Month: April 2024

Scientists can tell how fast you’re aging. Now, the trick is to slow it down

Scientists work to understand, slow aging: Journalist Allison Aubrey took part in a Northwestern University Human Longevity Lab study focused on interventions to slow the rate at which people age. She submitted to a battery of health tests and gained inspiration for a writing project called “How to Thrive As You Age.” “There are going to be ways that we are going to slow down this process and give people a longer health span,” said Potocsnak Longevity Institute Director, Douglas Vaughan.

‘Obviously ChatGPT’ — how reviewers accused me of scientific fraud:  A journal reviewer accused Lizzie Wolkovich of using ChatGPT to write a manuscript.  She had not — but her paper was rejected anyway

How AI (Artificial Intelligence) can undermine science without even trying: Journal reviewers rejected a manuscript authored by Lizzie Wolkovich not because they suspected academic or scientific fraud; however, because they decided — erroneously — that Wolkovich had used ChatGPT to write the paper. “Given how much work I put into writing, it was a blow to be accused of being a chatbot,” Wolkovich writes. She submitted GitHub plain-text files tracking the manuscript’s versions, but the reviewers shrugged it off, and the episode shows “how AI could corrupt science without even trying,” Wolkovich writes.

A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Taps eClinicalWorks Health IT to Boost Population Health:  An FQHC in Connecticut increased HIV screenings by 11 percent after adopting population health modules from health IT vendor eClinicalWorks

HIV screenings rise after health center deploys analytics tool: The use of a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set analytics solution led to better efficiency and compliance at the Connecticut Institute for Communities, which implemented the system shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic started. HIV screenings have increased by 11% since the federal qualified health center started using the tool.

CDC now encouraging doctors to consider more blood testing for “forever chemicals”:  Known as PFAS, the chemicals are found in myriad consumer products

Center for Disease Control: CDC urges physician to talk with patients about PFAS: New CDC guidance suggests that physicians consider more patient communication and blood testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals,” found in many consumer products. Dr. Aaron Bernstein of the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry estimates that more than 90% of the nation’s population has been exposed to PFAS, whose potential health risks include higher cholesterol, lower infant birth weight, some cancers, pregnancy complications and elevated liver enzymes.

World risks missing deadline for pandemic accord, says WHO chief

WHO urges pandemic deal as “zombie virus” threat looms: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has voiced alarm over the number of countries set to miss a May deadline for committing to a global accord on fighting pandemics, warning that “future generations may not forgive us” for failing to act against global disease threats. Separately, scientists are warning that climate change could release ancient viruses trapped in the Arctic permafrost, a pandemic threat they warn is being overlooked

Nearly 1 in 10 teens worldwide have used ineffective and potentially harmful weight-loss products, study estimates

Teen use of OTC weight-loss products a growing concern: About 9% of adolescents worldwide have used over-the-counter drugs, supplements or other products that claim to aid weight loss, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open. Six (6) percent of teens had used diet pills, 4% had taken laxatives and 2% had used diuretics in an effort to lose weight. Past research has tied the use of such products to mental health issues, substance use and eating disorders in teens.

Duke breakthrough:  Transplanted parts of heart are growing along with child:  A year after doctors at Duke Health transplanted some valves and arteries into the heart of a sick child, they announced success on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association

Partial transplant offers hope for children with heart disease: In 2022, surgeons transplanted living heart valves and arteries into a 17-day-old baby with truncus arteriosus, and the tissues have grown with the child, potentially eliminating the need for future surgeries, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA). The procedure requires less immunosuppressant medication and could double the number of hearts available for children with heart disease, according to first author Joseph Turek, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Duke Children’s Hospital.

The woman behind the pap smear

Co-developer of Pap smear never got paid or acknowledged: Development of the Pap test for cervical cancer has long been credited to George Papanicolaou; however, his wife, Mary, made his discoveries possible, although she was neither paid nor, until recently, credited. Mary not only provided, processed, stained and organized her own daily vaginal samples, she also recruited other women to donate samples that were vital to the identification of precancerous cells.