PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

AI can predict certain forms of esophageal and stomach cancer

A new artificial intelligence tool accurately predicts certain forms of cancer at least three years prior to a diagnosis

2023-08-22
(Press-News.org) In the United States and other western countries, a form of esophageal and stomach cancer has risen dramatically over the last five decades. Rates of esophageal adenocarcinoma, or EAC, and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, or GCA, are both highly fatal.

However, Joel Rubenstein, M.D., M.S., a research scientist at the Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research and professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine, says that preventative measures can be a saving grace.

“Screening can identify pre-cancerous changes in patients, Barrett’s esophagus, which is sometimes diagnosed in individuals who have long-term gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD,” he said.

“When early detection occurs, patients can take additional steps to help prevent cancer.”

While current guidelines already consider screening in high-risk patients, Rubenstein notes that many providers are still unfamiliar with this recommendation.

“Many individuals who develop these types of cancer never had screening to begin with,” he said.

“But a new automated tool embedded in the electronic health record holds the potential to bridge the gap between provider awareness and patients who are at an increased risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma.”

Rubenstein and a team of researchers used a type of artificial intelligence to examine data regarding EAC and GCA rates in over 10 million U.S. veterans.

Their findings were published in Gastroenterology. 

Rubenstein and his team developed and tested the Kettles Esophageal and Cardia Adenocarcinoma predictioN tool, called K-ECAN for short.

“K-ECAN uses basic information already readily available in the EHR, like patient demographics, weight, previous diagnoses and routine laboratory results, to determine an individual’s risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma,” said Rubenstein.

“We developed a prior tool, M-BERET, over a decade ago for identifying patients with Barrett’s esophagus. However, that tool requires measuring patients’ hip and waist circumferences, which is not something that routinely occurs. In addition, providers must remember to use the corresponding website to calculate their patient’s risk when using this tool.”

To alleviate this burden, Rubenstein said that they “envisioned harnessing the large amount of data already present in the EHR, as well as presenting their patients’ risk to their providers at opportune times,” such as when an individual is due for a colorectal screening or refilling an acid reducing prescription medication.

According to Rubenstein, K-ECAN is more accurate than published guidelines or previously validated prediction tools and can “accurately predict cancer at least three years prior to a diagnosis.”

“Symptoms of GERD, like heartburn, are an important risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma,” he said.

“But most people with GERD symptoms will never develop esophageal adenocarcinoma and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma. In addition, roughly half of the patients with this form of cancer never experienced prior GERD symptoms at all. This makes K-ECAN particularly useful because it can identify people who are at elevated risk, regardless of whether they have GERD symptoms or not.”

Akbar Waljee, M.D., M.Sc., professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Internal Medicine and senior author on the study, adds that this research wouldn’t be possible without a collaborative effort.

“This publication, which leveraged invaluable data from millions of U.S. veterans, was made possible through the dedicated efforts of numerous staff members at our VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Innovation, as well as through collaborative partnerships between the VA Center for Clinical Management Research, Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan Department of Statistics, and members of U-M’s Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation and E-Health & Artificial Intelligence, or e-HAIL. This exemplifies the power of team science, data and machine learning to improve cancer prevention.”

Incorporating this artificial intelligence tool into the EHR could alert providers with an automated notification regarding which patients are at an increased risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma.

And Rubenstein says that this can significantly decrease the burden of these cancers

“Our devoted team was able to use sophisticated machine learning tools to develop this unique tool, and we are very excited that this could potentially lead to increased screening and a decrease in preventable deaths. We look forward to conducting additional work validating K-ECAN for use outside of the VA.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Cuproptosis-related MTF1 inhibits kidney renal clear cell carcinoma progression by suppressing proliferation and regulating immune cell infiltration

2023-08-22
https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/AMM-2023-0016 Announcing a new publication for Acta Materia Medica journal.  Cuproptosis is a newly identified specific form of programmed cell death. This study aims to identify cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in patients with kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) from the The Cancer Genome Atlas database and to evaluate CRG biological functions. Using lasso regression, four KIRC prognosis-associated CRGs were identified and an associated prognostic risk signature was constructed. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that patients with ...

Study finds high levels of exposure to the COVID-19 virus may reduce protection provided by vaccination and prior infection

2023-08-22
New Haven, Conn. — High levels of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19 may reduce or overcome the protection that vaccination and prior infection provides, according to a new study by researchers from Yale University, the University of Florida, and the Connecticut Department of Correction.  The findings, published Aug. 19 in Nature Communications, suggest that in densely crowded settings, control measures that reduce levels of exposure to the virus — such as masking, improved ventilation, and distancing — may afford additional benefit in preventing new infections among people who have been ...

AIAA recognizes Pitt’s Peyman Givi with prestigious Dryden Lecture in Research award

AIAA recognizes Pitt’s Peyman Givi with prestigious Dryden Lecture in Research award
2023-08-22
For his contributions to the aerospace community, Peyman Givi, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh, was selected to present the 2024 Dryden Lecture in Research, by the Honors and Awards Committee and the Board of Trustees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). According to AIAA, the Dryden Lectureship in Research, established in 1961, is one of the Institute’s most prestigious lectureships and emphasizes the importance ...

Osteoporosis: UAB-led study approved for a $13.9 million award to investigate prevention of bone fractures

Osteoporosis: UAB-led study approved for a $13.9 million award to investigate prevention of bone fractures
2023-08-22
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In osteoporosis, bones become brittle and fragile, putting them at high risk of fractures or breaks. These “fragility fractures” can cause pain, suffering, disability and even death, and patients have increased risks of repeat fractures. It is estimated that one in two women and up to one in four men experience a fracture in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. Can an augmented health care delivery pathway reduce the chances of those future fractures and improve outcomes that are important to patients? Two University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers ...

Remoteness did little to reduce COVID-19 spread to Amazonian Tsimané

Remoteness did little to reduce COVID-19 spread to Amazonian Tsimané
2023-08-22
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Indigenous peoples suffered disproportionately from the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing a lack of sovereignty, limited infrastructure and discrimination in local healthcare systems that make them particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Yet little research exists to guide interventions and public health efforts tailored to remote-living Indigenous populations during pandemics. In Bolivia, for example, a team of researchers including UC Santa Barbara’s Tom Kraft and Michael Gurven, and local collaborators, attempted to mitigate SARS-CoV-2’s impact on the ...

SQUID increases accessibility to single-cell tumor profiling to improve treatment outcomes

2023-08-22
To improve therapies for cancer and other diseases, researchers strive to identify tissue-specific therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers in every patient. Identifying specific targets and biomarkers can be achieved by analyzing the cellular composition of tumors at the single-cell level. Although tissue profiling technologies such as single-cell RNA and single-nuclei RNA sequencing provide cell-type-specific information at unprecedented resolution, their implementation has technical and financial challenges that prevent their widespread adoption in clinical settings. In this study published in Genome Biology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Ghent University ...

Drs. Ken Kellar and Ryan Hibbs win the 38th Annual Alton Ochsner Award

Drs. Ken Kellar and Ryan Hibbs win the 38th Annual Alton Ochsner Award
2023-08-22
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA  – Ochsner Health has announced the recipients of the 38th Annual Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease.  They are Ken J. Kellar, Ph.D, Professor of Pharmacology, Georgetown University Medical Center, and Ryan E. Hibbs, Ph.D., Professor of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego. This prestigious honor bestowed by Ochsner Health recognizes scientists who have made major contributions in understanding the relationship between smoking and disease, along with the development of innovative treatment modalities. The award is named in honor of Alton Ochsner, MD, the co-founder of the Ochsner ...

Optimizing tissue oxygenation in breast reduction surgery

2023-08-22
In the last few years, breast reduction procedures in the U.S. have become increasingly common. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, nearly 100,000 breast reduction procedures were performed in 2020. This procedure involves a high-tension T-Junction suture in which three incisions meet, forming the shape of a T. Larger breast reductions with longer incisions may have a higher risk of complications and wound healing problems at the T-Junction, which represent 13 to 39% of wound breakdown. It’s known that decreased blood flow to the wound, which then reduces the amount of oxygen to the area, promotes wound breakdown. Looking to improve ...

Why childhood adversity impacts how a person’s behavior is judged

2023-08-22
It’s human nature to be judgmental. But why do we place less blame on someone, or give more praise, if we find out that person had a history of suffering in childhood? In a recent study, University of Missouri researchers discovered why someone’s childhood adversity influences how others judge their behavior. The finding contributes to a growing body of evidence that suggests judgments of praise and blame are “asymmetrically sensitive” to certain types of information about someone’s life history, said Philip Robbins, associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy. “In the case of negative or anti-social behavior, we ...

nTIDE August 2023 Deeper Dive: Employment landscape shifts to near all-time highs for people with disabilities

nTIDE August 2023 Deeper Dive:  Employment landscape shifts to near all-time highs for people with disabilities
2023-08-22
East Hanover, August 22, 2023 — Since the COVID-19 pandemic, gains in the labor market for people with disabilities have been at near all-time highs. Expert speakers at last Friday’s nTIDE Deeper Dive Lunch & Learn Webinar provided results from an in-depth University of New Hampshire research study, which took a closer look at the unprecedented surge in employment-to-population ratio among most of the six disability subgroups identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Possible driving factors behind this employment transformation were also explored. nTIDE Deeper Dive Lunch & Learn Webinar is presented by Kessler Foundation ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The Lancet: Tens of thousands of children aged under five suffering acute malnutrition in Gaza, recent estimates suggest

Prostate testing may not target those most likely to benefit, warn experts

Global analysis shows hidden damage from men’s alcohol use

DRI recognizes Ashley Cornish as the 2025 Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award Winner for Women in Atmospheric Sciences

Unlocking the blueprint for a powerful plant-based drug

Bringing modern science to vitamin biology: Isha Jain wins NIH Transformative Research Award

University of Houston scientists learn that rare bacterium ‘plays dead’ to survive

Introduced animals change how island plants spread, new global study finds

Mayo Clinic researchers discover ‘traffic controller’ protein that protects DNA, and may help kill cancer cells

Protein sidekick exhibits dual roles in stress granule assembly and disassembly

New hope for MS

Kennesaw State professor receives grant to study cancer origins

Pain and antidepressant drug combo linked to increased seizure risk in older adults

Cancer researchers shape new strategies for immunotherapy

Physical exercise can ‘train’ the immune system

Calm red brocket deer can learn to "Come" and other commands - but the flightiest, most restless individuals struggle

China, the world's largest tea producer, is predicted to experience increases in land suitable for tea-growing under climate change, with the overall range shifting northwards, per AI modeling study

Composing crews for Mars missions

Early humans butchered elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones

1,000-year-old gut microbiome revealed for young man who lived in pre-Hispanic Mexico

Bears and pandas in captivity develop significantly different gut microbiomes compared to their wild counterparts, and giant pandas in particular have less diverse microbiomes than their wild counterp

Prenatal and postnatal support apps might not work

Dancing dust devils trace raging winds on Mars

Raging winds on Mars

Real-time biopsies uncover hidden response to glioblastoma therapy

Repeated brain tumor sampling uncovers treatment response in patients with glioblastoma

Novel immunotherapy combination destroys colorectal liver metastases

Farmed totoaba could curb poaching

Avalanches: user-carried safety device increases survival time fivefold

It’s all in your head: Select neurons in the brainstem may hold the key to treating chronic pain

[Press-News.org] AI can predict certain forms of esophageal and stomach cancer
A new artificial intelligence tool accurately predicts certain forms of cancer at least three years prior to a diagnosis