Virtual reality developers promise that technology will enter our lives and make the world a better place – but few applications have so far lived up to promise.
Now healthcare could finally have found a practical use for VR technology that would take doctors inside a computer generated cancerous tumour.
Developments using the latest Facebook-owned Oculus CV-1 VR device have been on show at the European Association for Cancer Research in Madrid, offering a glimpse of how the technology could soon be used in GP surgeries and at home.
A step beyond the mobile phone-integrated devices widely seen in recent years, the latest headset and surround motion detection cameras, costing about 400 Euros, can take doctors inside tumours.
The device works in conjunction with Lonsurf, a drug to fight back against colorectal cancer.
Lonsurf Explorer is a programme designed for doctors to show how the drug works, also offering a visual illustration of the study results of a global, randomised clinical trial.
Once wearing the Oculus VR headset, the wearer can clearly see how the drug combats certain DNA strands inside the cell of a cancerous growth.
The wearer can then look around 360 degrees inside the tumor to see how the drug attaches itself to DNA strands to help dismantle the cancer.
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Lara Rincon-Amor is a digital marketing specialist for Lonsurf, and said the VR application could be used to illustrate any new drug coming onto the market.
“This would work for any drug that can be visualised, to show just how it works in a practical sense,” she said.
“Some doctors have found the experience disturbing, as it is so realistic.
“It can be used for training purposes also, so it is a lot cheaper than using a physical replica of a clinical setting, and more accessible.”
Training surgeons can use the device, with headset and hand controllers linked to a computer programme, to complete a virtual surgery, such as a knee replacement.
The wearer gets real time feedback as to their progress, highlighting errors and successful procedures.
“Pressure in the handsets give the wearer the idea of how hard they have to push to make an incision, or to hammer away any loose bone,” said Ms Rincon-Amor.
“We are working on a platform for patients and practitioners to help with any kind of innovations.
“This could be central to future educating tools in the healthcare industry.
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“We are doing blind studies now to see which animations work, and which ones don’t, and building an animation to help people who are maybe scared to drive, or leave the house.
“It is helpful in engaging the brain through interacting with a personalized animation someone is familiar with, so it feels real.”
Lonsurf has been proven to prolong overall survival in cancer sufferers, reducing risk of death by 32 per cent and reducing progression of the disease by 52 per cent.
A computer programme also takes the wearer through a short test in a virtual health clinic to show how to prescribe the correct dose of medication – depending on a randomly generated patient’s height and weight.
“I’m not a doctor, but I work with patients and can see how useful this would be.
“From an educational perspective, to see how the drug is acting on the tumour is very effective.
“To see the molecular targets and how it reacts with the DNA, you can really understand how different drugs can be used to directly target cancer.
“It is hard imagine how one thing binds to another just by looking at a 3D model, and you can’t get that from a textbook,
“This is a really cool way of showing how things are actually working in reality.”
Virtual reality is also being trialled to offer an immersive experience for cancer patients to reduce pain and anxiety during treatment.
It has also been used in pediatrics to distract younger patients during chemotherapy, or help relax them before having an MRI scan.
Developers of the technology are working on gloves that will respond to different materials and surfaces, so the wearer feels they are touching plastic, or wood for example, rather than the fresh air of reality.
By tailoring the software to individuals, VR could soon be used to help agoraphobes adjust to going outside into a virtual world.
To aid their progress, and add comfort, a virtual world can replicate their own home – so they are familiar with their surrounding and feel at ease, before venturing outside into a virtual landscape.
Experts hope the technology could then give them the confidence to step outside once more to experience the real world around them.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Dubai Women's Tour teams
Agolico BMC
Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
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Cogeas Mettler Look
Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
Hitec Products – Birk Sport
Kazakhstan National Team
Kuwait Cycling Team
Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
Minsk Cycling Club
Pannonia Regional Team (Fehérvár)
Team Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Team Ciclotel
UAE Women’s Team
Under 23 Kazakhstan Team
Wheel Divas Cycling Team
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia
Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)
v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)
Four Corners
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
Company%20Profile
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The%20specs
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