Noted

Alex Eben Meyer

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While vaping—inhaling vapor created from a liquid heated inside e-cigarettes and related devices—has recently declined among adolescents nationwide, about two million middle and high school students still vape regularly. Many are now putting themselves at additional risk by modifying or “hacking” the vaping delivery systems. A recent Yale study shows that as many as 40 percent of teens and young adults who vape exacerbate the danger of burns and potentially fatal lung injuries by recharging, refilling, or reusing single-use devices and mixing nicotine and cannabis liquids in devices designed only for nicotine. Despite the industry’s claims to the contrary, vaping is not a safer substitute for cigarettes, is not an aid to quitting tobacco smoking, and increases the risk of becoming a cigarette smoker.

Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have been able to use an artificial intelligence (AI) model to diagnose Marfan syndrome. The genetic condition, which occurs in about one out of every 3,000 individuals, affects connective tissue and increases the risk for aortic dissection—a potentially lethal enlargement and tearing of the aorta. Those with the syndrome also generally have facial features that include a long, narrow skull and an abnormally small jaw. The researchers trained a specific type of artificial neural network, using facial photographs of people with and without Marfan syndrome, then tested the model’s ability to distinguish between the faces showing Marfan features and those that didn’t. The model achieved a 98.5 percent accuracy rate.