The odds of prescribing the appropriate dose of statins -- a medicine used to lower 'bad' cholesterol levels -- increased sixfold when automated referrals were made to pharmacy services, instead of relying on traditional prescribing methods. More than 90 million people in the U.S. use statins, making it one of the most prescribed medications in the country. Despite their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol levels and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, previous studies have highlighted suboptimal prescribing trends.
Read more …Appropriate statin prescriptions increase sixfold with automated referrals
Scientists have discovered two enzymes that enable bacteria to target and break up DNA. This chemical defense likely evolved to help the organism fight off germs. The chemical riches were found within the institute's one-of-a-kind Natural Products Discovery Center collection.
Read more …Scientists discover key to a potential natural cancer treatment's potency
Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise. Until now, AI applications generally have 'black box' character: How AI arrives at its results remains hidden. A cheminformatics scientist has now developed a method that reveals how certain AI applications work in pharmaceutical research. The results are unexpected: the AI programs largely remembered known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting drug potency.
Read more …AI programs spat out known data and hardly learned specific chemical interactions when predicting...