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A new Vanderbilt project aims to cut through referral delays and help eligible patients reach new therapies faster

• A new AI tool could help speed up the process of getting eligible Alzheimers patients to treatment.

• The system will review medical records, flag missing information, and help prioritize referrals.

• Researchers will test whether the technology can shorten the time from diagnosis to a patients first infusion.

For people diagnosed with Alzheimers disease who may qualify for newer treatments, getting from diagnosis to therapy can involve several steps and plenty of waiting. Patients may need a referral, a specialist evaluation, brain imaging, and insurance authorization before receiving their first infusion.

Researchers at Vanderbilt Health are now working on an artificial intelligence tool designed to make part of that process move faster. The project, funded by a grant from Eli Lilly and Company, will create an AI triage agent that works inside Vanderbilt Healths electronic health record system. The 18-month project is focused on the handoff from primary care or geriatrics to neurology.

By the time a patient reaches our clinic, the clock has often been running for weeks, researcher Amalia Peterson, M.D. said in a news release.

This tool will be designed to make sure that when a referral arrives, we already have the information we need to act quickly. It doesnt replace clinical judgment, but it will remove a lot of the friction that keeps patients waiting.

How the AI will work

When a clinician submits a referral because of concerns about a patients cognitive health, the AI tool will review the relevant information in that patients chart. It will summarize the information, identify details that are missing, and recommend whether the referral should be handled as a priority or through the standard process.

Importantly, doctors and other clinicians will remain in control. They can accept, change, or override the AIs recommendations.

Before deploying the tool, researchers will study where delays are happening now. They plan to use AI to reconstruct care timelines for more than 5,300 Vanderbilt Health patients, then work with clinicians and operational staff to identify the reasons for those delays.

The team will use what it learns to develop and test the AI agent in a pilot.

What this could mean for patients

The researchers will judge the project by one key measure: whether it reduces the amount of time between an Alzheimers diagnosis and a patients first infusion.

For eligible patients and their families, shaving time off the referral and evaluation process could make the path to treatment less cumbersome. The project is specifically focused on making sure referrals arrive with the information needed for the next step, rather than replacing doctors judgment.

For many patients and families, the pathway begins in primary care or geriatrics, where cognitive concerns are first recognized, and the next steps can be difficult to navigate, researcher Sean Huang, M.D. said in the release.

Our goal is to help clinicians identify what information is needed earlier, streamline referral communication, and make the handoff to specialty care timelier and complete.

If money keeps you up at night, your brain may be paying a price, too

• Chronic financial stress may affect your brain, with research linking it to faster brain aging and cognitive decline.

• Small money moves can reduce the pressure, including budgeting, building emergency savings, and checking finances weekly.

• Protect your brain with exercise, adequate sleep, fewer financial alerts, and getting help when needed.

Worrying about money may cost more than your peace of mind.

New research suggests that ongoing financial stress is associated with faster brain aging and a greater risk of cognitive decline.

Researchers found people who experienced ongoing financial hardship performed worse on memory and thinking tests and showed signs of accelerated brain aging on brain scans. The study found an association but did not prove that financial stress directly causes cognitive decline.

The findings don't mean occasional money worries will harm your brain. Instead, they point to the potential effects of years of chronic financial strain, particularly when it becomes a constant source of anxiety.

Fortunately, there are some practical steps you can take to reduce both financial stress and its impact on your overall health.

Smart ways to reduce financial stress

• Focus on what you can control. You may not be able to lower inflation or interest rates, but you can review your monthly spending, negotiate recurring bills, cancel unused subscriptions, or build a simple budget. Even small improvements can help you feel more in control.

• Build a small emergency fund. You don't need thousands of dollars to make a difference. Saving even $500 to $1,000 for unexpected expenses can reduce the stress of surprise car repairs or medical bills.

• Don't ignore money problems. Avoiding bills or unopened statements often increases anxiety. Instead, set aside 20 to 30 minutes each week to review your finances and make a plan. Breaking large problems into smaller tasks can make them feel more manageable.

• Schedule a weekly "money check-in." Set aside 20 minutes once a week to review your bills, bank account, and upcoming expenses. Research shows that having a plan, even if you can't solve every financial problem immediately, can reduce feelings of stress and helplessness.

• Turn off those financial stress triggers. Constant dings and notifications from banking apps, investment accounts, and shopping apps can keep your brain in a state of worry. Consider turning off those nonessential alerts and only check your accounts at a predetermined time instead of randomly throughout the day.

• Take care of your brain, too. Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and staying socially connected are all linked to better cognitive health and can also help reduce stress. Research suggests lifestyle habits play an important role in protecting brain function as we age.

• Ask for help early. If debt or financial anxiety is becoming overwhelming, talk with a nonprofit credit counselor or financial professional before the situation spirals. Also, if you notice your worrying is affecting your sleep, work, or relationships, consider speaking with a mental health professional.

Pro tip:Move your body right after a stressful money conversation. If discussing finances leaves you anxious, take a 10- to 20-minute walk afterward. Physical activity helps lower stress hormones and can improve your mood and mental clarity, making it easier to tackle financial decisions rationally instead of emotionally.

Metabolic health may play an important role

• People with an ideal lifestyle had a 14% lower risk of hearing impairment than those with a poor lifestyle.

• Smoking cessation and spending less time sedentary were the lifestyle factors most strongly linked to lower risk.

• Metabolic factors, including BMI and HDL cholesterol, appeared to explain more of the connection than inflammatory markers.

When people think about protecting their hearing, avoiding loud concerts or turning down the volume on their headphones may come to mind. But new research suggests that what happens throughout the rest of the body may matter, too.

A study from researchers at Fudan University found that adults with a healthier overall lifestyle had a lower risk of developing hearing impairment over more than 14 years of follow-up. The researchers were particularly interested in why lifestyle appeared to be connected to hearing health, and their findings pointed toward metabolism as an important piece of the puzzle.

How the researchers studied the connection

The researchers analyzed data from 441,844 U.K. Biobank participants between ages 40 and 69 at baseline. Participants were followed for a median of 14.22 years, during which 20,743 cases of hearing impairment were recorded.

The team created a lifestyle score based on seven behaviors: smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, sleep duration, sedentary time, social contact, and dietary supplement use. Participants were grouped into poor, intermediate, or ideal lifestyle categories based on their scores.

The researchers also examined biological markers related to inflammation and metabolism. Metabolic health was assessed using measures including glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and BMI. The researchers then used statistical analyses to determine how much these biological factors might explain the relationship between lifestyle and hearing impairment.

What the results mean for consumers

People in the ideal lifestyle group had a 14% lower risk of developing hearing impairment compared with those in the poor-lifestyle group. Among individual behaviors, quitting smoking appeared to offer the greatest potential benefit, followed by reducing sedentary time.

Metabolic factors appeared to be particularly important. BMI and HDL cholesterol accounted for roughly 16.5% and 14%, respectively, of the lifestyle-hearing association, while individual inflammatory markers each accounted for less than 6%. Physical activity, less sitting, and healthy sleep were primarily linked to hearing through metabolic pathways.

That doesn't mean lifestyle changes can guarantee someone will avoid hearing impairment. The study was observational, so it can't prove that healthier habits directly prevent hearing problems, and hearing impairment was identified using medical records rather than objective hearing tests.

Still, the findings suggest that hearing health may be connected to more than what's happening inside the ear and that taking care of metabolic health could be one piece of the bigger picture.

Its a response to the growing number of using the messaging platform

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• WhatsApp is testing an optional Scam Alert that uses on-device machine learning to identify suspicious messages from unknown senders.

• Potential will trigger a private warning, but WhatsApp will neither block the message nor automatically report the conversation.

• The limited beta cannot detect every threat, particularly sent through a known contacts compromised account.

WhatsApp is testing a new feature designed to warn users when a message from an unknown sender appears to be part of a scam.

The optional feature, called Scam Alert, downloads a machine-learning model to the users device. It analyzes incoming messages from people outside the recipients contacts, looking for linguistic signals and conversational patterns associated with that have been previously reported by WhatsApp users.

When the system identifies a potentially fraudulent message, it displays a warning banner inside the chat. The alert is visible only to the recipient, preventing the suspected scammer from knowing that the message has been flagged.

Users can then block the sender, report the conversation, continue chatting or mark the sender as trusted. Choosing the last option removes the warning and stops the feature from flagging that particular conversation again.

Privacy protection

Scam Alert does not automatically block messages or report their senders. Classification takes place locally on the users device, an approach intended to add protection without requiring WhatsApp to examine private conversations on its servers.

The feature is aimed at involving impersonation, fake job or sales offers, investment fraud, romance schemes, malicious links, and fraudulent payment requests. Such schemes may begin on Facebook, Instagram, or another public platform before the criminal moves the target to a private WhatsApp conversation.

Scam Alert nevertheless has a significant limitation: it focuses on messages from unknown senders. A scam delivered through a friends or relatives compromised account may therefore escape detection because the sender is already listed in the victims contacts.

What to watch out for

Users should remain cautious about unexpected links and requests to transfer money, scan QR codes, or connect new devices even when a message appears to come from someone they know. WhatsApp users can also enable two-step verification and review the devices connected to their accounts under Settings > Linked devices.

The feature is undergoing a limited beta rollout and is being tested with researchers in Metas bug-bounty community. WhatsApp has not announced when it will become broadly available.