A 3D ultrasound technique called electromechanical wave imaging offers a noninvasive way to diagnose and locate arrhythmias before cardiac ablation, according to a presentation at the Heart Rhythm Society's 40th annual meeting.

A Forescout Technologies report examined 75 health care deployments involving 1.5 million medical devices and over 10,000 virtual local area networks and found that legacy Windows operating systems were a significant cybersecurity vulnerability because of the challenges tied to upgrading and patching the systems. The report recommended regularly monitoring devices, enabling agentless discovery of medical devices, enforcing segmentation, and identifying and auto-classifying devices.

Practices of all sizes are at risk from cyber threats but carefully reviewing cyber vulnerabilities can help reduce the chances of falling prey to them. One often-overlooked precaution is training staff members on how to spot suspicious links and communications.

Taking benzodiazepines for anxiety during early pregnancy was associated with an 11% increased risk of a first-trimester miscarriage, according to a case-control study in JAMA Psychiatry. Lead researcher Anick Berard said animal studies have suggested benzodiazepines can affect fetal development and miscarriage risk.

Psoriatic arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis are associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy and obstetric events, according to a study in Arthritis Care & Research. Women with psoriatic arthritis were at higher risk of moderate preterm birth, while those with ankylosing spondylitis had a greater likelihood of having an infant hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit.

A CDC report showed that US women ages 15 to 44 had a birth rate of 59 births per 1,000 women in 2018, a record low since tracking began, with births to teens ages 15 to 19 also reaching a record low, while the fertility rate dropped by 2% from 2017 to 2018. However, researchers found that preterm birth prevalence has increased for four years straight and reached just over 10% in 2018.

A daily low dose of aspirin may raise the risk of intracranial hemorrhage, potentially outweighing any benefit to people without a history of stroke and heart disease, according a report in the journal JAMA Neurology. The findings support recent changes to guidelines calling for aspirin to be used on a preventive basis only by patients at high risk of a stroke or heart attack.

House Democrats included language shoring up the Affordable Care Act in bills meant to manage drug prices, which might doom the bills in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Visit ARDMS at the ACNM Annual Meeting & Exhibition from Sunday to Tuesday in National Harbor, Md., to learn more about our midwife sonography certificate.

Have you passed one of the examinations required for a credential (RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RMSKS) but haven't earned the credential yet? Please remember there's a five-year time limit on earning a credential once you've passed the first examination (i.e., you passed the SPI examination but haven't passed the specialty examination, or vice versa). Learn more about the five-year rule.