Machine Learning Triage Tool Better Predicts Mortality in ED

December 30, 2021 In a cohort study, researchers compared how an interpretable machine learning triage tool for predicting mortality operates in a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital from the Emergency Department (ED) versus standard triage scores.  ED triage is a complex clinical judgment-based process to understand a patient’s probability of survival and availability … Read more

Telehealth’s Limits: Battle Over State Lines and Licensing Threatens Patients’ Options

December 29, 2021 Tele-visits for medical care took off during the worst days of the pandemic, quickly becoming commonplace.  Most states and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services temporarily waived rules requiring licensed clinicians to hold a valid license in the state where their patient is located.  Those restrictions do not keep patients from … Read more

Steps taken toward smartphone app for automatically detecting Parkinson’s Disease

December 23, 2021 The team built a set of 126 voice markers (i.e., “features”) touching everything from tone, pitch and loudness to enunciation, pace and pause ratio.  Additionally, they had their best model analyze 25 isolated Spanish-language words pronounced by each study subject (50 Parkinson’s patients and 50 healthy controls). The study’s lead author is … Read more

Contrast-enhanced mammography as effective as MRI at evaluating newly diagnosed breast cancer

December 21, 2021 That is according to a new prospective, single-center study from the University of Southern California, published at the end of August in Clinical Imaging.  Magnetic resonance has served as the gold standard for evaluating new breast cancers or additional disease, given its “superior” sensitivity, USC experts noted.  However, it can pose new … Read more

Amazon makes moves for a major medical diagnostics play

December 16, 2021 Senior-level job postings offer a glimpse of the notoriously secretive and ambitious tech company’s global aspirations for medical diagnostics.  During the last week in August 2021, Amazon put a call out for a medical regulatory officer to be based in Seattle, where the online retailer and cloud computing company is headquartered. “Regular … Read more

New AI (Artificial Intelligence) model predicts heart failure hospitalizations

December 15, 2021 The Selene HF trial included more than 900 patients with a median age of 69 years old and a median ejection fraction of 30%.  Eighty-one percent (81%) of participants were men.  All patients had either an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) manufactured by Bioronik.  Each participant was enrolled … Read more

Researchers working on AI (Artificial Intelligence) system to quickly diagnose autism. The proposed system uses brain signals and neural patterns from children

December 10, 2021 WHAT IT IS ABOUT In a study, whose findings were published in the journal Complex & Intelligent Systems, the researchers examined and tested two sets of nonlinear, highly distinctive features of EEG signals extracted from children aged four (4) to 13.  One set belonged to 40 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder … Read more

Implantable AI (Artificial Intelligence) developed for early detection and treatment of disease

December 08, 2021 “Early detection of malign patterns in patients’ biological signals can save millions of lives.  Despite the steady improvement of artificial intelligence–based techniques, the practical clinical application of these methods is mostly constrained to an offline evaluation of the patients’ data.  Previous studies have identified organic electrochemical devices as ideal candidates for biosignal … Read more

Robotic Scanner for Automated Eye Imaging

December 02, 2021 Currently, highly trained technicians can identify various eye diseases using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which typically requires a large benchtop system.  This technique also demands that the patient set their head into a stationary head and chin rest, to ensure that they do not move and interfere with the eye scan.  The … Read more