National Cancer Institute Imaging Data Commons:Toward Transparency, Reproducibility, and Scalability in Imaging Artificial Intelligence

The remarkable advances of artificial intelligence (AI) technology are revolutionizing established approaches to the acquisition, interpretation, and analysis of biomedical imaging data. Development, validation, and continuous refinement of AI tools requires easy access to large high-quality annotated datasets, which are both representative and diverse. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Imaging Data Commons (IDC) hosts large and diverse publicly available cancer image data collections. By harmonizing all data based on industry standards and colocalizing it with analysis and exploration resources, the IDC aims to facilitate the development, validation, and clinical translation of AI tools and address the well-documented challenges of establishing reproducible and transparent AI processing pipelines. Balanced use of established commercial products with open-source solutions, interconnected by standard interfaces, provides value and performance, while preserving sufficient agility to address the evolving needs of the research community. Emphasis on the development of tools, use cases to demonstrate the utility of uniform data representation, and cloud-based analysis aim to ease adoption and help define best practices. Integration with other data in the broader NCI Cancer Research Data Commons infrastructure opens opportunities for multiomics studies incorporating imaging data to further empower the research community to accelerate breakthroughs in cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Published under a CC BY 4.0 license

Cannabis positivity rates in 17 emergency departments across the United States with varying degrees of marijuana legalization.

BACKGROUND: Many states in the United States have progressed towards legalization of marijuana including decriminalization, medicinal and/or recreational use. We studied the impact of legalization on cannabis-related emergency department visits in states with varying degrees of legalization. METHODS: Seventeen healthcare institutions in fifteen states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington) participated. Cannabinoid immunoassay results and cannabis-related International Classification of Diseases (ninth and tenth versions) codes were obtained for emergency department visits over a 3- to 8-year period during various stages of legalization: no state laws, decriminalized, medical approval before dispensaries, medical dispensaries available, recreational approval before dispensaries and recreational dispensaries available. Trends and monthly rates of cannabinoid immunoassay and cannabis-related International Classification of Diseases code positivity were determined during these legalization periods. RESULTS: For most states, there was a significant increase in both cannabinoid immunoassay and International Classification of Diseases code positivity as legalization progressed; however, positivity rates differed. The availability of dispensaries may impact positivity in states with medical and/or recreational approval. In most states with no laws, there was a significant but smaller increase in cannabinoid immunoassay positivity rates. CONCLUSIONS: States may experience an increase in cannabis-related emergency department visits with progression toward marijuana legalization. The differences between states, including those in which no impact was seen, are likely multifactorial and include cultural norms, attitudes of local law enforcement, differing patient populations, legalization in surrounding states, availability of dispensaries, various ordering protocols in the emergency department, and the prevalence of non-regulated cannabis products