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Vitable Health

The saying that size does not matter may be applicable in graphene — this wonder material that, although measures only an atom thick, is changing the way we live with its amazing properties. Graphene is the thinnest material but has proven to be 200 times stronger than steel. Aside from its strength, it has versatile uses that serving as a conductor of heat and electricity to changing the way we build smoke detectors. This said, it is easy to point out why graphene is being tagged as a revolutionary of several industries. range from But as mankind gets more familiar with this material, here are just a few graphene-using innovations that have been going on and may see in the near future: 1. Unbreakable smartphone screens Today’s smartphone screens are made of indium. However, its extraction process causes environmental damages. Indium also lacks the properties that protect phone screens from cracking. This may soon change, thanks to graphene. Physicists from the University of Sussex in England graphene, a building block of graphite, can be more conductive than copper while being as flexible as rubber. Combining this with silver nanowires using spraying machines in tandem with patterned rollers creates a smartphone screen that would not crack. The combination, according to researchers, may be what is needed to make phones bendier. said As such, this may usher in not only an era of unbreakable mobile phones but also stretchable and bendable ones. 2. Better thermoregulation in shoes With graphene being an effective heat dissipator, some have thought of using it for footwear. One of the EU’s biggest research initiatives, Graphene Flagship, has partnered with Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy, and collaborated with FADEL, a leading Italian shoe company based in Tuscany. The joint effort is set to develop the so-called GET technology, which is designed to maintain freshness in footwear while regulating its heat. Using several layers of graphene, which is added to polyurethane on the soles, the new technology injects a bacteria-fighting element for the shoes. “We improved the thermal properties with a tiny amount of graphene (around 1 percent) which is significant in delivering a product whose cost is not significantly larger than before,” Vittorio Pellegrini, Director of IIT Graphene Labs and Chair of the Executive Board of the Graphene Flagship, was in Phys.org. quoted 3. Health-monitoring tattoo The University of Texas a way to monitor one’s health through just a tattoo that uses graphene. has developed Graphene’s electronic properties make it a viable health device that among others. With its ultra thinness, graphene makes for a perfect tattoo for this purpose instead of gold. The yellow metal is way thicker although it is used in similar devices for health monitoring. can function as a biometric checker, This resolves sensor health devices that are attached to the skin but require more stickiness or some gel to prevent from falling. With graphene-based tattoos’ capability to conform to human skin properties, monitoring would be more accurate and easy. Graphene research, in its infancy With all its functions, demand for graphene is expected to surge. Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the graphene industry to become a $125 million industry by 2020 due to a boost from uses in various sectors such as transportation, electronics, energy, and healthcare, among others. However, intensive research may still be needed to explore more ways how graphene can be used. The graphene production is still in its infancy today, which is stalling potential research developments. projects “Currently, research on graphene and graphene applications is in the order of billion dollars a year and growing steadily,” to ( , ) . Elcora Advanced Materials Corp. TSXV:ERA.V NASDAQ:ECORF said The limited availability of graphene produced highlights the need for quality control to come up with genuine graphene. Elcora’s vertically integrated Graphite Refiner and Graphene Producer help the firm assure quality production throughout the supply chain — from mining, refining and performing value-added manufacturing. Elcora, through its subsidiary Graphene Corp., ia at an advantage in the fast emerging graphene market. Graphene Corp. has a graphene facility in Canada that meets North America’s quality standards for laboratories. Its facility helps the company stay dedicated to graphene research and application development. This said, markets today will surely be on the lookout for graphene producers like Elcora who not only can fill in the global supply void but also produce quality graphene that can last in the long term.

How the great potential of graphene can improve the technologies we use daily

And why they should make a commitment to social responsibility from the start “Don’t be evil” — Google’s since 2001. unofficial slogan When I first heard that, I was around 12 years old, and I didn’t realize Google was a for-profit business. I naively saw it as an institution working for the good of society. That was before I understood that any functioning organization has to be sustained by a minimum amount of funding or revenue, and that usually requires a profitable business model to be in place. But what happens when of the business model detract from the socially beneficial motives, because side-effects profit is a higher priority for the company? With the rise of the the web and high-speed wireless internet connections, the limits of corporate growth for firms are now practically boundless, notwithstanding those bounds imposed by nature. Facebook has recently reached a standstill in user growth only because . But is Facebook’s mission of “connecting people” really a social mission with the goal of benefiting society, or is it a distraction — a clever alibi — for their own narcissistic profit-driven growth and expansion_? If recent events are any indication ( ,_ the answer is clear. Despite minor policy shifts and PR efforts to downplay the situation, Facebook’s irresponsibility — and that of other companies who follow its example — will only be exacerbated as long as we choose to sit back and do nothing about it. tech they have practically reached every single human on earth with a mobile internet connection 1 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ), Technology as a vehicle for profit Technology nowadays — regardless of if it has ever been — is inherently neutral in its impact on society, because its use is dominated by for-profit institutions, meaning that they will use it to further their corporate and financial motives over anything else. These corporations often have large R&D budgets, pushing the direction of new technological development in their favor. When it comes to academic research, it is often funded at least in part by corporations. And as for , if they have any significantly advanced or unique technology, they will likely get bought out by the larger, dominant corporations. The resulting trend is that tech companies become profitable for reasons that are unrelated to their efforts to benefit society, and use that profit to develop new technologies, contributing to their . not startups impenetrable market grasp and a lack of viable (and healthy) competition from smaller players in the field Society can no longer afford to support companies who prioritize profit over social responsibility. There is a concerning number of potentially dangerous technologies becoming available, with the rise of , and ; not to mention the threat of . Aside from government regulation, which is often , there is practically nothing to control the proliferation of such technologies. As a result, a company cannot be held accountable for any undesired future outcomes deepfakes weaponized drones targeted misinformation lacking and ineffective unless it can be proven that it tried to avoid them. This is why it’s time for tech companies to articulate their socially responsible mission from the start, and build the company with that in mind — rather than purely off the back of a technological innovation or a timely solution. This is not to say a startup should not leverage groundbreaking technology in its products or services. It’s rather pointing out the need for a crucial criterion in the vision statement of every new company — whether it be in the form of a knowledge transfer proposal or an addendum to a tech startup’s pitch deck to investors. Meanwhile, those on the investing side (stock traders, venture capitalists, startup accelerators, etc.) must take this factor into account as an essential element in every company they choose to invest in. In this way, the stakeholders (users and investors) of such companies can reasonably hold the latter responsible should there be any deviation from the intended socially responsible outcomes. Just as an investor typically would sell their shares after a period of low earnings, so they should when social impact is not made along the same principles as was expected when the investment was made. Social responsibility is not just for NGOs There is certainly a growing trend of companies doing just that; gaining traction purely from a social mission on top of effective technology. Twitter-style social platform , for example, provides several options for privacy of content posted to it’s decentralized platform, eliminating what it calls “corporate surveillance”. , meanwhile, offers an alternative search tool which prides itself on not tracking your personal information. Mastodon Duckduckgo If these companies are sign of things to come, we can expect that the current cycle of corporate growth and financial investments is bound to undergo a massive shift in priorities, and for the better. With such a paradigm change, new companies will be presented with new opportunities to develop products/services for social good without having to consider the profitability right away. Imagine the countless ideas that have been discarded simply because they could not independently generate enough revenue to sustain a business. It would be a better world if society were to reward (well-executed) positive intentions, as much as it rewards profitability. Socially responsible business models should not be limited only to non-profits and NGOs, but rather become normalized across all sectors and corporate entities. This shift will start to create alignment between that which is developed upon and that which is good for society. Business has always been at the intersection between technology and society — the world’s great economic powers arose . But what is so obvious on paper has become overlooked in practice, having been obscured by the mire of misguided political regulation, sensationalized-media, and naive-speculation. But now more than ever, it is urgent that we starting expecting corporations to act — first and foremost — in the interest of society, and if not, be subject to the invisible hand of decreased demand and eventual demise. in perfect correlation with their technological progress Nick Sukiennik is the founder of the Inflo Project , an initiative aimed at improving the transparency and reliability of content shared on social media.

Not being evil is not enough for tech companies anymore

Taking a detailed look at the recent upward trend of FDA approvals for medical devices that use Artificial Intelligence ( ) as well as looking at culture shifts with respect to AI and healthcare in other parts of the world such as the EU, China, UK and Canada AI 2018 was a defining year for medical devices that utilize artificial intelligent algorithms. Even though medical devices have been using ‘software algorithms’ to help assist clinicians, 2018 saw the first FDA approved medical device that uses artificial intelligence and doesn't require a clinician to interpret the input. The last 6 months have seen an increase in FDA approvals and we can expect to see even more approvals. Verbiage used in some of these FDA approvals include ‘ ’, analyzing radio-logical images using machine learning algorithms to detect and diagnose fractures ‘ ’ Using artificial intelligence algorithms, the device is able to determine whether a patient has referable retinopathy IDx-DR and ‘ ’. The verbiage is clearly encouraging as these offer another layer that can help clinicians with decision support. device provides triage or notification that is informed by machine learning, artificial intelligence or other image analysis algorithms tools Equally though there is also the fear that AI will replace e providers, for example Silicon Valley-investor said that machines will substitute 80 percent of doctors in the future in a healthcare scene driven by entrepreneurs, not medical professionals, or when , the godfather of neural networks said that it is ‘ ’. In fact, in May 2017 the Professor of Radiology and Biomedical informatics at Stanford University, mentioned how he received an email from one of his students saying he was thinking about going into radiology but did not know whether it is a viable profession anymore healthcar Vinod Khosla Professor Geoffrey Hinton quite obvious that we should stop training radiologists as image perception algorithms are very soon going to be demonstrably better than humans The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, asked JASON to consider how AI will shape the future of public health, community health, and health care delivery. is an independent group of elite scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology, mostly of a sensitive nature. JASON is a reference to Jason, the mythical Greek hero who was the leader of the Argonauts. JASON Jason of the Argonauts The report states that the design of future health care information systems revolve around questions that need to be answered, one concerned with computer science and the other with fundamental biology. two The computer science question is_, whether an entire medical database can be created and used with the data maintained in a form accessible to human cognition, avoiding the cumbersome and costly translation from analog to digital._ The fundamental biology question is whether the natural coding of information in a human brain is basically analog and not digital. One known fact is a mathematical theorem proved by Marian Pour-El and Ian Richards in 1978. The theorem states that analog computing is in a precise mathematical sense more powerful than digital computing. Pour-El and Richards display a number that is computable with a simple analog device but not computable with any digital device as defined by Alan Turing in his famous paper, “ ’’ in 1937. On Computable Numbers . Their discovery gives us reason to hope that a new generation of computers operating as analog devices may give us databases more user-friendly to us than our present-day digital databases The second fact, supporting the view that the human brain operates as an analog device, is our subjective experience of perception and memory. We experience the visual operation of our brains as a rapid and effortless scanning of pictures moving in space and time. To our subjective view, the brain appears to be primarily a device for the direct comparison of images. We see the images as whole scenes with shape and style, not as collections of pixels. Our perception of continuously moving images does not prove that our brain is an analog device, but it makes this a plausible hypothesis. The question is why now? The truth is there was already a lot of innovative focus on developing AI medical solutions (whether effective or not), but lacked support from effective approval processes. FDA approvals basically mean that you can get paid for services rendered. There has also been a large amount of investment for example Healthcare organizations surveyed by said they planned to invest an average of $32.4 million over the next five years on artificial intelligence. Optum A number of factors are responsible: firstly the was signed into law on December 13, 2016 and was designed to help accelerate medical product development and bring new innovations and advances to patients who need them faster and more efficiently. More specifically the Act specifically exempted certain software products from the definition of ‘medical device’. 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) Secondly, Scott Gottlieb became FDA commissioner in May 2017 and under his leadership the FDA has made fighting the crisis of opioid addiction a top priority, advanced initiatives on addressing drug pricing, banned the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes in tens of thousands of convenience stores and gas stations across the country and is expected to propose a ban on menthol in regular cigarettes. He was named “ ” by Time magazine and ranked No 6 by Fortune Magazine's annual survey of the “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2018. He also believes that machine learning can help advance healthcare. 50 People Transforming Healthcare in 2018 ‘ ’ Scott Gottlieb, M.D, FDA Commissioner One of the most promising digital health tools is Artificial Intelligence, particularly efforts that use machine learning. There have also been other notable non-AI based advances from the FDA this year such as the approval of 45 novel drugs and biologics which has been the most approved in more than 20 years. Clearly, the FDA is encouraging an environment of innovation. Equally important are the advances in the development of fast hardware Graphics Processor Units (GPUs) allowing for the training of much larger networks, the availability of large labeled datasets both of which have given rise to the ‘data-driven paradigm’ of Deep Learning (DL). Unlike previous eras of excitement over AI, the potential of AI advancement in health may make this era different because of the merging of the following three forces: 1) frustration with the legacy medical system, 2) ubiquity of networked smart devices in our society, 3) acclimation to convenience and at-home services like those provided through Amazon. But…what is Artificial Intelligence? Yes, this may be old news…but how does the US government describe AI? A report by the Executive Office of the President National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology stated that And will today’s artificial intelligence still be tomorrow’s artificial intelligence? As software becomes increasingly capable, tasks considered as requiring “intelligence” are often removed from the definition, for example, optical character recognition is usually excluded from ‘artificial intelligence’ has become routine technology. This phenomenon is known as the AI effect, which can be described using Tesler’s Theorem “ ” “There is no single definition of AI that is universally accepted by practitioners. Some define AI loosely as a computerized system that exhibits behavior that is commonly thought of as requiring intelligence.” AI is whatever hasn’t been done yet. What does the rest of the world think about health and AI? EU The EU is also introducing new regulations that will apply as of May 26, 2020, s. This means that AI software that currently is excluded from being regulated as software medical devices under the existing regulatory regime, because they do not provide a treatment recommendation, but only a prediction of risk to or predisposition of a disease, may in the future be reclassified as medical devices. regulations that contain additional provisions that specifically address software medical devices. Of particular relevance, software with a medical purpose of “prediction and prognosis” will fall within the scope of the Regulation The European Commission outlines a $24 billion (€20 billion) investment between 2018 and 2020, with the expectation that those funds will come from public and private entities INVESTMENT: China On August 31, 2017, the State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) released a new version of the “Medical Device Classification Catalog”, which came into effect on August 1, 2018. The original version of the catalog increased from 15 pages to more than 150 pages and the number of name examples increased six-fold to 6609, of which the proportion of medical imaging equipment increased significantly. . The CFDA has also added a specific category corresponding to artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis, which is embodied in the catalog of analysis and processing of medical images and pathological images China is investing at least $7 billion through 2030, including $2 billion for a research park in Beijing. The Chinese government foresees a $150 billion AI industry at that time. INVESTMENT: UK The UK government announced earlier this year that it plans to invest millions of pounds of government funding to develop AI that is able to diagnose cancer and chronic disease before symptoms have developed, potentially saving 20,000 lives each year. Prime Minister Theresa May challenged health charities, the National Health Service (NHS) and the AI sector to pool data in order to transform the diagnosis of chronic diseases. In response to Theresa May’s challenge Jane Rendall, Managing Director of NHS imaging technology partner Sectra UK & Ireland, said: “ ” The NHS has practically unused archives of millions of diagnostic images that could become one of the most powerful clinical data sets in the world if artificial intelligence is used effectively. Our health service has a wealth of imaging data that it can use to start teaching machines how to recognize parts of the human anatomy, and more importantly, how to recognize abnormalities. The UK government’s ‘ ' published in May 2018 listed the following mission: Use data, Artificial Intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases by 2030. Grand Challenge Policy Paper UK announced a deal between private and public groups that would bring more than $200 million of AI investment into the country INVESTMENT: Canada In 2018 Canada introduced the ‘ ’ initiative, Health Canada established a new division within the Therapeutic Products Directorate’s Medical Devices Bureau to allow for a more targeted pre-market review of digital health technologies, to adapt to rapidly changing technologies in digital health, and to respond to fast innovation cycles. The initiative focuses on a number of key areas including AI. Regulatory Review of Drugs and Devices The Canadian government has committed $125 million to AI research INVESTMENT: List of US healthcare companies that have FDA approved AI medical devices Companies that got FDA approval for AI algorithms in 2018 The Role of the FDA The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assures that patients and health care providers have timely and continued access to safe, effective, and high-quality medical devices. What is a medical device? A is any apparatus, appliance, software, material, or other article, whether used alone or in combination, including the software intended by its manufacturer to be used specifically for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes medical device Medical devices are classified into 3 classes based on the risk, Class I, Class II, or Class III, with Class I being the lowest risk and Class III the highest risk. 3% of devices are are not yet classified by the FDA. % Classification of FDA approved Devices (source: FDA.gov) The FDA regulates over different devices, which are manufactured by more than firms in more than medical device facilities worldwide. 190,000 18,000 21,000 Problems with the current process The FDA’s 510(k) approval process dates from 1976, The 510(k) pathway is the most commonly used premarket review process. In 2017, the FDA cleared 3,173 devices through the pathway, or 82 percent of all devices cleared or approved. Close to 20 percent of current 510(k) approvals are based on predicate devices that are more than 10 years old, a process that could be holding back medical device innovation. Under the 510(k) pathway, device manufacturers use comparative testing against predicate devices — devices already on the market — to show that a new device is as safe and effective as the predicate device. FDA Advances The FDA introduced the De Novo classification for new, novel devices whose type has previously not been classified. It’s for devices that would otherwise be classified into Class III, and provides a means to classify into Class I or II. The De Novo pathway provides a vehicle for establishing new predicates that can reflect modern standards for performance and safety and can serve as the basis for future clearances. As a result, we expect to see more developers take advantage of the De Novo pathway for novel devices. The future of AI in healthcare An Optum survey revealed that 91% of 500 US healthcare leaders said they expect to see a return on investment (ROI) for AI over the next few years. Hospital execs expect to see the ROI in four to five years, while health plans hope to see ROI in three years or less. 36% of respondents said they expect AI to improve patient experience, 33% think AI will decrease per-capita cost of care, and 31% believe AI will improve health outcomes. “Analytics isn’t the end, it’s the beginning — it’s what you do with the insights to drive care improvement and reduce administrative waste,” said Optum Enterprise Analytics SVP and COO Steve Griffiths. “For AI to successfully solve healthcare’s biggest challenges, organizations need to employ a unique combination of curated data, analytics and healthcare expertise.” Artificial intelligence in healthcare does present a whole new set of challenges around data privacy, security and ethics — challenges that are compounded by the fact that most algorithms need access to massive data sets for training and validation. These algorithms in some cases also ‘predict’ outcomes without the full knowledge of how the prediction was made. They are subject to bias and not fully transparent. This is leading to an emerging field of aims to create new AI methods that are accountable to human reasoning. explainable AI Balancing the risks and rewards of AI in healthcare will require collaborative effort from technology developers, regulators, end-users and consumers. Amrit Virdee Machine Learning Engineer | Health Informatics | Pharmacist | Mapping Medication. Some of my other posts: _Before any predictive ML models can be applied to a data set it is important to thoroughly understand the data. Using…_hackernoon.com Visualizing State Drug Utilization Data Sets _Experimenting with simple data augmentation parameters to get the best results_towardsdatascience.com Data Augmentation Experimentation References: _Source: Thinkstock - Healthcare organizations surveyed by Optum said they planned to invest an average of $32.4 million…_hitinfrastructure.com Healthcare Firms to Spend Average of $32M on Artificial Intelligence _In July, the Food and Drug Administration issued guidance on three topics important to the future of medical…_www.forbes.com Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, And The FDA _For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved marketing a medical device that uses artificial…_www.modernhealthcare.com FDA grants first approval to autonomous AI-powered medical device _Remarks by Scott Gottlieb, M.D.Commissioner of Food and DrugsAcademy Health's 2018 Health DatapaloozaWashington…_www.fda.gov Transforming FDA's Approach to Digital Health _Eighty years ago today, President Roosevelt signed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ("FD&C Act"). In…_www.healthlawadvisor.com 21st Century Cures Act | Health Law Advisor _Machines will replace 80 percent of doctors in a healthcare future that will be driven by entrepreneurs, not medical…_www.wired.co.uk Vinod Khosla: Machines will replace 80 percent of doctors _Hype and fears surround artificial intelligence taking jobs in healthcare. Will it render physicians obsolete? Will it…_medicalfuturist.com 5 Reasons Why Artificial Intelligence Won't Replace Physicians - The Medical Futurist _The UK government has announced plans to invest millions of pounds of government funding to develop AI that is able to…_thejournalofmhealth-com.cdn.ampproject.org UK to Invest Millions in Healthcare AI _The Industrial Strategy sets out Grand Challenges to put the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future. As…_www.gov.uk The Grand Challenge missions _The United States and China currently dominate the world of artificial intelligence, but used very different approaches…_qz.com AI is the new space race. Here's what the biggest countries are doing

AI & the FDA

When you think of hackers, do you picture a dimly-lit room with a computer desk in the corner and someone huddled over the keyboard wearing a ? Guy Fawkes mask This article will discuss the importance of information security in the healthcare industry — especially as it relates to emergency situations and the safe handling of patient data. Certified ethical hackers, by default, have a viable “in” with healthcare organizations in need of cybersecurity experts to safeguard their networks and information. Rather than being confined to dark basements and anonymous online chat room status, hackers are assuming a new, legitimate role in defending our computer networks from infiltration and sabotage. Let’s explore possible beneficial relationships between ethical hackers and healthcare organizations. Types of Hackers Some people may not realize that there are — in other words, not all hackers are created equal (so to speak). In addition to “black hat hackers,” the “bad” hackers who intend to inflict the maximum amount of damage upon the target, there are “white hat hackers” and “grey hat hackers.” The latter include “hacktivists” like members of Anonymous and intend to expose weaknesses — sometimes in exchange for meaningful action or political change. Lastly, “white hat hackers” offer to utilize their knowledge to help improve the safety of business and user data on that particular website. different types of hackers The threats that continue to hang over us are numerous as well, so it would help ensure the security of local and regional healthcare organizations, hospitals, and clinics to utilize the help of a knowledgeable and ethical white hat hacker — either in-house or contract-based. The cybersecurity threats that continue to exist include viruses, computer worms, and spyware, along with malicious hijackers, Trojan horses, and email schemes like ransomware and phishing. What’s at Stake? Beyond the obvious vulnerability at stake when personal patient data is exposed, it is also concerning that this type of medical data goes for a premium on the dark web and the black market for hackers and other identity thieves. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like a huge logical leap to suggest that public health could be at stake without sufficient cybersecurity in place to prevent healthcare-related system hacks. there should be increased scrutiny for emergency management — including IoT security, wearable device safety, and smart home IT defense. Many new innovations in emergency response are hackable in theory: smartphone access to 911, geographic information systems, intelligent street lamps, interoperable communications technology, and emergency communication apps. The University of Southern California argues The Bottom Line New healthcare technology, such as that utilized in (IoHT) gadgets, must be equipped with built-in security features, lest they be rendered useless to healthcare organizations, patients, and medical professionals. However, if properly secured, IoHT has the potential to both improve disease management and reduce healthcare costs in order to make healthcare more affordable to a wider demographic. Internet of Healthcare Things Cybersecurity professionals can break into the IoHT by appealing to both healthcare organizations and app or gadget developers and stressing the importance of data security to the efficacy of the IoHT industry. White hat hackers, especially, can lend important insight into the street value of EHRs and how hackers are likely to approach different technology. , three out of four hospitals lack a designated security person, which has forced them to “get creative” with filling their security needs. This lack of staffing seems to present a potential opportunity for cybersecurity specialists and ethical hackers. By marketing their services as a freelance contractor, they could potentially open the door to a full-time opportunity via networking or word-of-mouth. According to Healthcare IT News * * * Are you a cybersecurity expert or healthcare IT professional with firsthand experience in the medical world? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments section below.

Why Hospitals & Ethical Hackers Should Team Up

This year WHO issued its first on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health. The report is the result of 2 years of consultations held by a panel of experts. In 2020, Microsoft announced a five-year to combat healthcare challenges. But does it mean that AI is globally recognized as a viable disruptive force for healthcare? It does and it doesn’t. But more on that later. report $40 million program It is projected that by 2025, the AI healthcare market will increase to over U.S. dollars. That is a positive dynamic, considering the market of 1,4 billion in 2017. But how exactly can medical services benefit from intelligent systems? And what are the main limitations of AI in healthcare? 28 billion Let’s find out. No Longer A Science-Fiction From a historical perspective, AI has been around for quite a while. It was first described in 1950. Yet, it wasn’t until the early 2000s when limitations were overcome by the advent of deep learning and AI was widely accepted. By 2017, AI in medicine had transformed into the main industrial application of AI in terms of aggregate . equity funding And finally, the global artificial intelligence in healthcare market size was estimated at in 2020. But what caused the sudden spike in AI investments? $6.7 billion Here’s what has fast-forwarded the growth of the AI market in medicine: The pandemic-induced crisis distilled the need for digital and more accessible health services [1]; The influx of patient health-related ; digital data Growing healthcare ; spending Rising for personalized medicine; demand The increase in the prevalence of in an aging population. chronic diseases Hence, we can assume that intelligent systems were recognized as a new boundary for medical services. The current state of the AI market in healthcare demonstrates encouraging numbers: Over of practitioners feel that ML-powered processes could help the healthcare business resurface hidden or unattainable value. 93 percent For the healthcare industry, AI may , improve service delivery, and produce operational gains. improve patient outcomes AI technology has been in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and assisted in diagnosing virus strains. helpful Not a pipe dream anymore, I guess. Top Impacts of Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare From preventative care through enhanced medical decision-making to better patient outcomes, AI is becoming a part of our healthcare ecosystem. Let’s have a look at the most prominent use cases of artificial intelligence in medicine. Patient Prescreening Prescreening AI tools can add value even before patients visit medical facilities. Thus, intelligent algorithms can assist patients in self-monitoring and patients-at-home isolation, so that there is no rush and panic at clinics and hospitals. Today, prescreening boils down to standard questionnaires or online symptom checkers like WebMD. According to BMJ, these traditional pre-screening methods have a , while also inducing bias. wide range of accuracy On the contrary, extended AI-based functionality like voice recognition can ensure a more user-friendly experience than typical pre-screening questionnaires. Through machine learning, AI may also discover new patterns and detect patients' symptoms more correctly. A potential patient could describe symptoms through speech or text, just as they would to a doctor, thanks to natural language processing (where computers recognize text patterns). The patient and AI bot will exchange questions, replicating a real-life discussion between a doctor and a patient. Also, predictive analytics in healthcare helps to reduce patient admissions. In particular, it reduces preventable readmissions and predicts the possibility of developing a heart failure.[2] AI in Medical Imaging And Diagnostics According to the European Radiology Experimental’s poll, of global healthcare leaders project the impact of AI in monitoring and diagnosis to increase significantly. And there’s some good rationale behind it. more than half Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has gained momentum within the continuum of medical imaging and diagnostics, thus promoting higher accuracy for medical researchers and doctors. AI-enabled diagnostics r as well as shortens lab time and medical costs. eliminates human erro In particular, image recognition has the power to innovate medical diagnostics. Thus, medical imaging is the field that benefits the most from the adoption of smart systems. As such, medical imaging includes numerous radiological techniques. These may include: PET or positron emission tomography; CT or computed tomography; MRI or magnetic resonance imaging; Radiography, and others. AI can be used to discern advanced patterns in imaging data and yield quantitative analysis of radiographic characteristics. Thus, an AI-based technology developed by Lunit was employed in a undertaken by Korean academic hospitals to assist radiologists in mammography screenings. When radiologists applied AI, their accuracy jumped from 75.3 percent to 84.8 percent, according to the study. study Tumor delineation and treatment assessment are other widespread AI applications in radiation oncology. Drug Discovery Traditional drug discovery is a resource-consuming process that can go on for years. Thus, taking a drug from discovery to market can take up around and incur costs of over €2B. 10 to 12 years Luckily, artificial intelligence has gained traction in the drug research industry to ease the strain on the healthcare industry. According to MarketsandMarkets, AI in drug discovery accounts for a global market value of by 2024, up from $259 million in 2019. $1.434 billion Some of the flashy demonstrations of AI in biomedical research include the by Google’s AI subsidiary, DeepMind. It is said to yield computational predictions of protein structure that approach the quality of those provided by gold-standard experimental techniques such as X-ray crystallography. AlphaFold program In complex drug discovery, intelligent algorithms hold great potential to processes and make them more cost-effective, while also reducing the time a new drug requires to reach the patient. This superpower of artificial intelligence is attributed to its ability to comb through large datasets. The latter can include everything from clinical studies and scientific literature. accelerate research The algorithm then uncovers hidden patterns and relationships in data sets within mere seconds. Can manual efforts be on par with this speed? Sadly, no. Robot-assisted Surgery Once the protagonists of science fiction, robots have become a reality thanks to advanced AI capabilities. Today, robotic surgeries assist doctors in performing complex procedures with more precision and flexibility. For example, some robots guide surgeons when placing screws during spinal surgery.[3] Others simulate training and shadow surgeons during procedures that allow professionals to hone up their skills. However, the latter use case sparks up debates as robotics is cited as the . Wild West of surgical training Nevertheless, robotic surgery is an unseen generation of medical manipulation that aims to combine the strengths of technology and the human mind. Imagine a robot whose movements are controlled by a human. Isn’t it the dream of all sci-fi writers of the past? The proliferation of 5G networks is also carving out new possibilities for treatments using surgical robots. Thus, 5G facilitates remote surgery by instantly transmitting ultrahigh-resolution medical images of massive data size without delaying control signals. [4] This year, Kobe University, , and the Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo successfully performed a remote-surgery simulation using Docomo’s 5G network. Medicaroid Automated genome editing In 2020, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that advances in artificial intelligence and gene editing could accelerate the improvements of gene-based editing technologies. While we haven’t reached the equilibrium point in genome editing yet, the use of AI in this field bode well for identifying harmful genes and treating disease. stated Artificial neural networks are capable of identifying and revealing patterns in massive amounts of genetic data, thus detecting groups and sequences of genes associated with particular diseases. Also, machines can compute models to an individual’s odds of developing a condition, or where DNA might be changed to eradicate the disease. AI can also assess the impact of a gene mutation or evaluate possible treatments. predict Moreover, machine learning algorithms are also helpful in pinpointing where the alteration must be made and how to ensure the of the DNA strand afterward. proper repair Currently, artificial intelligence is used to boost the accuracy of a gene-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas. In particular, machine learning to predict the mutations that the tool is to introduce into the cells. helps Why Does It Take So Long Then? Although delivering clinical impact with AI is certainly promising, there are some clouds in the silver lining. Insufficient medical data is one of the challenges that await healthcare providers on the way to automation. Fragmented and unorganized health data haunts medicine and hampers effective training of AI algorithms. Healthcare data is often siloed in a wide range of medical imaging archival systems, , insurance databases, and others. Hence, this patchwork of information is hard to tie together. EHRs However, unified data formats like can augur better aggregation of data and enable automatic data retrieval from EHR. Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources Moreover, a complex web of ingrained economic factors and ethical pitfalls also slow down the widespread adoption of healthcare automation. And let’s not forget legal barriers like the absence of AI standards in healthcare and the inability to be used in resource-poor settings. The Final Word The possibilities of artificial intelligence stretch across industries. Healthcare is among those fields that are benefiting the most from increased automation and hands-free processes. Artificial intelligence has the potential to fundamentally change the entire world of medicine. It can transform the diagnostic system, facilitate the development of new drugs, improve the quality of medical services, and reduce costs. However, since we haven’t overcome a multitude of AI limitations yet, the greatest disruption is still ahead (but we’re certainly moving in the right direction). [1] Ting DSW, Carin L, Dzau V, Wong TY. Digital technology and COVID-19. 2020 Apr 27;26(4):459–461. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-0824-5. Nat Med. [2] Shameer K, Johnson KW, Yahi A, et al. PREDICTIVE MODELING OF HOSPITAL READMISSION RATES USING ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD-WIDE MACHINE LEARNING: A CASE-STUDY USING MOUNT SINAI HEART FAILURE COHORT. . 2017;22:276-287. doi:10.1142/9789813207813_0027 Pac Symp Biocomput [3] Hu, Xiaobang & Ohnmeiss, Donna & Lieberman, Isador. (2012). Robotic-assisted pedicle screw placement: Lessons learned from the first 102 patients. European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society. 22. 10.1007/s00586-012-2499-1. [4] Memos, Vasileios & Minopoulos, Georgios & Psannis, Kostas. (2019). The Impact of IoT and 5G Technology in Telesurgery: Benefits & Limitations.

AI In Healthcare: A Viably Disruptive Force, Or A Pipe Dream?

Are you planning to develop healthcare software? Or maybe you have an idea for a healthcare app and don’t know what to do next? This is a guide for startups and entrepreneurs that want to be a part of the health tech movement. Healthcare tech has to be customized from the very beginning. That’s why custom healthcare software development is the key to the successful launch of a product. What is custom healthcare software development? It’s all truly about . No matter how cliche that sounds. If you build an app for Parkinson’s patients, you simply cannot sit on the sofa and think about how it is to be a Parkinson’s patient. You have to talk to patients, meet with them, and get some constant feedback from them and their doctors. That is custom software development of a healthcare app in a nutshell. flexibility and adapting to users' needs Custom healthcare software development is also about , and finding a way to utilize them for the patient's sake. Hardware is a huge part of healthcare app development. researching the new technologies and hardware (For example: in this blog post I wrote for my own company, you can learn about five new in new ways.) bluetooth devices that are now assisting patients and doctors What is a perfect healthcare software development team? The healthcare software developers within the team should be mid and senior developers that have experience and understand the importance of their role in building the product that may help save lives. Healthcare software developers should: Have in software development. Mid and senior developers are must-haves. experience Be open to test not only their code but also the whole approach. Think forward and always try to and risk of the technical path that they are willing to choose. predict a possible outcome Be a part of , have worked on various projects together, and enjoy working with each other. the team of experts that know each other well Pay huge attention to . Healthcare software projects should include more time spending on QAs compared to regular software development processes. code review, testing and QA and ready to know more about hardware and new devices that enter the IT world every single day. Be flexible Stages of software development A typical software development process includes 4 main stages: Ideation Every software solution has to originate from the idea. Yet, the idea is just the beginning and it doesn’t guarantee a success. Prototyping This phase helps to verify the potential of an idea and visualize it. You establish your target groups and study their needs and expectations. Following the research results you build a prototype that helps to eliminate first mistakes and get feedback from first users. Building the MVP for healthcare MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the first minimal version of the product that includes only the most important features. MVP reduces time to market and enables receiving quick feedback from users. Eventually, MVP helps to effectively evolve the project. Software Development & Maintenance When you launch a health app, your adventure has really just begun. Now it’s time for constant development, adding new features, receiving feedback, and reacting to any bugs. Software development phases in health tech A typical flow for healthcare software development looks pretty similar to the one presented above. However, when you work on a healthcare solution and time-consuming. the prototyping phase is even more crucial It is the phase even if users don’t know how to name their needs. 😉 For healthcare, it is essential because you have to understand the condition of patients that you create a product for. Also, you need to establish a different approach for doctors, medical staff, or other healthcare representatives that may be a part of this project. It is rare that a healthcare solution has only one target group. Often you develop software for patients and doctors and every part of the product may be different for them. Features, UI and UX design should reflect the research of your target groups. Usually, the product will look completely different for doctors and patients. you have to turn users’ expectations into a prototype How much does it cost to build a healthcare application? When it comes to custom healthcare app development every part of the process has to be adjusted to the users and their needs. Therefore, the price of building an app cannot be established blindly. Customized development cannot be priced without receiving crucial information about the development process, such as: scale, target groups, expected skills and type of devices that are a part of the solution.

Developing a Healthtech App: Notes on Process and the People You'll Need

Healthcare impacts everyone. It only makes sense, then, that the workforce in this industry reflects the diversity of its patients. Unfortunately, diversity in healthcare has a long way to go. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices are important in every sector. In healthcare, though, the effects of this inclusion — or lack thereof — are more impactful than most. The Importance of Diversity in Healthcare According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), are white. Just 8.1% are Hispanic, and 6.1% are Black. That doesn’t reflect the demographics of the overall workforce, much less the diversity of these professionals’ patients. 48.8% of all resident doctors Improving those figures is about more than providing equal career opportunities for people of different backgrounds, though. The healthcare industry needs diversity because long-standing biases and the lingering effects of historical discrimination have led to uneven care standards. The medical system , slow their treatment, and be less likely to refer them to specialty services. Similar disparities arise with other demographic groups because of similar knowledge gaps and trends stemming from bias and discrimination throughout history. tends to underdiagnose Black patients A more diverse workforce could finally put an end to these trends. Black and female doctors are less likely to exhibit the same implicit biases against Black and female patients as white male doctors. How Technology Can Improve Diversity in Healthcare The path to a more diverse healthcare workforce isn’t an easy one, but technology can help. Here are a few ways medical organizations can use new tech to drive better DEI practices. Removing Bias and Barriers in Recruitment Healthcare diversity starts with more inclusive hiring. Artificial intelligence (AI) in several ways. can increase diversity in recruiting First, can parse applicants’ resumes to highlight ideal candidates without considering factors like name or gender, which could trigger innate human biases. It can even scan job sites to find professionals who haven’t applied but show potential. That way, healthcare organizations can access a wider, more diverse talent pool than they would with manual processes. AI AI can also promote diversity by looking past traditional qualifications. People from historically discriminated groups may lack the same education or experience as others, stopping them from catching human recruiters’ eyes. AI recruiting algorithms can consider a wider range of factors, searching for potential rather than experience to enable more inclusive hiring. Enabling Remote Collaboration Technology can also promote diversity by making it easier to work with people from different areas. Telehealth platforms, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and similar innovations let medical professionals collaborate despite physical distance. As a result, hospitals can gain a global workforce without anyone needing to move. Many organizations lack diversity because their local talent pools aren’t diverse. If people from other cities, states, or even countries can work for these companies, it removes that barrier. This shift to remote and hybrid work similarly expands employment options for underrepresented groups. Not every job in healthcare is possible to do remotely. Still, can do at least some of their work remotely, only slightly below the average for all jobs. As innovations like remote-controlled surgery robots become more common, remote work will become more viable, too. 45% of healthcare professionals Personalizing Training Programs Healthcare organizations must also rethink their onboarding and training to boost diversity. Technology can help by tailoring career development programs to each worker’s unique needs. Diverse hiring means accepting some employees who don’t have the same level of experience, thanks to historical barriers. For example, just are women, creating a cycle where hospitals promote or hire more men for their leadership experience. The answer to this issue is to raise expertise from within, and personalized training enables that. 13% of radiology leaders AI can restructure training programs to better suit employees' education, skillset, and experience. Similar tools can adapt career development resources as employees gain new skills. This personalization enables faster learning, leading women and minorities to achieve needed expertise in less time. Empowering Employee Feedback Fostering diversity is also about making fair and equitable workplaces so employees of different backgrounds feel safe and respected. Technology enables this equity by making it easier for medical professionals to voice their opinions. Cloud platforms provide ideal tools for gathering and analyzing employee feedback. Employees can comfortably fill out forms while staying anonymous, removing the fear of consequences for being honest. On the management side, these tools can aggregate and visualize this data so leaders understand it better. When more workers express their views and management can see them more clearly, it’s easier to know how the organization must change. More than who’ve left a position recently cite feeling disrespected as a reason why. Fostering more communication through technology fights those feelings and shows employees their leaders care about them. half of all employees Tracking Diversity and Inclusion Goals After implementing employee-recommended changes, hospitals can track their impact with data analytics. Ongoing monitoring , as it reveals how impactful these changes are. is essential for effective DEI initiatives Cloud solutions can combine data from across workflows and employee feedback to provide a single point of view for the entire organization’s DEI. AI can go further and comb through this information to pull actionable insights. It’ll be easier for healthcare leaders to see which changes were effective and what tweaks are necessary. Over time, predictive analytics could judge the efficacy of potential changes to inform better decision-making. Healthcare organizations could improve their DEI with less trial and error as a result. As they become fairer workplaces, they’ll also attract more diverse talent. New Tech Could Be the Gateway to Greater Healthcare DEI It will take time for the healthcare industry to foster the diversity it needs. As long and challenging as that road may be, it’d be a lot harder without modern technology. AI, cloud computing, IoT and similar innovations pave the way for more effective DEI programs. These changes are beneficial anywhere, but in healthcare, they save lives. As healthcare organizations embrace this technology, they’ll become more diverse and inclusive in less time with less struggle. Quality of care for all people groups will rise as a result.

Why Diversity Matters in Healthcare — And How Technology Can Help

স্বাস্থ্যসেবাতে বৈচিত্র্য কেন গুরুত্বপূর্ণ - এবং কীভাবে প্রযুক্তি সাহায্য করতে পারে

Warum Vielfalt im Gesundheitswesen wichtig ist – und wie Technologie helfen kann

Por qué es importante la diversidad en la atención sanitaria y cómo puede ayudar la tecnología

Pourquoi la diversité est importante dans le domaine des soins de santé – et comment la technologie peut aider

स्वास्थ्य देखभाल में विविधता क्यों मायने रखती है - और प्रौद्योगिकी कैसे मदद कर सकती है

医療において多様性が重要な理由 — そしてテクノロジーがどのように役立つのか

의료 분야에서 다양성이 중요한 이유와 기술이 어떻게 도움이 될 수 있습니까?

Por que a diversidade é importante na área da saúde – e como a tecnologia pode ajudar

Почему разнообразие имеет значение в здравоохранении и как технологии могут помочь

Sağlık Hizmetinde Çeşitlilik Neden Önemlidir ve Teknoloji Nasıl Yardımcı Olabilir?

Tại sao sự đa dạng lại quan trọng trong chăm sóc sức khỏe - Và công nghệ có thể trợ giúp như thế nào

为什么多元化在医疗保健领域很重要——以及技术如何提供帮助

Depression to Dopamine hits are the new issues taking over globally. Fantasizing the tech evolution has got us all overwhelmed. We loved the shift from Radios and Televisions to Mobile Phones and Laptops to now everything immersive, didn’t we? A globally iconic step-up of Metaverse, indeed. But, then, what about the shifts in our mental health? This is something that is hovering all over our heads within certain intervals and sometimes even during peak hours in the middle of the night, right? Well, we for sure liked the in-person social meet-ups back in the day before the deadly pandemic hit, right? But, it is scientifically proven that change is the only constant that leads to credible human development. And, of course, the demonic change in the face of a global epidemic was nothing less than a traumatic hit that hit us hard in the face (okay, not in the face but in the head) and brought us all down to a dark and depressive space in life. And all that helped us survive and pick ourselves up was the online space and community that hit the throttle. A community built online to spice up our lives in this , gathering up virtually with the folks that are alike, it was something god-sent and more like the only recourse. As humans, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Wasn’t it? metaverse So, is it about time we claim the mighty contribution of Metaverse? Is this Metaverse space actually the happy space that helped us deal with the after-effects of depressive episodes post-pandemic? Or is it finally the modern age recourse for the hospitals to brush off isolation and chronic mental diseases? Is the Metaverse Actually Fixing Mental Health Issues? Technology is constantly proven to be a Swiss army knife. It has helped and assisted humans in revamping and making their lives easier to their full capacity. And the same goes for the Metaverse. It is the next generation of everything, life, the internet, everything. We’ll tell you why. In the cringe-closed spaces of your house, where you were trapped 24/7, it was the internet space that helped you get that long-lost dash of entertainment and wholesomeness that you were in dire need of, right? Imagine the same pandemic, the same lockdown but no internet, no place to connect to with your folks, no online meets. This is the stage where a human mind will demand innovation, an escape, or maybe both. Labeling things & being adamant about it has been an old vice of humans. And painting a picture of Tech being harmful & causing mental illness resulting from addiction can literally cost us. And cost us a lot. Reports by the WHO states 280 million people globally suffer from depression. And this is no joke; experts estimate a high rise in this influx. And the number of folks opting for online therapy is growing with each passing year. From the zapped-up space of people not aware of their mental problems to now, people actively opting for therapy has a lot to do with . Help is non-negotiable, but the fuzz once created by tagging to the alternate approach of ’ has been a no-brainer. Thanks to the Metaverse. It created an online community of folks who share their interests, seek the best help and voice out their vices. online space created at the core by Metaverse ‘Seeking Help makes you weak’ ‘Ask for help, Therapy is a Must Metaverse paddles the mental health situation all along, but control is a human hot take. Now, you’d think, why do we say this? Overuse of anything is unviable and triggering. And projecting the use or implication of technology as Addictive, Negative, and Mentally harmful is a losing bet. And, if we take it too far and overconsume technology, we are not to blame and tag it as ‘Harmful.’ In hindsight, it’s quite lucrative how the Metaverse is a contributor to better mental health & how it makes it easy & happy-go-lucky for humans. How is Metaverse Helping Humans to Cope Mentally? It does not happen for us very often when we are actually on the same page as Zuckerberg. But, on this, we have to give it to him. After all, giving credit where it’s due is a rule, right? So, it is high time we acknowledge the perks that technology--specifically the Metaverse--brings. Plus, it’s actually too late even to address how the Metaverse has been powering up mental health for humans all around in many ways. The that brings together multiple digital platforms and spaces into the physical world to let the users sync in on a real-time basis. Well, an extension of this new age genre is AR/VR mobile/web apps or smart apps. And the experts suggest the core application of Metaverse in boosting mental health and steering one towards apt mental health situations is a viable move. Plus, there are attributes of the Metaverse which resonate with its potency & contribution to mental health. Metaverse is an immersive multi-dimensional virtual space Socially connecting and creating a community where you find resonance and acceptance is brought up by the metaverse. The stigma of social isolation is overturned by Metaverse via creating an online social space that normalizes extremes like anxiety and depression. A safe spot where roof-topping social anxiety levels are not shooed off. Connection: Metaverse rightly strikes the balance. It equips you with the feature where you can turn off the real-world shenanigans and switch to the personalized safe spot of the VR-based world. This leverage of autonomy helps the users with mental health management. Break-Lose Autonomy: With the Metaverse, you are in control of your mental health. Now, we say this because the Metaverse hands you over a bandwidth of access to the required therapy. Metaverse provides the flexibility of accessing therapy on the spot downplaying the manual hour-oriented therapy sessions. A major help for therapy seekers. Therapy Throttle: This is the ‘Bare Minimum’ from on-demand therapy to socially active communities. There is a lot that is yet to be dug in, and it has nothing to do with deteriorating mental health. Will Metaverse Continue to Augment Mental Health in the Future? Right from virtually helping the users to cope with anxiety attacks and hyper depression on a digital platform plus making therapy accessible on demand was a Metaverse pitch in. So, It is imperative that the digital health support by Metaverse is going to paddle shift in a wider help space for the humans suffering.  Also, the research states that there is more that the Metaverse is going to bring. Advancements like & VR therapy sessions by experts are something that prominent VR development companies are onto to pitch in at full capacity in the years to come. VR immersive health games A coin has two sides, and we are on the side which advocates the potential of Metaverse in amping up mental health. Considering the net positive attributes of the Metaverse, it has a higher stage of takeaways that can shoot off depression dips and deal with dopamine dynamicity. Metaverse as a mental health remedy in current times and for the years to come is a no-brainer. And further, its application and reliance will grow by leaps and bounds.

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