NEWS POST: Google Launches Health Knowledge Panels And Four Other Products In Nigeria

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At the top of health-related Google searches, you’ll now see a snapshot of the condition, symptoms and treatment

Tech giant Google announced the official launch of health knowledge panels in Nigeria on September 25, 2017. In a statement made available to Media, Google said Health Knowledge Panels appear at the top of any health-related search result and provide a snapshot of the condition, symptoms and treatment of more than 800 commonly searched for health conditions.

Google said its health knowledge panel is now available in twenty countries in Africa including Nigeria on mobile and desktop; it covers over 800 health conditions curated to display facts for health problems and symptoms based on peoples’ search interests.

Tamar Yehoshua, Google’s VP of Product Management said, “Nigerians are turning to Google Search to find answers to a variety of topics ranging from health, to financial well-being to entertainment and sports to national interests. In fact, Search growth in Nigeria has been accelerating and has been recently outpacing the global growth average, proof that Google Search has become an important information destination for the people.”

“As we roll out this feature in Nigeria, our hope is to help to provide knowledge to Nigerians searching for information about common health issues.  We collaborated with a team of medical experts from institutions such as the University of Ibadan and the Mayo Clinic to ensure that all the gathered facts represent real-life clinical knowledge from health institutions and experts around the world.”

Google had earlier pre-announced plans to launch a number of new features like Health Searches, Google posts and Sports Searches for users of Google Search in Nigeria at the ‘Google for Nigeria conference in July’.

“It should be noted though that the health card feature is intended for informational purposes only, users are advised to consult a medical professional regarding actual health concerns,” Google stated.

Google Announces Introduction Of Five More Products

Google - Headquarters in California, USA

Google has announced introduction of five additional products that would enable internet users to access information with ease.

Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, made this known in an interactive session with some internet users including journalists in Lagos on Friday. Kola-Ogunlade listed the products to include Gboard, Health Knowledge Panel, Movie Showtime, Entertainment Archive and Google Post.

He advised internet users to take advantage of the products for more relevance. According to him, Google built its platforms and products to be globally relevant. He said that Google introduced Gboard in July to enable sending of messages in dialects including Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. He described Gboard as a new keyboard from Google for Android or iPhone.

“If you are like most Nigerians, then you probably have a grandma, uncle or family member that prefers to read messages in Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa.

“The next time you need to type a message on SMS, Whatsapp or any other messaging app, simply click on the Google ‘G’ logo on your keyboard and click on translation and let Gboard do the translation for you. No more app switching; just search and send, right from your keyboard. If Gboard is not installed on your phone, you can download it from the Apple store or the Android play store,” he said.

According to the manager, Google introduced the health knowledge panel in the realization that 20% of searches on it are health-related. He said that the panel covers up to 800 health conditions.

“You may be worried about a loved one down with malaria. By simply typing ‘Malaria’, Google will show you a health panel with information on malaria symptoms and treatments.

“Google’s health knowledge panels is now accessible to Nigerians and Google has partnered with the University of Ibadan to ensure that answers are reviewed by Nigerian doctors,” he said.

Kola-Ogunlade said that the Google Movie Showtime would enable an internet user to get a list and times for movies showing at a nearby cinema. “Just type ‘whatmovies are showing at the Ikeja Mall’ into Google, and Google will give a list of movies showing at Ikeja Mall plus the time those movies are showing,” he said.

He added that Google was archiving and getting Nollywood films so that local contents would show on the Google search. “Simply type the name of the ‘Nollywood movie into search and let Google give you all the information, including the actors,” he said.

According to the manager, Google Post will get more details of what a favourite musician, movie or sports star is up to. “With Posts on Google, entertainers and businesses can share visible updates directly to Google. This means you get your favourite star’s live update alongside your search results when you Google them.

He said that Google announced the availability of Google Posts in Nigeria at Google for Nigeria on July 27, noting that Nigeria was the third country where the feature was made available. “Some of the country’s popular musicians are already using it. Posts had been available for limited use since January 2016. Google Posts allow businesses and individuals to create posts that show up in the knowledge panel on Google Search and Google Maps. Posts expire after a week, unless they are event-based, in which case, they expire after the event date,” he said.

Source: HEALTHNEWSNG and THE GUARDIAN

NEWS POST: Rapid Blood Test Tells Heart Attack Within 15 Minutes, Twice As Accurate As Existing One

A rapid blood test could diagnose a heart attack within 15 minutes of a patient arriving at A&E, a major trial has found. The test, developed by British scientists, was twice as accurate as the existing one used by the NHS, according to the study

Blood test will tell if you've had a heart attack within 15 minutes of arriving at A&E: Rapid test found to be twice as accurate as existing one

●The cMyC test correctly excluded a heart attack in 32% of patients ●It was developed by British scientists and is twice as accurate as troponin test ●It could mean thousands of patients are given the all-clear and sent home within quarter of an hour of arriving at A&E 

A rapid blood test could diagnose a heart attack within 15 minutes of a patient arriving at A&E, a major trial has found. The test, developed by British scientists, was twice as accurate as the existing one used by the UK National Health Service, according to the study.

Crucially, it could mean thousands of patients are given the all-clear and sent home within quarter of an hour of arriving at A&E. Currently, patients complaining of chest pain have to wait at least three hours, and many are kept in overnight for observation.

Not only would the test reassure worried patients and their families, but it would ease pressure on hospitals, free up beds and save the NHS millions a year. The British researchers, whose work is published in the Circulation medical journal, hope it could be rolled out within five years.

Researcher Dr Tom Kaier, a cardiologist at King’s College London, said: ‘It is important to work out early who has had a heart attack and who hasn’t. We see patients in hospital who have to stay for further tests as a result of a mildly abnormal blood test – this is stressful and often unnecessary.

 ‘Our research shows that the new test has the potential to reassure many thousands more patients with a single test.’ Some 188,000 people have heart attacks in Britain each year. But more than a million a year arrive at hospitals complaining of chest pains, the vast majority of which are not serious.

Dr Kaier estimates that at his own hospital, St Thomas’s in central London, the test would save £800,000 a year in reduced admissions and free up 2,500 beds for the neediest patients.

Researcher Dr Tom Kaier estimates that at his own hospital, St Thomas’s in central London, the test would save £800,000 a year in reduced admissions and free up 2,500 beds for the neediest patients

Doctors currently have to wait at least three hours before they can diagnose a heart attack, and they have to repeat tests for a period of at least six hours before an attack can be ruled out and a patient discharged.

The heart attack blood test currently used by the NHS – called a troponin test – is not definitive for most patients, meaning up to 85 per cent require an ECG scan and often have to stay in for monitoring. The new test, which looks for a protein called cardiac myosin-binding protein C or cMyC, is quicker, more sensitive and better at detecting damage.

The research team carried out blood tests for troponin and cMyC on nearly 2,000 people with chest pain at hospitals in Switzerland, Italy and Spain. The cMyC test correctly excluded a heart attack in 32% of patients – up to twice as many as troponin. At 15 per cent, the heart attack detection rate was the same for both.

Professor Mike Marber, also of King’s College London, said: ‘This research is the first of its kind for cMyC. We’ve shown that this test is not only just as good as the current test for working out who has had a heart attack, but it’s also much better at working out who hasn’t.’

Originally published on DAILY MAIL UK

GUEST BLOG POST: What Creativity Really Is - And Why Schools Need It — Liane Gabora

In this time of global technological change and sustainability challenges, we need to increase creativity levels in the next generation, to ensure the innovations that will keep us afloat. Teachers may fear creative mess, but time for reflection and interdisciplinary thinking can nurture innovation too. Image: Shutterstock

Liane Gabora

Although educators claim to value creativity, they don’t always prioritize it.

Teachers often have biases against creative students, fearing that creativity in the classroom will be disruptive. They devalue creative personality attributes such as risk taking, impulsivity and independence. They inhibit creativity by focusing on the reproduction of knowledge and obedience in class.

Why the disconnect between educators’ official stance toward creativity, and what actually happens in school?

How can teachers nurture creativity in the classroom in an era of rapid technological change, when human innovation is needed more than ever and children are more distracted and hyper-stimulated?

These are some of the questions we ask in my research lab at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. We study the creative process, as well as how ideas evolve over time and across societies. I’ve written almost 200 scholarly papers and book chapters on creativity, and lectured on it worldwide. My research involves both computational models and studies with human participants. I also write fiction, compose music for the piano and do freestyle dance.

What is creativity?

Although creativity is often defined in terms of new and useful products, I believe it makes more sense to define it in terms of processes. Specifically, creativity involves cognitive processes that transform one’s understanding of, or relationship to, the world.

There may be adaptive value to the seemingly mixed messages that teachers send about creativity. Creativity is the novelty-generating component of cultural evolution. As in any kind of evolutionary process, novelty must be balanced by preservation.

In biological evolution, the novelty-generating components are genetic mutation and recombination, and the novelty-preserving components include the survival and reproduction of “fit” individuals. In cultural evolution, the novelty-generating component is creativity, and the novelty-preserving components include imitation and other forms of social learning.

It isn’t actually necessary for everyone to be creative for the benefits of creativity to be felt by all. We can reap the rewards of the creative person’s ideas by copying them, buying from them or simply admiring them. Few of us can build a computer or write a symphony, but they are ours to use and enjoy nevertheless.

Inventor or imitator?

There are also draw backs to creativity. Sure, creative people solve problems, crack jokes, invent stuff; they make the world pretty and interesting and fun. But generating creative ideas is time-consuming. A creative solution to one problem often generates other problems, or has unexpected negative side effects.

Creativity is correlated with rule bending, law breaking, social unrest, aggression, group conflict and dishonesty. Creative people often direct their nurturing energy towards ideas rather than relationships, and may be viewed as aloof, arrogant, competitive, hostile, independent or unfriendly.

Also, if I’m wrapped up in my own creative reverie, I may fail to notice that someone else has already solved the problem I’m working on. In an agent-based computational model of cultural evolution, in which artificial neural network-based agents invent and imitate ideas, the society’s ideas evolve most quickly when there is a good mix of creative “inventors” and conforming “imitators.” Too many creative agents and the collective suffers. They are like holes in the fabric of society, fixated on their own (potentially inferior) ideas, rather than propagating proven effective ideas.

A society thrives when individuals are given the space to create or imitate ideas. (Unsplash/Chris Barbalis), CC BY

Of course, a computational model of this sort is highly artificial. The results of such simulations must be taken with a grain of salt. However, they suggest an adaptive value to the mixed signals teachers send about creativity. A society thrives when some individuals create and others preserve their best ideas.

This also makes sense given how creative people encode and process information. Creative people tend to encode episodes of experience in much more detail than is actually needed. This has drawbacks: Each episode takes up more memory space and has a richer network of associations. Some of these associations will be spurious. On the bright side, some may lead to new ideas that are useful or aesthetically pleasing.

So, there’s a trade-off to peppering the world with creative minds. They may fail to see the forest for the trees but they may produce the next Mona Lisa.

Innovation might keep us afloat

So will society naturally self-organize into creators and conformers? Should we avoid trying to enhance creativity in the classroom?

The answer is: No! The pace of cultural change is accelerating more quickly than ever before. In some biological systems, when the environment is changing quickly, the mutation rate goes up. Similarly, in times of change we need to bump up creativity levels — to generate the innovative ideas that will keep us afloat.

This is particularly important now. In our high-stimulation environment, children spend so much time processing new stimuli that there is less time to “go deep” with the stimuli they’ve already encountered. There is less time for thinking about ideas and situations from different perspectives, such that their ideas become more interconnected and their mental models of understanding become more integrated.

This “going deep” process has been modeled computationally using a program called Deep Dream, a variation on the machine learning technique “Deep Learning” and used to generate images such as the ones in the figure below.

The images show how an input is subjected to different kinds of processing at different levels, in the same way that our minds gain a deeper understanding of something by looking at it from different perspectives. It is this kind of deep processing and the resulting integrated webs of understanding that make the crucial connections that lead to important advances and innovations.

Cultivating creativity in the classroom

So the obvious next question is: How can creativity be cultivated in the classroom? It turns out there are lots of ways! Here are three key ways in which teachers can begin:

1. Focus less on the reproduction of information and more on critical thinking and problem solving.
2. Curate activities that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, such as by painting murals that depict biological food chains, or acting out plays about historical events, or writing poems about the cosmos. After all, the world doesn’t come carved up into different subject areas. Our culture tells us these disciplinary boundaries are real and our thinking becomes trapped in them.
3. Pose questions and challenges, and follow up with opportunities for solitude and reflection. This provides time and space to foster the forging of new connections that is so vital to creativity.

Liane Gabora, Associate Professor of Psychology and Creative Studies, University of British Columbia

Originally published on THE CONVERSATION

NEWS POST: New Antibody Attacks 99% Of HIV Strains

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Scientists have engineered an antibody that attacks 99% of HIV strains and can prevent infection in primates. It is built to attack three critical parts of the virus - making it harder for HIV to resist its effects.

The work is a collaboration between the US National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

The International Aids Society said it was an "exciting breakthrough". Human trials will start in 2018 to see if it can prevent or treat infection.

Our bodies struggle to fight HIV because of the virus' incredible ability to mutate and change its appearance. These varieties of HIV - or strains - in a single patient are comparable to those of influenza during a worldwide flu season. So the immune system finds itself in a fight against an insurmountable number of strains of HIV.

Super-antibodies

But after years of infection, a small number of patients develop powerful weapons called "broadly neutralizing antibodies" that attack something fundamental to HIV and can kill large swathes of HIV strains. Researchers have been trying to use broadly neutralizing antibodies as a way to treat HIV, or prevent infection in the first place.

The study, published in the journal Science, combines three such antibodies into an even more powerful "tri-specific antibody".

Dr Gary Nabel, the chief scientific officer at Sanofi and one of the report authors, told the BBC News website: "They are more potent and have greater breadth than any single naturally occurring antibody that's been discovered."

The best naturally occurring antibodies will target 90% of HIV strains.

"We're getting 99% coverage, and getting coverage at very low concentrations of the antibody. It was quite an impressive degree of protection," said Dr Nabel.

Experiments on 24 monkeys showed none of those given the tri-specific antibody developed an infection when they were later injected with the virus.

The work included scientists at Harvard Medical School, The Scripps Research Institute, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

'Exciting'

Clinical trials to test the antibody in people will start next year.

Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, the president of the International Aids Society, stated: "This paper reports an exciting breakthrough. These super-engineered antibodies seem to go beyond the natural and could have more applications than we have imagined to date. It's early days yet, and as a scientist I look forward to seeing the first trials get off the ground in 2018. As a doctor in Africa, I feel the urgency to confirm these findings in humans as soon as possible."

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was an intriguing approach.

Scientists Create 'Three-In-One' Antibody That Attacks 99% Of HIV Strains

While this is a promising result, the treatment has only be tested on monkeys and the primate form of HIV

During trials, the anitbody protected monkeys from two forms of SHIV, the primate form of HIV, in 24 primates. It works by binding to three critical sites on the virus, making it harder for HIV to resist its attack.  It is known as a ‘broadly neutralizing antibody’ because it can attack many forms of HIV, even when the virus changes shape.

"They are more potent and have greater breadth than any single naturally occurring antibody that's been discovered,” Dr Gary Nabel, the chief scientific officer at Sanofi and one of the report authors, told the BBC.

As a comparison, and to put this research into perspective, the best natural antibodies previously developed attack 90 per cent of strains, while this new ‘trispecific’ antibody attacks 99 per cent.

While this is a promising result, the treatment has not been tested in humans yet. The companies are now planning to start clinical trials, using the antibody on people with and without HIV.

 "Combinations of antibodies that each bind to a distinct site on HIV may best overcome the defenses of the virus in the effort to achieve effective antibody-based treatment and prevention," said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH.

"The concept of having a single antibody that binds to three unique sites on HIV is certainly an intriguing approach for investigators to pursue."

"This paper reports an exciting breakthrough,” Prof Linda-Gail Bekker, the president of the International Aids Society. "These super-engineered antibodies seem to go beyond the natural and could have more applications than we have imagined to date.”

The results of the study, by the US National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical company Sanofi, are published in Science.

Thankfully, HIV is not the life sentence it once was. This latest breakthrough joins a line of research into curing and treating the virus. 

In October, the NHS working with immunologists at UK universities reported that the first patient being treated in an HIV study had shown "remarkable" results, with no sign of the virus after initial treatment.

Then, at the start of May, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) and the University of Pittsburgh found they could remove HIV DNA from genomes of living animals – in this case, mice – using gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Originally published on BBC HEALTH and ALPHR

GUEST BLOG POST: From Tweak, To Twist, To Breakthrough Idea – The Little Creative Secret That Moves The World — Larry Robertson

Photo by Andrik - Langfield - Petrides on Unsplash

Synopsis

Rather than swing for the fences and the big idea, learn the simple little habit that actually makes those ideas more likely.

You might not believe it, but the best way to a big idea – an idea that changes how we think, and one that stands a mightier than normal chance of actually becoming real – comes from a small tweak.

It’s true. And it’s really that simple. But examples make it easier to see, so let’s consider a few.

At the end of each work day, a nightclub manager sees food being tossed out by the ton, in his establishment and countless others across town. On his way home from work each night, he also sees dozens of homeless and undoubtedly underfed souls. For a time, the parallel observations add up to little, until one day he “tweaks” the two separate thoughts so that they intersect one another: “What if all that wasted food could feed those hungry souls?” he wonders. 20 years on, Robert Egger’s simple mental tweak has spawned programmes nationwide that capture and repurpose food from restaurants, grocery stores, farms, hotels, and school cafeterias. Today, dozens of programs and organizations like DC Central Kitchen and LA Kitchen are the backbone not just of successful initiatives to feed the homeless, but of thriving catering businesses, senior citizen nutrition programs, social justice education programs, and on and on – all catalyzed by a minor mental tweak.

Now consider this example. An entrepreneur, small business advisor, and journalist spends a decade helping countless adults start and grow their own business. In the same timeframe, she and her husband are raising three kids – curious kids who wonder what exactly mom does. She knows she can’t just offer them the description as she gives it to grownups. Their eyes would glaze over and they’d never make the mistake of asking such a question again. So she tweaks her grownup script and tells her children a story. A children’s story. The fictional kind they prefer, that just happens to be about kids starting a business. The characters encounter the same challenges any adult business would, but the tale is seen and the challenges solved through a kid’s mind. The mom, host of MSNBC’s Your Business JJ Ramberg, then turns the simple story into a book for kids, and the lessons of business become so simple a child can understand them. And curious children, far beyond her three, become budding entrepreneurs.

For good measure, here’s one final example. A young post-doc in psychology gets a plum job on a revolutionary new research project. The goal is to figure out what really lies behind human learning, thinking, and creativity. The dominant wisdom points to intelligence as the source and the IQ test as the best indicator. But the early research results tell Howard Gardner that something’s not quite right. Reality just doesn’t line up with the metric. “Maybe intelligence isn’t the key indicator,” he first muses. But then he tweaks that thought: “Maybe it’s because intelligence isn’t uniform. Maybe,” he ponders, “just maybe there’s more than one form of intelligence.” Five decades hence, no one has looked at intelligence, or creativity, or learning, the same way, and we continue to pursue the best ways in which to tap the range of our multiple intelligences.

Redefining a societal challenge... Making adult lessons so simple a child can understand them… Putting forth a new theory of how we humans think and do – as different as they seem, all of these examples share important commonalities. None of these big ideas happened all at once. Less obvious, none of them happened according to some prescient or pristine plan. Least obvious of all, each began with the slightest of tweaks – a blending of observations; a shift in language; a fine-tuning or flipping around of a question – something that triggered a change of view and with it, the possibilities.

Robert Egger, Founder of LA Kitchen

To be sure, many things enhance creativity. Robert Egger knew a lot about food, food handling and preparation, food perishability and more long before he started DC Central Kitchen. Similarly, JJ Ramberg had logged countless hours advising business owners and running her own before she simplified the lessons for her kids. And Howard Gardner had the benefit of decades of research in psychology by others plus his own many years in the field before he began to question sacred thinking. But experience and all those other things that often add to creativity aren’t its true catalyst.

Robert, JJ, Howard, and their stories stand out because they didn’t let all their valuable experience, skills, or success hold them back. It’s a counterintuitive but important distinction. They didn’t passively conclude there was only one way to do what they did, or assume only certain people or resources could accomplish the feat. There was no feat in the beginning – or plan, or preconceived notion of where it would all lead. They just tweaked their thinking, their view, and the borders of what they knew a little bit to see what might happen.

And then they kept doing it. And a pattern formed. In fact, in all likelihood that pattern was long in play for all of them – tweaking here, wondering there, playing with an idea simply out of curiosity, long before their big ideas began to surface. It is a near certainty that many forays in this creative zone came to nothing – both before and after the tweak they now identify as revealing the paths they took. But that didn’t concern them. Their actions had their own purpose: play and wonder. The results were accidents – purposeful accidents.

Though the practice of tweaking one’s thinking can lead to game changing ideas, it’s important to note that in forming this creative habit the promise of revelation or success isn’t the thing. The difference maker is the willingness to purposefully explore. All successful innovators will tell you it’s true. A simple pattern of creative tweaking is what leads to the seemingly accidental (and innovative) results. One tweak, begets other tweaks, which accumulate to a “twist” on an old view, that in turn shapes a new way of thinking, being, and progressing. It’s a secret of creativity that appears little but has the power to move the world.

Larry Robertson is the author of two award-winning books: ‘The Language of Man. Learning to Speak Creativity’ and ‘A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its Moment in Human Progress’. Larry is a graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a former Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. 



Find out more at http://www.larryrobertson.me/Larry_Robertson/Hub.html

Originally published on THE CREATIVITY POST