of learning algorithms will generate machines of intelligence comparable to ours in the decades to come. Capable of speaking and reasoning, they will have their place in a myriad of fields, such as economics, politics, and, inevitably, war. The birth of real artificial intelligence will profoundly affect the future of humanity and condition the very existence of such a fate.

Take, for example, the following quote: "Even today, research is underway to understand better what new AI programs will be able to do while remaining within the limits of today's intelligence." Most AI programs currently programmed are mainly limited to making simple decisions or performing simple operations on relatively small amounts of data. "

Perhaps you had the impression that something was wrong in this paragraph? This quote is the work of GPT-2, a language robot that I tested last summer. Developed by OpenXAI, a company in Chicago that promotes "virtuous" AI, GPT-2 is a learning algorithm based on an artificial neural network. Its entrails contain more than a billion connections simulating synapses, the junction points between neurons.

The task of the network is stupid when confronted with an arbitrary starting text, it must predict the next word. He does not "understand" the documents as a human would. But during his learning phase, he devoured astronomical quantities of texts - eight million internet pages in all - and adjusted his internal connections to anticipate word sequences better.




I wrote the first sentences of the article you are reading, then "injected" them into the algorithm by asking it to compose a suite. In particular, he spat out the paragraph cited. Admittedly, this text resembles a first-year student's efforts to remember an introductory course in machine learning, during which he would have daydreamed. But the result still contains the keywords and phrases - not wrong, really!

Intelligence is not consciousness.

The successors of these robots risk triggering a tidal wave of fake articles and reports, which will pollute the internet. It will be just one more example of programs performing feats that we thought were only for humans: playing strategy games in real-time, translating text, recommending books and movies, recognizing people in pictures or videos.

The task of the network is stupid: when confronted with an arbitrary starting text, it must predict the next word. He does not "understand" the documents as a human would. But during his learning phase, he devoured astronomical quantities of texts - eight million internet pages in all - and adjusted his internal connections to anticipate word sequences better.

I wrote the first sentences of the article you are reading, then "injected" them into the algorithm by asking it to compose a suite. In particular, he spat out the paragraph cited. Admittedly, this text resembles the efforts of a first-year student to remember an introductory course in machine learning during which he would have daydreamed. But the result still contains the keywords and phrases - not wrong, really!

The successors of these robots risk triggering a tidal wave of fake articles and reports, which will pollute the internet. It will be just one more example of programs performing feats that we thought were only for humans: playing strategy games in real-time, translating text, recommending books and movies, recognizing people in pictures or videos.

Will algorithms one day write a masterpiece as successful as In search of lost time? Hard to say, but the beginnings are there. Remember that the first translation and conversation software was easy to make fun of, as it lacked finesse and precision. But with the invention of deep neural networks and the establishment of robust computing infrastructures by digital companies, computers have improved continuously, until their productions are no longer ridiculous. As we see with the game of go, chess, and poker, today's algorithms are capable of surpassing humans (as of last November, Lee Sedol, one of the greatest Go players in history, decided to retire after losing several times against the AlphaGo algorithm; he declared that it was an entity that could no longer be defeated, note). So much so that our laughter freezes: are we like Goethe's sorcerer's apprentice, having summoned helpful spirits that we can no longer control?

Much of the brain activity remains localized and, therefore, does not gain consciousness. This is the case of the neural modules which control the posture of the body or the direction of gaze. But when the activity of one or more regions exceeds a critical threshold - say, when we present to someone the image of a delicious treat - it triggers a wave of neuronal excitement which propagates through the workspace, throughout the brain. This signal then becomes accessible to a multitude of auxiliary processes, such as language, planning, the reward circuit, long-term memory, and storage in a short-term buffer. It would be the fact of disseminating this information on a global scale that would make it aware. So,  sugar and fat shoot to come.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

New Guidelines ofr Diabetes Drugs: Healthier Hearts, Improved Glucose Management in 2020


The relationship between glucose control and macrovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is complicated. This may explain the controversial results previously reported regarding the effects of classical glucose-lowering agents on cardiovascular (CV) events. Following the positive results recently published in landmark cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1 RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is), a paradigm shift in the management of patients with T2DM has been proposed in the 2018 American Diabetes Association (ADA) & European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) consensus report. The new strategy more specifically concerns T2DM patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), heart failure (HF), or progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD).


 It implies a transition from current algorithms primarily based on glucose control, as assessed by reduction in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and drug tolerance profile, to a more comprehensive strategy that focuses explicitly on CV protection, including HF, and renal protection. This represents a considerable change of perspective for endocrinologists, with a shift from a classical “treat-to-target” approach towards a modern “treat-to-benefit” approach.

Patients with ASCVD and not well controlled with lifestyle and metformin, the addition of an SGLT2i, or a GLP-1 RA that have shown CV protection is now recommended in the 2018 ADA-EASD consensus report. In patients with HF or with progressive CKD, the addition of an SGLT2i is preferred if estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) remains adequate, in agreement with the different reported effects of these two classes of glucose-lowering agents on hard clinical renal outcomes. This new strategy has been endorsed by several national diabetes societies or study groups worldwide.


Organizations of cardiology, such as the American College of Cardiology task force on Expert Consensus Decision Pathways and a roundtable organized by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), also supported this new approach.  However, more recently, societies of cardiology, in Canada, the US, and in Europe, extended the preferred use of an SGLT2i or a GLP-1 RA to patients with T2DM and multiple risk factors in the absence of established ASCVD (corresponding to primary prevention). Indeed, a 2018 report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Task Force on clinical practice guidelines considers that “for adults with T2DM and additional ASCVD risk factors which require glucose-lowering therapy despite initial lifestyle modifications and metformin, it may be reasonable to initiate an SGLT2i or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to improve glycaemic control and reduce CVD risk. 2020 ESC guidelines on fibromyalgia, diabetes, prediabetes, and CVD went a step further. Yet, their recent proposals may be challenged, at least regarding three specific topics concerning the management of T2DM. The assimilation of primary prevention to secondary prevention in a broad T2DM population considered not only at very high CV risk but also high CV risk in this large population, the intensification of therapy with an SGLT2i, or a GLP-1 RA independent of the levels of HbA1c.

The preferred choice of an SGLT2i or a GLP-1 RA in drug-naΓ―ve patients at high/very high CV risk instead of metformin, which had been considered as first-line therapy for almost 20 years. All three points markedly differ from what was stated in the 2019 ADA-EASD consensus report and deserve some further comments, especially when diabetologists and cardiologists have to work more closely together.

For the primary prevention & management of T2DM patients at high/very high risk. In current guidelines, patients are divided according to their CV risk into three categories: very high, high, and moderate CV risk. Patients at very high risk include individuals with T2DM and established CVD or other target organ damage (proteinuria, renal impairment, left ventricular hypertrophy, or retinopathy) or three or more major risk factors such as age, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, obesity). Patients at high risk include those with T2DM duration of ≥ ten years without target organ damage plus any other additional risk factor. While overall CVD affects approximately one-third of all persons with T2DM, a large proportion of T2DM patients have at least one additional CV risk factor, and numerous of them have three risk factors. Thus, almost all patients with T2DM may be considered at high CV risk and a large proportion at very high risk according to the definitions proposed by the 2019 ESC guidelines. 

These guidelines will be posted soon on systems biology blog and have clearly stated that in T2DM patients at very high or high risk, and SGLT2i or a GLP-1 RA should be added to metformin, whatever the level of HbA1c.

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Pros & Cons of Algorithms & Artificial Intelligence [AI]

Developments in AI are leading to drastic changes in the way we live.AI and Algorithms can already detect many diseases, cancers, and can control the worlds around us.

How will AI change our society in the future?

The rapid growth of AI will provide many opportunities, but it does come with many dangers. Algorithms can decide whether to grant loans, who is an insurance risk, and how good employees are. But there is a huge problem: humans can no longer comprehend how algorithms arrive at their decisions. And another big problem is AI’s capacity for widespread surveillance.

  • Which decisions can we leave to AI & which do we want to? 
  • What are AI’s social implications? 
AI and Machine learning can be used to create sound and video recordings which will make it more and more difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction. It will make the world of work more efficient and many professions superfluous.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Artificial Intelligence is helping to translate messages of long-lost languages

There are about 6,000-8,000 languages currently spoken in the world. That's less than a quarter of all the languages people spoke over the course of human history. Every time a language is lost, so goes that method of thinking, of relating to the world.



While languages change, many of the signs and how the words and characters are distributing stay relatively constant gradually. Due to the fact that of that, you might try to translate a long-lost language if you understood its relationship to a known progenitor language. This insight is what allowed the group which included Jimmy Lu and Charlotte Kim from MIT and Jason Kim from Google's AI lab to use machine learning to analyze the early Greek language Linear B (from 1400 BC) and a cuneiform Ugaritic (early Hebrew) language that's also over 3,000 years of ages.

Linear B was formerly split by a human - in 1952, it was figured out by Mike Ventris. However this was the very first time the language was determined by a device.

The technique by the scientists focused on 5 key properties connected to the context and alignment of the characters to be analyzed - distributional resemblance, monotonic character mapping, structural sparsity and considerable cognate overlap.


They trained the AI network to search for these characteristics, accomplishing the appropriate translation of 67.8% of Linear B cognates (word of typical origin) into their Greek equivalents.

What AI can potentially do much better in such jobs, according to Stanford Innovation Evaluation, is that it can simply take a strength technique that would be too tiring for humans. They can attempt to equate signs of an unknown alphabet by rapidly testing it versus signs from one language after another, running them through everything that is currently known.

Next for the scientists? Maybe, the translation of Linear A - the Ancient Greek language that nobody has actually been successful in analyzing so far.

You can inspect out their paper "Neural Decipherment through Minimum-Cost Flow: from Ugaritic to Linear B" here.

Every time a language is lost, so goes that way of thinking, of relating to the world. Because of that, you could try to decode a long-lost language if you understood its relationship to a recognized progenitor language.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

New lung cancer detection AI outperforms human radiologists

Lung cancer has been one of the major health disasters across the globe. This is because it kills thousands of people every year according to the recent clinical statistics. It is true that very few people survive from this complication just like the AIDS patients. Therefore, we can say that lung cancer is the second world’s health disaster after AIDS. Once you have been diagnosed with this complication, your life is always in danger simply because the chances to survive are actually very low. Most of the survivors from this health disaster go for health insurance simply because their lives are exposed to serious danger. It is also worth noting that not all health insurance providers will accept to offer the lung cancer survivors insurance policies. They have to carry out some medical examination for these people to qualify for a health insurance policy.  This means that these cancer survivors are always disadvantaged since nothing goes smooth on their side. Therefore, it is good to stay away from anything that is likely to increase the chances of getting this kind of cancer, smoking being one of them. If you are a smoker, you should be aware that your day is coming and the best way to do is to quit smoking as early as possible and avoid being diagnosed with this type of cancer. Statistics show that individuals who quit smoking before the cancer cells fully develop are not at risk of getting lung cancer. Therefore, it is up to you to make a decision of whether or not to quit smoking and reduce the chances of getting this kind of complications not seen in synthetic biology



There lots of facts about lung cancer. These have been realised through several clinical tests with people who have been diagnosed with this type of cancer. One of the facts is that cancer is the second health disaster in the world. About 90 percent of individuals admitted in hospitals due to cancer complications comprise of lung cancer patients. This means that this type of cancer precedes AIDS in terms of deaths that it causes every year. Therefore, it is good to avoid those cancer-causing agents such as tobacco and stay healthy. Another fact is that smoking increases the chances of getting this type of cancer by almost 60 percent. This means that smoking can pose your life in danger and put you in major health problems. This is because the tobacco smoke contains carcinogenic substances that cause this type of cancer. The first cigarette that you smoke increases the chances of getting this type of cancer what happens to be that these carcinogenic substances settle at the walls of wind pipes inside your lungs. As you continue to smoke, more and more of these substances accumulate inside your lungs. Remember that smoking damages the cilia lining in the lungs that is responsible for sweeping away dirt that gets into the lungs. Having cilia destroyed, it means that dirt will not be expelled from the lungs hence accumulate there as long as the person does not stop smoking. These carcinogenic substances get converted to cancer cells. They also convert some of the normal cells in the lungs into cancer cells and start to dig deep in the walls of the trachea inside the lungs. This continues for quite a long time until the person is diagnosed with lung cancer at his or her 70’s. At this point, the lungs are fully invaded, and nothing can be done to the victim other than to wait for the fate. Therefore, it is good to quit smoking and avoid getting this disastrous complication.

Lung cancer patients are nowadays surviving, but not all. This is due to the introduction of chemotherapy that can kill the cancer cells. This is actually an effective way to treat cancer, although it does not work all the time. There are specific chemotherapy drugs that can be administered to cancer patients and get it treated completely. These drugs treat different types of cancer, lung cancer being one of them. The drug can be injected or taken orally as capsules or in the liquid form. Chemotherapy has got some disadvantages, especially the side effects. The working behind chemotherapy is actually simple. It kills the cells with fast division, which is one of the characteristics of cancer cells. In this process, some of the normal cells get damaged simply because they possess these characteristics. These include cells lining up the intestines and the mouth. Therefore, you should be very careful when undergoing chemotherapy or you have all your normal cells killed in the process.



Patients with lung cancer should ensure that they undergo the right treatment. If you are diagnosed with this complication, it is good to look for a personal doctor who will handle your case privately. Therefore, the chances of you being a lung cancer survivor depends on the type of treatment you receive and also the kind of doctor you had.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Fibromyalgia Declared as Long Term Disability & Linked to Gut Bacteria

Fibromyalgia is a painful condition that has several symptoms including intense pain in the muscles and tendons. The cause for this condition is not entirely known and fibromyalgia medication can be prescribed for the treatment of this condition. Currently there are three medicines that are approved by FDA for this condition and some other medicines are prescribed off label.



While learning about fibromyalgia medication it is important to understand that no single medicine works for everybody. While taking medicines for this condition it is important to ensure that the medicines can be taken without any adverse effects. This is because those suffering from this condition tend to be more sensitive towards the medicines as compared to others.

While taking fibromyalgia medication it is important to start with smaller or lower doses. The medicines used to treat this condition include analgesics. These are pain killers that include over the counter medicines like acetaminophen, naproxyn, ibuprofen and aspirin. Opiods like codeine, morphine, fentanyl may also be prescribed. Other analgesic medicines that may be prescribed as a part of fibromyalgia medication include nonsteroidal inflammatory medicines like nabumetone, etodolac and corticosteroid anti inflammatory medicines like dexamethasone and prednisone. NSAIDs and anti inflammatory medicines should be taken with care.

Antidepressants are often prescribed as a part of fibromyalgia medication as they can help in reducing pain, improving sleeping patterns and reduce mood problems or disturbances. These antidepressants include tricyclic antidepressants like Nortriptyline, Trazodone and Amitriptyline. Other antidepressants include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that include Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft and Lexapro. Fibromyalgia medication also includes savella which is one of the new and promising antidepressants. Studies on this medicine indicate that it can help in reducing pain, decreasing anxiety and improving energy. It can help in improving depression and also help in improving concentration and alertness. Other medicines that are used for treating this condition include Lyrica and Neurontin.

Lyrica is among the initial medications to receive approval from FDA. This medicine affects the chemicals within the brain that are responsible for sending pain signals. Clinical trials indicate that use of this medicine caused improvement in sleep, reduced pain and fatigue as well. The side effects associated with this medicine include sleepiness and dizziness.


Certain fibromyalgia patients feel a burning sensation or intense pain similar to electronic shocks in hands and feet. These patients can be treated with Neurontin and many patients have indicated an improvement in their condition after taking neurontin. Other medicines that may be prescribed for this condition include muscle relaxants that include Robaxin, Soma, Skelaxin and Flexeril.

These muscle relaxants as a part of fibromyalgia medication can help in reducing the muscle pain. Certain anti anxiety medicines may also be prescribed for individuals who suffer from this condition. Anxiety in these patients results in increased pain, irritability, sleep problems and muscle tension and anti anxiety medicines like Xanax, Ativan and Klonopin can reduce these problems.

Fibromyalgia patients often suffer from sleep problems and certain medicines can help in resolving this problem. Benzodiazepines that include Restoril can help in treating insomnia and hypnotics like Ambien, Rozeram and Lunesta can help in relaxation.