PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Eyes may be the window to your soul, but the tongue mirrors your health

2023-10-19
(Press-News.org) A 2000-year-old practice by Chinese herbalists – examining the human tongue for signs of disease – is now being embraced by computer scientists using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Tongue diagnostic systems are fast gaining traction due to an increase in remote health monitoring worldwide, and a study by Iraqi and Australian researchers provides more evidence of the increasing accuracy of this technology to detect disease.

Engineers from Middle Technical University (MTU) in Baghdad and the University of South Australia (UniSA) used a USB web camera and computer to capture tongue images from 50 patients with diabetes, renal failure and anaemia, comparing colours with a data base of 9000 tongue images.

Using image processing techniques, they correctly diagnosed the diseases in 94 per cent of cases, compared to laboratory results. A voicemail specifying the tongue colour and disease was also sent via a text message to the patient or nominated health provider.

MTU and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Ali Al-Naji and his colleagues have reviewed the worldwide advances in computer-aided disease diagnosis, based on tongue colour, in a new paper in AIP Conference Proceedings.

“Thousands of years ago, Chinese medicine pioneered the practice of examining the tongue to detect illness,” Assoc Prof Al-Naji says.

“Conventional medicine has long endorsed this method, demonstrating that the colour, shape, and thickness of the tongue can reveal signs of diabetes, liver issues, circulatory and digestive problems, as well as blood and heart diseases.

“Taking this a step further, new methods for diagnosing disease from the tongue’s appearance are now being done remotely using artificial intelligence and a camera – even a smartphone.

“Computerised tongue analysis is highly accurate and could help diagnose diseases remotely in a safe, effective, easy, painless, and cost-effective way. This is especially relevant in the wake of a global pandemic like COVID, where access to health centres can be compromised.”

Diabetes patients typically have a yellow tongue, cancer patients a purple tongue with a thick greasy coating, and acute stroke patients present with a red tongue that is often crooked.

A 2022 study in Ukraine analysing tongue images of 135 COVID patients via a smartphone showed that 64% of patients with a mild infection had a pale pink tongue, 62% of patients with a moderate infection had a red tongue, and 99% of patients with a severe COVID infection had a dark red tongue.

Previous studies using tongue diagnostic systems have accurately diagnosed appendicitis, diabetes, and thyroid disease.

“It is possible to diagnose with 80% accuracy more than 10 diseases that cause a visible change in tongue colour. In our study we achieved a 94% accuracy with three diseases, so the potential is there to fine tune this research even further,” Assoc Prof Al-Naji says.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

CHIPS and Science Act spurs NanoFab cleanroom ribbon cutting at NYU Tandon School of Engineering

2023-10-19
NYU leadership - including recently inaugurated President Linda Mills and NYU Tandon School of Engineering Dean Jelena Kovačević - joined University faculty and partners on October 18th to cut the ribbon at the newly-minted NYU Nanofabrication (NanoFab) Cleanroom, a specialized research environment in which scientists and engineers can fabricate cutting-edge semiconductor chips to advance research on quantum science and engineering, precision medicine, neurotechnologies, next-generation communications technology and secure computing.  Located on NYU Tandon’s ...

New study sheds light on long term effectiveness and safety of two widely used statins

2023-10-19
Two widely used statins, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin, are equally effective at preventing heart attacks, strokes and death in people with coronary artery disease. But while rosuvastatin treatment is associated with lower cholesterol levels, it also carries a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than atorvastatin, finds a study published by The BMJ today.  Lowering “bad” (LDL) cholesterol levels with statins is recommended for people with coronary artery disease - a condition where the blood vessels supplying the heart are ...

Surgery more effective than nasal sprays for symptoms of a crooked septum

2023-10-19
Surgery to straighten a crooked septum (the thin wall of bone and cartilage dividing the space between the two nostrils) is more effective than nasal sprays, and should be offered to adults with at least moderate symptoms such as breathing disruption, suggests a UK trial published by The BMJ today. A crooked (deviated) septum often means that one nasal passage is narrower than the other, making it feel blocked, which can affect breathing, sleep or exercising. Surgery to correct this (septoplasty) is a common operation. In 2019-20, 16,700 septoplasties were carried ...

Biodegradable plastics still damaging to fish – Otago study

2023-10-19
  Biodegradable plastics may not be the solution to plastic pollution many hoped for, with a University of Otago study showing they are still harmful to fish.   Petroleum-derived microplastics are known to impact marine life, but little is known about the impact of biodegradable alternatives.   The study, published in Science of the Total Environment and funded by a University of Otago Research Grant, is the first to assess the impact petroleum-derived plastic and biodegradable plastic have on wild fish.   Lead author Ashleigh Hawke, who completed a Master of Science in Otago’s Department of Marine Science, ...

Groundbreaking journal AI in Precision Oncology publishes preview content

Groundbreaking journal AI in Precision Oncology publishes preview content
2023-10-19
The fusion of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies and precision oncology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and the introduction of the new peer-reviewed journal, AI in Precision Oncology, will support clinicians, researchers, AI experts, patients, and industry leaders with up-to-date advancements in the field while fostering an environment conducive to further innovation and collaboration. A preview issue of the journal is now available. Click here to read the issue now.  “At the heart of my vision for this journal is the ...

US Air Force funds multi-university initiative to study hybrid control, $1.5M annually

US Air Force funds multi-university initiative to study hybrid control, $1.5M annually
2023-10-18
The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research has funded a new Multi-University Research Initiative to be led by Yuliy Baryshnikov, a professor of mathematics and electrical & computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The initiative, Hybrid Dynamics – Deconstruction and Aggregation, or HyDDRA, will bring researchers from four universities together to address the problem of hybrid control using modern mathematical tools. The initiative will be funded with an award ...

Striking the right tune

2023-10-18
Jonathan Middleton, DMA, a professor of music theory and composition at Eastern Washington University, is the lead author of a newly published study demonstrating how the transformation of digital data into sounds could be a game-changer in the growing world of data interpretation. The analysis was conducted over three years with researchers from the Human-Computer Interaction Group at Finland’s Tampere University. Recently published in the peer-review journal Frontiers in Big Data, Dr. Middleton’s research paper examines how he and his co-investigators were primarily concerned with showing ...

UBC Okanagan researchers hope to prevent catastrophes with next-generation sensors

UBC Okanagan researchers hope to prevent catastrophes with next-generation sensors
2023-10-18
As the wind and rain pound the blades of a wind turbine, UBC Okanagan researchers carefully monitor screens, hundreds of kilometres away analyzing if the blade’s coatings can withstand the onslaught. While this was only a test in a lab, the researchers are working to improve the way structures such as turbines, helicopter propellers and even bridges are monitored for wear and tear from the weather. A changing climate is increasing the need for better erosion-corrosion monitoring in a wide range of industries from aviation to marine transportation and from renewable energy generation to construction, explains UBC Okanagan doctoral student Vishal Balasubramanian. In ...

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York will build technologies to monitor health and eradicate disease

2023-10-18
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (October 18, 2023) — Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced the launch of a new biomedical research hub in New York City that will catalyze collaboration between leading scientific and technology institutions in the area, with the goal of solving grand scientific challenges on 10- to 15-year time horizons. The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York (CZ Biohub NY) brings together Columbia University, The Rockefeller University, and Yale University to create new technologies to characterize and bioengineer immune cells — with the ultimate ...

Yeast speeds discovery of medicinal compounds in plants

2023-10-18
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell researchers have harnessed the power of baker’s yeast to create a cost-effective and highly efficient approach for unraveling how plants synthesize medicinal compounds, and used the new method to identify key enzymes in a kratom tree. Aspirin, morphine and some chemotherapies are examples of drugs that are derived from natural compounds produced by plants. Understanding how a plant creates such compounds usually begins with analyzing plant transcriptomes to identify up to hundreds of genes that could potentially code for the enzymes that work together ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds

Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

How the brain supports social processing as people age

Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

[Press-News.org] Eyes may be the window to your soul, but the tongue mirrors your health