A new study from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess found that an OpenAI reasoning model outperformed experienced ER doctors at diagnosing and managing patient cases using messy, real-world emergency department records. Researchers say the results don't support replacing doctors, but they do suggest AI could meaningfully reshape clinical workflows if tested carefully in prospective trials. NPR reports: The researchers ran a series of experiments on the AI model to test its clinical acumen -- including actual cases like the lupus patient who'd been previously treated at the emergency department at Beth Israel in Boston. The team graded how well the AI model could provide an accurate diagnosis at three moments in time, from the triage stage in the ER, up to being admitted into the hospital. Overall, AI outperformed two experienced physicians -- and did so with only the electronic health records and the limited information that had been available to the physicians at the time. "This is the big conclusion for me -- it works with the messy real-world data of the emergency department, " said Dr. Adam Rodman, a clinical researcher at Beth Israel and one of the study authors. "It works for making diagnoses in the real world." Other parts of the study focused on case reports published in the New England Journal of Medicine and clinical vignettes to suss out whether the AI model could meet well-established "benchmarks" and game out thorny diagnostic questions. "The model outperformed our very large physician baseline," said Raj Manrai, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School who was also part of the study. The authors emphasize the AI relied on text alone, while in real life, clinicians need to attend to many other inputs like images, sounds and nonverbal cues when diagnosing and treating a patient. The findings have been published Thursday in the journal Science.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted a quick review of three experimental psychedelic drugs meant to treat major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. It's the latest move by the Trump administration signaling a shift in policy toward treatments that also give users a high -- coming a day after the Justice Department said it would ease restrictions on state-licensed medical marijuana. UK-based biotech company Compass Pathways said Friday it has received an expedited review for its experimental form of synthetic psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. In a press release the company cited two large, phase 3 studies that had "generated positive data." Usona Institute, headquartered in Wisconsin, also said it's received a voucher for its work with psilocybin to treat major depressive disorder. In an email, a Usona spokesperson said the company expects the review process to last one to two months after it submits its application. "The voucher expedites the timeline only; it does not alter scientific or regulatory standards," the spokesperson wrote. New York-based Transcend Therapeutics has also been granted a priority review voucher for its experimental drug methylone for PTSD, Blake Mandell, the company's chief executive officer, said. "There's a battle still raging in their mind that we don't fully understand biochemically," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said. "When you see something that looks promising for a community that is suffering with mental health illness, despair and suicidal ideation, you can't help but recognize that." Makary told NBC News that with the priority voucher program, the agency could potentially approve the first psychedelic drug by the end of summer.

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Apple's Vision Pro has been used in what's described as the world's first cataract surgery performed with the headset. MacRumors reports: [New York opthalmologist] Dr. Eric Rosenberg of SightMD completed the initial procedure in October 2025 and has since performed hundreds of additional cases using ScopeXR, a surgical platform he co-developed for Apple's mixed reality device. ScopeXR streams live feeds from 3D digital surgical microscopes directly into the Vision Pro, which lets the surgeon view the operative field in stereoscopic 3D while overlaying preoperative diagnostic data. The platform also supports real-time remote collaboration, allowing surgeons to virtually join procedures and see exactly what the operating surgeon sees. "We are now able to bring the world's best surgeon into any operating room, at any hour, from anywhere on the planet," said Dr. Rosenberg in a company press release. "From residents performing their first cases to surgeons facing unexpected complications, this technology democratizes access to expertise and that will save vision."

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: The Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene therapy to restore hearing for people who were born deaf. The decision, while only immediately affecting people born with a very rare form of genetic deafness, is being hailed as a milestone in the quest to treat hearing loss. "It's the first time in history there's a new drug for hearing loss," says Zheng-Yi Chen, an associate scientist at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston who was not involved in the development of the therapy approved by the FDA Thursday. But his research team reported very promising results with a similar approach Wednesday. "I think it's an historical event, a landmark, a great development for the whole field," he says of the approval. [...] The FDA's decision was based on the results from the treatment of 20 patients born with a defective version of a gene known as OTOF, which is necessary to transmit sound from the ears to the brain. Doctors infused billions of adeno-associated viruses into the patients' ears by making a small incision behind the ear to open a small hole in the skull. The viruses carried a healthy version of the OTOF gene that had been split in half to fit inside the virus. The gene provides instructions to make the otoferlin protein, which is necessary for hair cells in the inner ear to transmit sound to the brain. Most of the patients began to hear for the first time within weeks, with the quality of their hearing improving over the following months, according to [Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which developed the gene therapy and plans to offer it for free in the U.S. It should be available within weeks.]. The amount of hearing patients gained varied, but 80% achieved at least some significant hearing restoration and 42% ended up with normal hearing, which included the ability to hear whispers, Regeneron says. The hearing ability has lasted at least two years so far. The treatment can only help patients with the very rare form of deafness that Smith was born with, which only affects about 50 children each year in the U.S. But similar gene therapies are showing promise for other forms of genetic deafness. And researchers hope someday gene therapy may help with common types of hearing loss, like from aging and loud noise.

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A 63-year-old man in Norway appears to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from his brother, who turned out to have a rare mutation that makes immune cells resistant to HIV. "Four years after the transplant, and two years after the man stopped antiretroviral therapy, he still appears to be free of the infection," reports Gizmodo. From the report: According to the report, the man was first diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of cancer that weakens blood cell production from bone marrow, in 2018. Though he seemed to initially respond to treatment, the cancer returned after two years, and doctors decided to perform a stem cell transplant. Because the man also had HIV (diagnosed in 2006), the doctors were hoping to treat both conditions at once, though they knew their chances were low. Most of these cases have involved the use of stem cells taken from people with two copies of a particular mutation in their CCR5 gene, which regulates the CC5R receptor on white blood cells. This mutation, named CCR5-delta 32, makes immune cells naturally resistant to infection from strains of HIV-1 (the most common type of the virus). However, only about 1% of the population carries two copies of the mutation. After initial screening failed to find someone who both possessed the mutation and had compatible bone marrow, the doctors decided to move ahead with the man's brother, who was already known to have compatible bone marrow. But to everyone's surprise, testing on the day of the transplant showed that the brother also had the mutation. Though the man did experience some complications from the procedure, his body successfully started to produce new blood cells with the mutation. The doctors decided to take him off antiretroviral medication two years after the transplant. And in the two years since then, regular follow-up tests have failed to show any signs of the virus in his system. [...] According to AFP, there have only been roughly 10 cases worldwide involving an HIV cure through stem cell transplantation. This is the first to involve a family donor.

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