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Avatar-based app helps recognise heart attack symptoms

Agencies
June 11, 2018

Melbourne, Jun 11: Scientists have developed an app that uses a simulated digital nurse to teach patients how to recognise symptoms of heart attack and call emergency. Patients using the SAVE app are more likely to call an ambulance when they had symptoms and had fewer hospital admissions, researchers said.

“Most deaths from heart attacks occur within the first few hours of symptom onset,” said Jintana Tongpeth, a PhD student at Flinders University in Australia. “The death rate can be halved by getting patients to a hospital more quickly. Delays occur mainly because patients don’t recognise symptoms or know to call an ambulance,” said Tongpeth.

An avatar is a simulated digital character that interacts by talking and using facial expressions and body language. The SAVE app uses an avatar, a nurse named Cora, to teach heart attack warning signs and symptoms, and what to do when they occur. The app has four sections heart attack warning sign quiz; heart attack signs and symptoms, showing which symptoms are more common in men versus women; what to do when having a heart attack; heart attack warning signs test.

During the initial development phase, a pilot study in ten heart attack survivors found that using the app improved symptom recognition and knowledge about what to do. These results became the preliminary data for a larger, statistically powered randomised controlled trial.

On Monday, researchers present results of this first randomised controlled trial testing the impact of using the app on knowledge and response to heart attack symptoms. The trial randomly allocated 70 heart attack survivors to the app plus routine discharge information or routine discharge information alone (usual care group). App users received a tablet computer, with the app installed, to use at home for six months.

Knowledge of symptoms and appropriate responses was assessed in both groups at the start of the study and at six months. Ambulance use and hospitalisations during the six month period were recorded. When symptoms occurred, app users were significantly more likely to call an ambulance (89 per cent) compared to the usual care group (43 per cent).

During the six months, app users spent less time in a hospital for heart problems than patients in the usual care group (3.6 days versus 6.4 days on average, respectively). At the start of the study, patients in both groups had similar knowledge of heart attack symptoms and how to react. At six months, app users had significantly better knowledge of symptoms and how to react than those who received routine discharge information alone. Some 85 per cent of app users said Cora had increased their confidence in recognising heart attack symptoms and knowing how to react.

“Our study shows that patients using an avatar-based app are more likely to call emergency if they have heart attack symptoms and spend less time in hospital. A larger trial is needed to see if this translates into quicker treatment and increased survival,” said Tongpeth. “Nurses have limited time to provide discharge education and often encounter literacy and language barriers. This avatar app will be an essential tool to help overcome these difficulties. The pictures do not require patients to read, and we are translating the content so that Cora speaks 144 languages,” said Robyn Clark, a professor at Flinders University.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Washington, Aug 2: Children under the age of five have between 10 to 100 times greater levels of genetic material of the coronavirus in their noses compared to older children and adults, a study in JAMA Pediatrics said Thursday.

Its authors wrote this meant that young children might be important drivers of Covid-19 transmission within communities -- a suggestion at odds with the current prevailing narrative.

The paper comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump is pushing hard for schools and daycare to reopen in order to kickstart the economy.

Between March 23 and April 27, researchers carried out nasal swab tests on 145 Chicago patients with mild to moderate illness within one week of symptom onset.

The patients were divided into three groups: 46 children younger than five-years-old, 51 children aged five to 17 years, and 48 adults aged 18 to 65 years.

The team, led by Dr Taylor Heald-Sargent of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, observed, "a 10-fold to 100-fold greater amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract of young children."

15 countries with the highest number of cases, deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic

The authors added that a recent lab study had demonstrated that the more viral genetic material was present, the more infectious virus could be grown.

It has also previously been shown that children with high viral loads of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are more likely to spread the disease.

"Thus, young children can potentially be important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population," the authors wrote.

"Behavioral habits of young children and close quarters in school and daycare settings raise concern for SARS-CoV-2 amplification in this population as public health restrictions are eased," they concluded.

The new findings are at odds with the current view among health authorities that young children -- who, it has been well established, are far less likely to fall seriously ill from the virus -- don't spread it much to others either.

However, there has been fairly little research on the topic so far.

One recent study in South Korea found children aged 10 to 19 transmitted Covid-19 within households as much as adults, but children under nine transmitted the virus at lower rates.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Researchers have found the rates of lung cancer are higher in young women than men.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, examined lung cancer rates in young adults in 40 countries across five continents and uncovered a trend of higher lung cancer rates in women compared with men in recent years.

The emerging trend was widespread, affecting countries across varied geographic locations and income levels.

The changes appeared to be driven by a rising rate of adenocarcinoma lung cancer among women, said the study researchers from University of Calgary in Canada.

Lung cancer rates have been higher among men than women because men started smoking in large numbers earlier and smoked at higher rates; however, recent studies have reported converging lung cancer incidence rates between sexes.

Among men, age specific lung cancer incidence rates generally decreased in all countries, while in women the rates varied across countries with the trends in most countries stable or declining, albeit at a slower pace compared to those in men.

For the findings, lung and bronchial cancer cases between 30-64 age group from 1993-2012 were extracted from cancer incidence in five continents.

The study found the higher emerging rates of lung cancer in young women compared to young men.

According to the researchers, future studies are needed to identify reasons for the elevated incidence of lung cancer among young women.

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Agencies
February 11,2020

Using smartphone for long hours every day may do you more harm than you can probably think of. Researchers have found that spending a lot of time with the device and on social media may lead to mental distress and suicidality among adolescents.

The findings, published in the journal CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) contains guidance for physicians, parents and teachers on how to help teenagers manage smartphone and social media use for a healthy balance between sleep, academic work, social activity, interpersonal relationships and online activity.

"Physicians, teachers and families need to work together with youth to decrease possible harmful effects of smartphones and social media on their relationships, sense of self, sleep, academic performance, and emotional well-being," said lead author of the study Elia Abi-Jaoude from Toronto Western Hospital in Canada.

This review of evidence, led by the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), focuses on smartphone use and does not consider online gaming.

"For adolescents today, who have not known a world without social media, digital interactions are the norm, and the potential benefits of online access to productive mental health information -- including media literacy, creativity, self-expression, sense of belonging and civic engagement -- as well as low barriers to resources such as crisis lines and Internet-based talking therapies cannot be discounted," the authors wrote.

The researchers recommend that doctors should ask teenagers to reduce social media use rather than eradicate it completely and encourage parents to be part of the conversations.

Parents should discuss appropriate smartphone use with teenagers to determine together how to reduce risks and set boundaries.

A recent poll from the US indicates that 54 per cent of teenagers think they spend too much time on their smartphones and about half said they were cutting back on usage.

"Encouragingly, youth are increasingly recognising the negative impact of social media on their lives and starting to take steps to mitigate it," the authors wrote.

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