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Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

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Electronic Health Records Vendors Now Adding Generative AI to Their Products

One goal of these new functions is to streamline physician workflows. However, these new EHRs may interface differently with clinical laboratory information systems

Artificial intelligence (AI) developers are making great contributions in clinical laboratory, pathology, radiology, and other areas of healthcare. Now, Electronic Health Record (EHR) developers are looking into ways to incorporate a new type of AI—called “Generative AI”—into their EHR products to assist physicians with time-consuming and repetitive administrative tasks and help them focus on patient-centered care. 

Generative AI uses complex algorithms and statistical models to learn patterns from collected data. It then generates new content, including text, images, and audio/video information.

According to the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO), generative AI “has potential applications across a wide range of fields, including education, government, medicine, and law” and that “a research hospital is piloting a generative AI program to create responses to patient questions and reduce the administrative workload of healthcare providers.”

Reducing the workload on doctors and other medical personnel is a key goal of the EHR developers.

Generative AI uses deep learning neural networks modeled after the human brain comprised of layers of connected nodes that process data. It employs two neural networks: a generator [generative network] which creates new content, and a discriminator [discriminative network] which evaluates the quality of that content.

The collected information is entered into the network where each individual node processes the data and passes it on to the next layer. The last layer in the process produces the final output. 

Many EHR companies are working toward adding generative AI into their platforms, including:

As our sister publication The Dark Report points out in its December 26 “Top 10 Biggest Lab Stories for 2023,” almost every product or service presented to a clinical laboratory or pathology group will soon include an AI-powered solution.

Girish Navani

“We believe that generative AI has the potential of being a personal assistant for every doctor, and that’s what we’re working on,” Girish Navani (above), co-founder and CEO of eClinicalWorks, told EHRIntelligence. “It could save hours. You capture the essence of the entire conversation without touching a keyboard. It is transformational in how it works and how well it presents the information back to the provider.” Clinical laboratory information systems may also benefit from connecting with generative AI-based EHRs. (Photo copyright: eClinicalWorks.)

Generative AI Can Help with Physician Burnout

One of the beneficial features of generative AI is that it has the ability to “listen” to a doctor’s conversation with a patient while recording it and then produce clinical notes. The physician can then review, edit, and approve those notes to enter into the patient’s EHR record, thus streamlining administrative workflows.

“The clinician or support team essentially has to take all of the data points that they’ve got in their head and turn that into a narrative human response,” Phil Lindemann, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Epic, told EHRIntelligence. “Generative AI can draft a response that the clinician can then review, make changes as necessary, and then send to the patient.”

By streamlining and reducing workloads, EHRs that incorporate generative AI may help reduce physician burnout, which has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Informatics Association (JAMIA) titled, “Association of Physician Burnout with Perceived EHR Work Stress and Potentially Actionable Factors,” examined physician burnout associated with EHR workload factors at UC San Diego Health System. The researchers found that nearly half of surveyed doctors reported “burnout symptoms” and an increase in stress levels due to EHR processes. 

“Language models have a huge potential in impacting almost every workflow,” Girish Navani, co-founder and CEO of eClinicalWorks, told EHRIntelligence. “Whether it’s reading information and summarizing it or creating the right type of contextual response, language models can help reduce cognitive load.”

Generative AI can also translate information into many different languages. 

“Health systems spend a lot of time trying to make patient education and different things available in certain languages, but they’ll never have every language possible,” Lindemann said. “This technology can take human language, translate it at any reading level in any language, and have it understandable.”

MEDITECH is working on a generative AI project to simplify clinical documentation with an emphasis on hospital discharge summaries that can be very laborious and time-consuming for clinicians.

“Providers are asked to go in and review previous notes and results and try to bring that all together,” Helen Waters, Executive Vice President and COO of MEDITECH, told EHRIntelligence. “Generative AI can help auto-populate the discharge note by bringing in the discrete information that would be most relevant to substantiate that narrative and enable time savings for those clinicians.”

Many Applications for Generative AI in Healthcare

According to technology consulting and solutions firm XenonStack, generative AI has many potential applications in healthcare including:

  • Medical simulation
  • Drug discovery
  • Medical chatbots
  • Medical imaging
  • Medical research
  • Patient care
  • Disease diagnosis
  • Personalized treatment plans

The technology is currently in its early stages and does present challenges, such as lack of interpretability, the need for large datasets and more transparency, and ethical concerns, all of which will need to be addressed. 

“We see it as a translation tool,” Lindemann told EHRIntelligence. “It’s not a panacea, but there’s going to be really valuable use cases, and the sooner the community can agree on that, the more useful the technology’s going to be.”

Since generative AI can be used to automate manual work processes, clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups should be alert to opportunities to interface their LISs with referring physicians’ EHRs. Such interfaces may enable the use of the generative AI functions to automate manual processes in both the doctors’ offices and the labs.

—JP Schlingman

Related Information:

How Four EHR Vendors Are Leveraging Generative AI in Clinical Workflows

NextGen Healthcare Unveils NextGen Ambient Assist, an AI Solution Designed to Boost Provider Efficiency

Science and Tech Spotlight: Generative Ai

What is Generative AI? Everything You Need to Know

Generative AI Could Revolutionize Health Care—But Not if Control is Ceded to Big Tech

Generative AI in Healthcare and Its Uses—Complete Guide

Association of Physician Burnout with Perceived EHR Work Stress and Potentially Actionable Factors

FDA Grants Marketing Authorization to Diagnostic Tests for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea with At-Home Sample Collection

FDA says the move will make it easier to gain authorization for other clinical laboratory tests to utilize at-home collection kits

In another sign of how diagnostic testing is responding to changing consumer preferences, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted marketing authorization to LetsGetChecked for the company’s Simple 2 test for chlamydia and gonorrhea, which includes at-home collection of samples sent to the test developer’s clinical laboratories in the US and in Ireland.

This marks the first time the FDA has cleared a diagnostic test for either condition in which samples are collected at home. It’s also the first test with at-home sample collection to be authorized for any sexually transmitted infection (STI) other than HIV, the FDA said in a new release.

Simple 2 Home Collection Kits are available over the counter for anyone 18 or older. The kits employ Hologic’s Aptima collection devices, according to a company press release. A prepaid shipping label is also included to enable delivery to one of LetsGetChecked’s medical laboratories. The company performs the tests using the Hologic Aptima Combo 2 assay for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG).

Samples are collected through a vaginal swab or urine sample. “Results are delivered online in approximately 2-5 days with follow-up virtual consultations and treatment available if needed,” the company press release states.

Previously authorized tests for the conditions required sample collection at the point of care. The company also offers telehealth and online pharmacy services.

Jeff Shuren, MD, JD

“This authorization marks an important public health milestone, giving patients more information about their health from the privacy of their own home,” said Jeff Shuren, MD, JD (above), Director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “We are eager to continue supporting greater consumer access to diagnostic tests, which helps further our goal of bringing more healthcare into the home.” With this emphasis on at-home testing from the FDA, clinical laboratories in the US and Ireland will likely be processing more at-home collected samples. (Photo copyright: FDA.)

Simple 2 Process and Costs

Prior to collecting the sample, the user goes online to complete a questionnaire and activate the kit, the FDA news release notes.

LetsGetChecked, headquartered in New York City and Dublin, Ireland, says its US labs are CLIA– and CAP-certified. The company currently offers more than 30 at-home tests covering STIs, men’s health, women’s health, and COVID-19, at prices ranging from $89 to $249 per test.

The Simple 2 test costs $99, and is not covered by insurance, Verywell Health reported. Consumers can get discounts by subscribing to quarterly, semiannual, or annual tests.

New Regulatory Pathway

The FDA said it reviewed the test under its De Novo regulatory pathway, which is intended for “low- to moderate-risk devices of a new type,” according to the news release.

“Along with this De Novo authorization, the FDA is establishing special controls that define the requirements related to labeling and performance testing,” the agency stated. “When met, the special controls, in combination with general controls, provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness for tests of this type.”

This creates a new regulatory classification, the agency said, that will make it easier for similar devices to obtain marketing authorization.

Citing data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FDA news release states that chlamydia and gonorrhea are the most common bacterial STIs in the US. The CDC estimates that there were 1.6 million cases of chlamydia and more than 700,000 cases of gonorrhea in 2021.

“Typically, both infections can be easily treated, but if left untreated, both infections can cause serious health complications for patients, including infertility,” the news release states. “Expanding the availability of STI testing can help patients get quicker results and access to the most appropriate treatment, ultimately helping to curb the rising rates of STIs.”

Experts Praise the FDA’s Authorization of the Lab Test

STI experts contacted by STAT said they welcomed the FDA’s move.

“There are many people who would like to be tested for STIs who may not know where to go or who have barriers to accessing medical care,” said Jodie Dionne, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Infectious Diseases. “If we are going to do a better job of reaching more sexually active people for STIs … we need to be creative about how to get them tested and treated in a way that is highly effective and works for them.”

Family physician Alan Katz, MD, a professor at the University of Hawaii John A Burns School of Medicine, told STAT that the Hologic assay is also used by clinicians who treat people in remote locations to diagnose STIs and is regarded as being highly accurate.

“This option is exceptionally useful for individuals who live in rural areas or are geographically distanced from a clinic where STI testing can be done and there is no telehealth option available,” he told STAT.

With this latest move, the FDA is recognizing that it is time to give consumers more control over their healthcare. This is a signal to clinical laboratories that they should be developing their own strategies and offerings that serve consumers who want to order their own tests. Of course, many states still require a physician’s signature on lab test orders, but that is likely to change over time.

—Stephen Beale

Related Information:

FDA Grants Marketing Authorization of First Test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea with At-Home Sample Collection

LetsGetChecked Receives US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) De Novo Authorization for At-Home Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Testing System

FDA Grants Approval for First Time to a Home Test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

FDA Authorizes First Home Test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

You Can Now Test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea with an At-Home Kit FDA Approves Home Test for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

University of Florida Study Determines That ChatGPT Made Errors in Advice about Urology Cases

Research results call into question the safety and dependability of using artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis, a development that should be watched by clinical laboratory scientists

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that returns answers to written prompts, has been tested and found wanting by researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine (UF Health) who looked into how well it could answer typical patient questions on urology. Not good enough according to the researchers who conducted the study.

AI is quickly becoming a powerful new tool in diagnosis and medical research. Some digital pathologists and radiologists use it for data analysis and to speed up diagnostic modality readings. It’s even been said that AI will improve how physicians treat disease. But with all new discoveries there comes controversy, and that’s certainly the case with AI in healthcare.

Many voices in opposition to AI’s use in clinical medicine claim the technology is too new and cannot be trusted with patients’ health. Now, UF Health’s study seems to have confirmed that belief—at least with ChatGPT.

The study revealed that answers ChatGPT provided “fell short of the standard expected of physicians,” according to a UF Health new release, which called ChatGPT’s answers “flawed.”

The questions posed were considered to be common medical questions that patients would ask during a visit to a urologist.

The researchers believes their study is the first of its kind to focus on AI and the urology specialty and which “highlights the risk of asking AI engines for medical information even as they grow in accuracy and conversational ability,” UF Health noted in the news release.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Urology titled, “Caution! AI Bot Has Entered the Patient Chat: ChatGPT Has Limitations in Providing Accurate Urologic Healthcare Advice.”

Russell S. Terry, MD

“I am not discouraging people from using chatbots,” said Russell S. Terry, MD (above), an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine’s department of urology and the study’s senior author, in a UF Health news release. “But don’t treat what you see as the final answer. Chatbots are not a substitute for a doctor.” Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will want to monitor how developers improve the performance of chatbots and other applications using artificial intelligence. (Photo copyright: University of Florida.)

UF Health ChatGPT Study Details

UF Health’s study featured 13 of the most queried topics from patients to their urologists during office visits. The researchers asked ChatGPT each question three times “since ChatGPT can formulate different answers to identical queries,” they noted in the news release.

The urological conditions the questions covered included:

The researchers then “evaluated the answers based on guidelines produced by the three leading professional groups for urologists in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including the American Urological Association (URA). Five UF Health urologists independently assessed the appropriateness of the chatbot’s answers using standardized methods,” UF Health noted.

Notable was that many of the results were inaccurate. According to UF Health, only 60% of responses were deemed appropriate from the 39 evaluated responses. Outside of those results, the researchers noted in their Urology paper, “[ChatGPT] misinterprets clinical care guidelines, dismisses important contextual information, conceals its sources, and provides inappropriate references.”

When asked, for the most part ChatGPT was not able to accurately provide the sources it referenced for its answers. Apparently, the chatbot was not programmed to provide such sources, the UF Health news release stated.

“It provided sources that were either completely made up or completely irrelevant,” Terry noted in the new release. “Transparency is important so patients can assess what they’re being told.”

Further, “Only 7 (54%) of 13 topics and 21 (54%) of 39 responses met the BD [Brief DISCERN] cut-off score of ≥16 to denote good-quality content,” the researchers wrote in their paper. BD is a validated healthcare information assessment questionnaire that “provides users with a valid and reliable way of assessing the quality of written information on treatment choices for a health problem,” according to the DISCERN website.

ChatGPT often “omitted key details or incorrectly processed their meaning, as it did by not recognizing the importance of pain from scar tissue in Peyronie’s disease. As a result … the AI provided an improper treatment recommendation,” the UF Health study paper noted.

Is Using ChatGPT for Medical Advice Dangerous to Patients?

Terry noted that the chatbot performed better in some areas over others, such as infertility, overactive bladder, and hypogonadism. However, frequently recurring UTIs in women was one topic of questions for which ChatGPT consistently gave incorrect results.

“One of the more dangerous characteristics of chatbots is that they can answer a patient’s inquiry with all the confidence of a veteran physician, even when completely wrong,” UF Health reported.

“In only one of the evaluated responses did the AI note it ‘cannot give medical advice’ … The chatbot recommended consulting with a doctor or medical adviser in only 62% of its responses,” UF Health noted.

For their part, ChatGPT’s developers “tell users the chatbot can provide bad information and warn users after logging in that ChatGPT ‘is not intended to give advice,’” UF Health added.

Future of Chatbots in Healthcare

In UF Health’s Urology paper, the researchers state, “Chatbot models hold great promise, but users should be cautious when interpreting healthcare-related advice from existing AI models. Additional training and modifications are needed before these AI models will be ready for reliable use by patients and providers.”

UF Health conducted its study in February 2023. Thus, the news release points out, results could be different now due to ChatGPT updates. Nevertheless, Terry urges users to get second opinions from their doctors.

“It’s always a good thing when patients take ownership of their healthcare and do research to get information on their own,” he said in the news release. “But just as when you use Google, don’t accept anything at face value without checking with your healthcare provider.”

That’s always good advice. Still, UF Health notes that “While this and other chatbots warn users that the programs are a work in progress, physicians believe some people will undoubtedly still rely on them.” Time will tell whether trusting AI for medical advice turns out well for those patients.

The study reported above is a useful warning to clinical laboratory managers and pathologists that current technologies used in ChatGPT, and similar AI-powered solutions, have not yet achieved the accuracy and reliability of trained medical diagnosticians when answering common questions about different health conditions asked by patients.

—Kristin Althea O’Connor

Related Information:

UF College of Medicine Research Shows AI Chatbot Flawed when Giving Urology Advice

Caution! AI Bot Has Entered the Patient Chat: ChatGPT Has Limitations in Providing Accurate Urologic Healthcare Advice

New Wearable In-Ear Medical Device Helps Sufferers of Standing-Related Ailments

Device is latest example that wearable healthcare devices are moving past simple biomarker monitoring and into the area of assisting in rehab

Companies unrelated to traditional clinical laboratory medicine continue to develop wearable devices that enable individuals to monitor their health while also alerting physicians and caregivers in real time when certain biomarkers are out of range.

One recent example is US biotechnology company STAT Health Informatics in Boston, which has developed a wearable device that monitors blood flow to the ear and face “to better understand symptoms such as dizziness, brain fog, headaches, fainting, and fatigue that occur upon standing,” according to a press release. The tiny device is worn in the ear and connects wirelessly to a smartphone app.

Johns Hopkins University clinically tested the STAT device, and according to Medical Device Network, “It can predict a person fainting minutes before it happens and can be worn with more than 90% of devices that go in or around the ear. It can also be left in while sleeping and showering, meaning less likelihood of removing the device and forgetting to replace it.”

Another notable aspect of this invention is that it’s an example of how the ongoing miniaturization of various technologies makes it possible to invent smaller devices but with greater capabilities. In the case of the STAT device, it combines tiny sensors, Bluetooth, and an equally tiny battery to produce a device that fits in the ear and can function for up to three days before needing a recharge.

It’s easy to imagine these technologies being used for other types of diagnostic testing devices that could be managed by clinical laboratories.

Johns Hopkins published its findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology titled, “Monitoring Carotid Blood Flow Using In-Ear Wearable Device During Tilt-Table Testing.”

Daniel Lee

“It’s well understood that the ear is a biometric gold mine because of its close proximity to the brain and major arteries. This allows for new biometrics … to be possible,” said Daniel Lee (above), co-founder and CEO of STAT Health, in a press release. “In addition, the ear is largely isolated from data corruption caused by arm motion—a problem that plagues current wearables and prevents them from monitoring heart metrics during many daily tasks. The ear is really the ideal window into the brain and heart.” Clinical laboratory managers may want to watch how this technology is further developed to incorporate other biomarkers for diseases and health conditions. (Photo copyright: STAT Health.)

How STAT Works

Every time the wearer stands, the STAT device tracks the change in response of blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow to the head. “The device distills all this information into an ‘Up Score’ to track time spent upright. Its ‘Flow Score’ helps users pace their recovery by watching for blood flow abnormalities,” MassDevice reported.

According to the company’s website, STAT is intended for use in individuals who have been diagnosed with conditions known to suffer from drops in blood flow to the head, such as:

As an individual continues to use the device, STAT “learns about each user’s unique body to provide personalized coaching for healthy lifestyle choices,” MassDevice reported.

Another key factor is the technology built into the device. An optical sensor was chosen over ultrasound because STAT Health felt it was both easy to use and provided precise measurements accessing the shallow ear artery, MassDevice reported.

“Despite its small scale, the device incorporates advanced optical sensors, an accelerometer, a pressure sensor, temperature sensors, artificial intelligence (AI)-edge computing, three-day battery life (or more), and a micro solar panel,” Medical Device Network noted.

wearable device

STAT’s image above demonstrates how truly minute the company’s wearable device is, even though it monitors blood flow to the face and ear looking for signs that the wearer is about to suffer bouts of dizziness or lightheadedness due to a drop in blood flow. (Photo copyright: STAT Health Informatics Inc.)

STAT’s Impact on Users’ Health

STAT’s developers intend the device to help individuals stay on track with their health. “The target population can navigate their condition better. If they’re not standing when they can, they will become deconditioned. This product encourages standing and being upright where possible, as part of rehab,” Lee told Medical Device Network.

Lee has been developing wearable in-ear devices for many years.  

“Nobody has realized the ear’s true potential due to the miniaturization and complex systems design needed to make a practical and user-friendly ear wearable,” he told MassDevice. “After multiple engineering breakthroughs, we’ve succeeded in unlocking the ear to combine the convenience and long-term nature of wearables with the high fidelity nature of obtrusive clinical monitors. No other device comes close along the axis of wearability and cardiac signal quality, which is why we believe STAT is truly the world’s most advanced wearable.”

For clinical laboratories, though STAT is not a diagnostic test, it is the latest example of how companies are developing wearable monitoring devices intended to allow individuals to monitor their health. It moves beyond the simple monitoring of Apple Watch and Fitbit. This device can aid individuals during rehab.

Wearable healthcare devices will continue to be introduced that are smaller, allow more precise measurements of target biomarkers, and alert wearers in real time when those markers are out of range. Keeping in tune with the newest developments will help clinical laboratories and pathologists find new ways to support healthcare providers who recommend these devices for monitoring their patients conditions.

—Kristin Althea O’Connor

Related Information:

STAT Health Introduces First In-Ear Wearable to Measure Blood Flow to the Head for Long COVID, POTS and Other Related Syndromes

Monitoring Carotid Blood Flow Using In-Ear Wearable Device During Tilt-Table Testing

STAT Health Launches First In-Ear Wearable to Measure Blood Flow

Stat Health Launches In-Ear Wearable That Measures Blood Flow

University of Maryland Scientists Image World’s First ‘Vampire Virus’

Research could lead to improvements in gene therapy and antiviral resistance medications while also possibly leading to a new class of clinical laboratory tests

Scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) have discovered what may be the scariest virus of all—the Vampire Virus. It’s a term that may inspire “Walking Dead” level horror in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and though virologists and microbiologists might be tempted to dismiss them as imaginary, they are all too real. Even more apropos to the Dracula saga, the UM scientists found them in a soil sample. Yikes!

Happily, this ghoulish discovery could have positive implications for gene editing, gene therapy, and the development of new antiviral medications, according to The Conversation. In turn, these positive implications may eventually trigger the need to create new diagnostic tests that clinical laboratories can offer to physicians.

The UMBC scientists published their findings in the journal ISME, a publication of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, titled, “Simultaneous Entry as an Adaptation to Virulence in a Novel Satellite-Helper System Infecting Streptomyces Species.”

Vampire-like virus photo

The image above, taken from a University of Maryland news release, shows the satellite virus “latched onto its helper virus.” Discovery of vampire-like viruses that attach at the “neck” of other viruses may lead to important discoveries in the development of gene editing and antiviral therapies. Might clinical laboratories one day collect samples for pharmaceutical developers engaged in combating antiviral drug resistance? (Photo copyright: University of Maryland.)

Spotting a Vampire Virus

According to IFLScience, these tiny vampire viruses were first discovered by undergraduates who believed they were looking at sample contamination when analyzing sequences of bacteriophages from environmental soil samples. But upon repeating the experiment they realized it was no mistake.

In the UMBC news release, bioinformatician Ivan Erill, PhD, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, noted that “some viruses, called satellites, depend not only on their host organism to complete their life cycle, but also on another virus, known as a helper.

“The satellite virus needs the helper either to build its capsid, a protective shell that encloses the virus’ genetic material, or to help it replicate its DNA,” he added. “These viral relationships require the satellite and the helper to be in proximity to each other at least temporarily, but there were no known cases of a satellite actually attaching itself to a helper—until now.”

Although scientists have witnessed viruses working together before, this is the first known instance of a virus directly latching onto another virus’ capsid—rather like a vampire going for the neck.

“When I saw it, I was like, I can’t believe this,” said Tagide deCarvalho, PhD, Assistant Director of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Maryland and first author of the study, in a UM news release, “No one has ever seen a bacteriophage—or any other virus—attach to another virus.”

Visualizing the tiny viruses was only possible through the use of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) at UMBC’s Keith R. Porter Imaging Facility (KPIF), to which deCarvalho had access.

“Not everyone has a TEM at their disposal. [With the TEM] I’m able to follow up on some of these observations and validate them with imaging. There’s elements of discovery we can only make using the TEM,” said deCarvalho in the UMBC news release.

Using Vampire Viruses to Develop Better Gene Therapies

Spookily, the comparisons to Dracula and his parasitic brethren do not stop with their freeloading tendencies. The researchers found that some viruses without a satellite attached still showed signs of having been leeched onto before. Those viruses had the equivalent of “bite marks” showing evidence of encountering vampiric viruses in the past.

“It’s possible that a lot of the bacteriophages that people thought were contaminated were actually these satellite-helper systems,” said deCarvalho in the ISME paper.

But what does UMBC’s breakthrough mean for the greater scientific and medical community? Do we need to arm host viruses with silver crosses and necklaces of garlic? Jokes aside, this discovery could lead to further development in research of how to genetically alter viruses and deliver therapeutic elements into cells.

According to Healthline, some gene therapy or “gene editing” already involves the use of viruses. Scientists switch out the programming on a virus and trick it into healing, instead of harming the cells it infiltrates. Therefore, UMBC’s discovery could lead to new breakthroughs battling deadly viruses by using their own parasitic tricks to infiltrate other viruses.

Although groundbreaking and extremely interesting, the research is still in early stages. Any developments from this discovery aren’t likely to impact clinical laboratories any time soon. But after the past few years of battling the COVID-19 variants, this exciting discovery could help find new ways to prevent the next pandemic.  

—Ashley Croce

Related Information:

Vampire Viruses Prey on Other Viruses to Replicate Themselves and May Hold the Key to New Antiviral Therapies

Virus Seen Latching onto Another Virus (Like A Tiny Vampire) for First Time

UMBC Team Makes First-Ever Observation of a Virus Attaching to Another Virus

The First Discovered Vampire Virus Hooks Onto other Viruses—Meet the ‘MiniFlayer’

Simultaneous Entry as an Adaptation to Virulence in a Novel Satellite-Helper System infecting Streptomyces Species

Your Guide to Gene Therapy: How It Works and What It Treats

Bizarre First: Viruses Seen ‘Biting’ onto Other Viruses Like Tiny Vampires

University of Oxford Researchers Use Spectroscopy and Artificial Intelligence to Create a Blood Test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Spectroscopic technique was 91% accurate in identifying the notoriously difficult-to-diagnose disease suggesting a clinical diagnostic test for CFS may be possible

Most clinical pathologists know that, despite their best efforts, scientists have failed to come up with a reliable clinical laboratory blood test for diagnosing myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the condition commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)—at least not one that’s ready for clinical use.

But now an international team of researchers at the University of Oxford has developed an experimental non-invasive test for CFS using a simple blood draw, artificial intelligence (AI), and a spectroscopic technique known as Raman spectroscopy.

The approach uses a laser to identify unique cellular “fingerprints” associated with the disease, according to an Oxford news release.

“When Raman was added to a panel of potentially diagnostic outputs, we improved the ability of the model to identify the ME/CFS patients and controls,” Karl Morten, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies and Principal Investigator at Oxford University, told Advanced Science News. Morton led the research team along with Wei Huang, PhD, Professor of Biological Engineering at Oxford.

The researchers claim the test is 91% accurate in differentiating between healthy people, disease controls, and ME/CFS patients, and 84% accurate in differentiating between mild, moderate, and severe cases, the new release states.

The researchers published their paper in the journal Advanced Science titled, “Developing a Blood Cell-Based Diagnostic Test for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Using Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells.”

Karl Morten, PhD

“This could be a game changer as we are unsure what causes [ME/CFS] and diagnosis occurs perhaps 10 to 20 years after the condition has started to develop,” said Karl Morten, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies and Principal Investigator at Oxford University. “An early diagnosis might allow us to identify what is going wrong with the potential to fix it before the more long-term degenerative changes are observed.” Though this research may not lead to a simple clinical laboratory blood test for CFS, any non-invasive diagnostic test would enable doctors to help many people. (Photo copyright: Oxford University.)

Need for an ME/CFS Test

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes ME/CFS as “a serious, long-term illness that affects many body systems,” with symptoms that include severe fatigue and sleep difficulties. Citing an Institute of Medicine (IoM) report, the agency estimates that 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans suffer from the condition but notes that most cases have not been diagnosed.

“One of the difficulties is the complexity of the disease,” said Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, Director of the ME/CFS Research Center of Uppsala University in Sweden, told Advanced Science News. “Because it’s a multi-organ disorder, you get symptoms from many different regions of the body with different onsets, though it’s common with post viral syndrome to have different overlapping [symptoms] that disguise the diagnosis.” Bergquist was not involved with the Oxford study.

One key to the Oxford researchers’ technique is the use of multiple artificial intelligence models to analyze the spectral profiles. “These signatures are complex and by eye there are not necessarily clear features that separate ME/CFS patients from other groups,” Morten told Advanced Science News.

“The AI looks at this data and attempts to find features which can separate the groups,” he continued. “Different AI methods find different features in the data. Individually, each method is not that successful at assigning an unknown sample to the correct group. However, when we combine the different methods, we produce a model which can assign the subjects to the different groups very accurately.”

Without a reliable test, “diagnosis of the condition is difficult, with most patients relying on self-report, questionnaires, and subjective measures to receive a diagnosis,” the Oxford press release noted.

But developing such a test has been challenging, Advanced Science News noted.

How Oxford’s Raman Technique Works

Raman spectroscopy uses a laser to determine the “vibrational modes of molecules,” according to the Oxford press release.

“When a laser beam is directed at a cell, some of the scattered photons undergo frequency shifts due to energy exchanges with the cell’s molecular components,” the press release stated. “Raman micro-spectroscopy detects these shifted photons, providing a non-invasive method for single cell analysis. The resulting single cell Raman spectra serve as a unique fingerprint, revealing the intrinsic and biochemical properties and indicating the physiological and metabolic state of the cell.”

The researchers employed the technique on blood samples from 98 subjects, including 61 ME/CFS patients, 16 healthy controls, and 21 controls with multiple sclerosis (MS), Advanced Science reported.

The Oxford scientists focused their attention on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), as previous studies found that these cells showed “reduced energetic function” in ME/CFS patients. “With this evidence, the team proposed that single-cell analysis of PBMCs might reveal differences in the structure and morphology in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy controls and other disease groups such as multiple sclerosis,” the press release states.

Clinical Laboratory Blood Processing and the Oxford Raman Technique

Oxford’s Raman spectroscopic technique “only requires a small blood sample which could be developed as a point-of-care test perhaps from one drop of blood,” the researchers wrote. However, Advanced Science News pointed out that required laser microscopy equipment costs more than $250,000.

In their Advanced Science paper, the researchers note that the test could be made more widely available by transferring blood samples collected by local clinical laboratories to diagnostic centers that have the needed hardware.

“Alternatively, a compact system containing portable Raman instruments could be developed, which would be much cheaper than a standard Raman microscope, and [which] incorporated with microfluidic systems to stream cells through a Raman laser for detection, eliminating the need for lengthy blood sample processing,” the researchers wrote.

They noted that the technique could be adapted to test for other chronic conditions as well, such as MS, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, and long COVID.

“Our paper is very much a starting point for future research,” Morten told Advanced Science News. “Larger cohorts need to be studied, and if Raman proves useful, we need to think carefully about how a test might be developed.”

Bergquist agreed, stating it’s “not necessarily something you would see in a doctor’s office. It requires a lot of advanced data analysis to use—I still see it as a research methodology. But in the long run, it could be developed into a tool that could be used in a more simplistic way.”

Though a useable diagnostic test may be far off, clinical laboratories should consider how they can aid in ME/CFS research.

—Stephen Beale

Related Information:

First Steps Towards Developing a New Diagnostic Test to Accurately Identify Hallmarks of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Blood Cells

First Ever Diagnostic Test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Sparks Hope

Developing a Blood Cell-Based Diagnostic Test for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Using Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Blood Test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Found to Be 91% Accurate

Scientists Develop Blood Test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Systematic Review

Biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Identified

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