Tag Archives: English

Andaman7 – Connecting doctors and patients

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(English below – Version française de ce texte ici)

(Presentation of Andaman7, video, 2.5 minutes: http://bit.ly/A7videoWhatis (English))

Those who know me personally remember that 2007 was a difficult year for our family. In March, I learned that I was suffering from leukaemia (a blood cancer).  I was 43 years old. Only 3 months later, our son, Pierre, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma (a bone cancer). He was 10 years old.

Today, years later, we are both alive and in good health. Pierre lost a leg (he was amputated below the knee) and every day I take a magic pill called Gleevec. We are, therefore, both cancer survivors. This shows how modern medicine is truly of excellent quality, and is continuing to improve quickly.

 

Pierre, ages 14 and 19

Before Gleevec, patients with CML like me would have a few months to 2 years life expectancy at most. So learning that diagnosis was a death sentence.  With Gleevec, the life expectancy is reverted back to normal values. Thank you Novartis!

There is a big difference between our two cancers.  Mine was very easy to cure – one pill per day, for the rest of my life – but Pierre went through 2 very difficult years of treatment, and his leg is lost forever…

Therefore, I don’t need to tell you how important it is, and how motivated I am, to contribute to research and help the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry work faster and cheaper. And this will be even more important for rare diseases for which the cost of development is high compared to expected revenue.  With a pill for Ewing sarcoma, my son would still have his 2 legs…

Pierre and I, family holiday, 2014

Pierre and Vincent, family holiday, 2014

There were other problems we faced too, as patients or caregivers.

During Pierre’s treatment, which involved many doctors and several hospitals, I witnessed first hand how difficult the health information management was. Being myself a software engineer, I was particularly concerned with the lack of quality in the handling of information; I even felt a little bit responsible for it. In fact, I have participated in various large health IT projects: secure medical messaging systems meXi and Medibridge in Belgium (15 000 physicians, hospitals, and laboratories) and a large prevention EHR system for Idewe, managing close to 1 million workers’ health.  Despite all of this, information management in the health sector is still significantly behind.

And finally, for patients, it’s very difficult to have access to their health data.  And it is of the utmost importance. Numerous studies show that the efficacy of treatments is improved with more patient empowerment.

Therefore, I decided to contribute to these unmet needs with Andaman7.  We created a very ambitious platform to ease the communication between patients and actors of the health sector – it’s a project by patients for patients.

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We want to contribute in 3 ways:

  1. Empowering patients: every patient should have access to all their health data
  2. Helping research: offering PRO (Patient Reported Outcomes), RWE (Real World Evidence), questionnaires for clinical trials…
  3. Helping care actors: facilitating home care, remote monitoring of patients, etc.

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Andaman7 is first a social project: any patient can install the app today on their mobile device and start managing their health data.  The app is free and will always be. Download it from our website: https://www.andaman7.com.  It both is very safe and completely respects our privacy as patients.  No health data is stored on the cloud, and Andaman7, the company, does not have access to your data – everything is on your smartphone.

And we want the project to be sustainable.  So we are asking for financial contributions from pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers for PRO, RWE, trials, questionnaires… and from hospitals and care actors for remote monitoring, home care,…

 

Vincent Keunen, Health 2.0 and TEDx conferences

If you want to participate in this (r)evolution, join us at www.andaman7.com. Install the application and tell me what you think (vincent.keunen@andaman7.com). We are open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you!

Vincent Keunen

Other links:

Post updated in April 2019.

Anti Cancer foods – Richard Beliveau

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Get the book at: http://amzn.com/0771011350
En français: Les aliments contre le cancer
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Cancer prevention facts to add to your diet

  • Approximately one third of all cancers are directly related to diet.
Book: Foods that fight cancer

Book: Foods that fight cancer

  • A diet containing three or four weekly servings of broccoli, nothing too excessive, was shown to be sufficient to protect individuals from colon polyps.
  • Cruciferous vegetables (brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale) should be lightly cooked and thoroughly chewed when eaten in order to fully benefit from their anti-cancer potential. Chewing releases the active molecules.
  • Freshly crushed garlic is by far the best source of anti-cancer compounds and should be preferred over supplements.
  • The key to benefiting from the anti-cancer effects of soy lies in consuming about 50 grams per day of the whole food, such as raw (edamame) or dry roasted soybeans. Supplements containing isoflavones are not an acceptable alternative to the whole food and should be avoided.
  • Colon cancer appears to be one of the cancers on which curcumin may have the greatest positive impact. The daily addition of a teaspoon of turmeric to soups, salad dressings, or pasta dishes is a simple way of providing curcumin intake sufficient to prevent the development if cancer.
  • Green Tea contains large amounts of catechins, compounds that boast many anti-cancer properties. To maximize the preventative effects afforded by tea, select Japanese green teas, allow for an eight-to-ten minute brewing period and always drink freshly brewed tea, and avoiding Thermoses.
  • Eating cranberries should be preferred over drinking cranberry juice.
  • The best way to increase omega-3 levels in diet is to eat fatty fish (wild salmon, sardines, and mackerel) once or twice a week or add one tablespoon of freshly-milled flax seeds to your breakfast cereal.
  • Eating two tomato sauce-based meals per week may lower your risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 25%.
  • Citrus fruits are essential foods in cancer prevention: for their capacity to act directly on cancerous cells as well as their potential for enhancing the anti-cancer effects of other phytochemical compounds present in diet.
Richard Beliveau

Richard Beliveau

  • The resveratrol present in red wine possesses powerful anti-cancer activity which may be responsible for the beneficial effects of wine on the prevention of certain cancers. Grape juice and cranberry juice contains resveratrol but at levels ten times less than red wine.
  • The daily consumption of 40 grams of dark chocolate (chocolate containing 70% cocoa mass) may have definite health benefits and should replace or reduce that of sugar- and fat-filled candies with no phytochemical content.
  • Many herbs and spices used as seasonings, in particular ginger contain large quantities of molecules that act as anti-inflammatory compounds, which also reduce the risks of developing certain chronic diseases.
  • Instead of replacing butter with margarine, use olive oil as much as possible as a source of dietary fat; you will benefit from its healthful lipids knowing that it also possesses anti-cancer properties of its own.

This is just a summary.  It’s good to read the book to get a better understanding of why all these foods have an impact on cancer – when we understand better, we are more efficient at adapting our diet correctly.

PS: If you already have cancer, ask your doctor first – but make sure your doctor is open to “global therapy”, ie modern medicine + diet + alternative means.
PS2: These foods will not cure your cancer alone – modern medicine is very efficient in curing cancer (more than 50% of cancers can be cured and it’s improving); but these foods will significantly improve your chances of success.

Vincent

Can we eat to starve cancer?

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There is a very interesting TED talk on how we can significantly improve cancer treatments and reduce cancer appearance “simply” by adapting our diet.  (There is a transcript in 36 languages).

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I was particularly happy to hear about all the progress around that subject as well as the numerous scientific and experimental evidence that has been built in the last few years. David Servan-Schreiber was right quite a few years in advance, so his book “Anti-cancer” remains a very good read if you are concerned – or if you wish to reduce the risk of being concerned…

I mention that book and a few others on my previous blog post “Anti-cancer tips“.

I also wrote a blog post on good books on cancer, but it’s in French.

Here is a short summary of the video if you are in a hurry;

  • Angiogenesis = proliferation of blood vessels (ex: in a woman’s uterus each month, to repare damaged tissues and… to feed cancer tumors);
  • All cancers need angiogenesis to grow;
  • There are more and more medications targeted at limiting angiogenesis, so cancer treatment is improving;
  • The author mentions cancer treatment, but also prevention… and relapse avoidance;
  • The vast majority of cancer causes are related to “environment” – and diet is a significant one:

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  • One can think about “what to remove from our diet”, but also about “what we can add to our diet” (which may be easier if you think about fruits, colored vegetables, cabbage, red wine…);
  • Some foods are very good for angiogenesis (green tea, red wine (one glass per day), strawberry,…) but combining foods helps boost their beneficial effects.

The video does not go deep into what foods are good.  For that, I refer you to Foods that fight cancer by Richard Beliveau.

Uber bravo !

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First Uber experience: wow!

This is my first Über experience and I must say I’ve been *very* impressed!

I installed the app – it’s straightforward and the app is well designed and very easy to use. I entered my personal info, including PayPal and credit card payment details.

When I tried Uber, I was in Montreal – and I don’t know Montreal so finding a bus, subway or even a taxi was not obvious.  I fired up the app. It found my location (a great apartment rented via AirBNB – another great and disruptive tool which I recommend, by the way).  So I didn’t have to explain where I was… (1)

I entered my destination. Über displayed the cars in my area: there were a few. I confirmed my request. A few seconds later, it was accepted: I was informed that I would be picked up by a driver named Bolivar in 3 minutes!… (2)

On the map, I could see my driver approaching: good to stay inside while waiting (3) – Montreal is cold at this time of the year… 🙂

The car was there on time and when I opened the door, I was greeted by a warm “Good morning Vincent”!… (4) Yes, the driver knew my first name via Über… Cool! So I replied “Good morning Bolivar “… Felt almost like old friends…

I knew Bolivar was a serious driver: he was rated 4.5 stars out of a max of 5. (5)

We chatted:

  • Bolivar has been an Über driver for 3 months
  • He likes the system but there are more and more drivers so he has less business…  Market laws in effect…
  • He is also a bit frustrated because he does not know why he sometimes does not get a 5 star.  🙂
  • He also told me that, unlike taxi drivers that take “people on the street”, he only carries identified people (Uber identifies all passengers and all drivers thru email and credit card) – a much appreciated extra security for him, and for me.  (6)

It was also very clear from our discussion that Bolivar was extremely interested in my satisfaction…  (7) The number of stars I would give him was important to him.  Quite a difference with many taxi drivers that just don’t care about you because, “anyway, I won’t see that stranger anymore”.  The benefits of being evaluated and in a public and trustable system: extra motivation to do good.  And it was fair too: as a customer I would also be evaluated by my driver…  (8) So both parties do have an interest in behaving correctly, being polite, being honest.  This is the benefit of local communities where everyone knows everyone, but on a worldwide scale!  “Community of trust” has a real meaning here.

While driving, I could follow on my Uber GPS the roads that Bolivar was taking.  It felt good to know that he was taking the shortest / fastest road.  (9) With taxis, you never know what trick they will use to make the trip more expensive.  Besides my control, Uber also knows the number of kilometres and time of my ride.  So I’m pretty sure that they can make sure all drivers stay honest with a bit of statistics.

We arrived at destination.  I greeted my driver and hopped out of the car. No money involved! (10) My trip would be charged to my credit card.  No unexpected extras for you-never-what-your-taxi-driver-will-add (extra for late hour, extra for luggage, extra for blablabla…).  (11).  A few seconds later, I received all the details of the trip by email (12):

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Which makes it also easy to create a quick expense report if your company requires it – without the wait in the taxi for a driver that hates doing that.  (13) And by going to the web site, you can see all your previous trips… (14)

Update: Since that first trip with Uber, I travelled a few times more in Montreal, but also in Budapest. Always the same great experience.  And an extra benefit in Budapest: everything goes smooth even if you don’t know the local language and your driver is not too good in English! (15). Congratulations to Uber!  Keep up the good work!

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PS: I don’t want to make too big a deal of that, but in practice, Uber has completely changed the local transportation by car, and made it a much better experience.  Somehow, the world is a bit better without all those taxi problems…  Technology can indeed improve our ways of living.

(1) the numbers in parentheses in my text count the advantages of Uber over conventional taxis…  I’m aware that some mention also disadvantages but most of them are related to taxi companies loosing their privileges.  They will need to evolve.  The world is changing.  The world is improving.

My TEDx Liège talk – Open source in the medical sector

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You know I love open source software. You also know I have had cancer as well as my son Pierre:

Why can’t open source help with the discovery of new miracle drugs, like the one I’m taking for my leukemia: Gleevec ?

That’s the subject of my talk at TEDx Liège (in French – subtitles in other languages are coming – help translate):

Vincent Keunen - TEDx Liège - Open Source Rebirth

Vincent Keunen – TEDx Liège – Open Source Rebirth

Let me know what you think by commenting on this post or sending me an email at vincent@keunen.net.