USPSTF recommendation statement on screening for latent tuberculosis infection in adults

JAMA

2023-05-02

(Press-News.org) Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in populations at increased risk. Populations at increased risk for LTBI based on increased prevalence of active disease and increased risk of exposure include persons who were born in, or are former residents of, countries with high tuberculosis prevalence and persons who live in, or have lived in, high-risk congregate settings (e.g., homeless shelters or correctional facilities). The precise prevalence rate of LTBI in the U.S. is difficult to determine; however, estimated prevalence is about 5.0%, or up to 13 million persons. The USPSTF routinely makes recommendations about the effectiveness of preventive care services and this recommendation replaces and is consistent with its 2016 recommendation on LTBI screening.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4899)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Note: More information about the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, its process, and its recommendations can be found on the newsroom page of its website.

# # #

Media advisory: To contact the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, email the Media Coordinator at Newsroom@USPSTF.net or call 301-951-9203.

Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time and all USPSTF articles remain free indefinitely https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2023.4899?guestAccessKey=95faf0e7-5c1c-4a28-a2de-b275b6fef5bc&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=050223

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Classifying cancer cells to predict metastatic potential

2023-05-02

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2023 – Cancer cells that initiate metastasis, or the spread of the disease from its primary location, are different from cancer cells that stay in the original tumor. Distinguishing metastasis-initiating cell types can determine the severity of cancer and help medical practitioners decide on a course of treatment. In APL Machine Learning, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Texas Tech University developed a deep learning model to classify cancer cells by type. The tool requires only a simple microscope and a ...

COVID-19 Mortality by race and ethnicity in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas

2023-05-02

About The Study: This study found that most of the national decrease in racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality between the initial and Omicron waves was explained by increased mortality among non-Hispanic white adults and changes in the geographic spread of the pandemic. These findings suggest that despite media reports of a decline in disparities, there is a continued need to prioritize racial health equity in the pandemic response. Authors: Andrew C. Stokes, Ph.D., of the Boston University School of Public Health in Boston, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For ...

Anti-poverty programs may help reduce disparities in brain development and mental health symptoms in children

2023-05-02

States that provide stronger social safety nets have lower socioeconomic disparities in the brain development and mental health of children 9 to 11 years old, according to research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. The disparity in brain structure between children from high- versus low-income households was more than a third lower in states with greater cash assistance than in those offering less, and the disparity in mental health symptoms was reduced by nearly a half. The study, published in Nature Communications, ...

Ibogaine inspires new compounds to treat addiction, depression

2023-05-02

Scientists have developed two new drug candidates for potentially treating addiction and depression, modeled on the pharmacology of a traditional African psychedelic plant medicine called ibogaine. At very low doses, these new compounds were able to blunt symptoms of both conditions in mice. The findings, published on May 2 in Cell, took inspiration from ibogaine’s impact on the serotonin transporter (SERT), which is also the target of SSRI antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac). A team of scientists from UCSF, Yale and Duke universities virtually screened 200 million molecular structures to find ones that blocked SERT in the same way ...

AI helpful in triaging breast masses in low-resource areas

2023-05-02

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze breast mass images from low-cost portable ultrasound machines and accurately identify cancer, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This could prove useful for triage in low-resource settings. Breast lumps are often found accidentally, during breast self-exam or during a breast exam by a medical professional. Breast cancer screening can find cancers in the breast before the lump can be felt. While cancer screening has been the focus in Western countries, low- and middle-income ...

AI bias may impair radiologist accuracy on mammogram

2023-05-02

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Incorrect advice by an AI-based decision support system could seriously impair the performance of radiologists at every level of expertise when reading mammograms, according to a new study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Often touted as a “second set of eyes” for radiologists, AI-based mammographic support systems are one of the most promising applications for AI in radiology. As the technology expands, there are concerns that it may make radiologists susceptible to automation bias—the tendency of humans ...

Machine translation for cuneiform tablets

2023-05-02

An AI model has been developed to automatically translate Akkadian text written in cuneiform into English. Hundreds of thousands of clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, written in cuneiform and dating back as far as 3,400 BCE, have been found by archeologists, far more than could easily be translated by the limited number of experts who can read them. Shai Gordin and colleagues present a new machine learning model that can automatically translate Akkadian cuneiform into English. Two versions of the model were trained. One version translates the Akkadian from representations of the cuneiform signs in Latin ...

Climate reasoning, prior beliefs, and partisanship

2023-05-02

A popular explanation for climate denialism is that humans will adopt beliefs that accord with their political orientation, using their cognitive abilities to explain away identity-inconsistent information in a process called “motivated reasoning.” To test this hypothesis, Bence Bago and colleagues challenged volunteers’ ability to think rationally using time pressure and cognitive loads of varying intensity. The team recruited American participants from Lucid, a website that connects academics with online survey participant pools. The authors found that people who had the ability to deliberate free of cognitive load or time ...

SwRI, UTSA researchers develop new method to synthesize antimalarial drug

2023-05-02

SAN ANTONIO – May 2, 2023 - Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have developed a method to synthesize the highly potent antimalarial drug artemisinin, which could lead to a more cost-effective treatment for malaria. The work, recently featured on the cover of the scientific journal Organic Letters, was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as a grant from the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) program, a joint effort by SwRI and UTSA to enhance scientific collaboration between the two institutions. In 2021, 247 million cases of malaria led to 619,000 deaths worldwide. The most effective ...

ASBMB calls for better wages and benefits for postdocs

2023-05-02

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology sent recommendations to the National Institutes of Health on April 14 to improve working conditions for postdocs. The society recommended that the NIH: Ensure a livable wage, benefits, etc. for postdocs Require that principle investigators help postdocs craft a training plan Require that principal investigators complete mentor training programs Expand programs to create more academic staff scientist positions Collect data on postdoc career outcomes “Many of our members who run labs are struggling to recruit and retain qualified postdocs,” Sarina Neote, public affairs director ...

USPSTF recommendation statement on screening for latent tuberculosis infection in adults

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: