A new medical smartphone app that can distinguish between different kinds of flesh wounds from photographs can be downloaded for free, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) said on Wednesday.
The AI_SWAS app was jointly developed by National Taiwan University and the hospital and it is capable of determining with 90 percent accuracy if a wound is red, swollen, necrotic or infected, the hospital said.
The app, which took three years to develop, combines a database of 131 photographs of wounds from 46 patients with professional advice from doctors, NTUH Center for Human Appearance director Tai Hao-chih (戴浩志) said.
Photo: Lin Huei-chin, Taipei Times
Users can take photographs of their wounds every day and AI_SWAS will inform them of the tissue’s condition, Tai said, adding that they can also consult doctors through the app.
The developers devised the app because they wanted to design a system for remote medical management that would allow people who come out of surgery to return home with a tool that that can help them manage their wounds, NTUH secretary Lai Fei-pei (賴飛羆) said.
An Android version of the app is available for download, while an iOS version is still being developed, Tai said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain