A team of researchers from a Harvard University teaching hospital have developed a microscope equipped with AI that can diagnose blood infections. The AI was able to categorize 93 percent of samples without human help.
SMART MICROSCOPE
Microbiologists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have developed a smart microscope that employs artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately diagnose deadly blood infections. The microscope is enhanced with machine learning technology in the hopes that it will help prepare the medical field for the upcoming retirements of highly trained microbiologists — which are already in short supply.
The team trained a convolutional neural network (CNN); a type of AI that is built modeling the mammalian visual cortex and is used to analyze visual data. The training began by showing the AI a series of 100,000 images garnered from 25,000 slides that were treated with dye to make the bacteria more visible. With these images, the AI learned how to sort the bacteria based on their visible traits. The system achieved an accuracy of nearly 95 percent.
Next, the researchers showed the system 189 slides without human intervention and it was able to sort 93 percent accurately. With more training, the system has the potential to develop into a reliable, autonomous classification system that could help to save time and lives.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
BYE BOOMERS
The system will be a great help to microbiology labs that are already struggling to remain staffed with highly skilled lab technologists. The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) explains how microbiology school closures and the impending retirement of baby boomers is likely to stretch the already limited resource of skilled lab technologists even thinner. Perfecting an AI system that is able to assist in or perform these tasks will go a long way to ensuring patients have the best chance of getting treatment for potentially lethal blood infections.
The CDC notes that these types of infections — typically caused by bacteria like E. coli, Staphylococcus, and streptococcus — result in thousands of deaths each year and billions of dollars in health care costs.
Artificial intelligence is still in the early stages of its relationship with medicine, but great strides are being made: not long ago, a Chinese robot was even able to pass a medical licensing exam. We may not know the full capacity of what the medical field will look like with AI and robots lending a hand but the life-saving potential of non-human helpers is certainly exciting.
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Comments
Popular posts from this blog
Advanced Transport Virgin Hyperloop One’s System JusElon Musk’s Speed Reco SpaceX IN BRIEF In a recent test, Virgin Hyperloop One's system beat all previous speed records, hitting nearly 387 kilometers per hour (240 miles per hour). With Richard Branson now in their corner, the company could dominate the future of hyperloop transportation. HYPERLOOP SPEED RECORD On December 18, Virgin Hyperloop One announced the completion of third phase testing on the DevLoop , the world’s first full-scale hyperloop test site. During these tests, the system clocked a lightning-fast speed of nearly 387 kmh (240 mph), breaking the 355 kmh (220 mph) hyperloop speed record set by Elon Musk’s hyperloop in August. Click to View Full Infographic During this phase of testing, the company experimented with using a new airlock that helps test pods transition between atmospheric and vacuum conditions. By combining magnetic levitation, extremely ...
Future Society A Web Company Is Offering to Pay Their Employees’ Salaries in Bitcoin Pixabay IN BRIEF A Japanese web hosting company will begin offering their employees the option of receiving part of their salaries in the form of bitcoin. Starting in February, workers can opt to receive between 1,000 yen ($88) and 100,000 yen ($890) of their paychecks in the popular cryptocurrency. BITCOIN AT WORK GMO Internet , a Japanese web hosting company, has just offered to pay a portion of their employees’ salaries in bitcoin. The shift is entirely optional, and the company is offering a range of entry points into the initiative. Starting in February, some workers will have the option of receiving as little as 10,000 yen (around $88) or as much as 100,000 yen (around $890) of their salaries in bitcoin. The offer will eventually expand to all of the company’s more than 4,000 employees. Image credit: Antana/Flickr In May, GMO I...
MIT Engineers Develop Glowing Plants Using Nanoparticles MIT/YouTube IN BRIEF The project is part of a new research sector: plant nanobionics, which uses nanoparticles to give plants unique and naturally un-plantlike features and abilities. GLOWING PLANTS What if, as the sun went down, the unassuming plants in your windowsill began to glow, lighting up the space around them like tiny botanical lamps? Thanks to recent innovations by engineers at MIT , these living lamps could soon become a reality. The team of researchers embedded specially designed nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, lead by Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, and MIT postdoc Seon-Yeong Kwak — senior and lead authors on the study, respectively. The introduction of the nanoparticles caused the plants to give off a dim light, glowing for almost four full hours. While this might seem like a relatively minor ac...
Comments