A researcher is demonstrating how a camera captures images of the tongue and analyzes it for diseases Middle Technical University
A computer algorithm has achieved a 98% accuracy in predicting different diseases by analysing the colour of the human tongue.
The proposed imaging system developed by Iraqi and Australian researchers can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anaemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder conditions, COVID-19, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues.
Engineering researchers from Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) achieved the breakthrough in a series of experiments where they used 5260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue colour.
Two teaching hospitals in the Middle East supplied 60 tongue images from patients with various health conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) model was able to match the tongue colour with the disease in almost all cases.
A new paper published in Technologies outlines how the proposed system analyses tongue colour to provide on-the-spot diagnosis, confirming that AI holds the key to many advances in medicine.
Senior author, MTU and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Ali Al-Naji, says AI is replicating a 2000-year-old practice widely used in traditional Chinese medicine – examining the tongue for signs of disease.
“The colour, shape and thickness of the tongue can reveal a litany of health conditions,” he says.
“Typically, people with diabetes have a yellow tongue; cancer patients a purple tongue with a thick greasy coating; and acute stroke patients present with an unusually shaped red tongue.
“A white tongue can indicate anaemia; people with severe cases of COVID-19 are likely to have a deep red tongue; and an indigo or violet coloured tongue indicates vascular and gastrointestinal issues or asthma.”
In the study, cameras placed 20 centimetres from a patient captured their tongue colour and the imaging system predicted their health condition in real time.
Co-author UniSA Professor Javaan Chahl says that down the track, a smartphone will be used to diagnose disease in this way.
LMU researchers have demonstrated that autoreactive T cells are activated in a specific region of the intestinal tract, and this activation is dependent on the microbiome.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. It is triggered by certain T cells that infiltrate the brain and spinal cord, attacking the insulating myelin sheath around axons. In recent years, researchers have found increasing evidence that the gut microbiome plays a significant role in activating these cells. However, the precise location and underlying mechanisms remained unclear. Using imaging techniques in a mouse model, a team led by Privatdozent Dr. Naoto Kawakami from the University of Munich Hospital has now successfully tracked the microbiome-dependent activation of these cells live for the first time.
The scientists conducted a study using two-photon imaging to observe how specific T cells move and become activated in real time. They used a sensor protein to track changes in cellular calcium concentration, which helped them understand the T cells’ activity. The researchers focused on encephalitogenic T cells, which can cause inflammation in the brain. These T cells target a protein in the myelin sheath around neurons and are involved in the development of multiple sclerosis.
Activation in the lamina propria
The researchers showed that the cells need to be activated in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), located in the mucous membrane of the gut, specifically in the lamina propria, a connective tissue layer of the small intestine. However, this only occurred when the mice had a healthy intestinal microbiome. If the gut was microbe-free, activation did not happen. It is interesting to note that activation in the lamina propria appears to be a general mechanism. Even non-encephalitogenic T cells, which target other molecules in the body, showed activation depending on the microbiome. The scientists believe that the microbiome produces molecules that are recognized by the receptors in the T cells and triggers cell activation.
In encephalitogenic T cells, the activation turns on genes that cause them to differentiate into so-called Th17 cells, as the researchers successfully demonstrated. Through this differentiation, the cells develop the properties that enable them to migrate into the central nervous system and trigger inflammation. “Our results make an important contribution to better understanding the development of multiple sclerosis and potentially open up new therapy options in the long term,” says Kawakami.
A recently compiled list of foods and drinks commonly consumed in the United States suggests why many adults inadvertently consume excessive saturated fat and added sugar in their daily diet.
The study reveals that limiting fat and sugar to the recommended 10% of daily calories is challenging due to various popular sources, such as cheese for saturated fat and soft drinks for added sugar. Unexpected sources like chicken and ketchup contribute to overconsumption, posing risks for cairdiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
The analysis of data from over 35,000 U.S. adults is part of a project to develop a research tool to streamline the assessment of these dietary downsides. The work also aims to raise awareness among consumers about the unexpected sources of fat and sugar that accumulate over the overesearchers hope this will encourage shoppers to read labels and identify these hidden sources.
“Chicken breast is often promoted as a low saturated fat food, but it still contains a small amount of saturated fat. It’s important to be aware that even foods with smaller amounts of saturated fat can contribute to the overall intake, gradually adding saturated fat into the diet,” explained Christopher Taylor, the first author of the study and a professor and director of medical dietetics at The Ohio State University’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
“Meeting less than 10% helps identify major contributors, and allows us to recognize where saturated fat and added sugar might still be present in other food options. This doesn’t mean these are bad choices – it’s about being mindful of how the morning latte might be contributing.”
Lead author Susan Schembre, an associate professor of oncology at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, raised a public health policy concern about the abundant added sugar.
“It’s present in so many unexpected foods and often in surprising amounts,” she remarked.
The researchers examined information from 36,378 adults in the United States, aged 19 and older, who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2018. This survey gathered 24-hour dietary recalls from each participant, providing detailed information on what and when all food and beverages were consumed over the preceding two days.
Here is the rewritten text:The main sources of saturated fat were cheese, pizza, ice cream, and eggs. The leading sources of added sugar were soft drinks, tea, fruit drinks, cakes, and pies. According to the USDA’s “What We Eat in America” food list, other categories contributing to saturated fat intake include cold cuts, cream substitutes, fried potatoes, and whole milk. Categories with added sugar include tomato-based condiments, cereal bars, energy drinks, and yeast breads.
The research team also analyzed variations in the primary sources of saturated fat and added sugar across different race/ethnicity groups and age brackets, which is crucial when evaluating diets for the purpose of developing tailored health interventions, Schembre explained.
“Before you understand what you can intervene on, you have to know what people are consuming,” she said.
The team is developing an app for focused assessment of “nutrients of concern.” They have shown that this analytical method generates a comprehensive list of foods that contribute to most of the saturated fat and added sugar intake. While NHANES data is important for understanding nutrition in the United States, identifying the specific food and beverage sources of fat, added sugar, and soon, sodium, is more efficient and effective for disease interventions.
The analysis revealed that saturated fat made up at least 12% of daily calories, while added sugar intake ranged from 14% to 16% of total calories. Although dietary recommendations often highlight common culprits like pizza and ice cream, this comprehensive list provides valuable and, for some, surprising insights, according to Taylor.
“There are foods that are high in saturated fat and added sugar which are frequently consumed and often targeted. However, there is also a smaller cumulative effect of things that are generally perceived as healthy, but still contribute a little bit,” he said. “When you top it off with some of those higher sources, it ends up taking you over the threshold for 10% of the day’s calories.”
“We’re aiming to find the right balance between addressing the major issues upfront while also recognizing the subtle contributors.”
Remember this: You’re looking at a truck. A young child is with you, and he follows your gaze. He’s interested in the object you’re looking at, even without you pointing at it. This is called joint attention, and it is one of the primary ways children learn to connect words with objects and acquire language.
Lack of joint attention is a key characteristic of autism. Previously, it was believed that encouraging joint attention in individuals with autism would assist them in verbal expression. However, a meta-analysis of 71 autism studies challenges this assumption and suggests that individuals with autism may acquire language differently.
The authors reviewed studies on joint attention and language in autistic children since 1994. They included studies that provided clear measures of structural language, such as vocabulary size, and excluded those that only measured communication skills. In typically developing individuals, social interaction is crucial for language development. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the ability to establish a shared attentional frame may increase opportunities for autistic children to focus on language and participate in communicative experiences, as stated by the authors of the study.
However, their meta-analysis did not find significant language gains from interventions aimed at promoting social communication in individuals with autism.
“It is somewhat paradoxical to link language development to joint attention in autism. This is because a significant number of autistic children who become verbal still retain a diagnosis of autism, which is characterized by atypically low joint attention. For example, children with Asperger’s syndrome often develop advanced language abilities without developing equivalent social skills.”
Of the 71 studies, only 28 reported a correlation between joint attention stimulation in young autistic children and the development of simple vocabulary.
“These studies indicate that joint attention is linked to a very basic vocabulary of fewer than five words. However, they cannot predict whether the child will be able to communicate effectively by the ages of 7 or 8,” noted Mottron. Additionally, twenty-five other studies have found no correlation between joint attention and vocabulary development in children with autism.
“It is possible that autistic people learn language differently without social interaction,” he adds. “For example, in immigrant populations whose native language is not English, autistic children learn English by looking at digital tablets and never learn to speak their parents’ language.”
If some children with autism are less sensitive to the human voice than to the written word, this could open up new avenues for intervention, Mottron says. “In this case, we should redirect autistic children towards exposure to non-communicative language, in addition to talking to them.”
The study therefore opens the door to new ways of addressing neurodiversity.
New research from the Policy and Analytics Center at Drexel University’s A.J. Drexel Autism Institute looked into perinatal and postpartum outcomes among individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
American women have the highest rate of maternal deaths among high-income countries, with outcomes worse for minoritized groups. In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers from Drexel University’s Policy and Analytics Center in the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute examined Medicaid data to better understand and identify perinatal and postpartum outcomes among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and intellectual disability.
Lindsay Shea, DrPH, director of the Policy and Analytics Center in the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute and lead author of the study, highlighted that while previous studies have reported an increased risk for challenges related to pregnancy and birth among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, little research has been done using United States-based population-level data. Medicaid, as it covers almost half of births in the U.S. and a disproportionate share of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is a key system to study these risks and opportunities for policy and program improvements. The study revealed that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were younger at the time of their first delivery and had higher risks for multiple medical and mental health conditions, such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and preeclampsia. Autistic pregnant individuals had a significantly higher probability of experiencing postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression compared to people with intellectual disabilities only and those without intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Researchers examined national Medicaid claims to compare perinatal and postpartum outcomes across groups of birthing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (including intellectual disability and autism) and a random sample of birthing people without intellectual and developmental disabilities. The data included Medicaid claims from 2008-2019 for 55,440 birthing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and a random sample of 438,557 birthing people without intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The study compared perinatal outcomes, including medical conditions like gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and preeclampsia, as well as mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders and depressive disorders, across different groups. Researchers used Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regressions to estimate the likelihood of postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression.Co-author Molly Sadowsky, project director at the Policy and Analytics Center in the Autism Institute, explained that the findings suggest several opportunities for policymakers, providers, and researchers. It is important to tailor reproductive health education, perinatal care, and delivery services to provide comprehensive and targeted support for birthing individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Policies should be designed and implemented to meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with the goal of reducing maternal health disparities. Clinical guidelines and procedures should be adjusted to accommodate the specific needs and experiences of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, new Medicaid policies, such as the postpartum coverage extension and doula service reimbursement, should be evaluated for their impact on the health outcomes of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“The findings of this study emphasize the urgent need for Medicaid to support birthing individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the perinatal period,” said Sadowsky. “It’s crucial to address differences in access to postpartum care and coordination, as well as the related disparities in the risk of postpartum depression and anxiety.”Shea and Sadowsky also explained their plans for future work, stating, “In our next project, we will further this research by examining the impact of attitudinal and structural ableism on perinatal health and mental health outcomes, as well as on neonatal and postnatal outcomes, morbidity, and mortality among children of women with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Shea.
Shea and her research team have been granted a five-year, $3 million National Institutes of Health Research Project Grant (R01) to further investigate the impact of ableism on women with intellectual and developmental disabilities during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The upcoming study will involve a detailed examination and comparison of outcomes experienced by this group and their infants to those of peers without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Shea expressed her enthusiasm about the future of their work in this area, emphasizing the importance of supporting individuals and celebrating their birthing experiences and roles during these significant times in life.
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