BACKGROUND:Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) have historically used race-specific prediction equations. The recent American Thoracic Society guidelines recommend the use of a race-neutral approach in prediction equations. There are limited studies centering the opinions of practicing pulmonologists on the use of race in spirometry. Provider opinion will impact adoption of the new guideline. The aim of this study was to ascertain the beliefs of academic pulmonary and critical care providers regarding the use of race as a variable in spirometry prediction equations.METHODS:We report data from 151 open-ended responses from a voluntary, nationwide survey (distributed by the Association of Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine Program Directors) of academic pulmonary and critical care providers regarding the use of race in PFT prediction equations. Responses were coded using inductive and deductive methods, and a thematic content analysis was conducted.RESULTS:There was a balanced distribution of opinions among respondents supporting, opposing, or being unsure about the incorporation of race in spirometry prediction equations. Responses demonstrated a wide array of understanding related to the concept and definition of race and its relationship to physiology.CONCLUSIONS:There was no consensus among providers regarding the use of race in spirometry prediction equations. Concepts of race having biologic implications persist among pulmonary providers and will likely affect the uptake of the Global Lung Function Initiative per the American Thoracic Society guidelines.

ABSTRACTBackground: This analysis aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of eliciting sexual partners from HIV-positive clients using the elicitation box model (where an HIV-positive index can report sexual contacts on paper and insert in a box for a health care provider to contact at a later time) compared to the conventional model (in which a health care provider elicits sexual contacts directly from clients) in Akwa Ibom, Southern Nigeria.Methods: Between March 2021 and April 2022, data were collected from index testing registers at 4 health facilities with a high volume of HIV clients currently on treatment in 4 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State. Primary outcome analyzed was the elicitation ratio (number of partners elicited per HIV-index offered index testing services). Secondary outcomes were the index testing acceptance (index HIV-positive clients accepted index testing service), testing coverage (partners tested for HIV from a list of partners elicited from HIV-index accepted index testing services), testing yield (index partners identified HIV positive from index partners HIV-tested), and linkage rate (index partners identified HIV positive and linked to antiretroviral therapy).Results: Of the total 2,705 index clients offered index testing services, 91.9% accepted, with 2,043 and 439 indexes opting for conventional elicitation and elicitation box models, respectively. A total of 3,796 sexual contacts were elicited: 2,546 using the conventional model (elicitation ratio=1:1) and 1,250 using the elicitation box model (elicitation ratio=1:3). Testing coverage was significantly higher in the conventional compared to the elicitation box model (P<.001). However, there was no significant difference in the testing yield (P=.81) and linkage rate using the conventional compared to elicitation box models (P=.13).Conclusion: The implementation of the elicitation box model resulted in an increase in partner elicitation compared to the conventional model. Increasing the testing coverage by implementing the elicitation box model should be considered.

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that some dairy farm employees showed signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick. The CDC concluded that more bird flu testing of dairy farm employees is required. According to Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal... Continue Reading

Finished chips coming in from the foundry are subject to a battery of tests. For those destined for critical systems in cars, those tests are particularly extensive and can add 5 to 10 percent to the cost of a chip. But do you really need to do every single test?

Engineers at NXP have developed a machine-learning algorithm that learns the patterns of test results and figures out the subset of tests that are really needed and those that they could safely do without. The NXP engineers described the process at the IEEE International Test Conference in San Diego last week.

NXP makes a wide variety of chips with complex circuitry and advanced chip-making technology, including inverters for EV motors, audio chips for consumer electronics, and key-fob transponders to secure your car. These chips are tested with different signals at different voltages and at different temperatures in a test process called continue-on-fail. In that process, chips are tested in groups and are all subjected to the complete battery, even if some parts fail some of the tests along the way.

Chips were subject to between 41 and 164 tests, and the algorithm was able to recommend removing 42 to 74 percent of those tests.

“We have to ensure stringent quality requirements in the field, so we have to do a lot of testing,” says Mehul Shroff, an NXP Fellow who led the research. But with much of the actual production and packaging of chips outsourced to other companies, testing is one of the few knobs most chip companies can turn to control costs. “What we were trying to do here is come up with a way to reduce test cost in a way that was statistically rigorous and gave us good results without compromising field quality.”

A Test Recommender System

Shroff says the problem has certain similarities to the machine learning-based recommender systems used in e-commerce. “We took the concept from the retail world, where a data analyst can look at receipts and see what items people are buying together,” he says. “Instead of a transaction receipt, we have a unique part identifier and instead of the items that a consumer would purchase, we have a list of failing tests.”

The NXP algorithm then discovered which tests fail together. Of course, what’s at stake for whether a purchaser of bread will want to buy butter is quite different from whether a test of an automotive part at a particular temperature means other tests don’t need to be done. “We need to have 100 percent or near 100 percent certainty,” Shroff says. “We operate in a different space with respect to statistical rigor compared to the retail world, but it’s borrowing the same concept.”

As rigorous as the results are, Shroff says that they shouldn’t be relied upon on their own. You have to “make sure it makes sense from engineering perspective and that you can understand it in technical terms,” he says. “Only then, remove the test.”

Shroff and his colleagues analyzed data obtained from testing seven microcontrollers and applications processors built using advanced chipmaking processes. Depending on which chip was involved, they were subject to between 41 and 164 tests, and the algorithm was able to recommend removing 42 to 74 percent of those tests. Extending the analysis to data from other types of chips led to an even wider range of opportunities to trim testing.

The algorithm is a pilot project for now, and the NXP team is looking to expand it to a broader set of parts, reduce the computational overhead, and make it easier to use.

The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), under the Quality Council of India (QCI), has announced a collaborative effort with Man─Made Textile Research Association (MANTRA) in Surat to deliver a specialized technical training programme on medical textiles testing.

By fostering collaboration and seamless data integration into healthcare systems, the industry is laying the groundwork for a future in which “personalized medicine” is so commonplace within clinical practice that we will just start calling it “medicine.”

The post Driving Genetic Testing Adoption and Improved Patient Care through Health Data Intelligence appeared first on MedCity News.

About 1500 workers in Tamil Nadu state have been striking work for the past 11 days.

Once millions used it to find out about their family histories - this week it was almost delisted. What went wrong?

The once-popular general DNA-testing firm holds a trove of sensitive genetic data from its customers.

A new sensor system to determine cholesterol levels in the blood has been developed. h2 Cholesterol Testing System /h2 The system does not use protein compounds, namely enzymes.

Explore how the genetic testing industry is transforming healthcare through precision medicine ensuring patient privacy and data security.

14th National Conference of AIDS Society of India (ASI) demands the Indian government and over 50% of other countries to include HIV self-testing in their HIV response.

INVEX Health, a Mumbai-based company, has announced the upcoming launch of India's inaugural oral HIV self-test, marking a significant advancement in HIV testing accessibility.

Genetic testing industry is about to transform patient care with precision medicine providing a bunique opportunity to prevent disease, personalized treatment and healthy life /b.

I was literally confused to deployment testing services and testing scenarios, but thank to my one friend who advised me to use the computaris “top testing suite”. It was the...

If you make a list of some of the most important traps in testing, you will realize that in many cases the problems are nontechnical. More often than not, they are consequences of the test process itself,...

Social network X has so far limited its AI chatbot Grok (built by Elon Musk’s other company xAI) to its premium, paying users. However, the platform is seemingly preparing to open up the chatbot to free users. Over the weekend, several app researchers and users posted about a free version of Grok being made available […]

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Boasting a technology that can dramatically increase the capacity of existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing used to identify people infected with COVID-19 and other illnesses, ChromaCode has attracted new funding from Bill Gates-backed Adjuvant Capital.  “We want a good solution for a resource-limited environment,” says ChromaCode founder and executive chairman Alex Dickinson, a serial entrepreneur […]

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TikTok wants to determine its users’ appetite for mobile gaming with the launch of “mini-games” that can be played inside the social video app and discovered through creators’ videos. TechCrunch learned and has now confirmed TikTok’s new gaming pilot quietly launched just weeks ago with a variety of new partners, including game developers Vodoo, Nitro […]

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Early is a Tel Aviv-based startup that uses generative AI to generate unit tests, helping programmers catch potential bugs early in the development cycle. The company, which launched in August, today announced that it has raised a $5 million seed funding round led by Zeev Ventures, with participation from Dynamic Loop Capital. In its current […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Ahead of a possible sexual assault trial, Prince Andrew is preparing his defense as a private citizen after Buckingham Palace stripped him of royal titles. WSJ looks at how the queen’s second son’s financial situation could affect the legal battle. Photo: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

For years, Android phone makers like Xiaomi and OnePlus have been known to borrow design elements from Apple's iOS. Now, it seems Google itself might be dipping its toes into those waters. A New Look for Incoming Calls An APK teardown

Renault has started testing the new-generation Duster on Indian roads, with a launch anticipated in 2025. The test vehicle was heavily camouflaged, but certain features like the rear door handles and taillight design confirmed its identity. This model is expected to

Nissan Formula E Team completes pre-season testing in Madrid, focusing on new GEN3 Evo cars and strategies for the upcoming championship.

Twitter feature will soon expand to support multiple images, GIFs and videos.

Robotic exoskeletons have captivated us for years. They are major tropes in sci-fi movies and video games, and in real-life engineers have been working on them since the 1900s. San Francisco's Roam Robotics has entered into this space, and Brent Rose tries his hand at stress testing their latest military leg brace.

Tardigrades are microscopic animals so adaptable they can survive in some of the most extreme environments in the universe. Because of their durability, scientists are experimenting with them, trying to figure out just HOW much they can endure and what we can learn from it.

MacGruber is a master when it comes to getting the most out of objects, so who better to test multi-tool gadgets than Will Forte and Kristen Wiig? Peacock’s original comedy series, MACGRUBER, based on the iconic SNL parody sketch and cult-favorite 2010 film, is back! Starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, stream it now - only on Peacock

What if you could walk way faster without trying any harder? Moonwalkers basically put an electric moving sidewalk right under your feet. WIRED's Brent Rose has some questions: Are they real? Are they safe? Are they actually any good? Brent goes inside Shift Robotics's research and development lab to get some answers. Director: Wendi Jonassen Director of Photography: Jeff Smee Editor: Louville Moore Host: Brent Rose Talent: Dean Freitag, Xunjie Zhang Producer: Alexandria Coccia Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Melissa Cho Production Manager: Eric Martinez Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila Audio: Michael Ray Cam Op/Gaffer: Mike DiGuglielmo Production Assistant: Maria Bosetti Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

Treatment for six rare disease patients in Karnataka, under the Centre’s grant of ₹50 lakh each, was stopped recently because the funding limit had been reached. Afshan Yasmeen The Hindu speaks to patients and families and takes an overview of the treatment scenario

Written and directed by first-timer Clax, the Telugu dramedy ‘Bedurulanka 2012,’ starring Kartikeya Gummakonda and Neha Shetty, is an indie-spirited narrative that’s delightful in parts 

A fact sheet that describes cervical cancer screening, which includes the Pap test and HPV testing. The fact sheet includes information about cervical cancer screening guidelines.

A fact sheet about genetic testing for inherited cancer risk, including who should consider testing, how to understand test results, and who has access to a person’s test results. Also contains information about at-home, or direct-to-consumer, genetic tests.

National Bureau of Economic Research

National Bureau of Economic Research

National Bureau of Economic Research

National Bureau of Economic Research