New tool could revolutionise skin cancer diagnosis
The system allows patients to photograph skin complaints using a camera attached to an inexpensive Raspberry Pi device, which then analyses the image against a vast dataset for real-time diagnosis.
Designed for early detection, the tool is intended to provide rapid assessments globally, particularly in remote regions, without requiring direct access to dermatologists or internet connectivity.
The research team reports the tool is up to 85 per cent accurate, with ongoing efforts to enhance its diagnostic capabilities by accessing more skin lesion datasets.
Discussions are underway with NHS Scotland for ethical approval, with a pilot project anticipated within the next one to two years, aiming for eventual widespread implementation.
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What to know about Ozzy Osbourne's rare form of Parkinson's disease
British heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne died earlier this week at 76 years old, more than 20 years since the 'Prince of Darkness' was first diagnosed with a rare form of genetic Parkinson's disease. The cause of the Black Sabbath frontman's recent death has not been made explicit. By this year, Osbourne told listeners of his SiriusXM radio show 'Ozzy Speaks' that he could no longer walk due to the condition he'd been diagnosed with in 2003. 'I have made it to 2025,' he said, according to People. 'I can't walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I'm still alive.' Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that is characterized by slow movements, tremors, and balance problems, according to the Parkinson's Foundation. Most cases happen for unknown reasons, but some are inherited, the Cleveland Clinic notes. There are several types of Parkinson's disease, including genetic, early-onset, and sporadic: the most common. "Genetic forms of Parkinson's account for approximately 8 percent of individuals receiving a Parkinson's diagnosis,' Deputy Director of Research at Parkinson's UK David Dexter explained in a statement. Osbourne was impacted by a gene called PARK 2, which is also known as PRKN-2. When the gene is mutated, it is the most common cause of early-onset Parkinson's disease. A rare recessive form of the disease may be caused by that mutation. PARK 2 mutations cause about 15 percent of genetic and 4 percent of the most common disease cases with early onset Parkinson's. People are diagnosed with Parkinson's at an average age of 60, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. In Parkinson's disease nerve cells in the brain slowly break down and die. Many symptoms are caused by a loss of those cells that produce dopamine – a mood regulator – in the brain. Decreased dopamine leads to irregular brain activity, according to the Mayo Clinic. People with Parkinson's disease also lose another chemical messenger known as norepinephrine that controls blood pressure and other bodily functions. Parkinson's isn't curable, but there are many different treatment options, including brain surgery. Osbourne had been receiving stem cell treatments, which are used to supplement dopamine loss. Parkinson's disease impacts more than 1.1 million Americans, and it is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. An estimated 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson's every year and death rates have surged by about 63 percent over the last 20 years. While Parkinson's itself is not considered fatal, people can die from complications of the disease, including lung problems tied to muscle weakness that impede the ability to cough and to swallow. Aspiration pneumonia accounts for 70 percent of deaths among Parkinson's patients, according to a federal study. That occurs when bacteria from the mouth is pulled into the lungs. "There's so many different types of Parkinson's; it's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body,' Ozzy's wife Sharon Osbourne previously told ABC News' 'Good Morning America.' 'And it's like you have a good day, a good day, and then a really bad day." Sharon also told RadioX that Ozzy had to work with a physiotherapist every day to keep his muscles moving. 'I may be moaning that I can't walk but I look down the road and there's people that didn't do half as much as me and didn't make it,' Ozzy said on SiriusXM.
Reuters
11 minutes ago
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Spear AI raises first round of funding to apply AI to submarine data
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11 minutes ago
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Kenneth Calman obituary: former chief medical officer for Scotland
In 1977 Kenneth Calman installed a table-tennis table at his office in the Kelvinside area of Glasgow, hoping that it would encourage more talking among his staff. 'It was vital that we met in a semi-informal manner just so we could talk, communicate about what we are doing,' he told the Daily Record. They were discussing cancer and Calman was leading a 25-strong team undertaking research into the disease. At the time, 60 per cent of patients were dying within a month of diagnosis. 'That one statistic was a challenge to everything I wanted the new department of oncology to be,' he wrote in his memoir, It Started in a Cupboard (2019). Calman pioneered a holistic approach to cancer treatment in Scotland, pointing out that patients' needs were not only physical but also encompassed the social, emotional and spiritual. 'Healing can be a much broader concept,' he told The Herald. These thoughts led him to start Cancer Support Scotland, inviting patients into his home to hear what was most important to them during their illness. 'What this allowed me to do was to understand cancer in a way I hadn't understood before. Not in the kind of treatment, or the research, but about the people, patients, families and what they could cope with,' he said. He described how the drug Cisplatin induced vomiting in every patient whenever they took it, so much so that some would be sick merely at the sight of him. 'You get used to it,' he noted drily. He also introduced the Golden Pisspot award, a gold-painted chamber pot awarded to the doctor whose research work most disrupted clinical care. He was the final recipient. Calman's public service extended beyond tackling cancer. He was chief medical officer for Scotland at the time when Edinburgh had a reputation as 'Europe's Aids capital'; held the same position in England during the BSE crisis; and was vice-chancellor of the University of Durham, hitting a £175 million fundraising target for the university's 175th anniversary in 2007. Returning to Scotland he was appointed chairman of the Calman Commission, given the task of examining ways to make devolution work better. The commission's report, Serving Scotland Better, was delivered in June 2009 with input from the three main unionist parties but not the SNP. It formed the basis of the Scotland Act 2012 and included proposals for devolving election administration, drink-driving limits and tax-raising powers to Holyrood. • The Calman Commission: the main recommendations Although the commission might have seemed distant from his medical background, Calman insisted that they were related. 'First of all, we had to diagnose what was wrong, all the time keeping an open mind and checking all the other symptoms we could discern, constantly communicating with the patient as openly as possible,' he wrote. 'Gradually, though, we started to focus on the key issues and call on specialist knowledge, just as a clinician might want to do.' Kenneth Charles Calman was born in the Knightswood area of Glasgow in 1941, the elder of two sons of Arthur Calman, a mechanic at MacKinnon's, a textile manufacturer, who died from a heart attack when Kenneth was nine and his brother, Norman, was five. His mother, Grace (née Don), was a secretary who later typed his PhD thesis. He recalled how rationing lasted until 1954, claiming that in both his chief medical officer posts he told his political masters that 'if they really wanted a healthy population, they should bring it back'. The church was central to his childhood with Sunday school, Scripture Union camps, membership of the Boys' Brigade and Billy Graham's rallies; he was later ordained an elder in the Kirk. At Allan Glen's School, Glasgow, he occasionally helped out in an uncle's chip shop. He then studied medicine and biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, returning in 1970 to complete a PhD in dermatology. He also found time to play rugby and hockey, and during one summer vacation he worked as a hospital porter. He met Ann Wilkie during a student charity parade in 1960 and they were married in 1967. Ann, who became deputy headmistress of a primary school, survives him with their children Andrew, an IT professional, Lynn, a medical academic, and Susan, a stand-up comedian. During a series of house jobs Calman wrote his first book, Basic Skills for the Surgical Houseman (1971). He also spent a research year in London with Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement, before moving into surgery. At the age of only 32 he was appointed professor of oncology at Glasgow and in 1989 was appointed chief medical officer of Scotland. Moving on to be chief medical officer of England in 1991, he famously declared that British beef was safe to eat, words that returned to haunt him during the BSE inquiry in 1998. 'If you look at 'safe' in ordinary speech, we do not mean that the driver we described as safe will never have an accident,' he told the hearings. In that sense the word 'safe' meant 'free from unacceptable risk or harm'. The inquiry thought otherwise. Meanwhile, he was dealing with fears of a plague outbreak after eight people in Britain were identified with symptoms. A small, dapper and erudite figure with a kindly manner, Calman collected cartoons and sundials. He maintained his passion for acquiring knowledge, describing himself as a 'philomath'. At various times he was president of the Boys' Brigade, chancellor of the University of Glasgow and chairman of the National Trust for Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. In addition to a raft of scientific papers he published poetry and other books including A Doctor's Line: Poetry and Prescriptions in Health and Healing (2014). The secret to his success was, he said, equanimity. 'The ability to remain calm and composed is important and I learnt this first in the operating theatre,' he wrote. 'But it is just the same in the public sector, when difficulties are presented. My motto for this is 'Keep Calman carry on'.' Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, chief medical officer for Scotland, 1989-91, was born on December 25, 1941. He died after a short illness on July 21, 2025, aged 83
