How to recognize early learning challenges in kids

(HealthDay)—Many children have difficulty with learning at some point, but those with learning disabilities often have several specific and persistent signs, which can start in preschool years. Recognizing them as soon as possible allows a child to get needed help and make better progress.

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Researchers question implanting IVC filters on prophylactic basis before bariatric surgery

There are currently more than 200,000 bariatric surgeries being performed in the United States each year according to estimates from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Blood clotting is of particular concern during and after these procedures given that obesity and post-surgical immobility are risk factors for developing blood clots, including venous thromboembolism (VTE), which is a blood clot that starts in a vein—often in the deep veins of the leg, groin or arm. This type of VTE is known as deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. A venous clot can break off and travel to the lungs, causing a life-threatening condition called pulmonary embolism (PE). Inferior vena cava filters (IVCFs) are sometimes implanted prophylactically prior to bariatric surgery in an attempt to reduce post-surgical PE rates. IVCFs are small-basket-like devices made of wire that are inserted into the inferior vena cava, a large vein that returns blood from the lower body to the heart and lungs, to catch the blood clots before they reach the lungs.

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Scientists use machine learning to improve gut disease diagnosis

A study published in the open access journal JAMA Open Network June 14 by scientists at the University of Virginia schools of Engineering and Medicine and the Data Science Institute says machine learning algorithms applied to biopsy images can shorten the time for diagnosing and treating a gut disease that often causes permanent physical and cognitive damage in children from impoverished areas.

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Ethics of AI: how should we treat rational, sentient robots – if they existed?

Imagine a world where humans co-existed with beings who, like us, had minds, thoughts, feelings, self-conscious awareness and the capacity to perform purposeful actions—but, unlike us, these beings had artificial mechanical bodies that could be switched on and off.

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Toward artificial intelligence that learns to write code

Learning to code involves recognizing how to structure a program, and how to fill in every last detail correctly. No wonder it can be so frustrating.

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Building a better electron gun

The successful test of the LCLS-II electron gun (see related article) marks the culmination of an R&D effort spanning more than a decade at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

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Image: Instant space selfies

How many times have you taken a selfie and posted it instantly to your favourite social media channel? The Mercury Transfer Module of the BepiColombo spacecraft, currently en route to Mercury, is equipped with three 'selfie-cams' and this morning captured a series of snapshots and subsequently posted them to its Twitter account.

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Chemists' breakthrough in synthesis advances a potent anti-cancer agent

It's a feat three decades in the making: Harvard University chemists have achieved what a new paper calls a "landmark in drug discovery" with the total synthesis of halichondrin. Known to be a potent anti-cancer agent in mouse studies, and found naturally in sea sponges—though only ever in minuscule quantities—the halichondrin class of molecule is so fiendishly complex that it had never been synthesized on a meaningful scale in the lab.

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