Medicine

ChatGPT passes neurology exam for first time

LLM 4.0 from OpenAI answered 85% of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s questions correctly, implying potentially “significant” future uses for the technology.

OpenAI’s latest update of its large language model (LLM), ChatGPT-4.0, has passed a clinical neurology exam with 85% correct answers in a proof-of-concept study. The research authors believe that after some fine-tuning, LLMs could have “significant applications” in clinical neurology.

The results of the experiment, conducted by a group of researchers from the University Hospital Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, were published on Dec. 7. The test, performed on May 31, featured two LLMs, ChatGPT-3.5 and its later version, ChatGPT-4.0.

The researchers used the bank of questions for a neurology exam from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with a small cohort of questions from the European Board for Neurology.

AstraZeneca partners with AI company to find cure for cancer

The collaboration aims to create a zero-shot generative AI model that would work on creating new antibody therapeutics and enhancing existing ones.

The pharmaceutical company that developed one of the vaccines for COVID-19, AstraZeneca, will partner with a United States-based artificial intelligence (AI) biologics firm, Absci, to design an antibody for cancer.

According to a Financial Times report on Dec.

Absci’s website claims its AI screens “billions of cells” each week, going from antibodies to wet “lab-validated candidates” in six weeks.

“AI is enabling us to not only increase the success and speed of our biologics discovery process, but also enhance the diversity of the biologics we discover.”

Absci CEO Sean McClain had also publicly confirmed the partnership, stating that AstraZeneca will help leverage its AI work, according to a Reuters report.

AI is gaining momentum in the healthcare industry, as it could significantly accelerate both innovative research and the accuracy of data analysis. In November, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority revealed the launch of an AI pilot to combat multidrug-resistant organisms or superbugs.

Magazine: Real AI use cases in crypto: Crypto-based AI markets, and AI financial analysis

How blockchain improves daily healthcare routine, explained

Blockchain enhances daily healthcare by securing patient data, streamlining coordination and minimizing errors for efficient care delivery.

The significance of blockchain in the daily healthcare routine

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by preserving data integrity, fostering better teamwork, and increasing patient care — even in the face of ongoing difficulties with scale and integration.

Blockchain technology has the potential to completely transform healthcare practices.

Blockchain makes it easier to create a decentralized ledger that safely keeps patient data private and permits authorized access.

Additionally, the technology can strengthen clinical trial integrity, guaranteeing the reliability of outcomes and advancing medical research.

How can blockchain prevent the counterfeiting of drugs in the pharmaceutical supply chain?

Blockchain technology’s intrinsic transparency and immutability are vital in the fight against drug counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Blockchain follows the movement of pharmaceuticals from production to distribution, providing an immutable record of every stage along the way by generating an unchangeable ledger of transactions.

Every drug batch is registered as a distinct block on the chain, holding important data, including quality certifications, shipment information and production details.

Keith Comito on the benefits of blockchain tech and decentralization in longevity research

The co-founder of Lifespan.io is harnessing the power of decentralization to support cutting-edge scientific and technological discoveries.

Lifespan.io President and co-founder Keith Comito was into longevity before longevity was cool.

“We started our nonprofit back in 2014,” Comito said. “Back then, few credible researchers would be caught dead saying they were working on aging. It was still kind of a scientific backwater. So, we wanted to emulate what the cancer research advocates did, starting in the ‘40s.”

He said those early advocates identified the most credible research at the time and used “old-school” fundraising approaches like telethons to crowdfund for their work. They built a grassroots movement and grew their scientific expertise. Through their efforts, defeating cancer is now an international priority with communities of millions of people crusading in the fight against this devastating disease that is closely linked to aging.

Comito said Lifespan.io is taking a similar approach but for all aging-related diseases. They’ve built a large community of people by sharing verified news about breaking developments in longevity, crowdfunding research using blockchain technology, and creating some of “the most successful YouTube collaborations in the space.”

“In 2017, I helped write the scripts for a popular series of aging videos that were the highest-viewed videos the week they came out, with 14 million views within days. That was huge to hit those numbers six years ago, and the like ratio was overwhelmingly positive.” This illustrated to the field, Keith said, that it was okay for longevity researchers to come out into the open and not be ashamed of their revolutionary and life-saving work.

Comito leverages various skills honed from a diverse background, including computer programming, biology, and mathematics. He has invented several metaverse-adjacent technologies, developed software that has been adopted in widely-used services like HBO Now, MLB at Bat and Disney+, and even accidentally created a top-charting Chuck Norris Joke Generator as a joke back in the early days of mobile applications. Today, he’s looking at ways to bring our world into the metaverse that not only excite us but also heal our minds and bodies as well. Keith sees the future of Web3 overlapping and supporting the future of longevity while tying in other hot sectors like gaming and VR.

Shaking up science

Comito said that one area he’s spent the last few years exploring is the pure fundraising capabilities of cryptocurrency, working with organizations such as Gitcoin and Angel Protocol to brainstorm new models of crypto philanthropy to fund scientific breakthroughs. Of course, a number of “crypto heavyweights are already supporting life extension research,” he says. Vitalik Buterin, for example, has supported several longevity projects, donating crypto to causes like the SENS Research Foundation. This connection goes all the way back to the birth of cryptocurrency – through the support of early cypherpunks like Hal Finney, says Comito, who theorizes the common thread is transcending boundaries, whether financial or biological, to lead humanity to a brighter future.

The potential of blockchain technology to drive longevity research goes far beyond raising money, particularly with respect to decentralized science, or “DeSci.” “There are promising potential treatments for Alzheimer’s which lack traditional profit motives, for example, ones that can be developed with blockchain-based crowdsourcing,” he said.

Therapies like flickering lights and sounds at certain frequencies could remediate dementia. Comito himself is working on such an approach with his colleagues at Lifespan.io – aiming to launch a first-in-kind decentralized clinical trial to test non-drug interventions for Alzheimer’s disease, with the blessing of government organizations like the National Institute of Health.

“There have been very public failures on the treatment of Alzheimer’s with traditional approaches,” Comito said. “Over a trillion dollars has been spent on research, with strikingly little progress.”

He said a non-drug solution discovered by a decentralized group of people on the internet would be a “complete earthquake.” Decentralized science, powered by groups like decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), can also overcome issues associated with traditional research institutes. DAO governance promotes transparency and rewards productivity, aspects which can be instrumental in advancing longevity research.

“I think we tend to view organizations like the FDA and the NIH as being calcified and anti-crypto,” Comito said. “But my experience has been that leaders of such organizations actually want us to shake things up. With the help of blockchain technology, we can achieve medical advances so powerful and undeniable that existing systems will have no choice but to change.”

Crypto will power further innovation in the space

Comito acknowledges that crypto has some perception issues to overcome in the wake of the FTX collapse. However, he sees that as more of a product of the overall market. While it is true that it’s hard right now for charities to raise money, Comito is optimistic that we will see a future filled with exponential growth.

“Last year, a number of charities started dipping into crypto because the market was hot,” he said. “They’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, and now’s the time to build and find out who’s truly getting something interesting done. When the market recovers, these projects will be in great shape. We’re building tools to do something amazing in the next several years.”

Organizations like Endaoment and The Giving Block are laying the foundation for a philanthropic shift. In the longevity space, VitaDAO and the Longevity Science Foundation continue to fund cutting-edge research in the quest to help extend our lifespans and enrich our health. This could also look like crypto and blockchain technology eventually playing a role in streamlining data interactions which will have a role in facilitating longevity.

We are fast approaching a world where everyone can own their data, carrying it in their healthcare wallet. This can help eliminate bloated industry architecture that relies on paper records in so much of the world. In turn, this can accelerate opportunities for people to participate in clinical trials, reduce costs, facilitate payments to participants, limit emission-heavy travel, achieve diversity goals, and lead to more standardized data.

“Concerns have to be managed, but that is something we can do together as a crowd, which we consider a DAO of humanity,” Comito said. “Blockchain technology is not going away, and will have a key part to play in a future where all people will have sovereignty – not only over their currency and data but over their healthy lifespans as well.”

How smart contracts can improve efficiency in healthcare

From insurance to telehealth, smart contracts are finding use cases across the healthcare industry.

Smart contracts are self-executing lines of code that run atop blockchains and are triggered once a set of predetermined conditions are met. They are used to automate the execution of online agreements without the involvement of third parties. Today, they are used across many industries, including the healthcare industry.

The healthcare sector stands to benefit a lot from the widespread implementation of these self-executing programs, especially when it comes to streamlining arduous manual processes, automating bureaucratic procedures and alleviating issues caused by human error.

Today, many healthcare institutions rely on highly centralized conventional management systems to handle sensitive tasks such as record keeping, transactions and correspondences. While some traditional systems can undertake some of the tasks exceptionally well, many of them are prone to failure due to limited interoperability, susceptibility to data corruption and lack of transparency.

The good news is that smart contracts can solve many of these problems.

How smart contracts work

Smart contracts can be programmed to perform a wide range of tasks. They can, for example, be programmed to record payment information on the blockchain once a transaction is made while ensuring that only entities with permissioned access can view the details.

In the healthcare industry, companies can use smart contracts to send out staff salaries, record patient information and notify insurance companies about pending medical bills.

Smart contract programs are usually deployed in compatible runtime environments. On the Ethereum blockchain, for example, smart contract codes are executed via the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which supports the installation of decentralized applications, including smart contracts.

Smart contracts in medical records

Medical records are an essential part of patient management. Smart contracts can be used to create patient profiles on the blockchain while allowing doctors and relevant medical practitioners to view past medical records. This would allow them to come up with better treatment procedures based on a patient’s past treatment history and subsequent outcomes.

Such a setup would save lives and help doctors avoid issues related to medical negligence. Health centers can also configure smart contracts to track health complications arising from treatment side effects and encode them to share the information with partner drug manufacturing companies and medical associations that have yet to uncover the full side effects of new drugs.

It is additionally possible to have smart contracts that send patient information to insurance companies for the purposes of patient compensation claims to smooth out such processes.

Streamlining billing and collection issues

The lack of effective healthcare billing systems can present many challenges to healthcare institutions, especially when it comes to revenue cycle management. Errors related to billing and collections can hinder optimal service in the event that they cause major interruptions.

Trustless blockchain networks incorporating smart contracts can mitigate many of these challenges by ensuring elaborate checklists are implemented to avoid common errors.

Recent: Festivals in the metaverse: How Web3 projects are taking culture virtual

Such systems would be beneficial in situations where there are preexisting transparency issues. The use of multisignature smart contract fail-safes would ensure consensus within management to avoid related problems.

Additionally, the storage of billing information on the blockchain would help to prevent problems related to data loss due to the immutable nature of decentralized ledger networks.

Speed and privacy

Delayed medical information transfers sometimes lead to poor service. Smart contracts have the ability to change this by disseminating patient information across relevant departments in healthcare institutions. Some smart contract systems are able to generate unique anonymized identifiers that can be used to identify each patient without revealing their identity in order to safeguard their privacy.

Moreover, they can be set up to block unauthorized access and, at the same time, allow the scrutiny of the records by personnel, partners and regulators.

The data can also be used for numerous purposes, including clinical research.

That said, smart contracts that manage confidential patient information sometimes require periodic security audits, which can lead to the exposure of sensitive information.

Smart contracts to counter fake drugs

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit drugs find their way into the healthcare industry every year. The bogus drugs cause pharmacies and hospitals to suffer financial losses and sometimes also lead to the death of victims who take them. The flow of these fake medicines is enabled by dysfunctional supply chain systems that are unable to track the origin of supplied drugs.

Healthcare substitutions can use smart contracts to detect fake drugs by confirming supply chain data provided by manufacturers. The implementation of such systems would allow tracking of the drugs using custody logs as they move through the supply chain.

Because the data is stored on the blockchain, which is transparent, healthcare institutions and their suppliers can easily identify supply chain weaknesses that lead to the entry of fake drugs.

Cointelegraph had the chance to speak with Guy Newing, the founder of Immunify.Life, about this problem. His company specializes in the development of secure, self-sustaining blockchain networks for the healthcare industry. According to the executive, there are many ways of countering the issue, including withholding payments for drugs that are not from legitimate sources.

“For instance, a smart contract can be programmed such that retail drug sellers may need to only pay for items received when certain conditions that would have otherwise been tampered with at any point in the supply chain have not been tampered with. This solidifies the integrity of the drugs and healthcare ecosystem as a whole.”

Alex Pipushev, founder of blockchain services company GTON Capital, said that blockchain supply chain systems were evolving at a fast pace and will most likely cater to a wider range of healthcare services as their utility increases.

“Blockchain is a great tool for verification. The healthcare use case is amazing here because you can technically store stamps for each pill set/box in an encrypted way, and anyone who bought it from a pharmacy can verify if legit or fake medicine was sold,” he said.

Smart contracts in other aspects of health

Remote monitoring devices have revolutionized some aspects of telehealth. Today, wearable devices are able to measure important physiological elements such as a patient’s heart rate and transmit the data in real time to healthcare professionals.

Smart contracts have the capacity to not only store such data on the blockchain but also keep it confidential through encryption while ensuring that only intended recipients are able to access it.

The benefits of smart contracts are also becoming apparent in health insurance due to their ability to improve customer experiences.

For example, claims payments handled by smart contracts are typically processed at a faster rate compared to manual procedures, which can sometimes drag on for weeks.

However, there are some limitations when it comes to the use of these technologies in the sector due to constantly changing pre-contractual disclosure obligations, which require some level of human interaction.

The insurance sector is also a regulated market, so there will always be concerns, particularly regarding consumer outcomes. These challenges are further compounded by decisions made by regulators and underwriters that are, in some cases, of an extra-contractual nature.

Recent: What is tokenization and how are banks tapping into its design principles?

As such, smart contracts are presently being used in the sector for impermanent processes such as the confirmation of payments.

Smart contracts have a lot of use cases in the healthcare industry. However, the sector has been slow to embrace the new technology, which has the potential to transform how the industry works.

That said, the healthcare smart contracts market is growing. It was valued at approximately $1.6 billion in 2021 and is projected to breach the 1.78 billion mark in 2022.

What can blockchain do for increasing human longevity?

The emerging longevity sector is attracting many crypto natives, who can both benefit from it and contribute to it with blockchain tools.

The nascent longevity industry focuses on the research and implementation of solutions and technologies to extend the lifespan of human beings — making people live healthier, longer lives.

Longevity is not yet considered an official medical term, and aging is not officially considered a disease but a natural occurrence in every living thing.

However, some biologists, researchers and practicing doctors believe this approach should change, and they are striving to discover the mechanisms of aging in humans. In doing so, they are creating age clocks by defining biomarkers for measuring biological age, exploring the best lifestyle habits and natural supplements, and inventing new drugs that could stop us from getting older.

Longevity has been on the radar of crypto leaders for some time already, which is not a surprise given that the industry promises to improve humankind through innovation. Indeed, one prominent event in the longevity industry, the Longevity Investors Conference, is organized by Marc P. Bernegger and Tobias Reichmuth, who were previously involved with the Crypto Finance Group.

Crypto meets longevity

At the most recent iteration of the Longevity Investors Conference in September 2022, speakers taking part in the “Crypto meets longevity” panel noted that both industries — crypto and longevity — are disruptive fields that challenge established norms.

“Everybody here in this room is, to a certain extent, a pioneer because we really come together in a phase where it’s similar to the internet, Bitcoin and other exciting industries,” said Bernegger, who is the founding partner at Maximon — an accelerator for longevity companies.

Aubrey de Grey, an English author and biomedical gerontologist, highlighted that the mindset of crypto and longevity innovators is very much alike, with both being “completely comfortable working in an area that is still very unorthodox and needs to be taken forward.”

Recent: Fractional NFTs and what they mean for investing in real-world assets

Ryan Pyle, founding partner at Maine Investments — a Zug-based company managing digital assets — said that the longevity industry reminds him of what crypto was like in 2013 and that while no one knows precisely where the industry will be in five to 10 years, the potential is very promising:

“So, I see the ecosystem being very exciting, and I think what Maximon is trying to do at this longevity conference is really early stage — like probably two or three years, maybe, too early, which is great. That’s where you want to be, right? You’d rather be too early than too late. A lot of crypto people have invested in this space just because they’re totally accepting of this level of risk.”

Bernegger also shared that because the longevity industry is at such an early stage, it’s currently a highly attractive period for investors to enter and that “similar to Bitcoin back then, it is less about the price but also about the underlying technology and potential.”

How blockchain can apply to longevity

On the application of blockchain technology itself, Bernegger is less optimistic, stating, “I think it’s difficult, then, to combine [blockchain] technology with another exciting field like longevity. […] From my side, personally, I think the biggest synergy is less in combining two technologies and really more the money.” On the potential in the investing and funding side of crypto, Bernegger added:

“I personally rather would focus on the funding side and less on the technology side, without neglecting that there are few exciting projects in the DeSci [decentralized science] space which definitely have huge potential. But I think it will take years to really see tangible products solving a real-world problem there.”

Bernegger also mentioned the compliance aspects of both industries, stating that regulators might be a burden to research and adoption not only due to their role to protect end customers but “to another extent also to protect the status quo.”

The longevity industry is still in a very nascent stage and has not seen many blockchain-related use cases yet. Nevertheless, knowing what kind of problems have already been solved with the help of blockchain technology allows some professionals to see potential applications.

Claire Cui, a self-described longevity enthusiast and blockchain adviser, mentioned decentralized data as one potential use case:

“What crypto has figured out is basically [the potential of] blockchain technology to cover some of the issues that people have today, like data privacy, data ownership. So, that’s where people are very curious about. And in health, it’s even more sensitive. Nobody wants to have his DNA in health records leaked somewhere because somebody hacks it.”

Data ownership also allows users to earn from sharing it with companies that use it for scientific research. Thus, regular users become part of the revenue chain.

Recent: Maintaining decentralization: Are custody services a threat to DeFi protocols?

Another application of blockchain in the longevity industry is decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, and decentralized intellectual property. One existing example is a platform called VitaDAO, a DAO for community-governed and decentralized drug development that collectively funds and digitizes research in the form of nonfungible tokens representing IP. Christian Angermayer, founder of Apeiron Investment Group, said:

“I think one interesting part of blockchain technology could be that we sort of make sure that people can collaborate better but then also that literally everybody collaborates and gets a fair share in whatever comes out of it, both reputation-wise and, especially, also financially.”

The longevity industry seems to be an exciting area in which the crypto community can explore investment and use cases, particularly because, by its nature, it is reminiscent of blockchain’s early days. At the same time, many existing areas of blockchain adoption can be applied to the longevity industry to solve some of the problems it’s facing.