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By Dr. Chinta Sidharthan Jun 12 2024 Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM

In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, a team of researchers proposed using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that uses deep learning to examine red blood cell images in blood smears for the timely detection of malaria.

Study:  Efficient deep learning-based approach for malaria detection using red blood cell smears . Image Credit: cones/Shutterstock.com Background

The World Health Organization report from 2015 shows that in subtropical and tropical regions of the world, the parasite of the genus Plasmodium that causes malaria was responsible for over 400,000 deaths.

Malaria is usually detected through microscopic analysis of blood smear slides, which reveal infected erythrocytes or red blood cells.

Given that regions in Africa, South East Asia, and the Mediterranean experience over 70% of malaria cases, the process of detecting malaria through blood smears becomes very laborious and significantly increases the pathologist’s workload.

AI-based tools involving machine learning and deep-learning approaches have been widely explored in recent studies for automated screening and applications in clinical diagnoses.

However, traditional AI approaches such as neural networks have faced challenges in detecting and identifying malarial parasites in blood smears due to the small size and substantial disparity in blood cells.

Furthermore, these methods still require qualified pathologists for feature vector extraction, making it difficult to automate the screening and detection process completely. About the study

In the present study, the researchers proposed a deep-learning-based AI tool to detect malaria from images of red blood cells accurately. They also compared the proposed EfficientNet-B2 model against other deep-learning models and used ten-fold cross-validation for efficacy validation. Related StoriesUsing AI to revolutionize mosquito surveillance to help combat malaria in AfricaAfrican regions at risk for malaria transmission may decline more than previously expectedMinisters of Health commit to accelerated action against malaria in Africa

A dataset consisting of 27,558 blood cell images, of which half were those from uninfected individuals and the other half had parasitized cells, was used in the study. Expert pathologists manually annotated the images.

The preprocessing step involved resizing the images to standardize the size of the images since the model necessitates that the size of the input be fixed or equal.

The images were then split into training and test datasets. The researchers used 80% of the images as the training dataset, while the remaining were used to test the performance and efficacy of the model.

The deep-learning model EfficientNet-B2 used in this study was a Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) model, which has been widely employed for problems involving image classification.

The model provides accurate classification results by efficiently scaling the images using depth-wise separable convolutions. An added benefit is the small size of the model, requiring lower computing resources.

The researchers used batch normalization to increase the accuracy of the model. This process calculates the mean and standard deviation of each feature using a smaller dataset, which is then used to standardize the input.

A set of classifications for blood cell images obtained from experts was employed to train the deep-learning model to recognize symptoms of malaria.

The study also compared the performance of numerous pre-trained models such as CNN, Visual Geometry Group (VGG16), Inception, DenseNet121, MobileNet, and ResNet, compared to the deep-learning model proposed in this study.

Some of the measures along which the performance of these models was evaluated included false positive, false negative, true positive, and true negative rates, as well as precision, accuracy, and recall. Results

The study showed that the model proposed in the present study had higher accuracy, area under the curve (AUC), precision, and F1 value, which is the average of precision and recall, compared to the other pre-trained models. Additionally, the testing loss for the proposed model was lower than that of the other models.

After 80% of the dataset was used to train the model, testing the model on the remaining 20% provided an accuracy score of 0.9757, which was higher than the accuracy score obtained when 90% of the dataset was used for the training.

Furthermore, the ten-fold cross-validation indicated that the detection of malaria by the proposed model was highly accurate, with high recall and AUC scores and exceptionally low testing loss.

The model exhibited 98.59% accuracy in detecting cells containing parasites, while the detection of uninfected cells was found to be 100% accurate from the results of the confusion matrix. Conclusions

Overall, the study showed that the proposed model EfficientNet-B2 exhibited high accuracy and precision in detecting symptoms of malaria from images of blood cells obtained from blood smears. The model outperformed the other existing deep-learning-based models in all the performance parameters.

The researchers believe this model could be employed to improve the accuracy of malaria detection from blood smear samples and significantly reduce the workload of pathologists. Journal reference:

Mujahid, M., Rustam, F., Shafique, R., Montero, E. C., Alvarado, E. S., Isabel, & Ashraf, I. (2024). Efficient deep learning-based approach for malaria detection using red blood cell smears. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 13249. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598024638310. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-63831-0

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Politics

Nigel Farage’s ‘fantasy’ policies will lead to Liz Truss-style economic meltdown, Sir Keir Starmer to warn

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Nigel Farage's 'fantasy' policies will lead to Liz Truss-style economic meltdown, Sir Keir Starmer to warn

Nigel Farage’s “fantasy” policies will lead to a Liz Truss-style economic meltdown, the prime minister will warn today.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to argue that Reform UK’s pledges would cause mortgages, bills and rent payments across the country to surge.

On Tuesday, Mr Farage vowed to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments and scrap the two-child benefit cap, with an ambition to slash income tax.

But new analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggest that his party’s aim of hiking the personal allowance to £20,000 a year could cost between £50bn to £80bn a year.

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Will PM’s ‘Farage lite’ strategy work?

Visiting manufacturing workers in the North West, Sir Keir will describe Reform’s economic agenda as a “mad experiment”.

He is expected to say: “In opposition we said Liz Truss would crash the economy and leave you to pick up the bill. We were right – and we were elected to fix that mess.

“Now in government, we are once again fighting the same fantasy.”

More on Labour

Labour is criticising Mr Farage for betting “that you can spend tens of billions on tax cuts without a proper way of paying for it”.

The prime minister will add: “Just like Truss, he is using your family finances, your mortgage, your bills as a gambling chip. The result will be the same. Liz Truss bet the house and lost.”

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Angela Rayner ‘hoping’ for winter fuel update

Sir Keir is referring to the former prime minister’s mini-budget in 2022, which had proposed abolishing the top 45% rate of income tax.

But this policy, among others, spooked financial markets and led to economic turmoil in the UK – with a dramatic spike in the cost of government borrowing feeding through into interest rates.

Mr Farage has argued that his measures can be paid for by scrapping net zero commitments and ending the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.

Recent polls have put Labour second behind Reform UK, while the local election results earlier this month saw Mr Farage’s party win a parliamentary by-election, control of 10 councils and two mayoralties, while Labour lost almost 200 seats.

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Farage could ‘definitely’ become next PM

Sir Keir has been under pressure from his backbenchers to regain the initiative, leading to the party’s U-turn on winter fuel payments last week.

Plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap have also not been ruled out by ministers, in what would be a second reversal of current Labour policy.

Dominic Cummings, the former top aide to Boris Johnson, exclusively told Sky News he believes Mr Farage could “definitely” become the next prime minister, with the right strategy.

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Politics

Elon Musk leaves DOGE as job was ‘uphill battle’

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Elon Musk leaves DOGE as job was ‘uphill battle’

Elon Musk leaves DOGE as job was ‘uphill battle’

Elon Musk confirmed that he’s quitting as the White House’s government cost-cutting czar after admitting it was an “uphill battle” trying to slash federal jobs and programs.

Musk’s status as a Special Government Employee leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) meant that by law, he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which was set to finish on May 30.

Musk confirmed his exit in a May 29 X post, thanking President Donald Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.” Reuters reported that a White House official said his “off-boarding will begin tonight.”

Musk told The Washington Post for a May 27 report that the “federal bureaucracy situation is much worse” than he expected, and it was “an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”

In separate comments to CBS, Musk criticized the multi-trillion-dollar tax break package that House Republicans approved on May 22, claiming it would increase the budget deficit and undermine the work that DOGE is doing.

DOGE, which is named after the cryptocurrency, claims to have saved taxpayers $175 billion since Trump’s Jan. 20 return to the White House, a figure heavily disputed by multiple news outlets, which report the figures are overstated, have multiple errors and are inaccurate.

The project’s claimed savings are only 8.5% of Musk’s initial ambition to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, which he later revised down to $150 billion.

According to the Reuters report, DOGE has cut almost 12%, or 260,000, of the 2.3 million federal workforce through layoffs, buyouts and early retirement offers.

Despite the criticisms, Musk said on X that DOGE’s mission will “only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

Elon Musk leaves DOGE as job was ‘uphill battle’
Source: Elon Musk

It comes as a federal judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed that accuses Musk and DOGE of illegally exerting power over government operations.

The lawsuit, filed by 14 states, alleged that Musk and DOGE violated the Constitution by illegally accessing government data systems, terminating federal employees and canceling contracts at federal agencies.

Musk admits he spent too much time in politics

In a May 28 interview with Ars Technica, Musk, the CEO of EV maker Tesla, admitted that he spent “a bit too much time” in politics, which some critics claim has impacted Tesla’s performance.

“I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,” Musk said. However, he added that the time he spent on DOGE wasn’t as significant as many believed, and he blamed media coverage for overrepresenting his involvement.

“It’s not like I left the companies. It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I’ve reduced that significantly in recent weeks.”

When Musk announced in Tesla’s first quarter report that his time spent on DOGE would drop significantly in May, Tesla (TSLA) shares rose over 5% in after-hours trading, despite the company reporting an 80% drop in net income.

As of March 31, Tesla still held 11,509 Bitcoin (BTC), currently valued at about $1.24 billion.

Related: Musk confirms X Money beta testing ahead of planned 2025 launch

Tesla shares are still down 5.9% year to date, in part due to Musk diverting his attention away from the company and Tesla’s sales falling considerably in the first quarter.

However, the fall is in line with other Big Tech firms, including Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG), which are also in the red in 2025.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

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Sports

Panthers win Game 5, move on to Cup Final: Grades, takeaways for both teams

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Panthers win Game 5, move on to Cup Final: Grades, takeaways for both teams

Just when it looked as if the Carolina Hurricanes were going to force a Game 6 after scoring a pair of first-period goals, the Florida Panthers scored the three in the second. And when it looked as if the Hurricanes were going to at least force overtime with a third-period goal from Seth Jarvis? That’s when the defending Stanley Cup champions put an end to the discussion, with captain Aleksander Barkov using his strength to fend off Dmitry Orlov to set up Carter Verhaeghe for the series-clinching goal in their 5-3 win Wednesday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Returning to the Stanley Cup Final to defend their crown is only the start for the Panthers. This is now the 11th time in the past 12 years in which a Sun Belt team has played in the Stanley Cup Final, a distinction that began in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings and was interrupted in 2019 when the Boston Bruins faced the St. Louis Blues.

Also, a team from Florida (the Tampa Bay Lightning is the other) has won the East in six straight seasons, which is also the same length of the current streak of Sun Belt teams to reach the Cup Final. Furthermore, the Panthers are also the third South Florida professional team to reach the title game or title series in their respective sport for three straight years, joining the Miami Dolphins from 1971 to 1973 and the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014.

Although they avoided being swept, the Hurricanes were eliminated in the conference finals for the second time in the past three seasons. They’ll now enter an offseason in which they’ll face questions about their roster, and what must be done to get beyond the penultimate round of the playoffs.

Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton look back at what happened in Game 5, along with what lies ahead for each franchise.

Florida was well-positioned for a victory Wednesday. The Panthers had their injured skaters back — Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer had all been impact players in some form — and they should have added a spark. But it didn’t look as if the Panthers were benefiting from their return early, as the team looked slow out of the gate. Gustav Forsling‘s turnover sent Sebastian Aho on a breakaway that he turned into a 1-0 lead for Carolina.

Florida also couldn’t capitalize on its power plays, which was not great — especially considering Aho’s second goal of the period gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

But then the Panthers did what they do best: pounce. Matthew Tkachuk‘s power-play goal cut the deficit in half and Evan Rodrigues had the score tied 30 seconds later. Then it was Anton Lundell giving Florida the lead. That’s just how the Panthers roll — deep. Rodrigues was the Panthers’ 19th different goal scorer in the postseason.

Even though Sergei Bobrovsky looked shakier than usual in the first period, he responded with a strong finish through the final 40 minutes. And Florida’s penalty kill stepped up to stifle the Hurricanes’ power play (which was 0-for-4). The Panthers tightened up and stayed that way through the third period to deny Carolina a chance to force a Game 6.

Florida was not flawless — giving up a goal to Jarvis midway through the third was a bad look — but Verhaeghe scored the winner (off a brilliant assist from Barkov) to make Florida’s just-enough effort sufficient to snuff out the Hurricanes’ flame. And Sam Bennett‘s empty-netter ensured it was three straight Eastern Conference titles for the Panthers. — Shilton

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Verhaeghe puts Panthers back in front

Carter Verhaeghe fires home a big-time goal to give the Panthers a lead late in the third period.

Everything the Canes did in the first period of Game 5 was an extension of how they operated in Game 4. They had a plan, and it was a course of action that saw them take advantage of mistakes such as the ones that led to Aho scoring the goals that staked Carolina to its 2-0 lead. There was something else too, specifically in the way the Hurricanes defended themselves in the midst of a scrum with about five minutes left that showed a fight that wasn’t always seen in the series.

A two-goal lead after one period for a team that was 6-0 this postseason when they scored first was a good sign. The Hurricanes’ defensive identity carried over from their season-saving Game 4 performance. It was enough to suggest for at least an intermission that a Game 6 could be in play. Then came the quick back-to-back goals from Tkachuk and Rodrigues in the second period before Lundell scored a little more than four minutes later to put Carolina behind.

Those goals — coupled with the fact the Panthers limited the Hurricanes to only two shots on goal in the first 10 minutes of the final period — initially made it seem as if the series was over. That’s until Jarvis scored a tying goal and reignited some pushback from the Canes. Or rather, it did until Barkov showed what makes him one of the game’s premier players by holding off Orlov and creating the space to set up Verhaeghe for the winning goal. — Clark


Big questions

Can the Panthers use rest as a refresher?

Florida hasn’t had consecutive days off at this point since early in their second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And the Panthers are ailing to some degree. All those injured skaters clearly aren’t fully healthy; Eetu Luostarinen left Wednesday’s game after a cross-check from William Carrier, and you know plenty of guys who have been in the lineup every night are craving some downtime.

The Panthers have an opportunity to breathe and reboot after a long string of games, and that could be invaluable in how they show up to the Cup Final. They could know their next opponent as soon as Thursday, but it might also be a few more days before the Western Conference finals is settled.

Florida will have a slight edge either way in the rest department, and capitalizing on it could be a game-changer. The Panthers remember the toll it takes on the body to travel long distances (like from Fort Lauderdale to Edmonton?) in a Final. It’s critical to take advantage of, well, every advantage. Even if it means being Dallas Stars fans for a spell — and hoping the two potential foes can tire each other out for another few games. — Shilton

How aggressive are the Canes going to get this summer, knowing next year might be their strongest chance to strike?

Possessing more than $28 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, presents the idea that the Hurricanes could be a major player in free agency. It’s a level of flexibility that championship contenders covet because it’s so hard to attain once they have several members of their core under long-term contracts.

That’s a problem the Hurricanes don’t have — at least not yet.

They have seven players signed to deals longer than three seasons. It’s a group that includes core members such as Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jaccob Slavin, Andrei Svechnikov, Aho and Jarvis. But there are considerations to make given that Jackson Blake, Scott Morrow, Alexander Nikishin and Logan Stankoven are all going to be pending restricted free agents after the 2025-26 season, who will then be in need of new deals.

Though there’s a need for the Hurricanes to try to win now, this is also a franchise that has made a point of building large portions of its roster through the draft. Now, the Canes must balance an approach that has allowed them to be a championship contender with one that sees them take the next step, and that will dictate how their front office handles this offseason. — Clark

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