Fri, Apr 28 – Top 10 Medical News Stories!

1 – Automated Identification of Diabetic Retinopathy Using Deep Learning – Ophthalmology (free)

Source: Artificial Intelligence Shows Potential to Fight Blindness – NewsWise (free)

Related article: Development and Validation of a Deep Learning Algorithm for Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy in Retinal Fundus Photographs – JAMA (link to abstract -$ for full-text)

Another study showing an artificial intelligence-based algorithm can be used with high reliability to screen for diabetic retinopathy, with cases referred to an ophthalmologist for further evaluation and treatment.

See more about how doctors might be affected by artificial intelligence in our April 10 issue, see #8.

2 – Text and video: The riskiest vaccine? The one that is not given – Science (free) (RT @greg_folkers)

3 – Systematic review: Tobacco packaging design for reducing tobacco use – Cochrane Library (link to summary – $ for full-text)

News release: Standardised tobacco packaging: will banning branding cut down smoking? (free)

See also: Standardised cigarette packaging is on its way, but will it reduce smoking? – The Guardian (free)

New evidence finds standardized cigarette packaging may reduce the number of people who smoke.

4 – A better way to care for the dying – The Economist (free) (RT @EricTopol see Tweet)

“How the medical profession is starting to move beyond fighting death to easing it”.

5 – Normal-Weight Central Obesity and Risk for Mortality – Annals of Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: Waist circumference stronger predictor of death risk than BMI – Haelio (free) AND Forget Your BMI and Focus on This Measurement Instead – TIME (free) AND Central Obesity Ups Mortality Across BMI Range – Physician’s Briefing (free) AND Central obesity may increase mortality risk from cardiovascular disease – Cardiovascular Business (free) AND People with a normal BMI who carry weight around the middle at greatest risk of death – HealthCanal (free)

6 – Advil, Motrin and other NSAIDs painkillers should be prescription only, Danish study says – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (free) (RT @medpagetoday see Tweet)

Original article: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use is associated with increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a nationwide case–time–control study – European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (free)

See more commentaries on this study in our March 17 issue, see #5.

7 – Mortality risk during and after opioid substitution treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies – The BMJ (free)

Editorial: Opioid substitution treatment is linked to reduced risk of death in opioid use disorder – The BMJ (free)

Commentary: Opioid Substitution Therapy Associated with Reduced Mortality – Physician’s First Watch (free)

Opioid substitution treatment seems to be associated with decreased mortality.

8 – Viewpoint: Should we abandon routine blood tests? – The BMJ Opinion (free)

“The practice of ordering routine blood tests for patients attending hospital regardless of clinical need is wasteful and potentially damaging, argue three doctors”.

9 – Viewpoint: Universal health coverage, priority setting, and the human right to health – The Lancet (free registration required)

10 – Sepsis can send a child to the brink of death within hours. A new coalition of hospitals is fighting back – STAT News (free)