Category: Medical/Health Care

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

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday that a member of its staff in the Gaza Strip was killed along with several members of his family. The medical charity said in a statement that is mourning the loss of laboratory technician Mohammed Al Ahel, who was killed Monday with several family members during Israeli attacks on the Al Shate refugee camp. “He was at his home in Al Shate refugee camp when the area was bombed and his building collapsed, reportedly killing dozens of people. It is clear that no place in Gaza is safe from brutal and indiscriminate bombing from the Israeli army,” it said. MSF reiterated calls for an “immediate and unconditional cease-fire,” in reference to the death toll in the besieged enclave since Oct. 7 which has climbed to more than 10,000. including over 4,000 children. “Our repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears, but we insist on it being the only way to prevent more senseless deaths across the Strip and allow adequate levels of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” it said. It stressed that world leaders have failed to take “meaningful action,” while people keep losing family members, their homes and lives across Gaza. “In this tragic moment, we continue to be gravely concerned for all our colleagues in Gaza, many of whom are still working in hospitals across the Strip to provide lifesaving care,” it added. Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestine resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7.??????? At least 10,569 Palestinians, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, have been killed. The Israeli death toll nears 1,600, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

The UN health agency on Wednesday sounded the alarm bell on the risk of rampant disease in Gaza amid Israel’s siege and continuing attacks. “As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense overcrowding and disrupted health, water, and sanitation systems pose an added danger: the rapid spread of infectious diseases,” the World Health Organization wrote on X. Worrying trends are already emerging, it noted, including diarrhea, “as people consume contaminated water.” “The situation is particularly concerning for almost 1.5 million displaced people across Gaza, especially those living in severely overcrowded shelters with poor access to hygiene facilities and safe water, increasing risk of infectious diseases transmission,” the WHO also said. The agency pointed to over 33,000 cases of diarrhea, over 54,800 cases of upper respiratory infections, and thousands of other cases of disease since mid-October. “Disrupted routine vaccination activities, as well as lack of medicines for treating communicable diseases, further increase the risk of accelerated disease spread,” the WHO also warned, adding that basic infection prevention has become impossible in health facilities amid the siege and conflict. “WHO calls for urgent, accelerated access for humanitarian aid – including fuel, water, food, and medical supplies – into and throughout the Gaza Strip,” the agency said, calling on all warring parties to “abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including health care.”

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Bishop of Neapolis, Porfyrios, delivered medical and pharmaceutical supplies for the needs of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in a visit to Armenia, during which he held a meeting with the Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II. The Bishop visited Armenia to express the solidarity of the Church of Cyprus with the Armenian Apostolic Church and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and delivered the medical and pharmaceutical supplies during his visit with Catholicos Karekin II. ‘The aid provided by the Church of Cyprus will be used for the treatment of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees’, Bishop Porfyrios told CNA. He added that the Armenian Patriarchate operates a hospital, which he has visited and where refugees and underprivileged people were being treated. He said he conveyed the wishes and greetings of the Archbishop of Cyprus, Georgios, while the Catholicos of the Armenians expressed his gratitude to the Archbishop and the Church of Cyprus for the support.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Egypt on Wednesday declared three days of national mourning for the victims of an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza. At least 471 Palestinians were killed and 342 others injured, including 28 in serious condition, in the attack that targeted Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza Tuesday evening, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave. Israel has denied responsibility for the strike. A statement by the presidency said Egypt ‘mourns the civilian victims who fell in the criminal targeting of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip and all the martyrs of the Palestinian people.’ Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyib launched an initiative to supply field hospitals in Gaza with beds. Egypt’s Education Minister Reda Hegazi also ordered schools nationwide to observe a minute of silence for the Palestinian victims of the Israeli assault in Gaza. Several protests were reported for a second consecutive day in several Egyptian provinces on Wednesday in a show of support for Gaza, according to local media. Earlier in the day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected the displacement of Gazans to the Sinai Peninsula amid the ongoing Israeli attacks in the territory. ‘What is happening in Gaza right now is not just a matter of taking military action against Hamas but an attempt to push civilian residents to seek refuge and migrate to Egypt,’ al-Sisi said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Cairo. The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers. The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel, and medical supplies are running out. UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an ‘immediate humanitarian ceasefire’ to ease the ‘epic human suffering.’ At least 3,478 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while the figure stands at more than 1,400 people in Israel.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

The deadly Israeli attack on a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday has taken “the massacre in Gaza” to another level, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday. “Yesterday, the massacre in Gaza was taken to another dimension with the heinous attack on Al-Ahli Arabi Hospital. I condemn the perpetrators of this attack, which constitutes a crime against humanity and amounts to genocide against the people of Gaza. “Those who have poured fuel on the fire with the statements they have made since Oct. 7 are as responsible as the perpetrators for yesterday’s massacre, which broke our hearts,” Erdogan said on X. At least 471 people were killed and 342 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza late Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Trkiye will continue to work to establish first a humanitarian cease-fire and then permanent stability, Erdogan said. ‘UN Security Council failed to fulfill responsibility’ Erdogan also commended the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Jeddah as a ‘concrete demonstration of the determination of the Islamic world in the face of Israel’s increasing oppression, its solidarity with the Palestinian people and its support for the Palestinian cause.’ “We have made intense efforts since the first day to resolve the crisis, which started on Oct. 7 and has the risk of spreading to our entire region,” Erdogan said, adding he held phone calls with 18 foreign leaders. “In cooperation with the Egyptian authorities, we delivered three planes full of humanitarian aid materials to the region. We continue to extend our helping hand to the oppressed people of Gaza who have been living under blockade for 17 years.? “However, our efforts to ensure peace were disrupted by steps such as sending aircraft carriers to the region, cutting off aid to the Palestinian people, and wholesale punishment of the people of Gaza. The UN Security Council, which has become completely ineffective, has once again failed to fulfill its responsibility,” the president stressed. Erdogan also slammed Western countries, saying they have taken no steps other than adding fuel to the fire. “International media outlets have entered a race to whitewash human slaughter with their biased and hypocritical publications. “Bombing innocent people migrating to areas called ‘safe zones’, border gates, mosques, schools and civilian settlements are some of the war crimes we have witnessed in the last 12 days,” the Turkish president added. Gaza is already experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel and medical supplies are running out. The conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers. The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. At least 3,478 Palestinians have so far been killed, while the figure stands at more than 1,400 people in Israel. Ankara supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, including the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

The UK Foreign Office on Tuesday said the government is monitoring reports of an “apparent strike on a hospital in Gaza.”?

According to local media reports, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will visit Israel this week.?

Downing Street has declined to comment on the prime minister’s travel plans.?

More than 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the hospital, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Anadolu.

Footage showed bodies scattered across the hospital grounds.

Thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Source: Anadolu Agency