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The rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and large language models has brought new transformations to clinical medical practice. Both domestically and internationally, research and practical exploration of intelligent general practitioners have begun, but a consensus has yet to be formed. Against this backdrop, experts and scholars from Tsinghua University Vanke School of Public Health, Peking University School of Public Health, Chinese Association of General Practitioners of Chinese Medical Doctor Association and several other domestic institutions collaboratively developed a consensus. The background of these experts spans multiple disciplines, including general medicine, public health, artificial intelligence, and evidence-based medicine. Based on extensive literature review both domestically and internationally and through multiple rounds of expert discussions, the Chinese Expert Consensus on Artificial Intelligent General Practitioner (AIGP) was finally formulated. It includes 17 core consensus concerning the definition, characteristics, applications, challenges and recommendations of AIGP. This consensus aims to provide scientific references to promote the empowerment of general practitioners with intelligent technology and enhance the smart service level of primary healthcare.

The annual ConV2X is a leading international health tech symposium driving real world evidence, strategy, research, operations and trends to create a blueprint for a new digital health era. The 2021 symposium featured a scientific program of academic/research presentations in addition to business and industry talks. The research track focused on exploring and sharing developments in blockchain and emerging technologies in health and clinical medicine. Submissions were based on original research, conceptual frameworks, proposed applications, position papers, case studies, and real-world implementation. Selection was based on a peer-review process. Faculty, students, and industry researchers were encouraged to submit abstracts to present ideas before an informed and knowledgeable audience of industry leaders, policy makers, funders, and researchers. This presentation was selected by the scientific review committee. Submission Review Committee • Dave Kochalko, CEO of ARTiFACTS • Anjum Khurshid, UT Austin • Carlos Caldas, UT Engineering • Gil Alterovitz, Harvard Medical School • Kayo Fujimoto, UT Health Houston • Lei Zhang, University of Glasglow • Sean Manion, CSciO of ConsenSys Health • Vijayakuman Varadarajan, University of South Wales • Vikram Dhillon, Wayne State University • Yuichi Ikeda, Kyoto University

The 2021 ConV2X Annual Symposium featured a scientific program of academic/research presentations in addition to business and industry talks. The research track focused on exploring and sharing developments in blockchain and emerging technologies in health and clinical medicine. Submissions were based on original research, conceptual frameworks, proposed applications, position papers, case studies, and real-world implementation. Selection was based on a peer-review process. Faculty, students, and industry researchers were encouraged to submit abstracts to present ideas before an informed and knowledgeable audience of industry leaders, policy makers, funders, and researchers. All presentations were reviewed by a sub-group of the scientific reveiw committee. This video presentation is an example of the discussions that transpired for each category of submissions, specifically, blockchain applications. Submission Review Committee • Dave Kochalko, CEO of ARTiFACTS • Anjum Khurshid, UT Austin • Carlos Caldas, UT Engineering • Gil Alterovitz, Harvard Medical School • Kayo Fujimoto, UT Health Houston • Lei Zhang, University of Glasglow • Sean Manion, CSciO of ConsenSys Health • Vijayakuman Varadarajan, University of South Wales • Vikram Dhillon, Wayne State University • Yuichi Ikeda, Kyoto University

Background: Moderate obesity in later life may improve survival, prompting calls to revise obesity control policies. However, this obesity paradox may be due to confounding from smoking, diseases causing weight-loss, plus varying follow-up periods. We aimed to estimate body mass index (BMI) associations with mortality, incident type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease in older people with and without the above confounders.Methods: Cohort analysis in Clinical Practice Research Datalink primary care, hospital and death certificate electronic medical records in England for ages 60 to more than 85 years. Models were adjusted for age, gender, alcohol use, smoking, calendar year, and socioeconomic status.Results: Overall, BMI 30-34.9 (obesity class 1) was associated with lower overall death rates in all age groups. However, after excluding the specific confounders and follow-up less than 4 years, BMI mortality risk curves at age 65-69 were U-shaped, with raised risks at lower BMIs, a nadir between 23 and 26.9 and steeply rising risks above. In older age groups, mortality nadirs were at modestly higher BMIs (all <30) and risk slopes at higher BMIs were less marked, becoming nonsignificant at age 85 and older. Incidence of diabetes was raised for obesity-1 at all ages and for coronary heart disease to age 84.Conclusions: Obesity is associated with shorter survival plus higher incidence of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes in older populations after accounting for the studied confounders, at least to age 84. These results cast doubt on calls to revise obesity control policies based on the claimed risk paradox at older ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An "obesity paradox" has been described in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), whereby obese and overweight patients have a lower risk of short-term mortality after AMI than normal-weight patients. However, the long-term association of obesity with mortality after AMI remains unknown.Methods: We used data from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project, a prospective medical record study of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with AMI with 17 years of follow-up (N = 124,981), to evaluate the association of higher body mass index (BMI) with short- and long-term survival after AMI. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate life expectancy after AMI and the years of potential life lost or gained attributable to excess weight.Results: Approximately 41.5% of patients were classified as normal weight; 38.7%, as overweight; 14.3%, as obese; and 5.5%, as morbidly obese. Normal-weight patients had the highest crude mortality at all follow-up time points, whereas obese patients had the lowest. Adjustment for patient and treatment characteristics reduced this difference, but the survival benefit persisted in overweight and obese patients at all time points. Morbidly obese and normal-weight patients had a comparable risk of death at 17 years. Life expectancy estimates were generally lowest for morbidly obese patients and highest for overweight patients. Differences in life expectancy between BMI groups were most pronounced in younger patients. After adjustment, overweight and obesity were associated with greater life years at all ages; however, morbid obesity was only associated with better survival in patients ≥75 years of age at the time of AMI.Conclusions: Overweight and obesity are associated with improved short- and long-term survival after AMI, which results in moderate gains in life expectancy relative to normal-weight patients. These findings suggest that higher BMI confers a protective advantage over the entire remaining lifespan in older patients with AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preschool-aged children are at increased risk for severe influenza-related illness and complications. Congregate child care settings facilitate influenza transmission among susceptible children. To protect against influenza transmission in these settings, in September 2010, Connecticut became the second U.S. state (after New Jersey) to implement regulations requiring that all children aged 6-59 months receive at least 1 dose of influenza vaccine each year to attend a licensed child care program. To evaluate the impact of this regulation on vaccination levels and influenza-associated hospitalizations during the 2012-13 influenza season, vaccination data from U.S. and Connecticut surveys and the Emerging Infections Program (EIP) were analyzed. After the regulation took effect, vaccination rates among Connecticut children aged 6-59 months increased from 67.8% during the 2009-10 influenza season to 84.1% during the 2012-13 season. During the 2012-13 influenza season, among all 11 EIP surveillance sites, Connecticut had the greatest percentage decrease (12%) in the influenza-associated hospitalization rate from 2007-08 among children aged ≤4 years. Additionally, the ratio of the influenza-associated hospitalization rates among children aged ≤4 years to the overall population rate (0.53) was lower than for any other EIP site. Requiring vaccination for child care admission might have helped to increase vaccination rates in Connecticut and reduced serious morbidity from influenza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vacuum bag (VB) dust from the homes of 19 asthmatic children in North Carolina (NC) was analyzed by mold specific quantitative PCR. These results were compared to the analysis of the VB dust from 176 homes in the HUD, American Healthy Home Survey of homes in the US. The Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) was calculated for each of the homes. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the ERMI values in the homes of the NC asthmatic children was 16.4 (6.77), compared to the HUD survey VB ERMI value mean and SD of 11.2 (6.72), and was significantly greater (t-test, p = 0.003) in the NC asthmatic children’s homes. The molds Chaetomium globosum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and the Eurotium Group were the primary species in the NC homes of asthmatics, making the ERMI values significantly higher (p < 0.02 for each). Vacuum bag dust analysis may be a useful method for estimating the mold burden in a home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is one of the leading opportunistic infections associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The worldwide burden of CM among persons living with HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was estimated in 2009 to be 957,900 cases, with approximately 624,700 deaths annually. The high burden of CM globally comes despite the fact that cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) is detectable weeks before the onset of symptoms, allowing screening for cryptococcal infection and early treatment to prevent CM and CM-related mortality (2). However, few studies have been conducted in the United States to assess the prevalence of cryptococcal infection. To quantify the prevalence of undiagnosed cryptococcal infection in HIV-infected persons in the United States during 1986-2012, stored sera from 1,872 participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and the Women's Interagency HIV Study with CD4 T-cell counts <100 cells/µL were screened for CrAg, using the CrAg Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) (Immy, Inc.). This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated the overall prevalence of CrAg positivity in this population to be 2.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.2%-3.7%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 14, 2016, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation was notified that a buccal swab collected on January 12 from a deceased female aged 22 years (patient A) in Tonkolili District had tested positive for Ebola virus by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The most recent case of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) in Sierra Leone had been reported 4 months earlier on September 13, 2015 (1), and the World Health Organization had declared the end of Ebola virus transmission in Sierra Leone on November 7, 2015 (2). The Government of Sierra Leone launched a response to prevent further transmission of Ebola virus by identifying contacts of the decedent and monitoring them for Ebola signs and symptoms, ensuring timely treatment for anyone with Ebola, and conducting an epidemiologic investigation to identify the source of infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]