Can Chocolate be Good for You? The Dark and Light Side of the Force
By Jesica Levingston Mac leod, PhD
It is this time of the year again: San Valentin (aka Valentine’s Day) – the best excuse to give and more importantly to EAT a lot of chocolate. But, maybe a better gift that receiving chocolate, is to know that eating chocolate might be good for your health.
In the beginning chocolate was “created” as a medicine – a healthy beverage – around 1900 BC by Mesoamerican people. The Aztecs and Mayas gave it the name of “xocolatl”, it means bitter water, as the early preparations of the cacao seeds had an intense bitter taste. Almost one year ago, a longitudinal study, done in the US East Coast, connected eating chocolate with better cognitive function. Yay! Great news, right? The scientists gathered information over a period of 30 years (starting in 1976) from 968 subjects (aged 23-98 years) in the Syracuse-Maine area. The results showed that more frequent chocolate consumption was meaningfully associated with better performance on the global composite score, visual-spatial memory and organization, working memory, scanning and tracking, abstract reasoning, and the mini-mental state examination. Importantly, they pointed out that with the exception of working memory, these relations were not attenuated with statistical control for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors across the participants.
More good news arrived last summer: an Italian research team announced that flavanol-rich chocolate improves arterial function and working memory performance counteracting the effects of sleep deprivation. The researchers investigated the effect of flavanol-rich chocolate consumption on cognitive skills and cardiovascular parameters after sleep deprivation in 32 healthy participants, who underwent two baseline sessions after one night of undisturbed sleep and two experimental sessions after one night of total sleep deprivation. Two hours before each testing session, participants were assigned to consume high or poor flavanol chocolate bars. During the tests the participants were evaluated by the psychomotor vigilance task and a working memory task, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), flow-mediated dilation and pulse-wave velocity. As you might know, sleep deprivation increased SBP/DBP. The result was that SBP/DBP and pulse pressure were lower after flavanol-rich treatment respect to flavanol-poor treatment sleep deprivation impaired flow-mediated dilation, flavanol-rich, but not flavanol-poor chocolate counteracted this alteration. Flavanol-rich chocolate mitigated the pulse-wave velocity increase. Also, flavanol-rich chocolate preserved working memory accuracy in women after sleep deprivation. Flow-mediated dilation correlated with working memory performance accuracy in the sleep condition.
The European Food Safety Authority accepted the following statement for cocoa products containing 200 mg of flavanols: “cocoa flavanols help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels, which contributes to normal blood flow”. This statement means that flavanol-rich chocolate counteracted vascular impairment after sleep deprivation and restored working memory performance. In another study led by Columbia University Medical Center scientists, dietary cocoa flavanols—naturally occurring bioactives found in cocoa—reversed age-related memory decline in healthy older adults. One possibility is that the improvement in cognitive performance could be due to the effects of cocoa flavonoids on blood pressure and peripheral and central blood flow. Following on this other chocolate attribute, it was shown than weekly chocolate intake may be beneficial to arterial stiffness.
But, there are some bad news! A review of 13 scientific articles on this topic, provided evidence that dark chocolate did not reduce blood pressure. However, the reviewers claimed that there was an association with increased flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) and moderate for an improvement in blood glucose and lipid metabolism. Specifically, their analysis showed that chocolates containing around 100 mg epicatechin can reliably increase FMD, and that cocoa flavanol doses of around 900 mg or above may decrease blood pressure if consumed over longer periods: “Out of 32 cocoa product samples analyzed, the two food supplements delivered 900 mg of total flavanols and 100 mg epicatechin in doses of 7 g and 20 g and 3 and 8 g, respectively. To achieve these doses with chocolate, you will need to consume 100 to 500 g (for 900 mg flavanols) and 50 to 200 g (for 100 mg epicatechin). Chocolate products marketed for their purported health benefits should therefore declare the amounts of total flavanols and epicatechin”. The method of manufacturing dark chocolate retains epicatechin, whereas milk chocolate does not contain substantial amounts of epicatechin.
The first epidemiological “indication” for beneficial health effects of chocolate were found in Kuna natives in Panama with low prevalence of atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. This fact correlated with their daily intake of a homemade cocoa. These traits disappear after migration to urban and changes in diet.
There are many claims about the potential health benefits of chocolate, including anti-oxidative effect by polyphenols, anti-depressant effect by high serotonin levels, inhibition of platelet aggregation and prevention of obesity-dependent insulin resistance. Chocolate contains quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that protects cells against damage from free-radicals. Chocolate also contains theobromine and caffeine, which are central nervous system stimulants, diuretics and smooth muscle relaxants, and valeric acid, which is a stress reducer. However, chocolate also contains sugar and other additives in some chocolate products that might not be so good for your health.
Oh well, maybe the love of chocolate is like any other romantic affair: blind and passionate. Apparently, the beneficial dosage is 10 g of dark chocolate per day (>70% cocoa), so enjoy it as long as the serotonin boost for rewarding yourself with a new treat last.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Monday, April 30, 2018
Is Your antiperspirant Bad For Your Health?
By Jesica Levingston Mac Leod, PhD
Body odors (BO) are part of our evolution, and the ability to smell has evolved with us, making people fall in love or run away from a smelly person. Sweat has an initial effect to cool our body down and avoid overheating. Sweat can also be trigger by stress, anxiety or other hormonal changes. Sweat by itself doesn’t smell, but the bacteria located near the glands, for example, the armpits, breakdown the sweat generating the “BO”. How do we deal with the stinky fact? We apply deodorants and/or antiperspirants. Deodorants have ingredients like triclosan, which make the skin more salty or acidic for the bacteria to grow in those areas. Therefore deodorants don’t stop you from sweating, but antiperspirants will do the trick, as they contain ingredients like aluminum and zirconium, which are taken up through the pores and they react with water and swell, forming a gel that blocks the sweat.
Last year, Mandriota and collaborators demonstrated that in a cancer mouse model, concentrations of aluminum in the amount of those measured in the human breast are able to transform cultured mammary epithelial cells, allowing them to form tumors and to metastasize. Moreover, aluminum salts have been linked with DNA damage, oxidative stress, and estrogen action. In 2004, a woman reported aluminum poisoning after using antiperspirants for four years, and after stopping the use of these products the aluminum levels dropped and she recovered.
Breast cancer develops after cells with mutations in their DNA start growing uncontrolled, generating a tumor. Most breast cancers develop in the upper outer quadrant of the breast, near to the lymph nodes that are exposed to antiperspirants. This fact was the starting point for the theories that the underarm cosmetic products could be carcinogenic. One of the first publications on this subject dates from 2002; it was population-based (ages 20-74, 1606 patients) and found no correlation between breast cancer and antiperspirant use. A second article found a relationship between an earlier age of breast cancer diagnosis to more frequent regular use of antiperspirants/deodorants and underarm shaving.
Aluminum salts have been linked to increased risk of developing breast cancer, but so far the research on this has been quite inconsistent. Last month, a new research study of 418 women (ages 20 to 85) examined their self-reported history of use of underarm cosmetic products and health status, in order to unveil a bit more about the link between antiperspirants and breast cancer. Linhart and col. from Austria, studied the relationship of the use of underarm cosmetic products and the risk of breast cancer. They divided the group in two: half of the women were breast cancer patients and the other half healthy controls. Then, they measured the concentration of aluminum in the breast tissue of some of the women. The results showed that the risk of breast cancer increased by an odd ratio of 3.88 in females who described using the underarm products multiple times per day starting before their 30th birthday. Importantly: “aluminum traces were found in the breast tissue in both cancer patients and healthy controls and it was significantly associated to self-reported underarm cosmetic products use”. In fact, the median concentrations of aluminum were 5.8 (2.3-12.9) nmol/g in the tissues from breast cancer patients versus 3.8 (2.5-5.8) nmol/g in controls. The conclusion is that more than daily use of these cosmetic products at younger ages may lead to the accumulation of aluminum in breast tissue and increase the risk of breast cancer.
Although the American Cancer Society claims that “there are no strong epidemiologic studies in the medical literature that link breast cancer risk and antiperspirant use”, after the Linhart investigation, and knowing that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, I will avoid antiperspirants with aluminum. Nobody wants to be called “stinky”, so some actions to take are to wash your clothes after working out, take showers regularly and/or clean your armpits with water and soap as soon as you “smell something”, apply deodorant, and consult with your doctor about the best way to keep your body odors under control. The last resource: perfume. If you can’t win the fight… hide.
http://myscizzle.com/category/contributors/jesica-levingston-mac-leod/
The many ways Dancing is good for your health!
Dancing together is good for your health!
By Jesica Levingston Mac leod, PhD
Social dancers know the amazing feeling that a synchronized dance could bring. When your follower or leader is connected and it feels like you are one mind and body following the music, it is mystical and magical… Well, it turns out that synchronized dancing is also good for your health. I started dancing salsa because a good friend was going crazy about it and she recommended it, this inspired me to join a class. At this point, I was a solitary belly dancer only following in team dances where you have choreography and if you are coordinated enough you feel this celestial connection with the other dancers…but without any physical contact.
On the other hand, in social dances like salsa, bachata, tango, zouk or swing, the connection is the base of a good dance. Nobody wants to be the person stepping to the left when 5 other dancers moved to the right while performing in a stage in front of hundreds of people, as well as nobody enjoys turning to the wrong side for misreading your dance partner lead, or watching how a follower does a completely different step that the one the leader indicated. Furthermore, being “in sync” with the group or your direct dance partner may help to improve your health, science says. In a nutshell, a recent study found that synchronizing with others while dancing raised pain tolerance and encouraged people to feel closer to others.
This year, Dr. Burzynska et al., at Colorado State University, separated 174 healthy adults, 60s to 79 years old, who had no signs of memory loss or impairment, into 3 activity groups: walking, stretching and balance training, or dance classes. The activities were carry on for 6 months and three times a week, those in the dance group practiced and learned a country dance choreography. Brain scans were done on all participants and compared with scans taken before the activities began. Not surprisingly, the participants in the dancing group performed better and had less deterioration in their brains than the other groups. Their most recent study published in November: “The Dancing Brain: Structural and Functional Signatures of Expert Dance Training” showed that dancers’ brains differed from non-dancers’ at both functional- and structural-levels. Most of the group differences were skill-relevant and correlated with objective laboratory measures of dance skill and balance. Their results are promising in that long-term, versatile, combined motor and coordination training may induce neural alterations that support performance demands.” (link 2)
Moreover, It is well established that dancing-based therapies are providing outstanding results in the treatment of dementia, autism and Parkinson’s. Indeed, dance therapy improves motor and cognitive functions in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Dancing was suggested to be a powerful tool to improve motor-cognitive dual-task performance in adults. Dance movement therapy has known benefits for cancer patients’ physical and psychological health and quality of life. Another study by Domane and collaborators, working with a cohort of overweight and physically inactive women, showed that Zumba fitness is indeed an efficacious health-enhancing activity for adults. Park also concluded that “a 12-week low- to moderate-intensity exercise program appears to be beneficial for obese elderly women by improving risk factors for cardiovascular disease”.
Dancing helps generate positive connections with others and this is one of the evolutionary reasons you are “called” to the dance floor when a song you like starts playing, and probably you will start your dance by coordinating with or copying others. Probably this behavior signaled tribe membership for early humans and also got couples together in a more romantic way, creating emotional bonds. Coordinated dances are as old as music, and distributed in a lot of different cultures, for example, the nowadays Hakka, used by rugby players, was a native group dance that intimidates rival tribes.
Talking about the chemistry of dancing, as any other exercise, it releases endorphins (the hormones of happiness and pain relief). For example, a study from the University of London were anxiety-sufferers enrolled in one of four settings: exercise class, a music class, a math class and a dance class, showed that only the last group displayed “significantly reduced anxiety.”
In the most recent study done in the same London University by Tarr and collaborators, the researchers used pain thresholds as an indirect measure of endorphin realize (more endorphins mean we tolerate pain better) for 264 young people in Brazil. The volunteers were divided into groups of three, and they did either high or low-exertion dancing that was either synchronized or unsynchronized. The high exertion moves were standing, full-bodied movements, on the other hand, in the low-exertion groups did small hand movements sitting down. They measured the before and after feelings of closeness to each other via a questionnaire and their pain threshold by attaching and inflating a blood pressure cuff on their arm, and determining how much pressure they could stand.
Most of the volunteers who did full-bodied exertive dancing had higher pain thresholds compared with those who were in the low-exertion groups. Most importantly, synchronization led to higher pain thresholds, even if the synchronized movements were not exertive. Therefore when the volunteers saw that others were doing the equivalent movement at the same time, their pain thresholds increased.
The results also showed that synchronized activity encouraged bonding and closeness feelings more than unsynchronized dancing. Therefore, “Dance which combined high energy and synchrony had the greatest effects. So the next time you find yourself in an awkward Christmas party or at a wedding wondering whether or not to get up and groove, just do it”, claims Dr. Tarr.
Coming back to the dance floor, I had reached out for an opinion about the wellness of dancing to the best Bachata DJ: Brian el Matatan: “I enjoy the dancing for a few reasons. There’s the enjoyment & challenge of using what I’ve learned; socially as well as choreographed performance. Also, there is the rush of endorphins similar to “runner’s high”. There’s also the socializing aspect of dancing. It’s like having a conversation without speaking.” Well said DJ!
He also offered some advice for followers: dance with many different types of leaders if you’d like to improve your following. There are many different leads, and there is an experience to be gained in social dancing that would not be gained via dance class. Also, feel free to ask a leader to dance, & be courteous in how you decline a dance. Most importantly- communicate. Don’t “lead” a leader into thinking their lead is better than what it really is- for your sake & that of your fellow followers. For example, if he almost ended your life with that risky move, let him know so that he doesn’t try it on you or anyone else again (at least not without figuring out how to do the move properly). And some advice for leaders: be VERY courteous in how you ask for a dance, try to not take rejection personally, be patient with follows who may not be on the same skill level as you, & don’t almost end her life with risky moves.
Lastly, I asked for the most sensual dancer, scientist, and project manager – Debbie McCabe – for her advice for followers. She commented “The lady’s job is to surrender and connect to her partner…it is a 3-minute love affair and energy exchange. I love Bachata because I can get out of my head and just feel, express my sensuality, be playful and connect… it balances out my left-brained day job.”
More than 20 years ago, scientists found a connection between music and enhancement of performance or changing of neuropsychological activity involving Mozart’s music from which the theory of “The Mozart Effect” was derived. The basis of The Mozart Effect lies at the super-organization of the cerebral cortex that might resonate with the superior architecture of Mozart’s music. Basically listening to Mozart K.448 enhances performance on spatial tasks for a period of approximately 20 min.
So dear reader, please stop complaining and making excuses and just dance! Or at least listen to music, as the outstanding jazz singer Tamar Korn once told me when I was in distress “music heals”.
By Jesica Levingston Mac leod, PhD
Social dancers know the amazing feeling that a synchronized dance could bring. When your follower or leader is connected and it feels like you are one mind and body following the music, it is mystical and magical… Well, it turns out that synchronized dancing is also good for your health. I started dancing salsa because a good friend was going crazy about it and she recommended it, this inspired me to join a class. At this point, I was a solitary belly dancer only following in team dances where you have choreography and if you are coordinated enough you feel this celestial connection with the other dancers…but without any physical contact.
On the other hand, in social dances like salsa, bachata, tango, zouk or swing, the connection is the base of a good dance. Nobody wants to be the person stepping to the left when 5 other dancers moved to the right while performing in a stage in front of hundreds of people, as well as nobody enjoys turning to the wrong side for misreading your dance partner lead, or watching how a follower does a completely different step that the one the leader indicated. Furthermore, being “in sync” with the group or your direct dance partner may help to improve your health, science says. In a nutshell, a recent study found that synchronizing with others while dancing raised pain tolerance and encouraged people to feel closer to others.
This year, Dr. Burzynska et al., at Colorado State University, separated 174 healthy adults, 60s to 79 years old, who had no signs of memory loss or impairment, into 3 activity groups: walking, stretching and balance training, or dance classes. The activities were carry on for 6 months and three times a week, those in the dance group practiced and learned a country dance choreography. Brain scans were done on all participants and compared with scans taken before the activities began. Not surprisingly, the participants in the dancing group performed better and had less deterioration in their brains than the other groups. Their most recent study published in November: “The Dancing Brain: Structural and Functional Signatures of Expert Dance Training” showed that dancers’ brains differed from non-dancers’ at both functional- and structural-levels. Most of the group differences were skill-relevant and correlated with objective laboratory measures of dance skill and balance. Their results are promising in that long-term, versatile, combined motor and coordination training may induce neural alterations that support performance demands.” (link 2)
Moreover, It is well established that dancing-based therapies are providing outstanding results in the treatment of dementia, autism and Parkinson’s. Indeed, dance therapy improves motor and cognitive functions in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Dancing was suggested to be a powerful tool to improve motor-cognitive dual-task performance in adults. Dance movement therapy has known benefits for cancer patients’ physical and psychological health and quality of life. Another study by Domane and collaborators, working with a cohort of overweight and physically inactive women, showed that Zumba fitness is indeed an efficacious health-enhancing activity for adults. Park also concluded that “a 12-week low- to moderate-intensity exercise program appears to be beneficial for obese elderly women by improving risk factors for cardiovascular disease”.
Dancing helps generate positive connections with others and this is one of the evolutionary reasons you are “called” to the dance floor when a song you like starts playing, and probably you will start your dance by coordinating with or copying others. Probably this behavior signaled tribe membership for early humans and also got couples together in a more romantic way, creating emotional bonds. Coordinated dances are as old as music, and distributed in a lot of different cultures, for example, the nowadays Hakka, used by rugby players, was a native group dance that intimidates rival tribes.
Talking about the chemistry of dancing, as any other exercise, it releases endorphins (the hormones of happiness and pain relief). For example, a study from the University of London were anxiety-sufferers enrolled in one of four settings: exercise class, a music class, a math class and a dance class, showed that only the last group displayed “significantly reduced anxiety.”
In the most recent study done in the same London University by Tarr and collaborators, the researchers used pain thresholds as an indirect measure of endorphin realize (more endorphins mean we tolerate pain better) for 264 young people in Brazil. The volunteers were divided into groups of three, and they did either high or low-exertion dancing that was either synchronized or unsynchronized. The high exertion moves were standing, full-bodied movements, on the other hand, in the low-exertion groups did small hand movements sitting down. They measured the before and after feelings of closeness to each other via a questionnaire and their pain threshold by attaching and inflating a blood pressure cuff on their arm, and determining how much pressure they could stand.
Most of the volunteers who did full-bodied exertive dancing had higher pain thresholds compared with those who were in the low-exertion groups. Most importantly, synchronization led to higher pain thresholds, even if the synchronized movements were not exertive. Therefore when the volunteers saw that others were doing the equivalent movement at the same time, their pain thresholds increased.
The results also showed that synchronized activity encouraged bonding and closeness feelings more than unsynchronized dancing. Therefore, “Dance which combined high energy and synchrony had the greatest effects. So the next time you find yourself in an awkward Christmas party or at a wedding wondering whether or not to get up and groove, just do it”, claims Dr. Tarr.
Coming back to the dance floor, I had reached out for an opinion about the wellness of dancing to the best Bachata DJ: Brian el Matatan: “I enjoy the dancing for a few reasons. There’s the enjoyment & challenge of using what I’ve learned; socially as well as choreographed performance. Also, there is the rush of endorphins similar to “runner’s high”. There’s also the socializing aspect of dancing. It’s like having a conversation without speaking.” Well said DJ!
He also offered some advice for followers: dance with many different types of leaders if you’d like to improve your following. There are many different leads, and there is an experience to be gained in social dancing that would not be gained via dance class. Also, feel free to ask a leader to dance, & be courteous in how you decline a dance. Most importantly- communicate. Don’t “lead” a leader into thinking their lead is better than what it really is- for your sake & that of your fellow followers. For example, if he almost ended your life with that risky move, let him know so that he doesn’t try it on you or anyone else again (at least not without figuring out how to do the move properly). And some advice for leaders: be VERY courteous in how you ask for a dance, try to not take rejection personally, be patient with follows who may not be on the same skill level as you, & don’t almost end her life with risky moves.
Lastly, I asked for the most sensual dancer, scientist, and project manager – Debbie McCabe – for her advice for followers. She commented “The lady’s job is to surrender and connect to her partner…it is a 3-minute love affair and energy exchange. I love Bachata because I can get out of my head and just feel, express my sensuality, be playful and connect… it balances out my left-brained day job.”
More than 20 years ago, scientists found a connection between music and enhancement of performance or changing of neuropsychological activity involving Mozart’s music from which the theory of “The Mozart Effect” was derived. The basis of The Mozart Effect lies at the super-organization of the cerebral cortex that might resonate with the superior architecture of Mozart’s music. Basically listening to Mozart K.448 enhances performance on spatial tasks for a period of approximately 20 min.
So dear reader, please stop complaining and making excuses and just dance! Or at least listen to music, as the outstanding jazz singer Tamar Korn once told me when I was in distress “music heals”.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The White tiger
From the entrepreneurial point of view The white tiger is brilliant, how the protagonist solves problems and finds opportunities in crisis is brilliant. Aravind Adiga captures the essence of survival under terrible circumstances and also portraits characters that convince that we are doing is the right thing, or at least they try.
The indian culture and flavors can be smell and feel all over the book, from the description of the villas to the food and aromas of the "darkness" and the big cities like Delhi.
from the scientific point the view the book is really good too, it goes deep into the psychology of survival and self management. In order to survive they have to adapt to the medium and demonstrate their are up to surf the wave of evolution.
That being said the story is juicy and makes you read non stop, specially after the cliff hangers at the end of each chapter.
The indian culture and flavors can be smell and feel all over the book, from the description of the villas to the food and aromas of the "darkness" and the big cities like Delhi.
from the scientific point the view the book is really good too, it goes deep into the psychology of survival and self management. In order to survive they have to adapt to the medium and demonstrate their are up to surf the wave of evolution.
That being said the story is juicy and makes you read non stop, specially after the cliff hangers at the end of each chapter.
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Early detection: 2 words that can save your life.
It is better to prevent than to cure. Nevertheless what would happen when you already have an illness but you are not aware of it?
Early detection is a key factor in survival from deadly diseases, from cancer to diabetes. Especially in the last case, changing to a healthy diet, like a plan base diet and cutting the sugar and other non healthy food, and receiving proper medical treatment, can save your life. In the World health Day, the WHO is focusing on giving healthcare to all, as many people are lacking the resources that can save their lives. Still, if the individual is not aware of the importance of early detection he or she might well stay home until the symptoms are unbearable and they are force to go the hospital... and in many cases it is already too late.
Some early detection techniques have been put under the magnifying glass, for example mammography, because the health care insurance companies can make a lot of money from this procedures and it might be done too often without real outcomes. Other types of early detection are not directed to prevent life threatening illnesses, but to enhance the quality of life, your standard of living can be destroy if you are blind, so finding out soon enough that your retina is decaying is another example about early detection can improve people's lives.
There is also an economic benefit to know that you have a problem before it turns into a snowball running downhill.
More information:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/early-cancer-costs/en/
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
AI for retinal images
UNLEASHING THE POWER OF RETINAL IMAGES TO IMPROVE PATIENTS’ LIVES
By Jesica Levingston Mac Leod
“The eyes are the window to the soul” is turning from a metaphor to a reality, thanks to the recent developments in image analysis. This old fashion expression implies that the eyes of a person are supposed to give you insight into their inner world, like their thoughts and their health state. Due to the power of innovative image analysis programs the latest is turning into a fact. Indeed, every day more companies add their names to the long list of enterprises on the pursuit of the program that can predict different health features. Google has been working on pattern recognition in ocular images for a series of pathologies, like eye related diseases and smoking status. Recently, Google’ researchers, leaded by Dr. Lily Peng, predicted with 70% accuracy the likelihood for a person to suffer a heart attack within 5 years, only by studying images of the patients’ retina. The Holy Grail of Artificial intelligence (AI) was used for the program that gave Google already amazing results in the “heart status” prediction. They have published the findings in the Journal “Nature Biomedical Engineering”, demonstrating that their AI based method is as accurate on predicting heart disease than more invasive procedures, like blood test to measure cholesterol levels. Although, the deep learning strategy didn’t outperform the existing methods, this technology might help the doctors on the decision-making.
The prediction program was trained with data from 284.335 patients and validated on two independent data sets of 12.026 and 999 patients. The researchers are aware that a bigger data set is needed for training and validation. The readout or outcome from the program is a heatmap showing which pixels in an image are most important to predict the patient’s risks, for example based on the state of the blood vessels in the retina.
Braviithi shares the same aim of improving the diagnostic process and speeding treatment pathways, using the retinal fundus images for disease prediction. Braviithi’s technologies have shown around 88% accuracy in predicting diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication, caused by damage to the blood vessels of the retina, which can produce blindness. However, the selected approach is not based on AI, but in a mathematical model that allows a broader option of image types than the AI methods, plus other advantages that mark this cutting-edge technology as a preferable prediction tool in areas where different machines and tools are used for generating the retinal images. Making use of innate characteristics of different features in the retina pre and post disease onset, Braviithi tool modeled them accordingly using shape, size, color, intensity, density, orientation and compactness attributes.
The quality control of the images that are going to be analyzed is another factor that shall be consider, and on this topic again Braviithi tool can be handier for the medical professionals to support the decision making.
Let’s keep our eyes open for the encouraging advances in image analysis that can help us detect health issues before it is too late.
Link to the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-018-0195-0
By Jesica Levingston Mac Leod
“The eyes are the window to the soul” is turning from a metaphor to a reality, thanks to the recent developments in image analysis. This old fashion expression implies that the eyes of a person are supposed to give you insight into their inner world, like their thoughts and their health state. Due to the power of innovative image analysis programs the latest is turning into a fact. Indeed, every day more companies add their names to the long list of enterprises on the pursuit of the program that can predict different health features. Google has been working on pattern recognition in ocular images for a series of pathologies, like eye related diseases and smoking status. Recently, Google’ researchers, leaded by Dr. Lily Peng, predicted with 70% accuracy the likelihood for a person to suffer a heart attack within 5 years, only by studying images of the patients’ retina. The Holy Grail of Artificial intelligence (AI) was used for the program that gave Google already amazing results in the “heart status” prediction. They have published the findings in the Journal “Nature Biomedical Engineering”, demonstrating that their AI based method is as accurate on predicting heart disease than more invasive procedures, like blood test to measure cholesterol levels. Although, the deep learning strategy didn’t outperform the existing methods, this technology might help the doctors on the decision-making.
The prediction program was trained with data from 284.335 patients and validated on two independent data sets of 12.026 and 999 patients. The researchers are aware that a bigger data set is needed for training and validation. The readout or outcome from the program is a heatmap showing which pixels in an image are most important to predict the patient’s risks, for example based on the state of the blood vessels in the retina.
Braviithi shares the same aim of improving the diagnostic process and speeding treatment pathways, using the retinal fundus images for disease prediction. Braviithi’s technologies have shown around 88% accuracy in predicting diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication, caused by damage to the blood vessels of the retina, which can produce blindness. However, the selected approach is not based on AI, but in a mathematical model that allows a broader option of image types than the AI methods, plus other advantages that mark this cutting-edge technology as a preferable prediction tool in areas where different machines and tools are used for generating the retinal images. Making use of innate characteristics of different features in the retina pre and post disease onset, Braviithi tool modeled them accordingly using shape, size, color, intensity, density, orientation and compactness attributes.
The quality control of the images that are going to be analyzed is another factor that shall be consider, and on this topic again Braviithi tool can be handier for the medical professionals to support the decision making.
Let’s keep our eyes open for the encouraging advances in image analysis that can help us detect health issues before it is too late.
Link to the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-018-0195-0
www.braviithi.com
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Don't miss the supermoon on wednesday!
What do you get when you have a supermoon, which also happens to be the 2nd full Moon of the month, passing through Earth’s shadow during a total lunar eclipse? A #SuperBlueBloodMoon! Catch this lunar trifecta coming our way on Jan. 31: http://go.nasa.gov/2Fjmght
by NASA
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