Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio De Mesquita Filho Unesp

Biomedical engineers at RMIT University have built a smartphone feature that paramedics can use to immediately screen patients for stroke. In partnership with Brazil's São Paulo State University, RMIT University researchers developed an AI-powered tool for analysing facial symmetry and specific muscle movements, which are key signs of stroke. It is based on the Facial Action Coding System which categorises facial movements by the contraction or relaxation of facial muscles. The AI, in tandem with image processing tools, was tested on video recordings of facial expressions of 14 people with post-stroke and 11 healthy people. Based on findings published in the journal, Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, the AI tool achieved 82% accuracy in detecting stroke "in seconds." The research team is now seeking collaborations with healthcare providers to turn their AI-driven smartphone feature into a mobile application. They are also considering expanding its use to detect other neurological conditions affecting facial muscles. WHY IT MATTERS Citing studies, Dinesh Kumar, an RMIT University professor who supervised the research, noted that 13% of stroke cases are missed in emergency departments and community hospitals, while 65% of cases are undiagnosed. Gender, race, and geographic location can also contribute to overlooking strokes, he added. "Given that many strokes occur at home and initial care is often provided by first responders in non-ideal conditions, there is an urgent need for real-time, user-friendly diagnostic tools." MARKET SNAPSHOT A similar innovation in mobile health was done in the United States in 2020 by Penn State University and Houston Methodist Hospital. Their machine learning-based tool also uses computational facial motion analysis, as well as natural language processing, to detect stroke-like symptoms, such as sagging muscles and slurred speech. Other AI-driven stroke risk assessment and detection capabilities are applied to brain scans, such as the recently approved NNS-SOT by Nunaps in South Korea and AICute by Chulalongkorn University researchers in Thailand. Meanwhile, in recent years, sensors that detect atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that can cause stroke, have been increasingly incorporated into wearable devices, including Fitbit and Apple – both of which were cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration. There are also mobile applications in Asia, such as the telemedicine app DrGo in Hong Kong and RhythmCam by the National Taiwan University Hospital, that have introduced a-fib detection functionalities.

Insect pests which attack crops have extraordinary powers to develop resistance to greener pesticides and a new way to manage resistance risks is needed, according to a recent analysis. Insect pests which attack crops have extraordinary powers to develop resistance to greener pesticides and a new way to manage resistance risks is needed, according to analysis by University of Stirling scientists. For more than 70 years, agriculture's response to pesticide resistance has been to seek new pesticides in an endless race to keep up with evolving pests. Researchers now propose a new way to step off this treadmill as farmers embrace the ongoing green revolution in pest control by switching to biopesticides derived from natural organisms. The evolution of resistance to biopesticides -- a crucial tool in the development of sustainable crop protection -- has huge implications for food security worldwide as the global population grows. In a bid to address this emerging challenge, researchers have deployed principles from fundamental evolutionary ecological science and proposed a practical framework for managing the risks of biopesticide resistance evolution. They suggest that farmers can help manage resistance risks by planting a wider diversity of crops and use multiple biopesticides. The study was funded by a joint Newton Fund international partnership between the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in Brazil, alongside the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Scientists from Stirling's Faculty of Natural Sciences, working with colleagues at the University of Gothenburg and São Paulo State University, conducted a synthesis of existing biopesticide research and argued that resistance evolution is already occurring and is likely to become widespread as biopesticide use continues to increase. Dr Matthew Tinsley, Senior Lecturer in Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling, said: "People are blinkered -- they think because biopesticides are derived from natural sources it will be more difficult for pests to evolve resistance, but we still need to be worried about pest resistance to these new agents. "The lead time to develop biopesticides is five to ten years, so if we wait to act, we will lose these new agents because pests will already have evolved." Dr Rosie Mangan, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling added: "Novel resistance management approaches are needed for these crop protection products to avoid the same treadmill of invention and loss as has happened for chemical pesticides. "Our perspective argues that farmers can help manage resistance risks by planting a wider diversity of crops and using multiple biopesticides. This will reduce the spread of resistance and help keep biopesticides effective in the long term." The new paper, 'Increasing ecological heterogeneity can constrain biopesticide resistance evolution', is published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution. It forms part of the wider Stirling-led project ENDORSE (Enhancing diversity to overcome resistance evolution). Dr Tinsley and Dr Mangan worked with Dr Luc Bussière (University of Gothenburg) and Dr Ricardo Polanczyk (São Paulo State University) on the study.