Using anti-anxiety drugs may put someone at significant risk of developing cognitive decline later in life and scientists may have finally discovered why. Researchers from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANTSO) found that the drugs may impact the brain's microglial cells, which in turn interfere with the dendritic spines - a key part of the brain's neurons. In essence, the drugs slowly cause impact to the part of the brain that electrifies and activates cells. Millions of Americans use these drugs, and the link between them and an increased risk of cognitive decline later in life has long been known. Researchers are hopeful that their finding will open the door to a new class of drugs that have a lesser long-term impact on brain health.

A large international collaboration, led by A/Prof Xiu Ying Wang and Prof Manuel Graeber of the University of Sydney, has developed an innovative, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) application, PathoFusion, that could be used for the examination of routine tissue samples in order to identify indications of cancer. The research melds contributions from computer scientists, neuropathologists, neuosurgeons, medical oncologists and medical imaging scientists. ANSTO's Prof Richard Banati, a Professor of Medical Radiation Sciences/Medical Imaging, who studies the brain's innate immune system using advanced medical imaging techniques, is a co-author on the paper published in the journal, Cancers. "The idea behind PathoFusion was to create a novel advanced deep learning model to recognize malignant features and immune response markers, independent of human intervention, and map them simultaneously in a digital image," explained Banati. Scientists specifically designed a bifocal deep learning framework which is analogous to how a microscopist works in histopathology image analysis.