The Idea of "Modern-Medicine"

With new ideas and opinions about medicine arising daily, I felt it would be a good idea to start a blog discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Technology, religion, sociocultural and economic status, along with the influence of media and ethics  all contribute to what we call "modern-medicine". Combine these factors with the always fun rising level of hypochondriasis and the demand to get help and information now, and we have  today's medical field.

While there have been many leaps forward in terms of health care in the twenty-first century, we still have a long way to go.  I see the following as major milestones in the health community:

1. New Functional Genome Information:


The human genome, often referred to as "the book of life", is difficult to read but is vastly made of base-pairs between adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.  While we have known how these pieces fit together for the last decade, new information was recently acquired about what these pairs actually mean.

"We've known the precise alphabet of the human genome...but not necessarily how those letters make meaningful words.  We know, that only one to two percent of the functional genome codes for proteins  but that there are highly conserved regions in the genome outside of the protein-coding that affect genes and disease development.  It's clear these regions do something or they would have changed or disappeared." said Bing Ren, PhD and head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego.

When genes are not regulated correctly, mutations and disease can occur.  As of 2012 scientist understand approximately 11% of the genome.

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2012-07-02-mapping-the-functional-genome.aspx



2.  Information technology helping both doctors and patients:

Many people worry about technology, security, media, and social medical information interactions in this day and age.  For example, when checking in at the doctors' office it's more than signing a piece of paper.  Insurance, birth date, family information, and employment are all recorded.  Being a pre-med student I've talked to a few doctors Of the doctors about medical school and changes they have seen since making their debut in the medical field.  Many bring up that they spend far less time looking at books after they consult with a patient and more time on their Ipads, phones, and computers.  Now they can check medication interactions, patient history, and confirm their diagnosis all with the touch of a button.


3.  Anti-Smoking Laws to Reduce Public Smoking--I'm a big fan of this one:


As of right now there is NOT a nation wide smoking ban but it continues to be a product of the state which can result in local criminal charges based on occupational safety and health care laws.  The laws vary from banning smoking in only certain areas, to banning it nearly everywhere (except bars and adult only areas), to banning it everywhere (even outdoors).  Currently, 81.8% of the United States population live under a smoking ban.  The following states do not have any kind of smoking ban: Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.


4.  Stem Cell Research:

Probably one of the most controversial health issues, stem cell research became popular in 1998 when researchers discovered that they could isolate human embryonic stem cells, or hESC's.  Dr. James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin - Madison made the discovery and thought this was a promising new idea for treating diseases.  The concept  can be explained as obtaining hESC's from an embryo just a few days old which have the ability to differentiate into any type of human cell, making them useful to mature humans who's cells have lost this ability. While this seems like a great idea, a huge ethical dispute surrounds it.  The argument involves killing a human life, which brings up the question of when it begins.  Some believe it starts at fertilization while others say later in pregnancy or at birth.  Supporters of hESC, including those found at aaas.org, point out that eggs are often fertilized but may not implant in the uterus, causing pregnancy.  These supporters say that life does not begin until implantation has occurred.

http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/briefs/stemcells/

5.  Cancer Therapies:

The most common cancer treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and transplantation.

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs which reduce cell growth by attacking all cell DNA.  Some in the medical community refer to this type of treatment as "cytotoxic"or cell killing.  These drugs attempt to target cells with an unregulated growth pattern but cannot always promise exclusivity, resulting in hair loss and other side effects. This treatment itself is not painful, and does not typically cause nausea or compromise the immune system.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells by damaging or destroying their DNA, the part of the cell responsible for cell growth and reproduction.  This method can damage normal cells as well, and can be projected onto the body from a machine or work internally by placing radioactive material near tumors or in the bloodstream.  Radiation therapy can be used in combination with chemotherapy.

Surgery to remove the infected body part or organ are common with prostate, skin, colon,  and breast cancers.

Transplantation is the process of removing the infected body part and replacing it with a healthy or artificial one from another being.  This is common with the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, intestine, thymus, bone marrow, and stem cells.  Donors are often living, brain dead, or have recently passed.