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Five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible Christie Aschwanden. Nature 2021 591:7851.

Even with vaccination efforts in full force, the theoretical threshold for vanquishing COVID-19 looks to be out of reach. Even with vaccination efforts in full force, the theoretical threshold for vanquishing COVID-19 looks to be out of reach.
Source: nature.com

Can ultrasound novices develop image acquisition skills after reviewing online ultrasound modules? Elaine Situ-LaCasse.

Background Point-of-care ultrasound is becoming a ubiquitous diagnostic tool, and there has been increasing interest to teach novice practitioners. One of the challenges is the scarcity of qualified instructors, and with COVID-19, another challenge is the difficulty with social distancing between learners...
Source: biomedcentral.com

Using GPT-2 to generate Tweets

blog post image Last summer I blogged about using a Deep Neural Network to generate tweets but only used 3200 of my tweets. Since then I've used Twitter's archive mechanism to retrieve ALL my tweets (just over 30,000) to train a network. Not any old network - the GPT-2 model from OpenAI. This 'finetuning' of an existing...

International dual and joint degrees to get green light

"India is set to greenlight dual and joint degrees awarded by Indian universities with international partners as part of its internationalisation plan being pushed through forcefully since its inclusion last year in the National Education Policy (NEP), a blueprint for the next decade." These dual and...
Source: universityworldnews.com

A Novel Convolutional Neural Network for the Diagnosis and Classification of Rosacea: Usability Study - PubMed JMIR medical

The findings of our study showed that by assessing clinical images, the CNN system in our study could identify rosacea with accuracy and precision comparable to that of an experienced dermatologist.
Source: nih.gov

Live music is back... behind a shop window

Musicians have been able to serenade New Yorkers from the inside of empty shops.
Source: bbc.co.uk

Why European vaccine suspensions could have unintended consequences

Europe’s difficult rollout of covid-19 shots took another blow over the weekend, as several countries halted deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid worries it could cause blood clots. On Monday Germany, Spain, Italy, and France were among those to suspend deployment of the vaccine, following similar...
Source: technologyreview.com

Validation of Claims-Based Algorithms to Identify Patients with Psoriasis - PubMed Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety.

Claims-based algorithms based on a combination of PsO diagnosis codes and dispensing for PsO-specific treatments had a moderate-to-high PPV. These algorithms can serve as a useful tool to identify patients with PsO in future real-world data pharmacoepidemiologic studies. This article is protected by...
Source: nih.gov

Andy Weber on rendering bioweapons obsolete & ending the new nuclear arms race

"COVID-19 has provided a vivid reminder of the power of biological threats. But the threat doesn’t come from natural sources alone. Weaponized contagious diseases — which were abandoned by the United States, but developed in large numbers by the Soviet Union, right up until its collapse — have...
Source: 80000hours.org

Cornwall: Home care issues for people in rural areas

More than 80 people in Cornwall currently have no council-funded care despite being eligible.
Source: bbc.com

US adult life expectancy falling for those without a college degree - Healthcare Economist


Source: healthcare-economist.com

A.I. In Healthcare, 2021: 8 Exciting Insights From The E-Book - The Medical Futurist

We strongly believe that only digital health can bring healthcare into the 21st century and make patients the point-of-care.
Source: medicalfuturist.com

Over 27,000 students share how colleges and universities could improve digital learning

"A Jisc survey of 27,069 higher and further education students reveals that most are pleased with their digital learning, but areas such as wellbeing, mental health and staff digital skills need more attention." Get the basics right (like college WiFi)Make learning sessions more interactive Record lessons...
Source: jisc.ac.uk

Opinion: The UK has a huge rubbish problem – but building new waste incinerators isn’t the answer

Some take waste directly from businesses, but the vast majority burn the contents of our wheelie bins – and around 12 per cent of that is plastic
Source: independent.co.uk

WHO's Ryan says some countries didn't hear early COVID-19 warning

Some countries should have listened more carefully when the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency in January 2020, Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, said on Monday.
Source: reuters.com

Government has no climate change plan - MPs

Two reports from MPs cast doubt on the government's approach to meeting its climate change goals.
Source: bbc.com

'Deepfake is the future of content creation'

Deepfake, or AI-generated videos, are increasingly being used commercially.
Source: bbc.com

Rashomon approach to medical education.

"The Rashomon approach was named after the 1950 film, Rashomon. In this film, a single event, a homicide is described from the different perspectives of the characters. In the Rashomon approach, teachers, like film directors, need to fully understand the big pictures so that they can engage characters = students...
Source: biomedcentral.com

Data-driven humanitarianism

An article from MIT Technology Review showing how the World Food Programme uses geospatial data that is developed and made 'open' to all by people within the areas being served. "It’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but its people are among the most vulnerable. Afghanistan’s snowy...
Source: technologyreview.com

IEA says global CO2 emissions rising again after nearly 6% fall last year

"Global carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 5.8% in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed economic activity, but they rebounded at the end of the year and are on course to rise further, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday." Whilst economic growth is sought to reduce national deficits following...
Source: reuters.com