January 17, 2023 – Khon Kaen University launched a new Artificial Intelligence program that shows the biological age and important organs including liver, kidney, heart and pancreas from the result of blood test. This shows the physical condition that is easy to understand. Prof. Thidarat Boonmars, Ph.D., Vice President for Innovation and Enterprise of Khon Kaen University presided over the opening ceremony along with Prof. Patcharee Jiaranaikorn, a researcher from the Faculty of Associated Medical Science of Khon Kaen University and Head of the Holistic Youth Index Project from Health Data AI; Assoc. Prof. Jureerat Daduang, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Associated Medical Science. On this occasion, Asst. Prof. Somchai Chuawatcharin, Director of the Center of Excellence on Medical Biotechnology (CEMB) and Prof. Sansanee Chayarote, Chairperson of the Health Care and Medical Group, Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMUC) also joined in the press conference, which was held at Sarasin Room, 2nd Floor, Sirikunakorn Building, Khon Kaen Univesity. Attendants included a lot of executives from related governmental and private sectors and news correspondents.
Prof. Thidarat Boonmars, Ph.D., Vice President for Innovation and Enterprise of Khon Kaen University said that Khon Kaen University has been developing medical innovations such as medical devices, Lab diagnostics, Artificial Intelligence (AI). The purpose is to upgrade the quality of life of Thai people and people in other countries for the readiness in being a medical hub soon. The AI program shows the biological age and important organs including liver, kidney, heart, and pancreas from blood tests and shows the health AI for biological age and importance organs. This program or AI for healthcare has been invented from collaboration of research teams from many faculties, who, by integration, created the innovation from the existing health database that covers the Northeast. This program will be warning a person to take precautions when it comes to rest, behavior and food intake. It is hoped that the program will be used for improving health of the people of the country as a whole.
Prof. Patcharee Jiaranaikorn, a researcher from the Faculty of Associated Medical Science of Khon Kaen University and Head of the Holistic Youth Index Project from Health Data AI revealed that the research was carried out on the health database of the Northeast, from the Health Areas 7, 8, 9, 10, with 59,675 data sets of people in good health; together with the database from roughly 3,000 participants of the in-depth health data collection project. For the newly collected data, the prediction equation of biological age was compiled from Telomere Length or the end-most part of chromosome. With cell division due to age, the Telomere shortens at every cycle of division. The research results show that blood test results are associated with the increased age when calculated using AI. The outcome led to evaluation of physical age and ages of important organs, namely liver, kidney, heart and pancreas. The accuracy when compared to the standard method is 83.7% in females and 81.5% in males. The Health AI program will calculate the data obtained from blood test and shows the biological age. For instance, the test of heart performance is from the value of blood fat, cholesterol, triglyceride, Low Density Lipoprotein, and High Density Lipoprotein. The program will show the risk of heart function, where for the normal condition, the result is yellow or green. If the color is to the red shades, then the patient should see a doctor. The algorithm translates the result into recommendations from the lab test. The goal is that good health means the body condition is close to the real age. It is better if we can slow down aging, making the body younger than the real age. Actually, the program will warn people to take care of their health.
Doctor Chitsanu Sa-ardsud, Medical Director of R.I.A. Group Laboratory who conducted an experiment on the program for health reporting added, “People who receive health check-up are more open for acknowledgement of the results and are interested in comparisons of various lab tests. On the part of physicians, we are able to set the plans and strategies and give advices to the patients more easily, and thus the health goal with clearer scopes can be planned for our patients.”
Asst. Prof. Somchai Chuawatcharin, Director of the Center of Excellence on Medical Biotechnology (CEMB), which was led by Mahidol University said that the innovation was granted the research fund for the fiscal years 2018-2021 in the form of a cluster of researchers, with Prof. Patcharee Jiaranaikul of the Faculty of Associated Medical Science being the head of the cluster. The team comprised researchers from many universities including Khon Kaen University, Chulalongkorn University, Mahodol University, and many faculties, namely Faculty of Associated Medical Science, Faculty of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine Sirirach, Faculty of Science and Computing College. It is believed that the Health AI will enable people to understand the results of their medical check-ups more easily and change their behaviors in order to be in better health.
Prof. Sansanee Chayarote, Chairperson of the Health Care and Medical Group, Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMUC) said, “Health AI is part of the research that created the innovation towards a commercial level under the operation of the Disease Diagnosis Network. PMUC supports by allocating budget for the Center for Innovation and Standard for Medical Technology and Physical Therapy (CISMaP), which is one among the 7 networks of the Disease Diagnosis Network. The health implementation plans and medicine has an important mission in supporting research and development of medical devices and increasing skills in research until it reaches international standard. It is hoped that in the future, Thailand will be potential in producing the devices with international competitive competency.”
The program of Health AI for Biological Age and Importance Organs or AI for healthcare program has been collaborated until it can be used in the health service venues / health technology companies. If interested, please contact the Innovation and Enterprise Section of Khon Kaen University: https://innoprise.kku.ac.th/
Personal use is available in the form of Application and Website. People holding blood test results can use the program by scanning the QR Code below.
The program that shows Health AI for Biological Age and Importance organs is a new trend that assists medical service during the age where everyone has access to technology, by just looking at the mobile phone screen. This will reduce the workload of medical professionals that are in shortage. When its use is in a broad circle by both the governmental and private sectors, the benefits will be on the people and the public health system of the country where preventive health is emphasized. Finally, the budget in this regard will be decreased while the aging society accommodated with quality.
News / Photos: Jiraporn Prathomchai
