A new study published yesterday in Jama found that a test used to diagnose patients with lung cancer had a built-in racial bias. The algorithm in the software used to diagnose patients assumed that Black people had naturally weaker lung capacity, raising the threshold for recommending care and making it less likely that they would be prescribed medication. According to the study, up to 40 percent more Black men would have been diagnosed with breathing problems if the bias had been corrected. The study also pointed out that this specific test isn't the only place where racial bias affects medicine. Prejudices and assumptions about racial differences affect patients looking for heart and kidney care as well.
WARNING ABOUT PAYMENT APPS
There's a new warning for people who store money in payment apps like Paypal, Venmo, and Cash App. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPC) said that the funds may not be secure in the case of a crisis, because while traditional bank accounts are secured up to $250,000, money held in a payment app doesn't have the same protections. So if one of these companies ever had a funding issue or was forced to close, customers could lose their money.
The charging of Rex Heuermann with several murders of sex workers found on a Long Island beach has drawn attention to unsolved murders of sex workers elsewhere. There is no indication whether investigators suspect Heuermann in the killings of four sex workers in New Jersey.
Racing will resume at Churchill Downs in September, with no changes being made after a review of surfaces and safety protocols in the wake of 12 horse deaths, including seven in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby in May.
Six migrant workers were rammed by a vehicle outside a Walmart in North Carolina on Sunday in what appears to have been an intentional assault, but Maj. Brian Greene, interim chief of the Lincolnton Police Department, said the driver's motives are still under investigation.
The horseshoe crab has been scuttling in the ocean and tidal pools for more than 400 million years, playing a vital role in the East Coast ecosystem along with being a prized item for fishing bait and medical research.
