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Another study is showing that artificial intelligence (AI) is as good as a specialist doctor in spotting breast cancer on a mammogram. But don’t expect computers to take over the job from humans, experts say. In a study that compared the mammography-reading skills of an AI tool with those of more than 500 medical professionals, researchers found that it was basically a tie. On average, both humans and AI caught about 90% of breast tumors, and correctly gave an all-clear to just over three-quarters of mammograms from women without cancer. That meant neither was perfect, and experts said it’s still unclear how AI will ultimately fit into breast cancer screening. Mammography has long been a routine experience for women. But mammography-reading may actually be the most challenging task in radiology, said Dr. Liane Philpotts, a professor of radiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. That’s because a mammogram is an old-fashioned X-ray — although in the United States, Philpotts noted, better-performing digital 3D mammography is increasingly replacing the conventional kind. Detecting a tumor on standard mammograms means hunting for subtle patterns — something that has proved difficult even for the best AI, said Philpotts, who wrote an editorial published with the new findings in the September issue of Radiology. “In this study, we’re still talking about imperfect sensitivity,” Philpotts said, referring to… read on > read on >

It’s become more common for people to share mental health struggles on social media, but that decision could have a negative impact on future employment. Potential employers view job candidates differently if they talk about their personal mental health publicly, a new study finds. “People are often encouraged to discuss their mental health struggles on social media with the goal of reducing the stigma associated with mental health challenges,” said study co-author Lori Foster, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. “We think reducing stigma around mental health is extremely important, but our study suggests that mental health posts on platforms such as LinkedIn could have unforeseen consequences for people disclosing their mental health challenges,” Foster said in a university news release. The study showed these disclosures can influence the way employers view someone in professional contexts, said co-author Jenna McChesney, an assistant professor of psychology at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. She worked on the study while a grad student at NC State. “It’s important for people to take that into consideration when determining whether to share their mental health experiences online,” McChesney said in the release. The researchers enlisted 409 professionals with hiring experience to participate in the study, dividing them into four groups. One group was shown the LinkedIn page of a job candidate, with no mention of mental health… read on > read on >

Suicide has become an urgent issue among American military veterans, with rates increasing by more than 10 times in nearly two decades, a new study reveals. “Suicide rates for post-9/11 veterans have steadily increased over the last 15 years and at a much faster pace than the total U.S. population, and post-9/11 veterans with TBI [traumatic brain injuries] have a significantly higher suicide rate than veterans without TBI,” said lead researcher Jeffrey Howard, from the department of public health at the University of Texas at San Antonio. In fact, the suicide rate for those with a TBI was 56% higher than among veterans who didn’t suffer a TBI, the researchers found. Exposure to TBI, even a mild one, is associated with severe long-term health risks, including suicide, Howard noted. “It used to be believed that once initial symptoms of a mild TBI resolved, the patient was healed and there were no long-term health impacts, but as we are compiling longer-term follow-up data on these patients a different picture is emerging,” Howard said. These data suggest that closer and longer-term monitoring of patients with TBIs may be needed, he explained. “In addition to the clinical implications, the data point to the need for a more holistic approach to ensuring veterans’ health and well-being, which would integrate family and social support networks and other societal factors,” Howard… read on > read on >

If you need quick directions on performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in an emergency, don’t rely on Alexa, Siri or another voice assistant. A new study finds the directions provided by these AI (artificial intelligence) helpers are inconsistent and lack relevance. “Our findings suggest that bystanders should call emergency services rather than relying on a voice assistant,” said co-author Dr. Adam Landman, chief information officer and senior vice president of digital operations at Mass General Brigham in Boston. “Voice assistants have potential to help provide CPR instructions, but need to have more standardized, evidence-based guidance built into their core functionalities,” Landman, an attending emergency physician, said in a hospital news release. Researchers presented eight verbal questions to four voice assistants: Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant’s Nest Mini, and Microsoft’s Cortana. The study authors also typed the same questions into ChatGPT. The responses were evaluated by two board-certified emergency medicine physicians. Nearly half of the responses from the voice assistants were unrelated to CPR, the study found. This included information related to a movie called “CPR” and a link to Colorado Public Radio News. Only 28% of the replies suggested calling emergency services. Only 34% provided CPR instruction and just 12% gave verbal instructions. The most relevant information offered through AI was on ChatGPT. Using existing AI voice assistant tools may delay care and yield inappropriate… read on > read on >

AI might not always be your most accurate source of health information, especially when it comes to cancer care, new research finds. Two new studies assessed the quality of responses offered by AI chatbots to a variety of questions about cancer care. One, published Aug. 24 in JAMA Oncology, zeroed in on the full-sentence conversational AI service known as ChatGPT, which launched to great fanfare last November. The upside: About two-thirds of cancer information offered by ChatGPT accurately matched current guidelines from the U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The downside: The rest did not. “Some recommendations were clearly completely incorrect,” said study author Dr. Danielle Bitterman, an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “For example, instances where curative treatment was recommended for an incurable diagnosis.” Other times, incorrect recommendations were more subtle — for instance, including some, but not all, parts of a treatment regimen, such as recommending surgery alone, when standard treatment also includes radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, Bitterman said. That’s concerning, she said, given the degree to which “incorrect information was mixed in with correct information, which made it especially difficult to detect errors even for experts.” A second study in the same journal issue offered a much rosier assessment of AI accuracy. In this instance, investigators looked at answers… read on > read on >

If you’ve had a heart attack, your doctor likely told you to take a low-dose aspirin daily to stave off a second heart attack or stroke, but most people don’t follow through with this advice over the long-term. Those folks who don’t take daily low-dose aspirin consistently are more likely to have another heart attack, stroke or die compared with their counterparts who consistently take aspirin, a new study shows. Aspirin keeps platelets from clumping together, which can help prevent or reduce the blood clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes. ”Most people should be on lifelong aspirin after a heart attack,” said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, director of Mount Sinai Heart and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City. “Long-term adherence to medication is a problem worldwide, including in the USA, and this is true even for inexpensive drugs such as aspirin, which can be life saving in heart attack patients,” said Bhatt, who had no role in the research. The study was led by Dr. Anna Meta Kristensen of Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Frederiksberg, Denmark. The researchers followed more than 40,100 people aged 40 or older who had a first-time heart attack from 2004 through 2017. The study team checked up on aspirin use two, four, six, and eight years after their heart attacks to… read on > read on >

Too much screen time can lead to developmental delays in babies, researchers say. When 1-year-olds viewed screens for more than four hours a day, they had delays in communication and problem-solving skills when assessed at ages 2 and 4, according to a new study published Aug. 21 in JAMA Pediatrics. They also had delays in fine motor and social skills at age 2, though that gap was gone by age 4, researchers. It may not be the screens, but what they replace, a Yale expert said. Face-to-face interaction between a parent and child gives babies information about language and meaning through facial expressions, words, tone of voice and physical feedback, said David Lewkowicz, a developmental psychologist at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Conn. “It doesn’t happen when you’re watching the screen,” Lewkowicz told the New York Times. For the study, Japanese researchers led by Ippei Takahashi of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, asked nearly 7,100 parents of young children to answer questions about development and screen time. More screen time meant greater likelihood of seeing delays. About 4% of the babies in the study had four or more hours of daily screen time, while 18% had two to four. Most had less than two hours. Mothers of babies with high levels of screen time were more likely to be younger, first-time moms,… read on > read on >

When U.S. parents express their concerns about their school-aged children, social media use and the internet are at the top of the list. Mental health issues are another top worry, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Parents still view problems directly impacting physical health, including unhealthy eating and obesity, as important children’s health issues, said pediatrician Dr. Susan Woolford, co-director of the poll. “But these have been overtaken by concerns about mental health, social media and screen time,” Woolford said in a Michigan Medicine news release. Two-thirds of parents surveyed reported that they are worried about children’s increased time on devices, including overall screen time and use of social media. Those were the No.1 and No.2 concerns on the list this year. “Children are using digital devices and social media at younger ages, and parents may struggle with how to appropriately monitor use to prevent negative impacts on safety, self-esteem, social connections and habits that may interfere with sleep and other areas of health,” Woolford said. Screen time became a growing concern for parents during the pandemic, previous reports have suggested. Woolford encourages parents to regularly evaluate their kids’ use of technology. Certain social media and device settings can also help protect kids. Mental and emotional health were among the other top concerns. The majority… read on > read on >

It seems obvious that texting and walking can be a dangerous duo, but now a new Australian study offers solid evidence of the dangers. Emergency room doctors Dr. Michael Levine and Dr. Matthew Harris, who were not involved in the study, weren’t surprised by the findings. “I think we’ve had, this summer, several people who either have been distracted while walking and have been hit by a car or been hit by a bicycle,” said Harris, from Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y. “I’ve definitely seen people stepping off curbs when they were not supposed to, not seeing cars come… because they were too busy looking at their phone when they should have realized where the sidewalk ended,” added Levine, from UCLA Health. “So, I’ve seen all different permutations of people getting injured from texting and walking across the street.” For the study, Australian researchers recruited 50 students from the University of New South Wales and had them go through four exercises. One was to text while sitting, another was to walk without texting, another was to have them walk and text, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” and the last one was to have students walk and text the same message while going through a walkway specifically designed by one of the scientists to have tiles slip out of place.… read on > read on >

An investigation into a high number of cancers at a Montana nuclear missile base has led to the discovery of unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen. The hundreds of cancer cases appear to be connected to underground launch control centers at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Levels of PCBs, an oily or waxy substance that is considered a likely carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were higher than the agency’s recommended threshold. The finding “is the first from an extensive sampling of active U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile bases to address specific cancer concerns raised by missile community members,” Air Force Global Strike Command said Monday in a news release. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, has directed “immediate measures to begin the cleanup process for the affected facilities and mitigate exposure by our airmen and Guardians to potentially hazardous conditions.” At least nine current or former missileers at Malmstrom have been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer that uses the body’s lymph system to spread, according to a military briefing obtained by the Associated Press. A grassroots group of former missile launch officers and their surviving family members, the Torchlight Initiative, has said there are at least 268 people who served at the nuclear missile sites or their family members who have been diagnosed with cancer, blood diseases or other… read on > read on >