medical

Prosecutors on Friday rested their case against Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani— the top deputy and close confidant to Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes —as the government seeks another fraud conviction against the leaders of the defunct blood-testing startup. Over nine weeks that included testimony from 24 witnesses in San Jose, Calif., prosecutors sought to convince a jury that Mr. Balwani conspired with Ms. Holmes to defraud investors and patients about the startup’s…

Deep learning models based on artificial intelligence can identify someone's race just from their X-rays, new research has revealed – something that would be impossible for a human doctor looking at the same images.  The findings raise some troubling questions about the role of AI in medical diagnosis, assessment, and treatment: could racial bias be unintentionally applied by computer software when studying images like these?Having trained their AI using hundreds of thousands of existing X-ray images labeled with details…

China’s Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns have led to a shortage of a dye widely used in medical scans, prompting U.S. hospitals including the Mayo Clinic to ration supplies, postpone procedures or switch to less optimal imaging.The shortage arose in recent weeks for iodinated contrast media products including Omnipaque, made by General Electric Co. ’s GE Healthcare unit at a plant in Shanghai. Omnipaque is given by intravenous injection to patients before imaging procedures to make internal…

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first nonprescription test that can detect Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The test, developed by Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, can be sold directly to consumers online or at retail. A person can collect a nasal-swab sample themselves before sending the sample to Labcorpfor analysis. The test, called the Labcorp Seasonal Respiratory Virus RT-PCR DTC Test, searches for and amplifies the genetic materials of multiple viruses to…

RaDonda Vaught, whose criminal prosecution for a fatal medical error made her case a flashpoint in national conversations about nursing shortages and patient safety, was sentenced on Friday to three years of probation in a Nashville criminal court. After the probationary period, she could ultimately have her conviction dismissed. Vaught had been convicted of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult, which together carried a potential prison sentence of up to eight years. In late 2017,…

Powering medical implants can be tricky, but tapping into the body’s own fuel source could keep them going long-term. A new design for a tiny fuel cell converts glucose into electricity to power implants more efficiently than any other so far.Implants like pacemakers might need to run for decades, so they need a steady supply of electricity, and cables can’t just be run out through a patient’s skin. Batteries may be the obvious solution, but changing them requires surgery. Even with new advances in wireless charging from…

Companies including Chevron Corp. , Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Ernst & Young LLP are pushing to narrow proposed cybersecurity rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the private sector’s latest attempt to shape a growing array of regulations by Washington. In comments on rules proposed by the SEC, businesses in recent days have urged the agency to harmonize its deadline of four business days to disclose security incidents with similar rules from…

Buying drugs on the street is a game of Russian roulette. From Xanax to cocaine, drugs or counterfeit pills purchased in non-medical settings may contain life-threatening amounts of fentanyl.  Physicians like me have seen a rise in unintentional fentanyl use from people buying prescription opioids and other drugs laced, or adulterated, with fentanyl. Heroin users in my community in Massachusetts came to realize that fentanyl had entered the drug supply when overdose numbers exploded.In 2016, my colleagues and I found…

U.S. health authorities and researchers are investigating why some people who appeared to recover from Covid-19 after taking Pfizer Inc.’s antiviral pill developed symptoms again soon after. Paxlovid is supposed to treat the newly infected, keeping them out of the hospital. Within two weeks of appearing to get better, however, some users experienced cold-like symptoms such as sore throat and cough, according to physicians and published case reports. The rebound cases haven’t resulted in…

You can’t exercise the way you used to. You’re depleted after a day of work. Or you may have unusual sensations, like a racing heartbeat when you stand up and difficulty concentrating at times. Could it be long Covid? And if so, how can you find out and get the medical care you need? As many as 23 million Americans are affected by long Covid, a March federal government report estimated, which occurs when people experience persistent and often worsening or new symptoms more than a month after…