February 4, 2021
By Deborah Borfitz
February 4, 2021 | A computer scientist at The Ohio State University (OSU) recently demonstrated the potential of artificial intelligence to crunch real-world data and emulate randomized clinical trials, speeding the pace of drug repurposing. The initial use case was focused on preventing heart failure and stroke in patients with coronary artery disease, but the model could be applied to any disease with a definable outcome, says Ping Zhang, who leads the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab at OSU.
Zhang is senior author of a recently published study in
Nature Machine Intelligence (DOI: 10.1038/s42256-020-00276-w) where a deep learning algorithm ingested insurance claims on nearly 1.2 million deidentified patients to identify existing medications with a heretofore unknown therapeutic effect on coronary artery disease (CAD; e.g., diabetes drug metformin and antidepressant escitalopram, both of which were already being tested
Updated
Fact check: No evidence linking masks to oral bacteria and to lung cancer; article refers to study that did not involve masks
By Reuters Staff
8 Min Read
Users on social media are sharing an article that claims long-term mask-wearing “breeds microbes that infiltrate the lungs and contribute to advanced stage lung cancer”. As alleged evidence, the article refers to a study that did not involve mask-wearing and does not makes this claim. The authors of the study say that there’s no scientific evidence to back the article’s misinterpretation of their actual results.
Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS
The article ( here ) was published by Natural News, a website that according to reports by Vox ( here ) and McGill University’s Office for Science and Society ( here ) is known for spreading conspiracy theories and false health information. In May 2020, the site was banned by Facebook for violating its “community standards on spam” ( here ).
email article
Compliance with a relaxed care bundle was associated with lower 30-day mortality and shorter median hospital stays among children with sepsis, according to interim data from the Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO) FACTO trial.
The relaxed, or liberalized, sepsis bundle i.e., a group of best evidence-based interventions involved delivering an initial fluid bolus within 60 minutes, as opposed to 20 minutes; and delivering antibiotics within 180 instead of 60 minutes. The bundle also involved accepted sepsis recognition protocols (screen, huddle, or care order).
The trial data, presented at the virtual Society of Critical Care Medicine s Critical Care Congress, involved approximately 40,000 patients with IPSO-confirmed critical and non-critical sepsis or suspected sepsis treated at children s hospitals across the U.S. from 2017 through 2019.
During the presentation, Hughes noted that prior studies showed improvement with dexmedetomidine compared with lorazepam and midazolam with regard to delirium, coma, time receiving mechanical ventilation, and cost, though noninferiority studies found no significant impact on duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, or short-term mortality.
Researchers said SCCM recommends sedation with either light levels of dexmedetomidine or propofol for adults receiving mechanical ventilation and continuous sedation. The authors noted that dexmedetomidine has anti-inflammatory and bacterial properties superior to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists such as propofol and reduces neuronal apoptosis and promotes biomimetic sleep, which could improve clinical outcomes.
Hughes also reported lower rates of subsequent infection versus midazolam and reduced 28-day mortality in sepsis patients versus lorazepam.
Health Correspondent
The total number of Covid-19 outbreaks reduced last week, according to new figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
There were 196 outbreaks reported, compared with 265 the previous week.
The biggest reduction was seen in private houses, which fell by more than half to 36.
But there was an increase in extended family outbreaks from 13 the previous week, to 21 last week.
There was a small rise in retail outlet outbreaks to four, compared with two the previous week.
Workplace outbreaks reduced to 29, compared with 36 the previous week.
The data is for the week to Saturday 30 January, during which the HSE resumed contact tracing of close contacts.