16 November 2019 | New Scientist | 19TechnologyTropical diseases WildlifeTiny ‘deer’ isn’t
extinct after allA species of small deer-like
animal has been spotted
in Vietnam for the first
time in almost 30 years.
The rediscovery of the
silver-backed chevrotain
near the city of Nha Trang is
reassuring, given previous
suspicions that it might
have died out as a result
of poaching and habitat
loss (Nature Ecology &
Evolution, DOI: 10.1038/
s41559-019-1027-7).Going to space
changes the heartSpace flight causes changes
in the activity of thousands
of genes in heart cells,
but these revert mostly
to normal within weeks
of being back on Earth
(Stem Cell Reports,
doi.org/ddww). A team
made the discovery by
sending heart cells to the
International Space Station.A grand genome
sequencing planA project to record the
genomes of 60,000
species of animals, plants,
fungi and complex cells
found in the British Isles
is about to get under way.
The Darwin Tree of Life
project has raised the
£9 million needed to
collect and sequence
the first 2000 species.AI can somehow tell
if you’ll die soonARTIFICIAL intelligence can use
heart scans to predict a person’s
chance of dying within a year, even
if the scans look normal to medics.
How it does so is a mystery.
Brandon Fornwalt at healthcare
provider Geisinger in Pennsylvania
and his colleagues tasked an AI
with examining 1.77 million
electrocardiogram (ECG) results
from nearly 400,000 people to
predict who was at a higher risk
of dying within the next year.OUR arsenal of weapons to combat
dengue fever could get a welcome
boost. An experimental vaccine is
80 per cent effective at preventing
infections, according to preliminary
results from a large clinical trial.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne
illness affecting around 390 million
people each year. If untreated,
it kills one in five of those infected.
Prevention often relies on methods
such as insecticide sprays (pictured
above – in Venezuela).
An existing vaccine, called
Dengvaxia, causes problems in
anyone who hasn’t already had
dengue. It was approved by the US
earlier this year but only for peoplewho have already had the virus.
The new vaccine, developed
by Japanese pharmaceutical
firm Takeda, doesn’t seem to have
this drawback. In a trial involving
more than 20,000 children aged
4 to 16 in Asia and Latin America,
it appeared to work well both for
those with previous exposure to
the virus and for those without
(NEJM, doi.org/ddwk). However,
longer term tests are needed.
There are four versions of the
dengue virus circulating. The new
vaccine seems to offer good
protection against one type and
partial protection against at least
two of the others. Sam WongAn ECG records the electrical
activity of the heart. Its pattern
changes in cardiac conditions like
heart attacks and atrial fibrillation.
The team trained two versions
of the AI: in one, the algorithm
was only given the raw ECG data.
In the other, it was fed ECG data
and the age and sex of the people.
The researchers measured the
AI’s performance using a metric
known as AUC, which is used to
evaluate risk prediction models.
Both of the versions of the AI
consistently scored above 0.85,
where a perfect score is 1. The AUCs
for risk-scoring models currentlyArctic melt may have
let killer virus spreadTHE spread of a deadly disease in
seals may be connected to loss of
Arctic sea ice as the world warms.
Phocine distemper virus (PDV)
causes a disease affecting the brain
and lungs. It kills many harbour
seals, says Tracey Goldstein at the
University of California, Davis.
To chart its spread, Goldstein
and her team collected blood and
nasal swab samples from over
2500 sea otters, sea lions and seals
in the north Pacific between 2001
and 2016, testing them for PDV.
Using satellite images, they also
assessed the presence of open
water routes through the Arctic
Ocean, due to melting sea ice,
over the same period. Such routes
could allow infection, which is
relatively common in parts of the
Atlantic, to reach the Pacific.
The team detected major peaks
in infection in north Pacific otters,
sea lions and seals in 2003 and
2009, which were associated with
the presence of a route through
melted Arctic sea ice in the
preceding years. Sea otters and sea
lions can spread the virus to seals.
The idea the virus can spread
via ice-free routes is bolstered by
a large Atlantic outbreak in 2002,
just a year before the first Pacific
PDV cases (Scientific Reports,
doi.org/ddwn). Layal Liverpoolused by doctors range between
0.65 and 0.8, says Fornwalt.
The AI accurately predicted risk
of death even in people deemed
by cardiologists to have a normal
ECG. Three cardiologists who
separately reviewed normal-
looking ECGs weren’t able to pick
up the risk patterns that the AI
detected. It is still unclear what
patterns the AI is picking up,
which makes some physicians
reluctant to use such algorithms.
The research will be presented
at the American Heart Association
Scientific Sessions in Dallas, Texas,
on 16 November. Donna LuVaccine offers hope in
fight against dengue fever
SIE
/GW
C/L
EIB
NIZ
- IZ
W/
NC
NP
YURI^ CORTE
Z/AFP
/GETTY^ IMAGESReally brief
New Scientist Daily
Get the latest scientific discoveries in your inbox
newscientist.com/sign-up