Lifeboat Foundation

Chatbots can wear a lot of proverbial hats: dictionary, therapist, poet, all-knowing friend. The artificial intelligence models that power these systems appear exceptionally skilled and efficient at providing answers, clarifying concepts, and distilling information. But to establish trustworthiness of content generated by such models, how can we really know if a particular statement is factual, a hallucination, or just a plain misunderstanding?

In many cases, AI systems gather external information to use as context when answering a particular query. For example, to answer a question about a medical condition, the system might reference recent research papers on the topic. Even with this relevant context, models can make mistakes with what feels like high doses of confidence. When a model errs, how can we track that specific piece of information from the context it relied on — or lack thereof?

To help tackle this obstacle, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers created ContextCite, a tool that can identify the parts of external context used to generate any particular statement, improving trust by helping users easily verify the statement.

Continue reading “Citation tool offers a new approach to trustworthy AI-generated content” »

New research suggests Alzheimer’s drugs may improve cognition by increasing Aβ42 levels rather than just reducing plaques, challenging the amyloid cascade hypothesis and pointing to new therapeutic strategies focused on restoring soluble Aβ42 to maintain brain health.

All DNA is prone to fragmentation, whether it is derived from a biological matrix or created during gene synthesis; thus, any DNA sample will contain a range of fragment sizes. To really exploit the true benefits of long read sequencing, it is necessary to remove these shorter fragments, which might other wise be sequenced preferentially.

DNA size selection can exclude short fragments, maximizing data yields by ensuring that those fragments with the most informational content are not blocked from accessing detection centers (for example, ZMWs) by shorter DNA fragments.

Next-generation size-selection solutions Starting with clean, appropriate-length fragments for HiFi reads can accelerate research by reducing the computation and data processing time needed post-sequencing. Ranger Technology from Yourgene Health is a patent-protected process for automating electrophoresis-based DNA analysis and size selection. Its fluorescence machine vision system and image analysis algorithms provide real-time interpretation of the DNA separation process.

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming an integral tool in health care. In our new collection, the editors of NEJM AI provide insight into how the use of AI in clinical practice can improve patient care and outcomes.

Featured in this collection:

GPT versus Resident Physicians — A Benchmark Based on Official Board Scores Artificial Intelligence–Powered Rapid Identification of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction via Electrocardiogram (ARISE) — A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Use of GPT-4 to Diagnose Complex Clinical Cases.

Continue reading “The AI Revolution in Medicine” »

The study of the gut microbiome, which is the total of all the microbes living in the intestines, has been shown to not only play an important role in the health of the bowel itself, but also in the health of distant organs such as the lungs. Lung cancer is one of the diseases that is often difficult to treat successfully. Rohan Kubba from the California Northstate University, Elk Grove, USA, believes that by studying the gut microbiome he can understand more about how anti-cancer treatments affect the gut–lung axis, and how the variations found in patient microbe populations are associated with treatment outcomes.

The microbiome consists of thousands of species including bacteria, fungi, and viruses (microbiota). Each person has an entirely unique network of microbiota, most of them living in their gut but also on the skin, mouth, and lungs. Each person’s microbiome is formed by a combination of factors, including but not limited to exposure to microorganisms during natural birth, consuming their mother’s milk, and later on in life, environmental factors such as diet.

Gut microbiome and disease.

Despite technological advances like electronic health records (EHRs) and dictation tools, the administrative load on healthcare providers has only grown, often overshadowing the time and energy dedicated to direct patient care. This escalation in clerical tasks is a major contributor to physician burnout and dissatisfaction, affecting not only the well-being of providers but also the quality of care they deliver.

During consultations, the focus on documentation can detract from meaningful patient interactions, resulting in fragmented, rushed, and sometimes impersonal communication. The need for a solution that both streamlines documentation and restores the patient-centred nature of healthcare has never been more pressing. This is where AI-powered medical scribes come into play, offering a promising path from traditional dictation to fully automated, integrated documentation support.

AI medical scribe software utilises advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to transcribe, in real time, entire patient-physician consultations without the need for traditional audio recordings. Leveraging sophisticated speech recognition and natural-language processing (NLP) algorithms, AI scribes are capable of interpreting and processing complex medical conversations with impressive accuracy. These systems can intelligently filter out non-essential dialogue, such as greetings and small talk, to create a streamlined and detailed clinical note.

Cleveland Clinic Genome Center researchers have unraveled how immune cells called microglia can transform and drive harmful processes like neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. The study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, also integrates drug databases with real-world patient data to identify FDA-approved drugs that may be repurposed to target disease-associated microglia in Alzheimer’s disease without affecting the healthy type.

The researchers, led by study corresponding author Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D., hope their unique approach of integrating genetic, chemical and human health data to identify drug targets and corresponding drugs will inspire other scientists to take similar approaches in their own research.

Microglia are specialized immune cells that patrol our brains, seeking and responding to tissue damage and external threats like bacteria and viruses. Different types of microglial cells use different methods to keep the brain safe. Some may cause neuroinflammation—inflammation in the brain—to fight invaders or kickstart the repair process in damaged cells. Others may work to “eat” dangerous substances in the brain, and clean up damage and debris. However, during Alzheimer’s disease, new types of microglia can form that promote disease progression.

Proteins are so much more than nutrients in food. Virtually every reaction in the body that makes life possible involves this large group of molecules. And when things go wrong in our health, proteins are usually part of the problem.

In certain types of heart disease, for instance, the proteins in cardiac tissue, seen with high-resolution microscopy, are visibly disordered. Alex Dunn, professor of chemical engineering, describes proteins like the beams of a house: “We can see that in unhealthy heart muscle cells, all of those beams are out of place.”

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell, making the biochemical processes of life possible. These workhorses include enzymes, which bind to other molecules to speed up reactions, and antibodies that attach to viruses and prevent them from infecting cells.

Improvements in cancer prevention and screening have averted more deaths from five cancer types combined over the past 45 years than treatment advances, according to a modeling study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study, published Dec. 5, 2024, in JAMA Oncology, looked at deaths from breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer that were averted by the combination of prevention, screening, and treatment advances.

The researchers focused on these five cancers because they are among the most common causes of cancer deaths and strategies exist for their prevention, early detection, and/or treatment. In recent years, these five cancers have made up nearly half of all new cancer diagnoses and deaths.