Happy Friday! It’s November 1st.
As we enter November, black bears burn an impressive 4,000 calories a day while hibernating—about as much as four full Thanksgiving meals. Living entirely off body fat, they lose up to 33% of their weight yet keep all their muscle and bone strength intact.
Nature’s way of sleeping strong!
Our picks for the week:
Featured Research: Why Emergency Rooms Are Missing Critical Suicide Clues in Children
Perspectives: Nurses Say AI in Hospitals Feels More Like Surveillance Than Support
Product Pipeline: TIME Names Sepsis ImmunoScore™ as Top Invention for AI-Enhanced Sepsis Prediction and Diagnosis
Policy & Ethics: One Year In: How the Biden-Harris Administration is Shaping Safe and Ethical AI Use
FEATURED RESEARCH
Why Emergency Rooms Are Missing Critical Suicide Clues in Children
A recent UCLA study shines a harsh light on the blind spots in our emergency rooms when it comes to detecting suicide risks in children and teens.
Using electronic health records from almost 3,000 young patients in Southern California, researchers found that standard detection methods frequently miss youth struggling with suicidal thoughts, especially among Black, Hispanic, male, and younger patients.
The gap in detection: Clinicians typically rely on a patient’s chief complaint or diagnostic codes. But these methods can’t catch the full picture.
For instance, only 59% of cases among children aged 6-9 were detected, with rates improving to 69% for ages 10-12 and 83% for older teens—but still leaving many at risk. Detection also lagged for Black and Hispanic youth compared to their White peers.
Often, underlying issues like depression or trauma are coded instead of suicidality, leaving a dangerous blind spot. Dr. Juliet Edgcomb, the study’s lead author, highlights the issue: “Suicide is transdiagnostic,” meaning it doesn’t always align neatly with any one diagnosis.
An AI-Driven Solution: By adding more data to their detection approach, like patient notes and lab results, the research team boosted accuracy significantly.
This advanced method closed detection gaps across age, race, and gender, bringing detection rates for Black and Hispanic youth closer to those of White youth.
With suicide rates rising—especially an 8% annual increase in preteen suicide deaths from 2008 to 2022—this is one tech upgrade our healthcare system can’t afford to ignore.
For more details: Full Article
Brain Booster
Which of the following mixtures is scientifically proven to effectively neutralize the smell of skunk spray?
Select the right answer! (See explanation below)
Opinion and Perspectives
AI IN HEALTHCARE
Nurses Say AI in Hospitals Feels More Like Surveillance Than Support
Some nurses see AI in hospitals as more surveillance than support. Jamie Brown, President of the Michigan Nurses Association, raised concerns at a recent U.S. Department of Labor hearing, saying, “Many of these technologies are marketed as tools to improve patient care, but in fact, they track the activities of healthcare workers like me and frequently violate our privacy and the privacy of our patients.”
Surveillance vs. support: While AI is billed as a way to enhance patient care, nurses argue it often feels like a way to monitor staff.
Brown explained that hospitals sometimes use AI to make staffing and care decisions focused more on cost-cutting than actual needs.
“The data collected is then being used by algorithmic management systems to make unreasonable and inaccurate decisions about patient care and staffing,” she noted.
Hospitals push back: The Michigan Health & Hospital Association disagrees, stating AI helps reduce nurse burnout by streamlining tasks, not replacing patient care.
They emphasize that AI should support the “human touch,” with a focus on safety and quality.
Calls for transparency: Union nurses have pushed for transparency on AI, but Brown insists it’s not enough. Hospitals “don’t always follow the rules and tell us,” she said, calling for clear guidance to protect both worker and patient privacy.
For more details: Full Article
Top Funded Startups
Product Pipeline
TOP INVENTION OF 2024
TIME Names Sepsis ImmunoScore™ as Top Invention for AI-Enhanced Sepsis Prediction and Diagnosis
The Sepsis ImmunoScore™ by Prenosis is an FDA-authorized AI-driven diagnostic tool that enhances the detection and management of sepsis, a severe and often fatal condition.
Recognized as one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2024, this tool leverages Prenosis’ Immunix™ platform and a vast biobank to predict and diagnose sepsis with high precision, empowering clinicians to make timely, data-informed decisions.
Through partnerships with over ten U.S. hospitals, the Sepsis ImmunoScore™ has demonstrated its potential to personalize treatment in acute care, aiming to significantly reduce sepsis-related mortality by improving diagnostic speed and accuracy.
For more details: Full Article
Policy and Ethics
AI POLICY
One Year In: How the Biden-Harris Administration is Shaping Safe and Ethical AI Use
In the year since President Biden’s AI-focused Executive Order, the administration has implemented over 100 actions prioritizing AI safety, security, and ethical use across sectors.
Key Achievements:
Safety and Security: Federal agencies mandated reporting from AI developers on safety testing and established the U.S. AI Safety Institute to assess high-stakes AI models.
Healthcare: HHS set transparency requirements for AI in health IT, addressing risks in predictive algorithms and enforcing anti-discrimination under the ACA.
Worker and Consumer Protections: The DOL issued AI workplace guidelines to protect workers’ rights, while the Department of Education advised on safe AI use in education.
Global Leadership: The U.S. led international efforts, passing a UN resolution on AI safety and joining Europe’s AI and Human Rights Convention.
This robust framework aims to responsibly harness AI while addressing privacy, security, and equity concerns across all sectors.
For more details: Full Article
Have a Great Weekend!
❤️ Help us create something you'll love—tell us what matters!
💬 We read all of your replies, comments, and questions.
👉 See you all next week! - Bauris
Trivia Answer: C) Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap
Tomato juice might seem like the go-to for skunk stink, but it only masks the smell temporarily. The true hero here? A magical mix of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap! This combo busts up the nasty sulfur compounds in skunk spray, actually eliminating the odor. Tomato juice just leaves you smelling like a skunky salad, but this mix makes you skunk-free!
How did we do this week?
ICYMI - Snapshot
💰 Funded Startups Full List
Dyania Health secured $10M to expand its AI-driven patient chart review tool, Synapsis, speeding clinical trial screening with top healthcare partners like Cleveland Clinic. [Link]
UK-based Scalpel AI raised €4.5M led by Mercia Ventures to expand globally, using computer vision to streamline surgical tool tracking and improve safety in healthcare logistics. [Link]
Aignostics, a Berlin-based AI startup, raised €31M in Series B funding to expand its pathology data analytics platform, supporting drug discovery and diagnostics with partners like Mayo Clinic and Bayer. [Link]
Accenture has invested in 1910 Genetics to accelerate AI-driven drug discovery for biopharma, leveraging 1910's AI and lab automation platform to enhance drug target identification, lower costs, and improve therapy development. [Link]
Vara secured $8.9M in Series B funding to expand its AI-driven breast cancer screening platform globally, aiming to improve detection rates and reduce false positives, with initiatives underway in emerging markets like India. [Link]
Osigu raised $25M, backed by Visa, to expand its AI-powered healthcare payment platform in Latin America, aiming to streamline real-time payments and enhance financial transparency for providers. [Link]
Pathos AI closed a $62M Series C round led by NEA to scale its AI-powered drug development platform and advance clinical-stage oncology therapeutics, reaching a $600M valuation. [Link]
Archon Biosciences raised $20M in seed funding led by Madrona Ventures to advance its computationally designed Antibody Cages, aimed at addressing challenging therapeutic targets. [Link]
Cornerstone AI raised an additional $5M led by Acrew Capital to expand its AI-driven healthcare data cleaning software, with co-founder Viraj Narayanan stepping in as CEO. [Link]
Alimetry raised $18M in Series A2 funding, led by GD1, to expand its FDA-approved gut health monitoring device that uses AI to analyze gastric data for diagnosing digestive disorders. [Link]
INBRAIN Neuroelectronics raised $50M to advance graphene-based brain-computer interfaces for neurological treatment, supported by partnerships with imec.xpand and Merck KGaA. [Link]
CredibleMind raised $7.5M in Series A funding led by Horizon Mutual Holdings to scale its AI-driven mental wellbeing platform, which currently serves over 30 million users across 100+ communities and major health plans. [Link]
Onc.AI received a $2M NCI grant to advance its AI tool for guiding treatment decisions in metastatic NSCLC. [Link]
Pharos raised $5M led by Felicis to scale its AI platform for automating hospital quality reporting and enhancing real-time patient safety insights. [Link]
⭐ Major Milestones
Insilico Medicine reached a milestone in its AI-driven collaboration with Sanofi, creating a first-in-class lead against an "undruggable" transcription factor target for oncology, with further projects underway and potential milestone payments totaling up to $1.2 billion. [Link]
Oracle Health’s AI-powered EHR platform, launching in 2025, will streamline clinical workflows, personalize care, and enhance data interoperability to drive better patient outcomes. [Link]
Helfie AI partnered with Microsoft to provide its AI-powered health assessment tools through the Azure Marketplace, enhancing access to mobile health diagnostics for Microsoft’s enterprise clients. [Link]
Invenio Imaging received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its AI-powered NIO® Lung Cancer Reveal, designed to aid physicians in evaluating bronchoscopic lung biopsies for early lung cancer detection. [Link]
CareYaya launched MedaCareLLM, an AI-powered smart glasses platform for dementia patients, featuring facial and object recognition to enhance independence, medication adherence, and reduce caregiver burden. [Link]
Quris-AI acquired Nortis to integrate its Kidney-on-Chip technology into its Bio-AI platform, enhancing drug safety and efficacy predictions to improve the drug development process. [Link]
The AMA approved a Category I CPT code for Cleerly’s AI-driven cardiac plaque analysis technology, facilitating broader adoption and reimbursement for this AI tool, which enhances heart disease diagnosis. [Link]
Abbott's TEAM-HF trial uses AI-driven monitoring to identify heart failure patients for early intervention, aiming to improve outcomes with advanced therapies. [Link]
BPGbio received FDA Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for BPM31510T, its investigational topical treatment for epidermolysis bullosa, marking the second such designation for its mitochondrial-focused BPM31510 franchise. [Link]
HeartLung Corporation received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for AutoChamber™, an AI tool that analyzes CT scans to detect hidden heart disease by flagging enlarged cardiac chambers, aiming to prevent late-stage heart failure and stroke through early intervention. [Link]
Philips secured a $25M DoD contract to enhance its AI-powered RATE algorithm, designed for early infection detection in military personnel to improve health monitoring and readiness. [Link]
