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

Amsterdam UMC is building models to enable greater use of AI in the health care system

2023-09-01
(Press-News.org) 80% of all patient data is unstructured. Notes from a conversation with a GP, the evaluation of a specialist in a university medical centre or even a recommendation from a pharmacist. While this 'unstructured’ data is no problem for the human eye, it presents an unsurmountable challenge to an AI-algorithm. One that is "preventing AI from reaching its full potential," in the view of Amsterdam UMC, Assistant Professor Iacer Calixto. To give AI the helping hand that it needs, Calixto is set to lead a project that will "tackle the important challenges that hinder its use in clinical practice,” thanks to funding from the NWO. 

"We need to devise methods that are human-centred and responsible by design if we want these methods to be implemented in practice," says Calixto. The project will build on Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques that already underpin the increasingly popular, ChatGPT. Currently, the unstructured nature of this data means that software such as ChatGPT cannot be easily used in the health care sector. However, the software itself offers plenty of opportunities for the sector. With promises to improve data entry, decision making and to free up crucial time that doctors and nurses can instead spend on patient care.  

Ensuring Privacy is Maintained  

"Protecting the privacy of our patients is a top priority at Amsterdam UMC, and that isn't different when we are developing, testing or using AI-algorithms," says Mat Daemen, vice-dean of Research at Amsterdam UMC. 

To ensure that AI can also be used in a safe way, this project will also address issues relating to privacy. By developing new 'synthetic' patient records, based around simulated information. These records mimic real patient records, in order to facilitate healthcare and research, while protecting the information of the 'real' patients.  

"One of the main bottlenecks of doing research in healthcare is access to high-quality data to train and validate machine learning models. Part of our project will generate synthetic patient records that include not only structured but also unstructured data such as free-text highlights from a consultation with a GP. These synthetic records, though not from real patients, can still be very useful to enable easier access to high-quality healthcare data for researchers and clinicians," says Calixto. 

Responsibly Dutch 

Another sticking point for the use of AI in the Dutch health sector, is a rather more self-evident one: language. Software such as ChatGPT are built on language databases, and these are predominantly in English. By building new models that are trained on Dutch medical records, the project will increase the reliability of existing tools as well as making them easier to use for professionals on the wards or in the treatment room.  

This is a bold project that will ensure the Amsterdam UMC is one of the forces driving innovation in healthcare with artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Results obtained in this project, for instance, synthetic patient records will benefit the entire Dutch healthcare ecosystem, including other hospitals and university medical centres, says Calixto. 

The responsibility of this AI project is not only limited to the important goal of maintaining patient privacy. The project will also seek to remove any aspects of discrimination and unfairness that may exist in existing AI models. For Daemen, this is an essential condition for the use of AI in Amsterdam UMC, and something that this project has at its core. "This project is an important addition to the efforts of many experts in Amsterdam UMC and in the Amsterdam region to introduce and use AI tools in a human centred and responsible way," he concludes.   

 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

FAIR data and inclusive science to enable clean energy

FAIR data and inclusive science to enable clean energy
2023-09-01
Fusion is the process of combining two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy. The Sun and all stars are powered through fusion, which makes it the universe's preferred method of producing energy. Recent breakthroughs in fusion research have led to the US government's Bold Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy and the remarkable growth of the global fusion industry. To accelerate the development of fusion-powered reactors on Earth, the US Department ...

COVID-19: Lessons from the Pandemic

COVID-19: Lessons from the Pandemic
2023-09-01
‘Let us remember the lessons of the coronavirus to usher in a new era on a global scale with different personal and collective behaviour so that everyone, not just a few, enjoys the dignified life that is their due. We have to remember that we cannot go back to “pre-COVID”. We have to keep in mind that the circumstances before the pandemic most likely contributed in some way to the situation as have had to live it. A radical change of course is indispensable and urgent…” ~Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Former Director-General of UNESCO and Former Member of the European Parliament. Where did COVID-19 originate? Prof Angus Dalgleish ...

OB/Gyn residency programs should offer more menopause training

OB/Gyn residency programs should offer more menopause training
2023-09-01
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Sept. 1, 2023) – A nationwide assessment of Obstetrics and Gynecology residency programs reveals the need for more training in how to provide the best care for women going through menopause, according to investigators at the Medical College of Georgia. “When you look at projections over the next few decades, by 2060, there will be around 90 million women in the US alone, who will be in the post-menopausal range,” says  Jennifer Allen, MD, associate professor and director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program ...

Deprived teens with poor learning skills at greatest risk from email scams, says expert

2023-09-01
Disadvantaged teenagers are at greater risk of email scams and need better protection, according to an international study published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Educational Studies.    Findings based on more than 170,000 students aged 15 show that one in five from low-income families or deprived areas could fall victim to phishing. This is much higher than the probability for the age group overall. Email scams leave people vulnerable to identity theft, putting young people at risk of financial fraud and having their savings stripped.     The most vulnerable are those who also have poor learning skills according to the data from 38 countries including ...

Metal organic framework nanosheets employed as ion carriers for self-optimized zinc anode

2023-09-01
Aqueous rechargeable zinc ion batteries are promising in electric grid storage due to their low cost and intrinsic safety. However, their practical implementation is hindered by poor reversibility of the zinc anode, primarily caused by the chaotic Zn deposition present as dendrite and side reactions. Recently, a research group led by Prof. YANG Weishen and Dr. ZHU Kaiyue from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has proposed a strategy of "ion ...

How little things can reduce hip fractures

How little things can reduce hip fractures
2023-09-01
Simple strategies to strengthen your bones, implemented by the whole community not just those at higher risk, could lead to a substantial decrease in hip fractures, a new Australian study suggests. A hip fracture, particularly in the elderly, dramatically increases the risk of death. Around 37 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women die within one year of a hip fracture. It also causes significant pain and suffering, loss of mobility and independence, and increased healthcare costs. Distinguished Professor Tuan Nguyen, ...

Heart transplant patients from socioeconomically distressed communities face higher mortality, organ failure risk

Heart transplant patients from socioeconomically distressed communities face higher mortality, organ failure risk
2023-09-01
FINDINGS People from socioeconomically distressed communities who underwent heart transplantation between 2004 and 2018 faced a 10% greater relative risk of experiencing graft failure and dying within five years compared to people from non-distressed communities. In addition, following implementation of the 2018 UNOS Heart Allocation policy, transplant recipients between 2018 and 2022 faced an approximately 20% increase in relative risk of dying or experiencing graft failure within three years compared with the pre-policy period. This is despite the ...

Striking gold with molecular mystery solution for potential clean energy

Striking gold with molecular mystery solution for potential clean energy
2023-09-01
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Hydrogen spillover is exactly what it sounds like. Small metal nanoparticles anchored on a thermally stable oxide, like silica, comprise a major class of catalysts, which are substances used to accelerate chemical reactions without being consumed themselves. The catalytic reaction usually occurs on the reactive — and expensive — metal, but on some catalysts, hydrogen atom-like equivalents literally spill from the metal to the oxide. These hydrogen-on-oxide species are called "hydrogen ...

Blood biomarker shows “great promise” predicting progression to Alzheimer’s disease in at-risk population

2023-09-01
DETROIT – Neuroscience researchers at Wayne State University published a review article that confirms the usefulness of neurofilament light (NfL) blood levels to predict the likelihood and rate of progression of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. Blood-based NfL is a minimally invasive and easily accessible biomarker, making it a useful clinical biomarker. Youjin Jung and Jessica Damoiseaux, Ph.D., analyzed existing literature to examine the association between serum or plasma NfL and ...

Redo transcatheter aortic valve replacement proven effective, safe

Redo transcatheter aortic valve replacement proven effective, safe
2023-09-01
Cedars-Sinai investigators are leaders in the innovation and use of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with balloon-expandable valves. They now show that redo TAVR procedures are both safe and effective when compared with situations in which patients with similar risk profiles undergo the same procedure for the first time.    The novel findings, published today in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet, are significant because recent randomized clinical trials have shown that TAVR is a meaningful treatment option for both younger and lower-risk surgical ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Osteoporosis treatment benefits people older than 80

Consuming more protein may protect patients taking anti-obesity drug from muscle loss

Thyroid treatment may improve gut health in people with hypothyroidism

Combination of obesity medication tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy fuels weight loss

High blood sugar may have a negative impact on men’s sexual health

Emotional health of parents tied to well-being of children with growth hormone deficiency

Oxytocin may reduce mood changes in women with disrupted sleep

Mouse study finds tirzepatide slowed obesity-associated breast cancer growth

CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury

Melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic ce

Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B Volume 15, Issue 7 Publishes

New research expands laser technology

Targeted radiation offers promise in patients with metastasized small cell lung cancer to the brain

A high clinically translatable strategy to anti-aging using hyaluronic acid and silk fibroin co-crosslinked hydrogels as dermal regenerative fillers

Mount Sinai researchers uncover differences in how males and females change their mind when reflecting on past mistakes

CTE and normal aging are difficult to distinguish, new study finds

Molecular arms race: How the genome defends itself against internal enemies

Tiny chip speeds up antibody mapping for faster vaccine design

KTU experts reveal why cultural heritage is important for community unity

More misfolded proteins than previously known may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia

“Too much going on”: Autistic adults overwhelmed by non-verbal social cues

What’s driving America’s deep freezes in a warming world?

A key role of brain protein in learning and memory is deciphered by scientists

Heart attacks don’t follow a Hollywood script

Erin M. Schuman wins 2026 Nakasone Award for discovery on neural synapse function and change during formation of memories

Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds

Power in numbers: Small group professional coaching reduces rates of physician burnout by nearly 30%

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR

New high-temperature stable dispersed particle gel for enhanced profile control in CCUS applications

[Press-News.org] Amsterdam UMC is building models to enable greater use of AI in the health care system