India-based Apollo Hospitals Group unit Apollo Radiology International has partnered with UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) radiology firm Behold.ai to use X-ray technology for rapid Covid-19 diagnosis.

The partners will work together on a pilot programme that will involve the use of Behold.ai’s ‘instant triage’ AI-based chest X-ray technology for quick triage of suspected patients.

Behold.ai will provide its red dot algorithm through Apollo Radiology International to Apollo Hospitals’ network of 71 hospitals in India, amounting to 12,000 beds.

The red dot algorithm takes 30 seconds to diagnose chext X-rays as normal or abnormal, said Behold.ai. This ‘instant triage’ is expected to be beneficial than standard human-read processes.

In the UK and Europe, the algorithm secured the CE-Mark approval, along with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. The technology is expected to be deployed in the US later this year.

behold.ai chairman and chief executive Simon Rasalingham said: “Our technology has been proven to rapidly diagnose chest X-rays as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ accurately, potentially allowing for faster diagnosis of individuals with Covid-19 and the better management of resources in healthcare systems already stretched by the increase in hospital admissions.

“If successful, this infinitely scaleable pilot programme could make a significant difference to hospitals across India and the rest of the world struggling to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.”

As part of the pilot programme, the algorithm will also be implemented at certain domestic government-run hospitals in the country.

Apollo Radiology International CEO Dr Sreenivasa Raju Kalidindi said: “Radiology reporting for Covid-19 has to be easily accessible, quick and accurate so that immediate decisions can be made on the next steps. To achieve these goals, Apollo Radiology International is setting up a dedicated centralised Covid-19 reporting service.

“Behold.ai’s chest X-ray algorithm will be an important component of this service. The instant triage provided by this algorithm will be a key factor that will allow our radiologists to provide immediate reports for these patients.”

South Central Railway (SCR) in India has developed a robotic device, called Rail-Bot (R-BOT) to aid in hospital management associated with patient care amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following extensive trails and demonstration, the R-BOT has been deployed for use at Central Railway Hospital in Lallaguda, Secunderabad. It is being used to supply medicines, medical accessories and to serve food to the patients.

This is expected to mitigate physical contact and reduce the risk of exposure for the doctors, nurses and other support medical staff.

The R-BOT can be run using a new mobile application supported by Wi-Fi facility and radio frequency (RF) remote controller.

In a statement, SCR said: “The Innovation, developed by Shri Hem Singh Banoth, additional divisional railway manager, Hyderabad division, SCR and his team, has come in for praise from the Zone’s head, Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR.

“Shri Mallya, termed it as a good attainment to strengthen medical care management, particularly in the prevailing Covid -19 Pandemic Virus situation.”

The R-BOT is equipped with sensor based features to record the patients’ body temperature and transmit the reading to the mobile phone. It can alert medics in case of abnormally high temperature readings.

It also has real-time video camera with pan and tilt functions, with two way audio and video communication as well as recording, to enable interaction between patients and doctors.

The robotic device leverages infra-red technology to facilitate communication even in darkness. It features eight direction motion control and observation avoidance sensors along with motion detection to avoid any foreign object in its way.

SCR plans to further innovate and develop the robotic device for optimal functional efficiency and enable broader use at medical facilities.

Personal injuries can occur anywhere, at work, homes, or public places. They can range from car accidents, factory accidents, or injuries from conflicts. Resultantly, they cause financial losses, bodily harm, and other unbearable inconveniences.

To manage the consequences of personal injuries, people seek compensation from insurance companies or the parties at fault. Due to the technicalities of contract documents, financial power of insurance firms, and authority from parties like employers, getting a fair compensation can be difficult.

Hence, we’ve enumerated a list of events where you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the party at fault. Below are the pre-requisites and general guidelines that offer a threshold for filing a lawsuit.

1. Negligence of the Other Party

An accident may involve numerous parties and consequently, they may experience some losses. If the accident was caused by the acts of omission or commission of another party, they’re held liable.

Incidences that depict negligence may include the following:

• Work Place Accidents: Various hazards can occur in factories, warehouses, mining operations, or other work-related buildings. If the employer conducts shoddy workmanship that leads to your injury. The employer will be liable to pay you for bodily harm, trauma, and miscellaneous losses the employee suffers as a result.
• Pets– Carnivorous pets like dogs pose a safety risk to the general public, if not handled properly. Anybody who suffers from a dog bite, without any provocation, can seek compensation from the dog owner.

2. Medical Expenses

Accidents differ in severity and the general harm caused to an individual. Serious accidents like those involving cars may cause internal injuries, broken limbs, paralysis, post-accident trauma, and miscellaneous serious injuries.

All these effects may be very daunting when seeking treatment. The expenses may require surgeries, specialized doctors, or life support care, all of which may prove too costly for you.

In this regard, a Personal Injury Lawsuit can help you in the following ways: –

• Urgent treatment: A lawyer can help compel insurance companies or the aggressor to speed up the payment. Normal processes may not be friendly for emergency cases and therefore a lawsuit helps improve your chances of recovery—by the settlement amounts.
• Insufficient payments: Insurance companies or other defendants can give you a settlement that does not fit the injury. A lawsuit can help you get full settlement including future medical expenses, supporting healing aides like a wheelchair, walking dogs, and other specialized treatments. Lawyers have a wide experience dealing with these kinds of cases and will structure your case accordingly, to help you get a suitable and sufficient deal to cover for your health.

Medical expenses have a high probability of making you bankrupt or financially crippled. It’s therefore wise to put in some thought before accepting any medically related compensation.

3. Income Compensation

There are accidents that either temporarily affect your ability to earn or deny you the chance to earn completely. Compensation that’s given to you, may not necessarily compensate for the loss of your income. This is critical because it helps to solidify the dignity and purpose of people in their lives.

Thus, in this situation a lawsuit can help you find the following compensation: –

• Lost Opportunities: A personal injury can be the barrier between money-making opportunities. This may not be found in any compensation settlement. Negligent parties are liable to pay you for the losses you’ve to suffer as a result of their fault.
• Future income: Personal injuries may cause paralysis or lost limbs; this could mean your way of making fortune is deeply affected. A lawsuit can help you maximize the payout to cushion you from the future inability to earn a living.

Aspects like income compensation, may seem light on the eyes of the victims and the aggressor. A lawyer can help craft lawsuits or compensation argument to help secure income generation for any party.

4. To Act as a Deterrent Measure

When accidents occur, they leave a trail of destruction. This includes bodily harm, financial loss, trauma, and other inconveniences. These effects sometimes cause permanent damage to the lives of the affected parties.

A lawsuit can help prevent future injuries or effects on the members of the public. Those found liable for negligence can be compelled by the courts to make changes that would help tame such incidences. Fines, damages, and cash awarded to victims can also help discourage such acts.

A sense of responsibility is needed to secure public safety and discourage acts of negligence.

5. If You Receive an Insufficient Compensation

The likelihood of getting compensation after an accident is high. This doesn’t negate the fact the party that caused your injury, may want to pay you the least possible compensation. If the insurance company of the person that injured you offers to pay an insufficient amount, you’ve a right to correct compensation.

Lawyers can help draft lawsuits that poke holes in insurance documents and policies. They’ll also help assert authority to the defendant as you seek the rightful compensation.

You must take the following steps before filling for lawsuits after an injury:

1. Determine Whether the Case is Within Statute of Limitation

After the accident occurs, so much happens in between that can make your potential case time invalid. Every state or nation has its statute of limitation that helps in the expedition of such matters. This, therefore, need to be established before proceeding with the case.

A lawyer can help you to revive such time-barred cases or put the matter on a speedy lane to ensure justice is served. This can be due to a lengthy spell in hospital or when some of the affected people have lost lives in the accidents.

2. Find an Experienced and a Competent Lawyer

One of the factors that increase your chances of success in litigation is the person representing you. An attorney for personal injury matters cannot be the same as the one dealing with other matters like family law.

Below are some top considerations to help you solve this point: –

• Contingency Fee: Depending on your financial situation, sometimes it can be difficult to go for a lawsuit due to legal fees. Legal firms that charge no upfront fee can help you to get justice with less strain on your finances.

Look for firms that have options to charge a commission for the compensation plan.

• Reputable Law Firms: Reputation comes from the experience in the industry and also reviews from past clients. Look for sources either online, from friends, recommendations, and peer reviews to help settle for reputable firms.

Before you embark on a legal case, the team that’s going to handle your case must be solid and competent. This is a critical step when seeking justice or fair compensation.

3. Ensure you Have a Traceable and Accurate Record of Events

Evidence and records are the determining factors for a case to be successful or not. This is what will be used by defendants, the judge, lawyers, and members of the jury to decide your case. Therefore, take ample time to gather all that is needed.

You may require the following evidence: –

• Medical Records: Consult a medical professional to help you gather all the required medical records and certificates. These documents will offer a weighty, balanced, and objective approach which will form the basis of deciding the case merits.
• Photographs: Lawyers can help you gather all the necessary images that can be relied on to dispense the case. Without such critical images, the case may get difficult to prove.
• Witnesses and Social Media Evidence: Ensure you record contacts of witnesses. Also, ensure they’re willing to back your case when seeking compensation. Also, avoid commenting about your case on public forums such as social media—this jeopardizes the administration of the case.

4. Select and Notify the Defendant in the Case

The ultimate reason for pursuing a case is getting justice and compensation. This can only be achieved if they’ve the ability—deep pockets—to handle the compensation.

Look for signs like a financially stable insurance company, a wealthy individual, the fault of an employer to observe safety standards, or a fault by local or federal governments.

Ensure they’re also notified to prepare for the defense. This could also precipitate out of court settlement, thus proving beneficial to all parties.

5. Prepare the Case with your Lawyer

The final thing is preparing the case to present in the court. Your lawyer will prepare witnesses, finalize the evidence, and gather all records, on your behalf. This step culminates by filing of the case at the office of the clerk.

What’s the Ideal Time to File a Personal Injury Case?

If you’ve suffered a personal injury that affected your mobility, ability to earn, or caused you trauma, and emotional anguish, you’re justified to file a case. The compensation received or offer may be insufficient to cover the losses, medical expenses, and the inconveniences brought to your life.

It’s advisable to file the case only when, backed by sufficient evidence, competent attorney and a feasible defendant.

Medtronic has unveiled results from two clinical trials, which evaluated its Melody Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) Therapy, and Harmony TPV.

The ten-year data from Melody TPV study showed positive hemodynamic and safety outcomes, while the investigational Harmony TPV trial met safety and efficacy endpoints for hemodynamic function.

Medtronic vice president and general manager Sandra Lesenfants said: “As demonstrated by these late-breaking studies, we’re consistently building our body of new, short-, and long-term research around innovative, minimally-invasive TPV solutions for CHD patients.

“These Harmony data demonstrate our commitment to generating new therapies and growing our congenital heart disease program to support a lifetime of care that this patient population needs.”

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a common type of birth defect in the US, and approximately 22% of CHD patients have structural malformations that disrupt the connection between the heart and the lungs, known as the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT).

Some of the patients with RVOT require an open-heart surgery early in life to correct the malformations and a prosthetic conduit can be used to increase the blood flow from the heart to the lungs.

The Melody TPV is implanted to restore pulmonary valve function and delay surgical intervention, when the conduit fails to function.
Melody is the world’s first FDA approved transcatheter valve implanted in a human

The medical devices firm, under the Medtronic congenital heart disease programme, is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the Harmony TPV for patients with RVOT malformations.

The Melody TPV clinical trial enrolled 150 implanted patients and pulmonary regurgitation (PR) was set as primary indication for intervention. The safety outcomes includd serious device-related adverse events, stent fracture, catheter reintervention, surgical conduit replacement, and mortality rate.

The clinical trial evaluated Melody for long-term functionality, or TPV dysfunction, defined as reoperation, catheter reintervention, or hemodynamic dysfunction.

Medtronic claimed that its Melody is the world’s first transcatheter valve implanted in a human and the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Harmony TPV has been designed to treat patients with RVOT anomalies who develop severe PR, when a previous repair fails. The study of Harmony is aimed at evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a minimally invasive alternative to open-heart surgery.

The clinical trial evaluated the procedural success, safety, and performance of the Harmony TPV device, in 50 patients enrolled across 12 sites in the US, Canada and Japan.

Clinical trial principal investigator John P Cheatham said: “These pivotal data support the rationale for a potential new therapy designed specifically for the right ventricular outflow tract.

“If future study data continues to be strong, we’re hopeful that Harmony may potentially impact this critical, hard-to-treat segment of patients, who have limited treatment choices with current transcatheter technologies.”

Roche announced that the US FDA has approved Tecentriq as a first-line treatment for adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumours have high PD-L1 expression (PD-L1 stained ≥ 50% of tumour cells [TC ≥ 50%] or PD-L1 stained tumour-infiltrating [IC] covering ≥ 10% of the tumour area [IC ≥ 10%]), as determined by an FDA-approved test, with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumour aberrations.

“We are pleased to offer people with certain types of lung cancer a new chemotherapy-free option that can help prolong their lives and be administered on a flexible dosing schedule, including an option for once-a-month Tecentriq infusions,” said Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development. “Today marks the fifth approval of Tecentriq in lung cancer, as we remain committed to providing an effective and tailored treatment option for every person diagnosed with this disease.”

This approval is based on an interim analysis from the Phase III IMpower110 study, which showed that Tecentriq monotherapy improved overall survival (OS) by 7.1 months compared with chemotherapy (median OS=20.2 versus 13.1 months; hazard ratio [HR]=0.59, 95% CI: 0.40–0.89; p=0.0106) in people with high PD-L1 expression (TC3/IC3-wild-type [WT]). Safety for Tecentriq appeared to be consistent with its known safety profile, and no new safety signals were identified. Grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were reported in 12.9% of people receiving Tecentriq compared with 44.1% of people receiving chemotherapy.1

Tecentriq is the first and only single-agent cancer immunotherapy with three dosing options, allowing administration every two, three or four weeks. The supplemental Biologics License Application for the Tecentriq monotherapy was granted Priority Review, a designation given to medicines the FDA has determined to have the potential to provide significant improvements in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a disease.

In the US, Tecentriq has received four approvals across NSCLC, including as a single agent or in combination with targeted therapies and/or chemotherapies. It is also approved in combination with carboplatin and etoposide (chemotherapy) for the first-line treatment of adults with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

Roche has an extensive development programme for Tecentriq, including multiple ongoing and planned Phase III studies across lung, genitourinary, skin, breast, gastrointestinal, gynaecological, and head and neck cancers. This includes studies evaluating Tecentriq both alone and in combination with other medicines.

About Tecentriq
Tecentriq is a monoclonal antibody designed to bind with a protein called PD-L1, which is expressed on tumour cells and tumour-infiltrating immune cells, blocking its interactions with both PD-1 and B7.1 receptors. By inhibiting PD-L1, Tecentriq may enable the activation of T-cells. Tecentriq is a cancer immunotherapy that has the potential to be used as a foundational combination partner with other immunotherapies, targeted medicines and various chemotherapies across a broad range of cancers. The development of Tecentriq and its clinical programme is based on our greater understanding of how the immune system interacts with tumours and how harnessing a person’s immune system combats cancer more effectively.

Tecentriq is approved in the US, EU and countries around the world, either alone or in combination with targeted therapies and/or chemotherapies in various forms of non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, certain types of metastatic urothelial cancer, and in PD-L1-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

About Roche in cancer immunotherapy
Roche’s rigorous pursuit of groundbreaking science has contributed to major therapeutic and diagnostic advances in oncology over the last 50 years, and today, realising the full potential of cancer immunotherapy is a major area of focus. With over 20 molecules in development, Roche is investigating the potential benefits of immunotherapy alone, and in combination with chemotherapy, targeted therapies or other immunotherapies with the goal of providing each person with a treatment tailored to harness their own unique immune system to attack their cancer. Our scientific expertise, coupled with innovative pipeline and extensive partnerships, gives us the confidence to continue pursuing the vision of finding a cure for cancer by ensuring the right treatment for the right patient at the right time.

About Roche
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.