From racial bias in medication to extra accessible Alzheimer’s medication, listed below are the well being tales you will have missed this week from Yahoo Information companions.
Biden warns AI may ‘overtake human pondering’
At a graduation deal with on the Air Pressure Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, President Biden mentioned he had been warned by specialists that synthetic intelligence may “overtake human pondering.” USA Immediately reported that this was the president’s “most direct warning to date” in regards to the energy of AI expertise.
“It isn’t going to be straightforward selections, guys,” Biden mentioned. “I met within the Oval Workplace with eight main scientists within the space of AI. Some are very nervous that AI can truly overtake human pondering and planning. So we have lots to cope with. An unimaginable alternative, however lots [to] cope with.”
The president’s remarks come days after lots of of leaders in AI, in addition to different public figures, launched an announcement saying that “mitigating the chance of extinction from AI must be a worldwide precedence alongside different societal-scale dangers reminiscent of pandemics and nuclear conflict.”
Final month, Biden met with the CEOs of AI innovation firms, together with Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, in an effort to make sure that AI merchandise are secure earlier than they’re accessible to the general public.
Lung issues in Black males are underdiagnosed as a consequence of racial bias in testing, examine says
A examine revealed on Thursday contends that 40% extra Black male sufferers could be recognized with respiration issues reminiscent of “asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder or lung scarring due to air pollutant exposure” if present diagnosis-assisting pc software program was modified to get rid of racial bias, the Related Press reported.
Based mostly on information from greater than 2,700 Black males and 5,700 white males examined by the College of Pennsylvania Well being System, researchers checked out a generally used take a look at with a computer-generated report that scores an individual’s capacity to breathe based mostly on how a lot and the way shortly they will inhale and exhale. The report is created by algorithms that alter for race, which “raise the threshold for diagnosing a problem in Black patients,” the Related Press mentioned. When evaluating the race-based algorithm with a brand new algorithm, researchers discovered that there could be practically 400 extra circumstances of lung obstruction or impairment in Black males recognized if the brand new algorithm have been used.
The American Thoracic Society, which represents lung-care medical doctors, has advisable that race and ethnicity ought to not be a think about deciphering take a look at outcomes, but additionally known as for extra analysis to keep away from any modifications that would result in an overdiagnosis of lung issues.
Medicare plans to pay for Alzheimer’s medication that get FDA approval
The Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers (CMS) will now pay for brand spanking new Alzheimer’s medication which have obtained full Meals and Drug Administration approval, the company mentioned Thursday, on the situation that medical doctors who prescribe the medication use a authorities registry to trace sufferers’ progress and assess “how these drugs work in the real world.”
NBC Information reported that till now, Medicare would solely pay for drugs if sufferers have been enrolled in a medical trial. This new improvement is more likely to allow extra sufferers to afford drugs that would gradual development of the illness.
“Alzheimer’s disease takes a toll on not just the people suffering from the disease but also on their loved ones and caregivers, in a way that almost no other illness does,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure mentioned. “CMS has always been committed to helping people obtain timely access to innovative treatments that meaningfully improve care and outcomes for this disease.”
Winter noticed a spike in uncommon pediatric mind infections, CDC studies
A Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention report revealed this week discovered that whereas nonetheless very uncommon, hospitals reported the best stage of pediatric mind infections in years this previous winter.
CBS Information reported that the CDC started trying into a possible improve in “pediatric intracranial infections” after medical doctors reported an uptick in hospitalizations, with many youngsters contaminated by the micro organism Streptococcus. Most Streptococcus infections result in benign sicknesses like strep throat, however on uncommon events, they will progress to worrying signs, “like seizures and changes in mental status.”
This previous winter, there have been 102 circumstances in December — exceeding the earlier peak of 61 circumstances in the course of the 2016-2017 winter season.
