Latest / Morning Medical with Dr. Chow / COVID-19 Rapid Test Guidance, AI Ultrasound Tech, and Cultural Pressures on Body Image

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COVID-19 Rapid Test Guidance, AI Ultrasound Tech, and Cultural Pressures on Body Image · Morning Medical with Dr. Chow

• 0:00
  Good morning and welcome to another episode of Morning Medical with Dr.
• 0:03
  Chow.
• 0:04
  I am your host, Dr.
• 0:06
  Chi-Ming Chow.
• 0:07
  Today, we are diving into some pressing health news, starting with the availability of
• 0:12
  COVID-19 rapid tests this fall.
• 0:15
  As temperatures drop and we head into cold and flu season, it appears that getting your hands
• 0:20
  on a COVID rapid test may be a bit more challenging than before.
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  In the past, COVID rapid tests were widely available and often free.
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  However, some pharmacists are now saying that this has changed.
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  Aleck Brodeur, a pharmacist in Montreal, has noticed a spike in demand for these tests as
• 0:40
  the weather gets colder.
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  He mentions that they go out so fast, they have to order more every day, but even then, they
• 0:47
  sell out quickly.
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  Brodeur expects his latest shipment of 13 kits to be gone by the end of the day.
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  In Quebec, there were 3,882 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 between
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  September 15 and September 21.
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  Unlike last fall, Brodeur no longer has free rapid tests to hand out.
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  This is because the federal government stopped providing free COVID rapid tests to provinces
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  and territories back in May.
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  According to a spokesperson for Health Canada, the agency is no longer procuring rapid tests
• 1:23
  en-masse, and there are no plans to replenish the federal inventory once it is depleted.
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  This has led pharmacies to purchase the tests from suppliers and sell them as
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  over-the-counter merchandise.
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  However, the supply can sometimes be thin.
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  Kyro Maseh, a pharmacist in the Toronto area, mentions that they often have to hunt down
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  tests and ensure they are approved by Health Canada.
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  Artron Laboratories Inc., a company that manufactures COVID test kits, has increased its
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  production in recent months and plans to ramp it up further for the upcoming winter season.
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  So, where can you get your hands on COVID tests?
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  You might need to visit several pharmacies before finding one that carries rapid tests,
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  whether free or for sale.
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  While some pharmacies in Quebec and Ontario have run out of free tests, the situation is
• 2:16
  different in other provinces.
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  For instance, Alberta public health is still handing out free tests from the federal
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  stockpile at participating pharmacies until the supply runs out.
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  In Quebec, while pharmacies may not have free rapid tests, certain clinics or service centers
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  do provide them.
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  Additionally, PCR testing is available in some provinces for those at higher risk of severe
• 2:39
  illness from COVID-19, though the results take at least 24 hours to come in.
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  If you have expired tests, experts say that most of them work for a few months after the
• 2:51
  expiry date.
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  However, they warn that false negatives are a risk.
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  Dr.
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  Dawn Bowdish, a professor of immunology at McMaster University and the executive director
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  at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health in Hamilton, advises that if you test
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  negative on an expired test but are still experiencing symptoms, it is possible you may
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  still have COVID-19.
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  "If it's positive, you're definitely positive.
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  If it's negative with symptoms, that's when you need to worry about using expired tests," she
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  says.
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  Now, should we even be testing for COVID anymore?
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  If you are otherwise healthy and young, the advice is generally the same whether you test
• 3:32
  positive for COVID or have the common cold: stay at home and do not go to work or school.
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  However, for those who are more vulnerable to severe illness, an early positive test can
• 3:43
  significantly change treatment options and potentially improve health outcomes.
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  Dr.
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  Bowdish notes that older adults and the immunocompromised who are at high risk of
• 3:53
  hospitalization should get antiviral drugs within a day or two of becoming ill.
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  If they do not know they have COVID, they cannot get the drugs that might keep them out
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  of the hospital.
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  The latest numbers from select public health and hospital laboratories across Canada suggest
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  that COVID-19 levels are holding steady nationwide.
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  However, Dr.
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  Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist at the McGill
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  University Health Centre, believes these numbers underestimate what is actually
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  happening in the community.
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  He argues that widespread testing is still worthwhile, particularly for vulnerable
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  populations who could benefit from early treatment options.
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  Vinh says, "Instead of saying, well, we're four years out, do we still need tests for
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  SARS-CoV-2?
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  I would say we, in fact, should be having broad availability of tests for pathogens which have
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  high impact in high-risk populations and for which we can give therapy."
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  In the United States, the federal government has reopened a program that allows any
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  household to receive up to four free COVID test kits by mail.
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  American public health authorities are urging people to take a quick test before visiting
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  friends and family during the holiday season.
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  Dr.
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  Bowdish mentions that she would like to see something similar in Canada.
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  She believes that people change their behaviors and decisions if they know they have an
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  infection that might seriously affect an older adult or someone who is vulnerable.
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  A London-based medical startup named Deep Breathe is making waves internationally with
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  its innovative AI-powered ultrasound technology.
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  Deep Breathe, located in Western University's research park, has developed a program that can
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  be installed onto a phone and uses artificial intelligence to interpret lung ultrasound
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  results accurately in the field.
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  This groundbreaking technology recently earned the company international recognition and a
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  $100,000 prize from the United States Army.
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  The technology is designed to quickly and accurately diagnose a collapsed lung, a
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  condition that often requires immediate medical attention.
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  When a soldier is injured on the battlefield, for instance, decisions need to be made
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  rapidly.
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  In such critical situations, this technology can be a game-changer, helping to determine
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  whether a painful and invasive procedure, like inserting a tube between the ribs, is
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  necessary.
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  Dr.
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  Rob Arntfield, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Deep Breathe, emphasizes the broad
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  applications of this technology.
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  "Whether it is the common cold, chest pain, or a procedure at the hospital, the lungs are a
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  common concern.
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  They drive a lot of attention inside and outside the medical system.
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  We strongly believe in using portable ultrasound and AI to provide insights to
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  everybody," says Dr.
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  Arntfield.
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  Deep Breathe was founded in 2020 and has since grown to a team of nine people.
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  Recently, the company topped a 150-company competition called xTechInternational, hosted
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  by the United States Army.
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  This competition invites companies to present solutions that could provide value to the
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  military.
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  "We beat out companies that do extraordinary things.
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  Ultimately, our solution to help save soldiers' lives by quickly addressing a lethal condition
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  like pneumothorax really caught their attention," says Dr.
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  Arntfield.
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  "The endorsement of the United States Army is extraordinarily meaningful to us and our team."
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  But the technology is not just for the battlefield.
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  Dr.
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  Arntfield points out that it could be used to diagnose a variety of issues in almost any
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  setting, thanks to its portability.
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  In Deep Breathe's office, a portable ultrasound scanner that fits in the palm of a technician's
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  hand is connected to a phone.
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  Their app is loaded onto the phone, a scan is taken of a staff member's chest, and within
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  seconds, a determination is made.
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  This vision of portable, AI-driven medical diagnostics could be realized in hospitals,
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  battlefields, or even in space.
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  Blake VanBerlo, who oversees the AI training process, explains that the program uses machine
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  learning to become more effective over time.
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  "Machine learning lets us tweak software until it comes to a solution that does the thing that
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  we wanted to do.
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  Where it really excels is coming up with solutions to really complex pattern recognition
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  problems, like image interpretation," VanBerlo says.
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  The app is now 93 percent accurate in ruling out the presence of a collapsed lung, though it
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  is not used to diagnose the exact issue.
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  VanBerlo believes that the future of AI in healthcare is very promising.
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  "AI capabilities are expanding rapidly.
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  Our abilities to assess AI systems are getting much better.
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  Our ability to get AI systems to explain their outputs is also improving.
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  I think we are at the beginning of what will be a large-scale adoption of AI in healthcare," he
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  says.
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  Delaney Smith, the manager of data science research and regulatory affairs at Deep
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  Breathe, joined Dr.
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  Arntfield for the xTechInternational competition in Spain.
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  She describes the experience as surreal and pride-inspiring.
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  "It was a surreal experience to be part of something like that, to get feedback from
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  people at the top of their sectors within such a large organization like the United States
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  Department of Defense.
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  That recognition amplifies what we already knew to be true: the technology is going to save
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  lives and other people want it just as much as we do," Smith says.
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  While the product is not yet available on the market, Smith hopes to receive approval from
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  the United States Food and Drug Administration within the next year, with Health Canada
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  approval to follow.
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  In the meantime, Dr.
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  Arntfield takes pride in his "incredible" team and the city of London, where they operate.
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  "Tapping into the local expertise in both the medical and tech sectors has allowed our dreams
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  to come true, and we are only getting started," he says.
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  Oprah Winfrey's body has been a topic of public conversation for much of her career.
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  Whitney Trotter, a registered dietitian, recalls Oprah as the first Black woman she saw
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  on television, having conversations that affected young Black girls like her.
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  However, aside from those groundbreaking TV moments and pioneering successes, Oprah was
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  also known for something else: the size and shape of her body.
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  One of the most memorable moments occurred in 1988 when Oprah wheeled out a red wagon filled
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  with 67 pounds of animal fat on her nationally syndicated show.
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  This represented the amount of weight she had lost at the time.
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  The public’s scrutiny began immediately, watching to see when she would gain it back,
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  how she would lose it again, and more recently, if she would use medications like GLP-1 to try
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  to make her body smaller.
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  Dr.
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  Alexis Conason, a psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist in New York City,
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  explains that this kind of public attention is specific to celebrities, but the scrutiny Oprah
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  faced is something many people encounter.
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  Conason says this is the product of diet culture, which influences how we eat based on
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  the cultural pressure to attain an ideal body type.
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  “That sense of wanting to tear people down, and especially reducing women to their appearance
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  and pointing out their flaws as a way of taking away power, has been a long-standing tactic
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  used in the media,” she says.
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  “And I think it continues to this day.”
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  Even if you reach what society deems the ideal body size, the goalposts can move to pressure
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  you to achieve the right body shape.
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  Kimmie Singh, a dietitian in New York City, mentions that many clients feel like their
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  bodies are under constant surveillance.
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  “It’s something that’s so normalized—from magazines to dinner table conversations, and
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  even congratulating someone on weight loss,” Singh says.
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  Conason highlights two harmful ideas attached to this focus on people’s bodies: that weight
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  is within a person’s control and that body size is connected to moral value.
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  “There’s a cultural narrative that it is morally inferior to be in a larger body,” she
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  says.
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  “There are associations with fatness of laziness, not being smart, not being motivated,
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  not caring about oneself, and not being disciplined.” This myth of personal
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  responsibility around weight and body size leads to justified discrimination and cruelty,
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  she adds.
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  Dr.
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  Chika Anekwe, an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center
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  and instructor at Harvard Medical School, notes that while some people are biologically
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  resistant to obesity, others can make major lifestyle changes and still struggle to
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  maintain weight loss.
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  A 2019 meta-analysis showed that more than 80 percent of weight loss is regained after five
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  years.
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  “If people could just choose their body weight, size, or shape, we wouldn’t have such a booming
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  diet culture industry,” Anekwe says.
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  Bri Campos, a body image coach in New Jersey, points out that even when people lose weight,
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  they may still be losing the diet culture game.
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  The popularization of GLP-1 medications for weight loss has added another layer of
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  scrutiny.
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  “There’s no other class of drugs where people want to violate HIPAA as much as they do the
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  GLP-1 because it’s like, ‘Oh, I gotta know,’” says Whitney Trotter, referring to the federal
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  law restricting the release of medical information.
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  Campos adds that there is a hierarchy of what society perceives as the most moral ways to
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  lose weight, and medication ranks toward the bottom.
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  “Unless you are one of the 5 percent of people who can go into a caloric deficit for a long
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  period, increase your movement, and keep weight off, your weight loss doesn’t count,” she says.
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  This has happened with celebrities like Lizzo, Kelly Clarkson, and Oprah—when their bodies
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  look smaller, speculation pours in about how they achieved it.
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  Conason believes that diet culture is designed to make people feel smaller and keep a check on
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  power.
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  “Many successful men are judged by their accomplishments rather than their appearance,
• 14:58
  but the same does not always go for the rest of the population,” she says.
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  Oprah’s experience serves as a reminder to powerful women that their body size, clothing,
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  hairstyle, and adherence to beauty standards will always be scrutinized.
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  Finally, Conason suggests that one way to undo the influence of diet culture is to become more
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  aware of how it affects us.
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  “The more we understand what diet culture is, what weight stigma is, and how it shows up in
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  our lives, the better we can observe and question it,” she says.
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  She also emphasizes the importance of not making other people’s bodies a subject of
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  conversation.
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  Comments about other people’s bodies can influence how we feel about our own, and it’s
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  hurting the everyday people in our lives who may be struggling with their own body image
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  issues.
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  That wraps up today’s episode of Morning Medical with Dr.
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  Chow.
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  I hope you found our discussion informative and thought-provoking.
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  As always, stay healthy and take care of yourselves.
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  Until next time, I am Dr.
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  Chi-Ming Chow, signing off.