National Center for Nanoscience & Technology

Phoenix-based healthcare provider Banner Health expanded its partnership with Los Angeles-based clinical decision software company Regard, bringing clinical support decision-making to clinicians across Banner Health hospitals. Regard utilizes algorithms and artificial intelligence to generate clinical decisions, documentation and facilitate clinician-to-clinician communications. Through the partnership, Regard's software will be phased into and embedded in the EHR of Banner’s 33 acute care hospitals, which cover patients in six states. "When we started Regard, we saw the need to unlock valuable clinical data stored away in EHRs. Over the past several years, we’ve created an AI tool to streamline EHR navigation, improve patient safety and free up clinician time for direct patient care. We’re beyond excited to continue our relationship with Banner Health as we work together to improve clinical workflows and patient outcomes with a measurable ROI," Nate Wilson, Regard’s chief operating officer and cofounder told MobiHealthNews in an email. The company originally partnered with Banner Health for a pilot program at Thunderbird Medical Center in Arizona in 2022. "Giving the best care to our community starts with prioritizing our clinical workforce. If we provide innovative tools to make their jobs easier and more efficient, they can spend valuable time in front of patients. We are hoping to streamline critical administrative and documentation responsibilities with Regard’s AI innovation, providing our clinicians more time to listen to our patients," Dr. Susan C. Lee, physician executive at Banner Health, told MobiHealthNews in an email. THE LARGER TREND According to the National Center for Biotechnology Innovation, AI in the clinical setting can increase the time to focus on more patient-centered tasks and improve risk-assessment performance. The AI market for clinical decision-making is expected to double in the next five years, and the AI health market at large is expected to exceed $22.45 billion, with an annual increase of 36.4% between 2024 and 2030. News of the partnership comes as Regard looks to expand use of its clinical decision solutions. Regard recently announced that the company’s solution covers 173 oncology diagnoses. Earlier this year, Hamilton Ohio-based Kettering Health partnered with the clinical decision company to integrate Regard solutions into its EHR. In August 2023, the company partnered with OpenAI to release a chatbot built on the large language model GPT-4. In 2022, Regard secured $15.3 million in a Series A funding round along with $5 million in early 2021. Additional players in the AI clinical assistance space include San Francisco-based Augmedix and real-world data and AI company ConcertAI, which recently acquired cancer research platform CancerLinQ.

SpermX delivers reliable results to solve sexual assault crimes The method can also be automated for labs with larger caseloads. (Credit: Mufid Majnun on Unsplash) Addressing a long-term shortcoming in DNA evidence for rape and sexual assault cases, New Orleans-based InnoGenomics has developed a nanotech method, SpermX that drastically increases usable results to solve more crimes. The novel nanotechnology-derived polymer outperforms conventional methods, capturing male DNA from as few as 25 sperm cells while minimizing DNA contribution from the victim. The method can also be automated for labs with larger caseloads. “Nearly 60 percent of sexual assault kits tested with traditional methods do not recover enough male DNA to obtain a usable DNA pro the offender,” says Dr. Sudhir Sinha, InnoGenomics CEO. “SpermX changes that.” “Our nanotech method is up to six times more efficient at extracting male DNA pro especially from low-level sperm samples. We can significantly improve the probability of solving sexual assault crimes by using this method.” Conventional forensic laboratory methods for processing sexual assault samples typically only recover 5-30 percent of the sperm in the sample, resulting in many kits testing positive for male DNA but not providing enough genetic information for a criminal investigation. Traditional methods produce usable DNA profiles only 10 percent of the time from samples with lower sperm amounts, such as oral swabs. A recent interlaboratory study performed by the University of Central Florida (UCF), Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE), and InnoGenomics (IGT), demonstrated the benefits of the SpermX method. Participating laboratories achieved informative DNA profiles from over 80 percent of low-level sperm samples and recovered sperm from samples containing as few as 25 sperm cells. In contrast, traditional methods yielded informative profiles from only 16 percent of these low-level samples. The study results were presented at the 2023 American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Conference. “This data demonstrates that SpermX outperforms older methods when dealing with very low sperm amounts,” says Dr. Jack Ballantyne, UCF professor of Chemistry and Associate Director for Research at the National Center for Forensic Science. “For SpermX, the male DNA was easily detectible. We’re really quite impressed with the difference between the methods based on this data.” Over the last 20 years, DNA testing of rape kits along with the establishment of national DNA databases have become a powerful tool for solving sexual assault cases. The ability to separate sperm cells from other cells to obtain a DNA pro the perpetrator has been a key factor in solving these cases. SpermX’s ability to derive male DNA profiles from as few as 25 sperm cells has the potential to revolutionize the handling of sexual assault and rape cases, providing almost routine solutions with its advanced testing capabilities. Source: Company Press Release

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers from the Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) unveiled the AESOP Early Warning System for Outbreaks with Epi-Pandemic Potential at the 6th Global Science Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC) in Rio de Janeiro, with support from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), that co-organizes the Conference. Currently under development, AESOP is designed to signal new disease outbreaks that have the potential to cause health emergencies, an increasingly common occurrence due to climate change, population growth, and migration. AESOP collaborators aims to support Brazilian health authorities by coupling actionable data with proposed strategies to mitigate the risks of infectious diseases like dengue. The AESOP data platform will allow health scientists to track early-stage outbreaks by integrating data collected from Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS) with other health, environmental, and sociodemographic data sources. Currently under development, the platform will ultimately allow health leaders to explore a range of diverse data sources in a single system and, using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, pinpoint areas where infectious diseases are likely to spread rapidly. "The AESOP seeks to geographically identify the beginning of the outbreak through the analysis of Primary Health Care data, and other data related to the manifestations of the disease, such as the sale of medicines and rumors on social networks," explained Manoel Barral-Netto, Researcher and Project Coordinator with Fiocruz. According to Barral-Netto, after identifying the outbreak area, two actions take place in parallel to model the risk and characteristics of the spread of the outbreak: research teams collect field samples to identify infectious agents involved, and AESOP data scientists then integrate other bio-climatological data to model the development of the outbreak and inform control measures. "Building open, transparent and scalable platforms that transform data into action is vital to ensuring an informed, coordinated and swift response to current and future infectious disease outbreaks," said Kay van der Horst, Managing Director, Health Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation. "It's inspiring to see how the AESOP project team, supported by Fiocruz and The Rockefeller Foundation, has established strong, cross-sector partnerships with a diverse stakeholder community to build this innovative platform. It's a model that, we believe, can serve as a best practice for other regions as the world advances towards more robust, coordinated pathogen surveillance and outbreak response." The 6th Global Science Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC) in Rio (13-15 Feb) aims to bring together the global sustainable technology and innovation community to drive the search for innovative technological solutions, integrated with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Conference is organized by Fiocruz, together with seven international research institutes: VITO (Belgium), The Scientific and Industrial Research Council (CSIR, South Africa), Guangzhou Institute for Energy Conversion (GIEC, China), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, (GIST, South Korea), National Center for Technology Management (NACETEM, Nigeria), Institute of Energy and Resources (TERI, India) and Solutions Network for Sustainable Development of United Nations (SDSN). G-STIC Rio is supported by primary sponsors Petrobras, Pfizer and Fiotec, with additional support from Aegea, IBMP, Helda Gerdau Institute, Klabin, Enel, Firjan, Sanofi, Engie, and the Institute for Climate and Society. Registration for the conference is now open. About Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (Cidacs) Cidacs conducts studies and research based on interdisciplinary projects originating from the linkage of large volumes of data. The Center's mission is to contribute to the production of innovative scientific knowledge to broaden the understanding of determinants and social and environmental policies on the health of the population. These studies aim to help and support decision-making in public policies for the benefit of society. About Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) UFRJ's history dates back to the beginning of the 19th century and is filled with remarkable scientific, cultural, and artistic accomplishments. It is currently the 3rd best university in Brazil and the 7th best university in Latin America (QS Rankings – 2018). With many campuses and faculties scattered around Rio de Janeiro State, it comprises institutes, schools, and other facilities, including museums, hospitals, and the third largest ocean basin in the world for research on offshore oil exploitation. SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation