For medicine
Read papers, reports and medical books on your phone. Ask the AI with the citation in front of you.
A two-column paper or a 300-page guideline reads in one column, at the font size you choose. The AI cites the passage it relies on, and one tap takes you to it.
Global trends
The burden for children younger than 10 years declined profoundly between 1990 and 2019, by 57·5% (95% UI 50·3–63·1). Key drivers of this progress included large reductions in major infectious diseases affecting children, namely lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and meningitis, each of which declined by more than 60% between 1990 and 2019.
A PDF that finally reads well on your phone.
No zooming, no dragging from side to side, no words cut in half.
GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators · Lancet 2020; 396
| Age group | DALYs 2019, count (millions) | Age-standardised rate (per 100 000) | Annualised change, 1990–2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–9 years | 531 (458 to 621) | 19125·7 (16495·1 to 22382·5) | −2·5% (−2·6 to −2·3) |
| 10–24 years | 229 (194 to 270) | 12313·0 (10399·9 to 14478·3) | −0·7% (−0·8 to −0·6) |
| 50–74 years | 832 (752 to 919) | 28263·2 (25527·6 to 31213·4) | −1·0% (−1·0 to −0·9) |
| ≥75 years | 329 (308 to 351) | 77320·5 (72372·5 to 82440·3) | −0·9% (−0·9 to −0·9) |
Results
Global trends
Between 1990 and 2019, the number of global DALYs remained almost constant, but once the effects of population growth and ageing were removed by converting counts to age-standardised rates, there were clear improvements in overall health. Over the past decade, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period (table). The annualised rate of decline was greatest in the 0–9-year age group.
The burden for children younger than 10 years declined profoundly between 1990 and 2019, by 57·5% (95% UI 50·3–63·1). Key drivers of this progress included large reductions in major infec-
tious diseases affecting children, namely lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and meningitis, each of which declined by more than 60% between 1990 and 2019. In 2019, neonatal disorders were the leading cause of burden in this age group.
1209
What you see above: pages 5 and 6 of that paper, as they come out of the converter. Two columns become one, split words are joined, and the table is rebuilt as a table: it reads at any size, it can be selected, and the AI reads it row by row. The text is shortened to fit here. The original page is one tap away: go back to it whenever you want.
Reading papers, clinical guidelines and medical textbooks on your phone
It is not only for papers. A 12-page article, a 300-page report and a 1,200-page textbook open and read the same way; in the long ones, the table of contents and search within the document do the rest.
A paper
You read it in one column on your phone, without pinching and dragging. Ask what the inclusion criteria were or what it says about a specific population, and the answer brings the passage with its page so you can check it.
A guideline or a report
A clinical guideline or a 300-page report opens with its table of contents, is searchable, and most of its recommendation tables read as tables. Ask about a situation and the answer cites the recommendation that covers it; one tap takes you there.
A textbook
A textbook in PDF or EPUB reads at the font size you choose, with highlights in four colours and your own notes. With an account, tap a figure, a survival curve or a diagnostic algorithm and ask the AI to explain it, with the book right beside it.
What a PDF reader with AI does not do in medicine
What Marginalia is not, and what it does not do well yet with papers and guidelines.
It is not a clinical tool
It gives no medical advice and replaces no source. The AI searches the document you have open and is instructed to say when something is not there and to flag anything it adds from outside. It can still be wrong: that is why every answer carries the citation, so you can check it against the text.
A scan without text is not converted
If the PDF is an image (a photocopied book, a scanned report without OCR), it is read in its original view, without reflow and without questions. It tells you when you open it.
Complex tables and formulas stay as images
If a table has no clean grid (merged cells, for example), it stays as an image of the original. Drawn formulas show as drawings that scale with the text. They look right, but they cannot be selected. With an account, you can tap them to ask about them.
References are not links yet
The superscript number that points to a reference does not take you to the reference list, and in the list, DOIs and URLs come out as plain text, not links.
Privacy of a PDF with patient data
The file is not uploaded
The PDF is stored in your browser's private storage. The file is not uploaded to any server, not even with an account.
When you ask, the question and the passages
When you ask, your question and the passages of the document needed to answer it travel to the server. If the document carries patient data, keep that in mind before asking, or anonymise it.
With an account, the index and your notes
With an account, the text of the document passes through the server to build the search index, without being stored. Your progress, highlights, notes and conversations are saved to your account so you can continue on another device. Since the file is not uploaded, you open it once in each new browser.
Tested with papers from The Lancet, PLOS Medicine and Nature Communications
The converter is tested with open-access papers from these journals, and the reading order is compared with the text published by PubMed Central. All score above 97% agreement, and most of their tables come out as tables.
The Lancet
GBD 2019: two columns plus a margin column, 19 pages.
Atención Primaria (Elsevier)
PAPPS 2020: two columns with full-width tables, 27 pages, in Spanish.
PLOS Medicine
Retrospective cohort of long COVID, 22 pages.
Nature Communications
CellChat: large figures with long legends.
Scientific Reports
Systematic review and meta-analysis, with four tables.
Frontiers in Immunology
IOBR: the Frontiers layout, two-line title.
If your PDF comes out wrong, tell us from the reader itself. The file is not sent, so tell us which journal or publisher it comes from.
Before you open your first book.
Can I trust what the AI says?
Does it work for a 400-page guideline?
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
Can I open a report with patient data?
Is it good for board exams?
How much does it cost for a medical student?
Open a paper, a guideline or a textbook
No account and nothing to install. Try the sample paper or open your own. If you read often, you can install it as an app.
Free, no account. The file never leaves your browser.