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NEWS
Toronto Caribbean News | www.TOCaribNews.com | Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Artificial Intelligence to help avert blindness W. GIFFORDJONES MD DIANA GIFFORD-JONES TC HEALTH REPORTER
How can doctors diagnose and treat 425 million worldwide diabetes patients? That number keeps going up and up, projected to reach 700 million by 2045. There are millions more with undiagnosed prediabetes. Add millions with undiagnosed hypertension. All these people are destined to lives defined by cardiovascular problems and complications that include debilitating conditions like blindness. Diabetes is swamping healthcare systems worldwide. Let us be clear: whatever we have been doing to fight the problem, it is not working. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is offering new possibilities. Using new technologies, data science, vast quantities
of medical images, and computer algorithms, it is possible to fight diseases differently. The medical model of a patient and a doctor is outdated. We need to put AI on our healthcare team and use analytical methods to predict problems before they occur and to help doctors and patients make better decisions. Computer-assisted retinal analysis (CARA) is one such technology. Developed by DIAGNOS, a Montreal-based company, CARA uses retina scans to detect early warning signs of big health problems. And CARA can do it on a scale that will make a big difference in fighting the diabetes epidemics. The retina, the back part of the eye, is the only area of the body where doctors can easily see the condition of arteries and veins without invasive procedures. Early detection of atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries) in the retinas of diabetes patients signals a warning that the same problem is occurring in coronary arteries. This is why the retina is called, “the window to the heart”. Prevention is always better than cure. But this is easier said than done in
many parts of the world where highly trained retinal specialists are in short supply. We are more fortunate in North America, but retinal checkups are mainly the purview of ophthalmologists focused on your eyes, not your cardiovascular system. Type 2 diabetes has become a worldwide epidemic and an expensive problem for every health care system. Type 2 diabetes is not just a singular disease. Rather, by triggering atherosclerosis, it decreases blood supply to many parts of the body with catastrophic results. For example, long standing diabetes increases the risk of blindness, heart attack, and kidney failure, which may require renal dialysis or a kidney transplant. Doctors can only treat so many patients. So this problem is an example of where we can leverage technology to screen millions of people. CARA can scan an eye in two seconds. Furthermore, it can scan hundreds of patients for hours without getting tired or making errors. We need to use AI to detect retina changes and prevent diabetes – averting countless cases of blindness and other prob-
lems, improving lives, and saving dollars. Andre Larente, president of DIAGNOS, recently remarked, “CARA can now look at a patient’s retina, discover the presence of hypertension and predict a chance of stroke in 12 to 24 months.” Given that CARA can do this across very large populations of patients, at low cost, it’s easy to see the appeal of this technology from a health care and economic perspective, not to mention the incentive to individual patients to reduce their risk profile. There’s no doubt that the capacities of artificial intelligence are changing the way we can fight illness, and companies like DIAGNOS are important partners in medical practice. The key is in scaling up. CARA has accumulated a vast database of retinal photos of patients worldwide. This data can be used for predictive modeling. So the next step will be in getting this data into the hands of those who can take steps to stop the progression of illness, change conditions leading to disease, and prevent these avoidable health problems in the first place.
When is it going to all end? Guyana’s vote recount fiasco MICHAEL THOMAS michael@carib101.com
TC REPORTER
Guyana’s general election took place on March 2nd, 2020, and under normal circumstances the citizens of that country and the world, in general, should have known the results in a few days after the election. Not this year. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) challenged the results and requested a recount, and now three months after the election was held, the recount saga continues for what seems like an eternity now. The two main parties in this election are the PPP (who has a mostly East Indian support base) composes around 44% of the population. The ruling party the (APNU+AFC) is mostly supported by AfroGuyanese number and is around 30% of
the population. According to Global Voices news, it all began after a no-confidence motion against Guyana’s governing coalition (Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change/ APNU+AFC), by the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), was filed on Dec 21st, 2018, and resulted in a general election held on March 2nd, 2020, a year after it was constitutionally due. The EU ambassador to Guyana Fernando Ponz Canto said in a televised broadcast that from what he observed, the voting rules were so tight that it was impossible to cheat. Since the recount began, the APNU+AFC claims that there has been fraudulent votes cast on Election Day in dead and migrated people’s names. Ambassador Noel Lynch (Chair of the group of CARICOM Ambassadors to the Organization of American States) said, “Irregularities occurred, not in the system by which the Guyanese electorate cast their votes on March 2nd, but in the presentation of the count afterward.” Guyana’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has accused the government of the day namely (APNU+AFC) of election fixing and delaying the recount especially
in region four, also known as Georgetown which is the area with the most ballots, in an attempt to deceive the voters and remain in power. Hon. Gail Teixeira, MP said, “I think that everyone has recognized that there is a deliberate attempt to assure that region four drags on as long as possible.” The Minister went on to say, “When all this is done GCOM will face an enormous assault on the way they have contributed to the pain and anguish of Guyanese now in the 87th day of waiting for results from these elections.” According to Guyana Chronicle, as things stand now on day 24 of the recount, which is May 29th, 2020, 1,473 ballot boxes have been processed, from an overall total of 2,339 and all of the votes from regions 1,2,3,5 and 7 have been counted. The focus now is on regions 4,6,8,9 and 10. President David Granger and Leader of the opposition Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo agreed on the recount process. It was supposed to last 25 days, but so far that is subject to review, and as of now that review is ongoing. Concerning the recount, it is important to note that CARICOM Chair and
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PM of Barbados, Mia Mottley said, “It is clear that there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted for whatever reason. Any government which is sworn in without credible and transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy.” Mr. Jagdeo is accusing the ruling coalition of using things like dead people and people out of the country voting as a smokescreen to divert attention from the real issues, which according to him is that his party the PPP won the election. On the other hand, President David Granger said that his collation party plans to abide by the declaration made by the Guyana Elections Commission following the recount. Granger also said, “I am very confident in CARICOM’S integrity and ability, and I just want to repeat what the ambassador of Barbados to Washington said that CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation.” President Granger added that he would like to see this result come to a speedy but correct end in the interest of all Guyanese people. As of June 3rd, 2020, all of the regions except regions 6, 10 and 4 have been counted.