(Press-News.org) A study finds that a representative sample of people given wearable data collection devices provides more equitable and accurate health data than larger convenience samples of people who already own wearable devices. Leveraging the smartwatches and other data-logging wearables that people already have is a tempting way to gather data, but such groups overrepresent the wealthy, urban, White, and fit people who tend to buy these products. Ritika Chaturvedi and colleagues recruited 1,038 participants for American Life in Realtime (ALiR), a longitudinal health study that provided Fitbits and tablets to participants from the Understanding America Study, a probability sample of adults. Unlike typical convenience samples that underrepresent minorities, older adults, and lower-income groups, ALiR achieved broad demographic representation across race, education, and income levels. The authors compared COVID-19 detection models trained on ALiR data versus NIH's All of Us program, comprising 14,133 participants who already owned a wearable device. ALiR's model performed consistently across demographic subgroups, while the All of Us model showed 22–40% worse performance in older women and non-white populations. According to the authors, probability sampling and providing devices to participants removes participation barriers and creates a better data source, which could enable development of AI health tools that work equally well across all populations.
END
To get representative health data, researchers hand out fitbits
2025-10-07
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Hiring in high-growth firms: new study explores the timing of organizational changes
2025-10-07
High-growth firms (HGFs) refer to businesses that achieve rapid growth in terms of employees or revenue. Based on the established definition, HGFs are businesses with at least 10 employees and annual growth rates of 20% or more, observed over a period of three years. This three-year span is considered the high-growth (HG) period of the company. Even though this growth is often short-lived and difficult to sustain, it plays a significant role in driving economic dynamism. Hence, entrepreneurship-related research often focuses on the growth ...
Boosting work engagement through a simple smartphone diary
2025-10-07
Work engagement is a positive and persistent state of mind related to one’s work. It is characterized by high energy and mental resilience (vigor), enthusiasm and involvement (dedication), and complete concentration in the task at hand (absorption). Engaged workers are not merely more productive; they are more likely to be proactive, creative, and less susceptible to burnout. Most importantly, work engagement has been consistently linked to many health benefits and overall well-being.
Despite its relevance for both organizations and workers alike, there aren’t many scientifically proven ...
Climate change may create ‘ecological trap’ for species who can’t adapt
2025-10-07
CLEVELAND—Even as autumn days grow shorter, a warming climate means Ohio winters aren't as cold as they were just a few decades ago, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
This increasing mismatch between hours of daylight and temperature could spell trouble for animals that thrive by relying on seasonal cues to prepare their bodies for winter, according to new research from Case Western Reserve University.
Scientists studying gray tree frogs—a species that survives freezing temperatures by storing “antifreeze” compounds in their bodies—have discovered that these amphibians naturally begin to prepare for winter by responding ...
Scientists create ChatGPT-like AI model for neuroscience to build one of the most detailed mouse brain maps to date
2025-10-07
Seattle, WASH.—October 7, 2025—In a powerful fusion of AI and neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Allen Institute designed an AI model that has created one of the most detailed maps of the mouse brain to date, featuring 1,300 regions/subregions. This new map includes previously uncharted subregions of the brain, opening new avenues for neuroscience exploration. The findings were published today in Nature Communications. They offer an unprecedented level of detail and advance our understanding of the brain by allowing researchers ...
AI and omics unlock personalized drugs and RNA therapies for heart disease
2025-10-07
AI and omics unlock personalized drugs and RNA therapies for heart disease
AI, omics, and systems biology can now help scientists design targeted drugs for cardiovascular disease pathways once thought “untreatable.”
A new article published in Frontiers in Science says these tools could transform heart drug development and save lives—but that global, equitable health policy leadership is urgently needed.
Despite major advances in cardiovascular care, heart disease remains the world’s leading cause of death. This is partly because cardiovascular medicine still largely relies on broad-brush ...
2023 ocean heatwave ‘unprecedented but not unexpected’
2025-10-07
The June 2023 heatwave in northern European seas was “unprecedented but not unexpected”, new research shows.
During the heatwave, temperatures in the shallow seas around the UK (including the North Sea and Celtic Sea) reached 2.9°C above the June average for 16 days.
While unprecedented since observations began, the study warns that rapid climate change means there is now about a 10% chance of a marine heatwave of this scale occurring each year.
The June 2023 marine heatwave significantly disrupted phytoplankton blooms. Although its full impact ...
Johns Hopkins researchers develop AI to predict risk of US car crashes
2025-10-07
In a significant step towards improving road safety, Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed an A.I.-based based tool that can identify the risk factors contributing to car crashes across the United States and to accurately predict future incidents.
The tool, called SafeTraffic Copilot, aims to provide experts with both crash analyses and crash predictions to reduce the rising number of fatalities and injuries that happen on U.S. roads each year.
The work, led by Johns Hopkins ...
New drug combination offers hope for men with advanced prostate cancer
2025-10-07
A new drug combination could significantly delay the progression of a life-threatening form of prostate cancer in men with specific genetic mutations, finds a major international trial led by UCL researchers.
The Phase III AMPLITUDE trial, published in Nature Medicine, tested the addition of niraparib, a type of targeted cancer drug known as a PARP inhibitor1, to the standard treatment of abiraterone acetate and prednisone (AAP).2
The study focused on patients diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer where cells have spread to other parts of the body, who were starting their first ...
New discovery finds gene converts insulin-producing cells into blood-sugar boosters
2025-10-07
LOS ANGELES — Scientists at City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S., and a leading research center for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses, have uncovered a gene called SMOC1 that plays a surprising role in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) by converting pancreatic cells that normally produce insulin into those that increase blood sugar.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, identify an important new therapeutic target for T2D and ...
Powerful and precise multi-color lasers now fit on a single chip
2025-10-07
A few years ago, researchers in Michal Lipson’s lab noticed something remarkable.
They were working on a project to improve LiDAR, a technology that uses lightwaves to measure distance. The lab was designing high-power chips that could produce brighter beams of light.
“As we sent more and more power through the chip, we noticed that it was creating what we call a frequency comb,” says Andres Gil-Molina, a former postdoctoral researcher in Lipson’s lab.
A frequency comb is a special type of light that contains many colors lined up next to each other in an orderly pattern, kind of like ...