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Artificial Intelligence revolutionizes diabetes care, enhancing quality of life

The use of artificial intelligence in insulin application and continuous monitoring of blood sugar will lead to rapid and significant changes in diabetes treatment, a doctor told Anadolu. Individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in childhood have to take insulin externally throughout their lives to be able to eat. Insulin needs to be administered at least four times a day, and the attention-demanding management of diabetes can make life challenging. According to Professor Doctor Filiz Mine Cizmecioglu Jones, Head of the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Kocaeli University Faculty of Medicine, with the introduction of artificial intelligence systems that mimic the pancreas, days have begun when patients do not have to think about their diabetes. AI-supported sensors and pumps continuously monitor patients’ blood sugar, automatically adjust insulin doses, and improve the quality of life for patients. Jones told the Anadolu correspondent that patients and their families need to know how
to manage diabetes because there won’t always be a doctor or nurse by their side, so diabetics know how to manage the disease as much as many healthcare professionals. She explained that before the discovery of insulin, the lifespan of type-1 diabetics was very short, and despite the discovery, managing 24 hours by measuring blood sugar from the finger four times a day and injecting insulin four times is challenging. ‘We can make sensor and pump talk with AI help’ Jones pointed out that the second turning point after the discovery of insulin was the emergence of continuous blood sugar monitoring and continuous insulin delivery systems, saying: “Now there are systems that measure blood sugar every 5 minutes from tissue fluid. Systems that are the size of a coin. We apply this to the skin surface, such as the arm, abdomen, or any part of the body. There is a small cannula (a flexible tube with both ends open) going under the skin. “This cannula measures blood sugar from the fluid between the tissues with g
reat accuracy and shows whether the blood sugar will rise or fall in the next half-hour, how much it will rise or fall, and whether it is stable. These sensors have opened up a significant breakthrough, and there has become a significant difference between pricking the finger to look at the sugar and monitoring the sugar with the sensor,” she said. Jones also informed that in recent years, pumpless pumps that continuously deliver insulin have arrived in the country, and with the help of artificial intelligence in the application where the sensor and pump are attached, communication is established between these devices. Jones said, “Continuous insulin delivery systems cut off insulin delivery if blood sugar is likely to drop based on the tendency to rise or fall. If blood sugar rises after eating, they balance blood sugar by injecting small doses of insulin. We can make the sensor and insulin injection pump talk with the help of artificial intelligence, ensuring that blood sugar stays within the target range
. This, in my opinion, is the second turning point in diabetes treatment after the discovery of insulin. Now, with artificial intelligence entering everything, especially with the continuous application of insulin and monitoring of blood sugar, it will cause very rapid and significant changes in diabetes treatment.” Making sensor and pump talk is an artificial pancreas Jones emphasized that patients want to live their lives without thinking about diabetes, stating: “In other words, we say to them, ‘Our pancreas is no longer working. Instead, you will put your brain.’ They will have to think continuously. ‘If I eat this, how many carbohydrates will come? How much insulin should I make to lower my blood sugar? How will activity affect it?’ However, these systems, with the help of artificial intelligence, recognize the diabetic, allowing them to continue their daily life activities without thinking too much and providing a chance for a healthy life.” Jones said that with artificial intelligence, days have be
gun when patients do not think about their diabetes, and even from last year to this year, there has been a lot of change. “To make the sensor and pump talk is actually an artificial pancreas. Making the sensor and pump, a closed system, talk actually means being able to apply the artificial pancreas to the skin surface,” she added. The professor stated that economic barriers need to be overcome for the widespread use of these systems, and diabetic children can live much healthier, longer lives with pumps and sensors and can lead normal lives.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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‘Carnage in Gaza cannot be allowed to continue’: UN relief chief

Calling for the establishment of a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, the UN relief chief on Wednesday said that the ongoing ‘carnage’ in the besieged Palestinian enclave must end. “As the carnage in Gaza reaches new levels of horror every day, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die, and an entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival,” Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator said in a statement. “This cannot be allowed to continue,” Griffiths said, adding that the warring sides “must respect international humanitarian law, agree to a humanitarian ceasefire and stop the fighting.” As part of a 10-step plan he proposed to resolve the current Israel-Palestine conflict, he urged all parties to ‘allow UN, other humanitarian organizations, as well as public and private sector entities access to fuel in sufficient quantities to deliver aid and provide basic services in Gaza.’ He al
so underlined that implementation of a humanitarian cease-fire is needed to allow basic services to restart and essential commercial trade to resume.? “Such a ceasefire is also vital to facilitate the delivery of aid, allow the release of hostages, and provide respite to civilians,” he said. Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army began a raid of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, with 700 patients and thousands of internally displaced people inside. Israel acknowledged the move. Israel has claimed that members of Palestinian group Hamas were using the hospital as a base, a claim denied by both Hamas and hospital officials. Despite Al-Shifa’s status as a civilian facility, it has been bombarded by attacks in and around its grounds, and shortages of fuel and medical supplies due to Israel’s blockade have made medical care difficult at best. As the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip entered its 40th day, at least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including over 7,800 women and chi
ldren, and more than 29,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities. Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave since last month. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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Kazakhstan claims netting group attempting coup

Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNSC) announced on Wednesday that a group of people was arrested in the republic on charges of attempted coup. “On Nov. 15, 2023, the KNSC in coordination with the Prosecutor General’s Office neutralized cells of a radical religious group in the cities of Astana, Atyrau and Zhezkazgan as part of a pre-trial investigation,” the national security said in a statement. The arrested people are suspected of terrorism propaganda, the formation of an extremist group, and taking part in its activities, it noted. “Twelve of (the group’s) members were detained simultaneously. According to investigators, they pursued the goal of overthrowing the secular system in Kazakhstan. To do this, they spread extremist ideology and recruited new supporters,” it said. While searching the suspects’ homes, the statement said law enforcement found prohibited literature and evidence. “A number of members of the group have a criminal record for committing serious crimes, including the murde
r of a police officer, banditry, robbery, heist, theft and rape,” it said. Kazakhstan, according to the country’s constitution, is a secular state.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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German police more likely to stop migrants, racism study finds

Migrants in Germany are stopped more frequently by the police in public spaces, according to a new study published on Wednesday. The study has found that people who are perceived as foreign due to their physical appearance are stopped almost twice as frequently as those who are not. ‘Police stops based on physical appearance and not on a person’s conduct constitute inadmissible unequal treatment, and thus violate the prohibition of discrimination enshrined in Germany’s constitution,’ the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) said in its report. According to a national representative survey conducted by the institution, deciding factor for police checks in public spaces were often the person’s visible physical features, such as a dark complexion or headscarf. Among the survey respondents, who said that they are often perceived as foreign due to their physical appearance, 8.3% of them reported being stopped by the police without a seemingly credible reason. The figure was only 4.4% among the o
ther respondents. Around 15,000 people with and without a migration background were surveyed in the period between late November 2021 and early July 2022 for the SVR’s Integration Barometer.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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Workers strike paralyzes Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy

A nationwide strike by workers in Nigeria has paralyzed economic activities in the country at a time when it is grappling with high inflation. Members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will be going on the total and indefinite strike to demand the government fulfill an agreement on measures to address high transportation, food, medicine, and petrol prices following the removal of an oil subsidy, TUC President Festus Osifo told Anadolu. “Aside the government failure to implement our agreement, we are asking the government to bring the perpetrators of assault on NLC president to justice. The NLC president was in Imo State to address the non-payment of workers’ salaries and entitlements, but he was assaulted, beaten by policemen and things linked to the state government,” Osifo added. Operations have ground to a halt at banks and other financial institutions, seaports, the country’s state-owned Railway Corporation, the petroleum sector, and public schools in most parts of th
e country on Wednesday, the second day of the strike. Musa Njadvara, an economist and financial correspondent with UK-based daily The Guardian, said the productivity of the Africa’s largest economy would suffer due to the strike. “The ongoing strike will further compound the ailing economy, “It will worsen the current inflation because supply will drop sharply against high demand. Nigeria will lose more money. This will affect credibility of our economy in the eye of foreign investors,” he told Anadolu. Rasaki Dauda, who heads the Department of Economics at Redeemer’s University in the southwestern Nigerian town of Ede, warned that the strike would have a huge impact on Nigeria’s oil production. He said output may decline if the shutdown continues. Businessman Abdul Bala said he has lost about 4 million Nigerian Naira ($3,000) at the Apapa Lagos Seaport since Tuesday, when the strike started. This is the fifth strike this year by the workers union.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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Greece hands down life sentences to 4 Britons for drug trafficking

A Greek court in the northern port city of Thessaloniki handed down life sentences to four Britons for trafficking cocaine, media reports said Wednesday. The four, who were arrested in July 2022 in relation to 300 kilos (661 pounds) of the drug, were found guilty of being part of a criminal organization, as well as aggravated drug possession and trafficking, according to public broadcaster, ERT. Each was fined pound 500,000 ($542,000), it added. The case file said cocaine was imported to Greece through the port of Thessaloniki in a container carrying bananas from Colombia. The four set up headquarters in a rented luxury villa in Thessaloniki and planned to smuggle cocaine to central and northern Europe and Australia.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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How far can unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen go in German Bundesliga?

The German top-tier football league has been always dominated by the country’s most successful club Bayern Munich but this season unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen can turn the tables. One third of the 2023-24 Bundesliga season will be completed soon as Bayer Leverkusen are leading the Bundesliga after winning 10 matches in 11 weeks. Xabi Alonso’s men have 31 points to be above favorites Bayern Munich, and scored 34 goals to have a 24-goal difference. Bayern Munich, who won their 11th straight Bundesliga title in May, are also unbeaten in the league this season and they have 29 points to be on Leverkusen’s tail. Like in the previous seasons, the Bavarians are still favorites for the 2024 German title. In matchday four, Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 home draw with Leverkusen. The visitors came from behind twice. Exequiel Palacios scored the late equalizer at Munich’s Allianz Arena on Sept. 15 as the sides shared points. The teams’ next meeting in Bundesliga will be at Leverkusen’s BayArena on Feb. 10
. Still there is a long way in the 34-week Bundesliga campaign that will end in May but Leverkusen are now thrilling their fans and football circles in Europe. Leverkusen have never won the Bundesliga but the Werkself finished it second for many times, with the last in 2011 when Borussia Dortmund were the German champions. They reached final in the 2002 UEFA Champions League. Leverkusen won the 1988 UEFA Cup, the club’s sole international success. Introduced in 1971, Europe’s second-tier UEFA Cup was rebranded the UEFA Europa League in 2009. Leverkusen equal record for best start to Bundesliga season After a large win over Union Berlin by 4-0 at BayArena on Nov. 12, Leverkusen have leveled the record for the best season start in the Bundesliga, which was previously set by Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in the 2015-16 campaign. Leverkusen won 10 matches and draw once in the first 11 weeks, taking 31 of most possible 33 points. Regarded one of the best head coaches in football, Guardiola has been a Manch
ester City manager since 2016 to win five English Premier League titles and the English club’s first UEFA Champions League title in June in Istanbul. Guardiola, who won the Spanish La Liga for multiple times as a Barcelona midfielder and head coach, has already bagged successive Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich in 2014-2016. In the 2015 fall, Guardiola’s Bayern Munich had 31 points in 11 matches, and scored 33 goals but conceded four. They never looked back. At the end of the 2015-16 season the Bavarians secured the German league title. Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal and Brazil winger Douglas Costa were the big names to arrive in Munich in the 2015 summer. They were joined by 19-year-old French winger Kingsley Coman, and 20-year-old defensive midfielder Joshua Kimmich, who are now Bayern Munich’s integral parts. Leverkusen’s boss Alonso was a Bayern Munich midfielder during that season. Leverkusen’s key players in offense: Boniface, Grimaldo, Hofmann and Wirtz Having scored 34 goals in 11 weeks,
Leverkusen is the most prolific team in goalscoring after second-place Bayern Munich, who have tallied 42 league goals so far. Spanish head coach Alonso, an ex-Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder, has many key players, who shaped Leverkusen’s offense this season. Nigerian forward Victor Boniface, Spanish left-back Alejandro Grimaldo, German winger Jonas Hofmann, and the team’s German star Florian Wirtz are playing important roles in the team’s success. Boniface is leading Leverkusen with seven goals, and he has five assists. Having joined from Portugal’s Benfica on free transfer in July, Grimaldo, who plays on the left flank, scored six goals – including two from freekick – to contribute Leverkusen’s offensive play. Grimaldo also made four assists. Hofmann, who had played for Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany, had five goals and five assists for Leverkusen. Attacking midfielder Wirtz, another Leverkusen member to make impact, had three goals and produced five assists this s
eason. In addition, Jeremie Frimpong, a Leverkusen right-back, tallied three goals and five assists. Germany’s Jonathan Tah is playing as a central defender but is also on Leverkusen’s score sheet for several times. Tah scored three league goals.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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Ethiopia offers part in dam project, airline shares to neighbors in exchange for access to sea port

Ethiopia offered neighboring countries a part in its dam project and shares in its national airline in a diplomatic move Tuesday to address its maritime challenges. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presented the proposal during an address to parliament, where he emphasized the need for a win-win approach in negotiations for sea access. “Ethiopia didn’t ask an inappropriate question that is out of the law. Ethiopia has no desire to fire a shot at neighboring countries. But we are saying let us discuss this in terms of the law and business,” he said. Abiy said despite experiencing significant growth in its population and the economy, Ethiopia finds itself without a direct route to the sea, and that has prompted the government to explore innovative solutions to address the strategic concern. ‘We have no intention of threatening the sovereignty of any nation, but we would like a rules-based access to the Red Sea. Our request is to initiate discussions towards sustainable solutions,” he said. The prime minister exp
ressed gratitude to Djibouti for its pivotal role in supporting Ethiopia’s growth and development by permitting the use of its port facilities over the past years. Ethiopia lost its Red Sea ports in the early 1990s after the Eritrean War of Independence, which lasted from 1961 to 1991. In 1991, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia, leading to the establishment of two separate nations, the separation resulted in Ethiopia losing direct access to the Red Sea and key ports. Ethiopia has since been landlocked, affecting its ability to conduct efficient maritime trade.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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S&P records best day since April as US stocks jump with slowing inflation

The S and P 500 recorded its best daily performance since April on Tuesday as US stocks jumped with slowing inflation. The index increased 84 points, or 1.91%, to finish the day at 4,495. The Dow Jones Industrial Average meanwhile rose 489 points, or 1.43%, to close at 34,827. The Nasdaq jumped 326 points, or 2.37%, to end the session at 14,094. Annual consumer inflation in the US came in at 3.2% in October, slowing from a 3.7% gain in September, according to Labor Department figures released earlier. On a monthly basis, the consumer price index in October remained virtually unchanged from the previous month, slowing down from a 0.4% increase in September. The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, dove 4.1% to 14.16. The 10-year US Treasury yield lost 3.9% to 4.453%. The dollar index lost 1.5% to 104.08, while the euro added 1.7% to $1.0878 against the greenback. Precious metals were in positive territory, with gold rising 0.9% to $1,963 an ounce and silver increasing 3.5% to $23.09. Oi
l prices were mostly flat, with global benchmark Brent crude at $82.45 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude at $78.16.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

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Japan’s economy contracts worse than expected in 3rd quarter

Japan’s economy contracted at an annualized pace of 2.1% in the third quarter of this year, much worse than economists’ expectations, according to the provisional data on Wednesday. The figure, shifting from 4.8% year-on-year growth in the second quarter, was the largest contraction in two years, the Cabinet Office data showed. The market had expected the world’s third-largest economy would shrink 0.6% from a year ago in July-September. Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) also fell 0.5% in the third quarter from the previous three-month period, deeper than economists’ estimate of a 0.1% contraction. In the second quarter, the Japanese economy had grown 1.2% from the first quarter.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency