Novel iPhone-based portable machine can detect cancer at home

A  vascular surgeon detected cancerous cells in his own neck while testing a device called Butterfly iQ.

Scientists have developed a novel smartphone-based portable ultrasound machine that can help detect cancer easily at home.

The machine called Butterfly IQ is a pocket-sized ultrasound device, which is the size and shape of an electric razor. Researchers from Butterfly Network, a US based start-up, developed the device that works by shooting sound waves into the body and capturing the echoes.

Usually, the sound waves are generated by a vibrating crystal. However, this machine uses 9,000 tiny drums etched onto a semiconductor chip, a Review reported.

Earlier this year, a chief medical officer at Butterfly Network, discovered a cancerous mass in his own throat while testing the device.

He had been having an uncomfortable feeling of thickness in his throat. He used the device, which was connected to his smartphone, to obtain black and grey images.

He found a three cm mass that was diagnosed as squamous-cell cancer — a form of skin cancer that develops in the cells of the outer layer of the skin.

“To look at this as just an ultrasound device is like looking at an iPhone and saying it is just a phone. If you have a window into the body where anyone can afford it, everyone can use it, and everyone can interpret it, it becomes a heck of a lot more than an ultrasound device,” he added.

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Smart bracelet can detect pregnancy, identify best time to conceive

Scientists have developed a smart bracelet that can not only identify the best time of the month for a woman to try for a baby, but also alert when the user gets pregnant - an advance that could make traditional home pregnancy test obsolete.

Researchers conducted trials to identify minute physiological changes that take place when pregnancy starts.

Using an algorithm which learns the users personal characteristics, the band can not only detect pregnancy but also identify the best time of the month when a woman can try for a baby.

The technology promises to allow women to do away with the morning ritual of a home pregnancy test, which assesses levels of human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) in urine.

"Rather than waking up every morning and trying to pee on a stick to detect the rise in hCG you would simply have the bracelet worn both night and day," said senior researcher.

The team behind the Ava bracelet plan to begin real-world tests of the system before the end of the year.

Researchers found a pulse variation of just 2.1 beats per minutes, as well as a 0.2 degree Celsius change in skin temperature was indicative of the onset of pregnancy, probably due to hormonal changes involving progesterone and estrogen.

The smart bracelet is able to detect pregnancy around a week after conception, the same as the most sensitive pregnancy test, it was reported.

The system would be continuously developed to monitor women during pregnancy, potentially providing early warning of serious conditions such as preeclampsia, which can force doctors to induce premature birth.

The algorithm is already being used in an existing Ava device to indicate when best to try for a baby.

So far they have recruited more than 300 women and have measured more than 1,000 menstrual cycles and 100 pregnancies.

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This Fantastic New App Can Detect Pancreatic Cancer

Better screening tools for all cancers would be great, but one type in particular where it could have a huge impact is pancreatic cancer. The symptoms of this devastating disease don’t reveal themselves until it’s well advanced, and it carries a five-year survival rate of just 5-9%.
 
Now, scientists have developed an app that could allow people to easily detect pancreatic cancer by simply scanning the white part of the eye for one of the disease’s early tell-tale signs.

One of the early signs of pancreatic cancer is jaundice, which is characterized by yellowing of the skin and eyes as a result of the buildup of a substance in the blood known as bilirubin. However, the trouble with bilirubin buildup, other than the fact that it can be an indication of several diseases, is that it can only be detected by blood tests that doctors won’t administer unless there is already cause for concern.
 
We have already recently seen exciting progress towards a urine test for pancreatic cancer, but this new app would require no bodily fluids at all.

Dubbed Biliscreen, this app uses a smartphone camera along with computer vision algorithms and machine learning to detect increased levels of bilirubin in the white part of the eye, known as the sclera. In adults, the sclera is more sensitive than the skin to elevated bilirubin levels and the team hopes that Biliscreen will be able to detect these changes before they become visible to naked eye, when it’s already too late.   

The senior author of the study, states that “the eyes are a really interesting gateway into the body – tears can tell you how much glucose you have, sclera can tell you how much bilirubin is in your blood. Our question was: Could we capture some of these changes that might lead to earlier detection with a selfie?”
The technology was put to the test in a clinical trial that involved 70 people. The app was used in combination with either a special box made to control light exposure or paper glasses to calibrate color. The team found that it was able to detect causes for concern 89.7% of the time.

It works by using the camera and flash to capture an image of the eye, and then computer vision software to isolate the sclera. The app then assesses the wavelengths of light that are being reflected and absorbed by the sclera, calculating color information, and then uses machine learning algorithms to correlate that with bilirubin levels.

The co-author of the study, explains that “this relatively small initial study shows the technology has promise. Pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease with no effective screening right now. Our goal is to have more people who are unfortunate enough to get pancreatic cancer to be fortunate enough to catch it in time to have surgery that gives them a better chance of survival.”

Now, the team is looking to build on these exciting early results by testing the app on larger groups of people at risk of jaundice and other related conditions. They are also going to try to make the technology more convenient to use, by possibly removing the need for the box or glasses.

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New blood test to boost cancer treatment

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 Cancer drugs affect the amount of metabolites -- the building blocks of fats and proteins -- present in the blood of patients with the deadly disease.

The study investigated the metabolic markers that could accurately assess how cancers were responding to the targeted drug pictilisib.

 Researchers have found a new test that can detect changes in the levels of metabolites in the blood and help identify whether a cancer drug is working as designed or not.
According to researchers, cancer drugs affect the amount of metabolites -- the building blocks of fats and proteins -- present in the blood of patients with the deadly disease.
"Our study is an important step in the development of new precision cancer therapies and is the first to show that blood metabolites have real potential to monitor the effects of novel agents," said Florence Raynaud from The Institute of Cancer Research in Britain. 

 The study investigated the metabolic markers that could accurately assess how cancers were responding to the targeted drug pictilisib.
Pictilisib is designed to specifically target a molecular pathway in cancer cells, called PI3 kinase, which has key a role in cell metabolism and is defective in a range of cancer types.
As cancers with PI3K defects grow, they cause a decrease in the levels of metabolites in the bloodstream.
For the study, published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, the team measured the levels of 180 blood markers in 41 patients with advanced cancers in a phase I clinical trial conducted both in preclinical mouse models and also in humans.
In the mice study, the findings showed an increase in the presence of 26 different metabolites in the bloodstream of mice that were given pictilisib, which were low prior to the therapy. 


This indicated that the drug was hitting its target as well as reversing the effects of the cancer on mouse metabolites.

In the trial conducted on humans, 22 out of the 26 metabolites increased in response to the pictilisib therapy.
A single dose of pictilisib increased the blood levels of the metabolites, however, when the treatment stopped a resultant decrease was noted, suggesting that the effect was directly related to the introduction of pictilisib.
"Our method could eventually be used to monitor patients routinely during the course of treatment, as a quick and easy way of assessing whether a drug is still working, or whether treatment needs to be adapted," added one of the researchers Paul Workman, Professor at The Institute of Cancer Research.