think of cancer—an umbrella term for a disease that varies according to the tumor’s location and cellular characteristics. Ian Adock of the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, studies the link between asthma and the environment. He and his team have been collecting biological samples from asthma patients’ blood, urine, and lung tissue and organizing the genetic and molecular markers he finds into subtypes of asthma. The hypothesis is that with that kind of knowledge, patients can be given the drug that works best for them.
AI might also help to manage asthma flares. For many patients, asthma gets worse as air pollution levels rise, as happened this past summer when brush fires swept through Northern California. AI could let us take environmental information and respond proactively. In 2015, researchers published a study showing they could predict the number of asthma-related emergency room visits to a Dallas–Fort Worth hospital. They pulled data from patient records, along with air pollution data from EPA sensors, Google searches, and tweets that used terms like “wheezing,” or “asthma.” The Google and Twitter data were tied to the user’s location data.
If I had this kind of data I could say, “Alexa, tell me which asthma patients I need to worry about today.” I could give a heads-up to the affected families. And if I also had some genetic data like Adock’s, I could diagnose asthma before the patient suffered three bouts of wheezing, by ordering blood tests and comparing the results against those molecular markers.
This kind of time-saving intelligence frees me to spend more time with my patients. One study showed that asthmatic children only took or received their inhaled medications about half of the time. AI might allow me more time to personally interact with those kids, and get better results.
Lots of questions lie ahead. Are patients willing to share more of their personal data with us? If the AI shows your care is better one way, but you or your doctor feel differently, will an insurance company accept it? What if the algorithm misses something or is applied incorrectly? Who is liable, the doctor or the machine’s maker?
Not long ago, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, I saw a colorful picture drawn by a child in crayon. It portrayed her pediatrician, eyes glued to the computer, while she sat on the exam table, looking wide-eyed. I hope that AI will soon allow me to turn my attention back to that little girl.
Article by: Rahul Parikh, a pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay area, US
Source: MIT Technology Review
AI might also help to manage asthma flares. For many patients, asthma gets worse as air pollution levels rise, as happened this past summer when brush fires swept through Northern California. AI could let us take environmental information and respond proactively. In 2015, researchers published a study showing they could predict the number of asthma-related emergency room visits to a Dallas–Fort Worth hospital. They pulled data from patient records, along with air pollution data from EPA sensors, Google searches, and tweets that used terms like “wheezing,” or “asthma.” The Google and Twitter data were tied to the user’s location data.
If I had this kind of data I could say, “Alexa, tell me which asthma patients I need to worry about today.” I could give a heads-up to the affected families. And if I also had some genetic data like Adock’s, I could diagnose asthma before the patient suffered three bouts of wheezing, by ordering blood tests and comparing the results against those molecular markers.
This kind of time-saving intelligence frees me to spend more time with my patients. One study showed that asthmatic children only took or received their inhaled medications about half of the time. AI might allow me more time to personally interact with those kids, and get better results.
Lots of questions lie ahead. Are patients willing to share more of their personal data with us? If the AI shows your care is better one way, but you or your doctor feel differently, will an insurance company accept it? What if the algorithm misses something or is applied incorrectly? Who is liable, the doctor or the machine’s maker?
Not long ago, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, I saw a colorful picture drawn by a child in crayon. It portrayed her pediatrician, eyes glued to the computer, while she sat on the exam table, looking wide-eyed. I hope that AI will soon allow me to turn my attention back to that little girl.
Article by: Rahul Parikh, a pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay area, US
Source: MIT Technology Review
ThinkPill Health & Medical Science Channel -By Dr Rupal
Several years ago Vinod Khosla, the Silicon Valley investor, wrote a provocative article titled “Do We Need Doctors or Algorithms?” Khosla argued that doctors were no match for artificial intelligence. Doctors banter with patients, gather a few symptoms, hunt…
Why aritificial intelligence cannot replace doctors
Wish u a happy and prosperous new year - Team ThinkPill
https://t.co/vKARNN6Ych
Venture Capital (VC) Investments in Indian HealthTech startups :
2016 - 163 million $
2017 - 343 million $
2018 - 510 million $
No. of rounds fell from 135 in 2016 & 130 in 2017 to 80 as on today !
Notable ones :
1. PharmEasy - raised $115 million
2. Fitness startup Curefit raising $100 million from IDG Ventures
3.Online pharmacy Netmeds securing a $35 million round led by Cambodian investor DPC Group.
Venture Capital (VC) Investments in Indian HealthTech startups :
2016 - 163 million $
2017 - 343 million $
2018 - 510 million $
No. of rounds fell from 135 in 2016 & 130 in 2017 to 80 as on today !
Notable ones :
1. PharmEasy - raised $115 million
2. Fitness startup Curefit raising $100 million from IDG Ventures
3.Online pharmacy Netmeds securing a $35 million round led by Cambodian investor DPC Group.
https://www.livemint.com/
Health-tech startup funding hits all-time high of $510 million in 2018
$510 million has been invested across 80 health-tech startups, led by PharmEasy, Curefit and Netmeds, amid rising focus on affordable healthcare in India