one big number 130% That’s how much the global number of osteoarthritis cases increased between 1990 and 2021 among women who have gone through menopause, according to research published yesterday in BMJ Global Health. Osteoarthritis occurs in the flexible cartilage in one’s hips, knees, hands, and other joints. Over the study period, it occurred most often...
Category: <span>News</span>
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DOJ probes device maker whose tests lead to lucrative diagnoses for UnitedHealth
Casey Ross writes: STAT exclusively reported on Monday that the Department of Justice is investigating Semler Scientific for possible violations of the False Claims Act. Semler’s only product, QuantaFlo, is used to test patients for peripheral artery disease. STAT reported last year that QuantaFlo, which uses a proprietary algorithm, generated a flood of questionable, and lucrative, diagnoses for UnitedHealth and other insurers. Each diagnosis is worth about...
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Skype to Fade Into Digital History on May 5
Posted Today After transforming how we communicate across borders, Skype will make its final call on May 5, concluding a remarkable two-decade journey as Microsoft shifts focus entirely to its Teams platform. Using Skype – artistic impression. Image credit: Freepik, free license Born in 2003, Skype radically transformed global communication, turning expensive international calls into affordable digital conversations...
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Trump administration mum amid deadly measles outbreak
Julio Cortez/AP When measles struck New York in 2018 and 2019, federal health officials uniformly preached the power of immunizations. President Trump, himself, implored people to get the shot. But several years later, public messaging has dramatically changed, writes STAT’s Andrew Joseph. At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, a reporter asked Trump about the rapidly growing outbreak...
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In a new survey, most doctors said they aren’t using AI, but expect the tools will have a positive effect on medicine. | AP
In a new survey, most doctors said they aren’t using AI, but expect the tools will have a positive effect on medicine. | AP Family doctors are starting to adopt artificial intelligence in their practices — and they expect these tools will have positive impacts on medicine.That’s according to a new survey from the American Academy of...
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from Politico
External Inbox Search for all messages with label Inbox Remove label Inbox from this conversation Summarise this email A woman takes a telehealth appointment on her phone. | Business Wire In the debate over whether to extend Medicare coverage for telehealth later this year, cost is king.A fresh data point to consider: New research suggests that when health...
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CDC investigating hospitalizations after a vaccine for chikungunya
In other CDC news: The agency announced Tuesday it’s investigating the hospitalization of five people who’d recently received a vaccine to protect against chikungunya, a nasty mosquito-transmitted disease that, while rarely fatal, causes high fever and joint and muscle pain. The announcement, posted to the CDC’s website, said the five, all aged 65 or older, were...
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The good news rolls on for deafness research
Ten out of 11 kids who received gene therapy for a rare variant of congenital deafness saw significant improvements when tested a year after the surgery, according to data presented Monday at an otolaryngology conference. The trial, backed by Regeneron, is one of a handful of studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of gene therapy in children...
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Can treatments for lung conditions go deeper?
Between common chronic conditions like COPD and asthma, and acute harm inflicted by viruses, lung damage is a big problem. Many treatments focus on the upper airways. But to go deeper, researchers are studying the pair found in some Covid vaccines: mRNA + a lipid nanoparticle. New research in mice, published Friday in Nature Communications, posits...
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The body keeps the score, but we don’t check it
Every time you get sick, your body makes a tally. Researchers unveiled a new, machine learning-based tool Thursday that can diagnose Covid-19, HIV, flu, lupus, and type-1 diabetes based on the immune system’s built-in records of disease exposures: B and T cells. The proof-of-concept study is one of the first to combine B and T...