Malta won a prize last September: it tops the EU ranking for obese and overweight people. The problem is so great that a law was passed last January to try and curb it.
Obesity is strongly linked to another major health problem: diabetes. Over one on 10 people are diabetic in Malta. An article in Think magazine by Yasmine Gatt is about how a research team from the University of Malta and Mater Dei Hospital are developing a tool that can help manage the disease.
A difficult issue with diabetes is that its symptoms can go unnoticed for years. If untreated, the initial, minor signs can become major problems, such as heart attacks, strokes and gangrene. This last symptom has resulted in people needing amputations – there were 65 such cases in 2015 in Malta.
A group of researchers and clinicians have come together to detect diabetes as early as possible and stop it in its tracks. This unique team come from the Centre for Biomedical Cybernetics, the University of Malta’s Department of Podiatry, Mater Dei Hospital and Staffordshire University, and call themselves the Diabetes Foot Research Group (DFRG).
Their idea is to use cameras that can detect heat patterns in hands and feet. Diabetics are known to have poor blood supply to their limbs and also an altered metabolism, which should show up on a heat-sensing camera (called medical infrared imagining).
Firstly the team compared the hands and feet of diabetics and healthy people. They quickly found that the method worked and the camera could detect unique heat patterns in diabetics
Secondly they upscaled the study to include over 200 diabetic patients and compared them with healthy people. This time they used algorithms to detect the difference automatically. The heat images detected diabetes nine times out of 10.
The team’s dream is to replace the results using cheap heat-imagining devices that can be found in every clinic. They imagine every doctor having a handheld device that can scan hands and feet and quickly tell the specialist if the patient has a problem or not. If they do, the patient could then start a programme to prevent major complications from developing.
Did you know?
How to reduce your risk of developing diabetes
1. Eat better: lots of fruit and veg but keep starchy foods low (don’t eliminate), with some meat, fish, pulses, beans and nuts; keep the sugary stuff low.
2. Control your weight: don’t aim to become too skinny or being overweight – keep the balance in check.
3. Be active; move around: a very brisk walk or jog, 30 minutes per day, five days a week. If you’re out of breath but can still talk, you’re doing it right.
4. Genes and family history play an big part in your risk. If the condition runs in your family it is even more important that you follow the above points.
Sound bites
• Scientists have discovered a bioluminescent sensor that casues brain cells to glow in the dark. The team from Vanderbilt University created a probe by genetically modifying an enzyme called luciferase found in fireflies. The new technique can help track the interactions within large neural networks in the brain. Further tests are needed but it could be sensitive enough to detect single neurons, which would help elucidate the brain’s interactions.
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/vu-bsc102716.php
• Better communication about how educational research can impact public policy may help quality education reach more children, according to a study from Rice University. Under the right conditions, research can be an extremely informative tool for policymaking. The study identified three problems. Researchers do not do a good job of informing policymakers about the results of their research. Policymakers generally do not inform researchers about their policy goals. And when policymakers and researchers do exchange information, they often do so in a highly political context in which many interests supersede the interests of students.
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/ru-cra102616.php
• For more soundbites, listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta 2 every Monday at 1pm and Fridays at 6pm www.facebook.com/RadioMochaMalta
Interesting facts
• Even nuclear radiation cannot wipe out bacteria; microbial life is able to survive even on the cooling rods of a nuclear reactor.
• Twelve per cent of the Maltese population suffer from some form of diabetes.
• More than one in four people in Malta are obese.
• Six to seven million years ago humans and apes shared a common ancestor.
For more trivia see www.um.edu.mt/think