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- Hydrogen of events: ancient causative agents of cancer and gas stations with fuel of the future
Hydrogen of events: ancient causative agents of cancer and gas stations with fuel of the future
Russian scientists have developed AI algorithms to identify the precursors of stomach cancer. Researchers from Brazil have discovered a tumor pathogen in ancient human remains. At the same time, domestic experts have proposed pellets that will help build compact reactors for hydrogen gas stations. At the same time, chemists have created a sensor for measuring calcium in blood and milk, and physicists have introduced a quantum computer with zones for calculations, reading and storing data. These and other science and technology news of the past week can be found in the Izvestia article.
A digital "doctor" has been taught to identify a harbinger of stomach cancer
Scientists from Sechenov University have developed an AI algorithm that helps significantly improve the accuracy and speed up the diagnosis of atrophic gastritis, one of the most dangerous diseases of the stomach, which doctors consider a precancerous condition.
The new system analyzes digital images of gastric tissue obtained during biopsy. The program has been trained on 5.5 thousand images, and now it determines the presence of the disease and its stage with 96% accuracy, as well as automatically identifies the areas where the pathology occurred.
— Early diagnosis allows you to monitor the patient, prescribe treatment and prevent the development of cancer. And if the tumor does appear, remove it at an early stage and save the patient's life," Tatiana Demura, director of the Institute of Clinical Morphology and Digital Pathology at Sechenov University, told Izvestia.
According to her, the development can radically change medical practice. It will reduce the burden on pathologists, speed up diagnosis and help to start treatment promptly in order to prevent the development of severe forms of the disease. In the future, experts noted, digital assistants can become reliable tools that complement and verify the work of specialists in clinics.
Wearable electronics will measure calcium in blood and milk
ITMO University has created miniature sensors to measure calcium levels in complex media such as seawater, milk, and blood. The devices were manufactured on the basis of two—dimensional titanium carbide, a material of the MXenes class. These are ultrathin electrically conductive films that can be easily adjusted due to the functional groups on the surface. The size of the detectors is 3-4 mm wide and 10 mm long. They only need a few drops of liquid for analysis.
— In our work, we have shown that MXene is a promising material for inexpensive, flexible and sensitive sensors. Our sensors can be adapted to detect different ions by changing the membrane. Due to the small size, the development will be of interest to customers. For example, food industries or manufacturers of water filters," said Evgeny Smirnov, a leading researcher at the ITMO Scientific and Educational Center for Infochemistry.
The sensors have a minuscule error and do not react to impurities, which distinguishes them from most analogues, he added. The creators presented the hard and soft versions of the product. The first one is designed to work as part of laboratory equipment. The second one is suitable for printing on flexible surfaces. For example, wearable electronics.
Possible applications of the development include milk quality control during production, seawater monitoring, or rapid blood calcium analysis.
Small pellets will help create networks of hydrogen gas stations
In Russia, pellets have been created that make it possible to produce hydrogen from natural gas in small reactors. The new op catalyst can become the basis for mobile hydrogen fuel filling stations that can be deployed throughout the country. Scientists from the A.F. Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University LETI participated in the development.
— We have been working on the creation of mobile gas stations — the size of a standard container. They can be brought in, connected to the main gas pipeline, and the hydrogen production process can be started. The "heart" of such a station is a compact reactor as tall as a man. Industrial catalysts are not suitable for it," explained Shamil Omarov, a researcher at the Laboratory of Materials and Processes of Hydrogen Energy at the Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
To solve this problem, he added, pellets of 3-5 mm in size were created in a special shape. They are resistant to harmful impurities in the feed gas, as well as to cyclic loads — when the reactor is active during the day, and stops at night or works half-heartedly. Tests have shown that the pellets practically do not wear out over time. In many ways, the development surpasses its analogues.
The quantum computer was divided into computing zones
Developers from Lomonosov Moscow State University have successfully tested a new prototype of a 72-qubit quantum processor. The device is implemented on a platform of single neutral rubidium atoms.
According to the researchers, for the first time in Russia, the new computer has implemented the division of the computing register into three zones — information storage, operations and data reading. In the long run, this solves the main problem of quantum computers — the fragility of qubits and the high error rate.
By isolating the zones, the scientists isolated the qubits from spurious interference. This improved the quality of operations. In the test mode, the accuracy of the two-qubit operation was demonstrated at 94%. This makes it possible to start testing practical tasks.
— In the current experiment, the first two zones were involved. We will develop the third one at the next stage. If by 2030 a computer scale of several hundred "good" qubits with high reliability of operations is achieved, this will make it possible to implement logical operations with error correction and launch unique algorithms. This will be the limit of tasks that are already impossible for a classical computer," commented Stanislav Straupe, Head of the Quantum Computing Sector at the Center for Quantum Technologies at the Moscow State University Faculty of Physics.
The causative agent of cancer was found in the remains of an ancient Siberian
Scientists from the Federal University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) have developed a DNA analysis method that has made it possible to detect traces of the human papillomavirus, HPV type 16, in the remains of ancient people. This pathogen still exists today. It is considered oncogenic and provokes the development of cervical cancer and other types of tumors.
In particular, traces of the virus type were found in a fossilized bone that belonged to a resident of the area near the confluence of the Ishim into the Irtysh (modern Tyumen region), who lived here 45 thousand years ago. A similar pathogen was identified in the "ice man" Etzi, who lived 5,300 years ago in the Alps in Tyrol (modern Austria).
— The results show that the DNA sequences really belong to viruses. We're pretty sure it's a signal. We have the oldest evidence of the existence of HPV," said the first author of the study, Juliana Yazigi.
According to experts, this is the first direct evidence that oncogenic pathogens have accompanied humanity for tens of thousands of years. The discovery expands the understanding of the evolution of viruses and in the future may help in the development of more effective means of combating them.
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