San Diego-based Cortechs Labs Inc. has developed an automated PET image analysis tool that identifies changes in specific brain structures associated with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.

Artificial intelligence still has a lot to prove when it comes to its relevance in improving health care. But one bright spot was a deal last July between Dublin-based Medtronic plc and San Francisco-based startup Viz.ai Inc. to use the latter’s AI system that’s designed to spot a large vessel occlusion automatically in CT angiogram images.

The second day of the FDA workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) in health care featured several interesting proposals, including that AI will be used in health care without the aid of a health care professional. John Martin, chief medical officer at Butterfly Network Inc., of Guildford, Conn., said the time is ripe for AI-assisted ultrasound in the home, which he claimed could reduce rehospitalizations in heart failure, one of the holy grails in U.S. government efforts to restrain health care spending growth.

Waveguide Corp. has launched the first portable, battery-powered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) device, Waveguide Formμla, offering rapid, on-site screening and diagnostics. The Cambridge, Mass.-based startup is looking to advance the product for use in detecting infectious diseases and cancer.

Asuragen Inc., an Austin, Texas-based molecular diagnostics company, has received good news from the U.S. FDA. The agency gave the green light for the company’s Amplidex Fragile X Dx and Carrier Screen Kit, which aims to detect a genetic condition known as Fragile X syndrome. The diagnostic kit determines the number of cytosine-guanine-guanine (CGG) repeats in the FMR1 gene to aid in the diagnosis of Fragile X syndrome and associated disorders, including Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Q Bio Inc., which is offering a quantitative assessment of personal health, has come out of stealth mode, scooping up $40 million in a series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The funds are earmarked to improve its proprietary platform and technology to make its preventive health services faster, better and more affordable for all.