Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can classify four subtypes of Parkinson’s disease with up to 95% accuracy. Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology in London “trained” a computer program to recognise the subtypes of the condition using images of stem cells from patients. The team said their work, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, could pave the way for personalised medicine and targeted drug discovery. Sonia Gandhi, assistant research director and group leader of the Neurodegeneration Biology Laboratory at the Crick, said: “We understand many of the processes that are causing Parkinson’s in people’s brains. The hope is that one day this could lead to fundamental changes in how we deliver personalised medicine Sonia Gandhi, Francis Crick Institute “But, while they are alive, we have no way of knowing which mechanism is happening, and therefore can’t give precise treatments. “We don’t currently have treatments which make a huge difference in the progression of Parkinson’s disease. “Using a model of the patient’s own neurons, and combining this with large numbers of images, we generated an algorithm to classify certain subtypes – a powerful approach that could open the door to identifying disease subtypes in life. “Taking this one step further, our platform would allow us to first test drugs in stem cell models, and predict whether a patient’s brain cells would be likely to respond to a drug, before enrolling into clinical trials. “The hope is that one day this could lead to fundamental changes in how we deliver personalised medicine.” Parkinson’s is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years. Symptoms include involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body, slow movement, and stiff and inflexible muscles. But there is also a wide range of other physical and psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety, problems sleeping, and memory problems. These vary from person to person due to differences in the underlying mechanisms causing the disease. The researchers said that until now, there was no way to accurately differentiate Parkinson’s subtypes. It means people are given nonspecific diagnoses and do not always have access to targeted treatments, support or care, the team added. For the study, the researchers generated stem cells, which have the ability to develop into specialised cell types in the body, from patients’ own cells. The team then used those cells to chemically create four different subtypes of Parkinson’s: two involving pathways leading to toxic build-up of a protein called alpha-synuclein and two involving pathways associated with dysfunctional mitochondria, the cell’s battery packs. Working with the British technology company Faculty AI, the team developed machine-learning algorithms which were able to accurately predict the Parkinson’s subtype when presented with images it had not seen before. James Evans, a PhD student at the Crick and UCL, and first co-author of the study, said: “Now that we use more advanced image techniques, we generate vast quantities of data, much of which is discarded when we manually select a few features of interest. “Using AI in this study enabled us to evaluate a larger number of cell features, and assess the importance of these features in discerning (the) disease subtype. “Using deep learning, we were able to extract much more information from our images than with conventional image analysis. “We now hope to expand this approach to understand how these cellular mechanisms contribute to other subtypes of Parkinson’s.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Oxford scientists find no evidence to suggest Facebook not good for wellbeing Many adults would struggle to understand video-sharing platforms’ rules – Ofcom Ozzy Osbourne PlayStation tweet which failed to reveal link to Sony banned

Tosca Musk founded the OTT streaming service named Passionflix in 2017

Brokerage Morgan Stanley on Monday warned that lofty U.S. equity valuations could be questioned by investors if aggressive

Six Portuguese youths are taking 32 nations to the European Court of Human Rights this month for not doing enough to stop global warming, the latest bid to...

Goat Simulator 3 release date information was revealed during Gamescom.

This year is set to be the hottest ever recorded, the UN said Thursday, demanding urgent action to rein in global warming and stem the...

A Colorado startup that led a push to help companies market their natural gas as more environmentally friendly

Lube, or lubricant if you’re fancy, has had a bit of a PR problem to

Ange Postecoglou toasted his new-look Tottenham team for providing an early birthday present with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth and backed “bargain” James Maddison to get even better. Maddison pulled the strings on the south coast and opened his account for Spurs with his 17th-minute goal, which helped make it back-to-back victories in the Premier League for the visitors. Dejan Kulusevski added a second after half-time to end his goal drought stretching back to January to keep the feelgood factor around Tottenham despite losing record marksman Harry Kane to Bayern Munich on the eve of the new campaign. Postecoglou has overseen an impressive seven-point haul from a possible nine since he took over and admitted he could now enjoy his 58th birthday on Sunday. “Yeah, I’m 58. We always put birthday celebrations on hold depending on the result but I’m sure my wife is scrambling to arrange something for tomorrow,” the Australian smiled. “It’ll be nice. Short turnaround to Fulham so still got to go into work tomorrow but it’ll be nice to spend some time with the family and now another click closer to that 60 mark, mate.” There had been doubts over Maddison’s availability at Vitality Stadium after he left Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend on crutches and in a protective boot. While the England international said at the time it was precautionary, he only returned to training on Friday, but starred again with the number 10 shirt on his back. Maddison moved from Leicester in June for an initial £40million deal that could rise in add-ons and during a summer where midfielders have transferred for more than £100million, it appears a steal. Postecoglou added: “A £45 million bargain? I don’t know what world you live in mate, but I know what you mean and relatively so. “There wasn’t anyone happier than me when we got him. I was delighted. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, but I’m overjoyed at the footballer I’ve got. The way he’s embraced the whole club, where he’s at in his life. “He really wants to be the person. He’s that creative force for us. He works hard, he wins the ball back, presses. It’s not like he just comes to life when we’ve got the ball. He’s had a disrupted week. He only had one session with us, but for him to put on a performance like that is credit to him. “And I think there’s more to come when he gets more understanding with our forward players and they get more understanding with him. He’s going to keep improving. If we got him in the bargain bin, that’s great for us.” The only negative for Tottenham was another game without a goal for Richarlison, who was replaced on the hour mark. “He just needs to work hard, keep contributing to the team and contributing to us being successful and overcoming the challenges we have,” Postecoglou countered. “Richy will work hard. He’s a good footballer and he’ll get his goals.” Meanwhile, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was left disappointed with their end to an entertaining contest. Ryan Christie tested Guglielmo Vicario before half-time and Antoine Semenyo curled into the side-netting after the break before Destiny Udogie burst into the area and cut back for Kulusevski to wrap the points up for Spurs. Iraola said: “I was disappointed probably with the end of the game after the 2-0. “I think until 2-0 the team was playing really well and it looked like in this moment we had chances to score the 1-1, but from there we probably lacked a little bit of intensity and they were more comfortable on the ball. “In the first half we put them in really difficult positions. I think (Yves) Bissouma and Maddison were in difficult positions, but they are good and they were winning duals even with a man on their back and protecting very well the ball. “Probably we didn’t regain so many balls because for me they could sustain a very good press.”

The UK economy shrank unexpectedly in March as households turned more cautious and strikes hit activity across a

Argentina and Samoa meet in a key pool clash at the Rugby World Cup on Friday in Saint-Etienne

While technology experts sound the alarm on the pace of artificial intelligence development, philanthropists — including long-established foundations and tech billionaires — have been responding with an uptick in grants