Low-dose CT chest scans could help detect pneumonia in at-risk patients while exposing them to only small amounts of radiation, a new study has found. The research, published in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging, shows that ultra-low-dose scans can effectively detect pneumonia in patients with compromised immune systems, enabling doctors to treat the infection before it becomes life-threatening. According to the researchers, these scans expose patients to just 2% of the radiation dose used in a standard CT scan.

"This study paves the way for safer, AI-driven imaging that reduces radiation exposure while preserving diagnostic accuracy,” lead researcher Dr Maximiliano Klug, a radiologist with the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, said in a news release. He added that CT scans are the gold standard for detecting pneumonia but there are concerns regarding the risk posed by repeated exposure to radiation. There is a solution- ultra-low-dose CT scan. However, the problem is that these scans can be grainy and hard to read, researchers said.

Study Gives Solution To This

To overcome that, Klug's team developed an AI program that could help "de-noise" low-dose scans, making them sharper and easier to read. Between September 2020 and December 2022, 54 patients with compromised immune systems who had fevers underwent a pair of chest CT scans -- a normal dose scan and an ultra-low-dose scan. The AI program cleaned up the low-dose scan, and then both sets of images were given to a pair of radiologists for assessment. Radiologists had 100% accuracy in detecting pneumonia and other lung problems with the AI-cleaned low-dose scans, but 91% to 98% accuracy in examining the scans that hadn’t been improved through AI, results show.

"This pilot study identified infection with a fraction of the radiation dose," Klug said. "This approach could drive larger studies and ultimately reshape clinical guidelines, making denoised ultra-low dose CT the new standard for young immunocompromised patients.

How Can You Detect Pneumonia?

Pneumonia is a lung infection that causes the air sacs in the lungs to fill with fluid or pus and can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi. The symptoms can range from milk to severe, which includes:

Coughing with or without cough

Fever

Chills

Trouble breathing

Chest pain, especially when breathing deeply or coughing

Sweating or chills

Rapid heart rate

Loss of appetite

Bluish skin, lips, and nails

Confusion.

How to detect Pneumonia in coughing newborns and toddlers?

Pneumonia can severely affect newborns and young children as their lungs are comparatively more sensitive. As per Dr Goyal, young children can cough for various reasons including seasonal infections and tonsillitis, which is very common in this age group. But if they look visibly irritable and have poor sleep patterns, then parents must reach out to an expert. "I am not saying that parents must visit a hospital but any local paediatrician would be able to detect pneumonia in your kid.

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, asked the Centre to form a panel to form statutory regulations against unethical practices by pharmaceutical companies. This includes gift giving, hospitality, and other incentives offered to doctors.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued the direction while hearing a petition seeking stronger regulation of pharmaceutical marketing practices.

The court wants the committee to recommend whether, and how, the unethical interactions between pharmaceutical companies and doctors should be brought under a legally enforceable framework.

The matter will resume in court on January 29, 2027, when the Centre is expected to show compliance with the directions.

What Did The Supreme Court Say?

Also read: Could This Popular Joint Supplement Turn Mild Cognitive Impairment Into Dementia? New Study Finds Link

The court's order follows earlier concerns about whether the existing system is equipped to prevent unethical pharmaceutical marketing.

Justice Sandeep Mehta, reading out the order, said, “We have directed the Union of India to constitute the committee and give its recommendations in terms of our previous directives and observations.”

The committee will examine the representations received and make recommendations to the Union government on the need for statutory regulation.

The Court had reserved order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that the Union government is to form a three-member committee to assess whether a statutory framework is needed to regulate unethical practices by pharmaceutical companies.

The case was filed by the Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives' Associations of India (FMRAI), which has sought accountability for alleged practices such as expensive gifts, foreign trips, hospitality and other benefits used to promote medicines to doctors.

It said, “This has led to over-prescription of drugs resulting in a serious infringement of the right to life and the right to health of the citizens.”

What Are Pharma Freebies To Doctors?

Also read: Russia Denies Second Plague Case As WHO Seeks Answers On Lab Death; Trump Says It’s Not A Bioweapon

Pharmaceutical companies use various marketing strategies to promote their products to healthcare professionals. These can include gifts, hospitality, sponsored travel, benefits related to conference and other promotional incentives.

The concern before the Supreme Court is not just an ordinary interaction between drug companies and doctors, but whether financial or material incentives can unethically influence drug-prescribing decisions.

India already has the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), 2024, which lays down rules concerning gifts, physician samples, brand reminders, continuing medical education and other promotional activities. However, questions remain over whether the framework has adequate statutory regulation.

The Centre has previously said the UCPMP is functioning, but agreed that the question of giving pharmaceutical marketing regulation statutory backing should be examined separately.

The Centre, in its response, said, “The Department of Pharmaceuticals has issued the Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), which is applicable to Pharmaceutical Companies, medical representatives and agents.” The code clearly prohibits pharmaceutical companies from offering gifts, travel facilities, hospitality, cash or monetary grants to physicians or their family members, it added.

Unethical Pharma Marketing Could Affect Patients

The biggest concern is that a prescribing decision could become influenced by factors other than clinical need, evidence, safety, and cost. If incentives influence prescribing, patients could potentially face:

• Unnecessary medicines when they are not clinically needed
• More expensive branded drugs when alternatives exist
• Higher doses or longer treatment than necessary
• Polypharmacy, or the use of multiple medicines when fewer may be appropriate
• Higher out-of-pocket healthcare expenses

These concerns have previously been raised before the Supreme Court in relation to alleged pharmaceutical marketing practices. The issue, therefore, goes beyond ethics for patients. The doctor-pharma relationship can directly affect what medicine a patient receives, how long they take it, and how much they pay.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving deeper into biological research, with Meta, Google DeepMind, the US government and other partners backing a $1.8 billion effort to build AI-ready biological datasets and predictive models of life that could help scientists better understand, predict and treat diseases.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan-backed nonprofit Biohub first announced the Virtual Biology Initiative in April 2026 with a $500 million commitment.

The five-year effort aims to generate large-scale, multimodal biological data that could help scientists develop AI models capable of predicting how cells respond to different interventions — potentially accelerating disease research, drug discovery and the development of new treatments.

The initiative has now expanded through partnerships involving the US Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, Meta, Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, bringing the total commitment to $1.8 billion.

“An accurate predictive model of biology could dramatically accelerate scientific discovery by enabling scientists to perform experiments digitally. The insights that come from this could unlock a far greater understanding of disease and open up completely new paths for cures,” said Biohub Head of Science Alex Rives.

“Because of this potential, the creation of a virtual cell is one of the most important challenges for the next era of science. It will require coordinated data generation efforts at a national and international scale, which is why these partners are coming together. We invite the worldwide scientific community to join us in this project,” he added.

Also read: Anthropic, OpenEvidence Expand Clinical AI Globally: WHO Warns of Ethics Risks

What Is the Virtual Biology Initiative?

The Virtual Biology Initiative aims to coordinate biological data generation across institutions and scientific disciplines, creating open, AI-ready datasets that can support predictive models of life.

The broader goal is to build increasingly accurate models of the complex workings of cells, allowing scientists to investigate biological mechanisms and understand how diseases develop. Such models could allow researchers to ask and test questions digitally at a scale and speed that would be difficult to achieve through laboratory experiments alone.

If successful, the approach could help accelerate scientific discovery, identify potential biological targets and support the development of therapies for complex diseases.

Of that commitment, $400 million supports technologies designed to expand what scientists can measure, including cryo-electron tomography to resolve near-atomic details inside cells, microscopy capable of imaging millions to billions of cells in living tissue, and engineering tools to build and perturb biology at molecular, cellular, tissue and whole-organism levels. A further $100 million supports research outside Biohub.

Read More: Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome Atlas Maps 9 Billion Mutations in Human Genome; To Reveal Genetics, Rare Disease Clues

Inside the $1.8B AI Biology Effort

• Biohub: Provides biological measurement technologies, research infrastructure and open datasets to build the foundation for virtual biology.
• US Department of Energy: Will contribute more than $500 million through its Genesis Mission, including advanced imaging, biological research, AI-driven analysis, modeling and high-performance computing.
• NIH: Brings together existing biomedical datasets, repositories, knowledge bases and research infrastructure developed through previous federal investment.
• Google DeepMind: Contributes AI and AI-for-science expertise to help develop predictive models of biology.
• Isomorphic Labs: Brings AI-driven drug discovery expertise and capabilities in biological modelling.
• Meta: Brings AI and computational expertise as part of the industry's collective $300 million commitment.
• NVIDIA: Contributes accelerated computing infrastructure, software and technical expertise.
• Research institutions: Organizations including the Allen Institute, Broad Institute, Gladstone Institutes, Human Cell Atlas, Human Protein Atlas and Wellcome Sanger Institute contribute biological data, scientific expertise and international coordination.

France is reporting a rise in COVID-19 cases as the government prepares to launch its autumn COVID and flu vaccination campaign on October 13. The increase comes as neighboring UK is also reporting higher COVID activity and hospitalizations.

COVID-19 Cases Rise in France

Data from the Réseau Sentinelles and other networks monitored by Santé publique France showed an increase in COVID-19 infections during the week of September 21-27, The Connexion reported.

The estimated number of people with COVID-19 who consulted GPs for acute respiratory infections rose to 13 per 100,000, up from nine the previous week. This translates to around 8,806 new cases, compared with about 6,000 the previous week.

The figures cover only people who consulted a GP, so the actual number of infections could be higher.

Overall, acute respiratory infections reported by GPs rose from 103 to 151 cases per 100,000 people. Rhinoviruses were more common, detected in 40% of samples, compared with 10% for COVID.

Emergency visits for suspected COVID among people aged 15 and older also increased by 22%, or 114 visits. However, hospital admissions following emergency visits remained stable and overall COVID activity remained at a low level.

"As always, it's not the patient's interest that counts, but that of the system," said Jérôme Marty, a GP in southern France, according to Franceinfo. Marty said he had been seeing a steady stream of COVID patients in recent weeks.

Also read:‘American Covid’ Strain Drives 50% Surge in UK Hospital Admissions: XFG Symptoms to Know

Doctors Seek Earlier Vaccination

The French government has rejected demands from a doctors’ union to bring forward the vaccination campaign.

Marty, who is also president of the UFML doctors’ union, said he was “dismayed” by the decision to start the campaign on October 13.

"There is no public health campaign; people are not reminded to wear a mask when they have symptoms... We are lagging!" he said.

The office of Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said that “indicators do not show a situation justifying the early launch of the campaign.”

Syringe Shortage Concerns

Meanwhile, pharmacy groups have raised concerns about vaccine administration supplies. In an open letter to the minister, they warned that multi-dose vaccine vials require suitable syringes and needles, which pharmacists must now purchase themselves.

The groups called for sufficient supplies and financial coverage and urged greater use of pre-filled syringes in future campaigns.

XFG Vaccine Set for October 13

Read More: COVID-19 May Raise Risk of 6 Allergic Conditions, Study Finds

For autumn 2026, France will use the monovalent Comirnaty XFG vaccine.

COVID vaccination is particularly recommended for people at higher risk of severe disease, including those aged 65 and over, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and those with certain chronic conditions.

The 30-microgram dose is for people aged 12 and older, while the 10-microgram dose is for children aged 6 months to 11 years.

UK, US Also Report COVID Rise

In England, COVID activity increased in the week to September 20. Hospital PCR positivity rose from 5.9% to 7.0%, while hospital admissions increased from 0.81 to 1.20 per 100,000 people. Overall activity remained low.

In the US, CDC data from September 29 showed cases rising in some states while falling or remaining stable in others.

What Is the XFG Variant?

XFG is a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 variant formed from Omicron subvariants LF.7 and LP.8.1.2. The WHO records the earliest documented XFG sample on January 27, 2025, and designated it a variant under monitoring in June 2025.

The variant has since been detected in multiple countries and remains among the SARS-CoV-2 variants being monitored by WHO.

What Are the Symptoms of XFG?

COVID symptoms can vary between individuals. Reported symptoms associated with the current circulation of XFG include:

• Cough

• Fever

• Sore throat

• Headache

• Runny nose

• Fatigue.