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Research methods for conducting research
Research methods for conducting research
Applied research methods
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Imagine living your entire life contained within a plastic bubble. Contact from the outside world, including your parents, is lethal. Rather than feeling the warm touch of a human hand, the clammy cold of laboratory gloves comforts you to sleep. Is this living or this surviving? You make the call. SCIDs is an acronym for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Persons born with SCIDs lack the ability to fight off infections. SCIDs creates a situation in which the common cold is just as deadly as pneumonia. This family of diseases is obviously debilitating and life-threatening. That is why finding a cure is imperative. This disease is not contagious, it is genetic and is thus acquired through the simple role of the genetic dice. There is absolutely nothing we can do about this sad syndrome, or is there... We can look to gene therapy: an exciting and revolutionary new field of research and medicine which may reveal the key to unlocking a myriad of genetic diseases. This paper will explore the problems posed by SCIDs and the answer offered by Marina Cavazzana-Calvo and Salima Hacein-Bey. Their work in gene therapy has great potential towards bursting the bubble on SCIDs. Immune System Introduction So, you ask, what does it mean to have SCID? Well, in order to answer this question, we have to go through a quick tour of the immune system. The immune system of the human body is comprised of a vast array of cells that fight off diseases (antigens) that are harmful to the well-being of the body. In an individual with a properly functioning immune system, the body has multiple genes that encode specific instructions for the proper design and function of the cells of the immune system. T... ... middle of paper ... ...g gene. Thus, the non-functional gamma-c chain of these patients was corrected to function like a normal gamma-c chain. The researchers then took the corrected cells and returned them to the patients. Did it work? Yes. The results show a dramatic increase in a variety of major immune system cells. Where are they now? Both patients left protective isolation after approximately three months of treatment. After an 11 month analysis, both patients appear to be growing well. No side effects (of any kind) have been reported. Basically, both patients have achieved a nearly perfect recovery in less than a year! On a third patient, similar positive results have been achieved after 4 months of treatment. Drs. Cavazzana-Calvo et. al. have BURSTED THE BUBBLE ON SCIDs!!! Of course, long-term analysis must be completed in order to see the duration of this treatment.
The B cells, T cells, Macrophage, and Antibodies are all a very large part of the immune system. There are two types of T cells, killer and helper T cells. Killer T cells find and destroy cells infected with bacteria, and helper T cells control the activity of other cells in the immune system. Then, B cells are considered the “clean up crew,” attacking any bacteria or viruses the T cell left behind. They also make antibodies, which are essential for trapping invading viruses and
instead of a disease. GBS is an autoimmune disorder in that the body starts attacking itself. The
In the book it says "They can spend a whole lifetime worrying whether they 're carriers, and then we come along and offer them a test. Recessives and X-linked. Look what they 're doing with fragile-X nowadays. And cystic fibrosis. Just imagine the commercial possibilities if you can design and patent a probe for something like Gaucher 's disease...(69)" Recessive traits is the phenotype is seen only a homozygous recessive genotype for the traits of the interest is present. The booked talked about two of three diseases that are most common in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. The first one is Cystic fibrosis which is an inherited life-threatening disorder that effects the lungs and the digestive system. The other one mention in the book that wasn’t mention in class was Gaucher 's disease. Gaucher 's disease is a build up of fatty substances in your organs, usually in you spleen and liver. Which causes them to become bigger affecting their function. The last one that we learned in class was Tay-Sachs disease, which is a rare inherited disorder that destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal
The job of the immune system is to keep “foreign” invaders out of the body, or if one gets in, to seek it out and kill it. These foreign invaders are called pathogens, which are tiny organisms that can cause an infection in the body. Pathogens can be bacteria, parasites, and fungi (http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/immuneSystem/pages/whatisimmunesystem.aspx).
... fight the disease. It is crucial that regulation be a necessary component of gene therapy research and applications. In hopes that the government can regulate and can receive this treatment, not restricting it to people that has serious genetic diseases. Gene therapy will change the field of medicine from what it is today. As scientist discovers more genes and their functions, the potential of this treatment is limitless. Though gene therapy is an auspicious treatment choice for numerous diseases (including inherited disorders, some types of cancer, and certain viral infections), the procedure remains precarious and is still under study to make sure that it will be safe and effective. Thus government regulators and scientist must take a lead role in adopting a practical approach to address these issues and determining the correct procedures for dealing with them.
The function of the immune system is it helps play a vital part of our everyday lives. It helps protect our bodies where ever we go. Our immune systems help defend our bodies against germs and microorganisms. The immune system is made up of various special cells, tissues, organs and proteins. This special system does an amazing job of keeping our bodies healthy and in good shape from different diseases and infections.
This disease is caused by a defective gene and was discovered in the 1930's. Scientists are
Maddy in the book tells us what the definition to her disease is “ It can lead to susceptibility to most serious of the primary Immunodeficiencies. Fortunately, effective treatment, such as stem cells transplantation, exists and can cure the
In September 14, 1990, an operation, which is called gene therapy, was performed successfully at the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The operation was only a temporary success because many problems have emerged since then. Gene therapy is a remedy that introduces genes to target cells and replaces defective genes in order to cure the diseases which cannot be cured by traditional medicines. Although gene therapy gives someone who is born with a genetic disease or who suffers cancer a permanent chance of being cured, it is high-risk and sometimes unethical because the failure rate is extremely high and issues like how “good” and “bad” uses of gene therapy can be distinguished still haven’t been answered satisfactorily.
Genetic engineering is now being used to create new medicines and therapies for many disorders and diseases, and also to improve agricultural plants and animals to produce bigger yields or enhanced nutrient composition and food quality. In Gene therapy, copies of healthy human genes produced in bacteria can be inserted into human cells with defective or missing genes, to fix the problem. Gene therapy is promising because it can use to treat genetic
Syphylis is an STD caused by bacteria in an open wound (Dugdale). Many people believed that the alignment of the stars and planets was the reason he got syphilis. Other people thought it was a new type of plague (Smith). Syphilis is contagious and many people think he got it from one of his six wives.
Interferons are a part of the immune system. This system involves the body's ability to distinguish cells that are part of the body from those that have found their way in and are harmful. Most of these unwanted substances are viruses, bacteria, and other type of disease causing organisms.
Since its inception, gene therapy has captured the attention of the public and ethics disciplines as a therapeutic application of human genetic engineering. The latter, in particular, has lead to concerns about germline modification and questions about the distinction between therapy and enhancement. The development of the gene therapy field and its progress to the clinic has not been without controversy. Although initially considered as a promising approach for treating the genetic of disease, the field has attracted disappointment for failing to fulfil its potential. With the resolution of many of the barriers that restricted the progress of gene therapy and increasing reports of clinical success, it is now generally recognised that earlier expectations may have been premature.
Genes are made of DNA – the code of life (Gene Therapy- The Great Debate!). The changes in genes may cause serious problems, which we called genetic disorder. In theory, the only method to cure genetic disorders is gene therapy, which basically means the replacement of genes in order to correct the loss or change in people’s DNA. Although gene therapy gives patients with genetic disorders a permanent cure, it is controversial because it has safety and efficacy problems, and raises ethical issues.
The immune system is a fascinating structure it defends the body against foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses and parasites. There are two primary forms that make up the immune system they are, innate and adaptive systems. Both the innate and adaptive system plays a large role in the immune system. The innate is the primary system to defend against foreign materials and the adaptive is the secondary system that responds to specific issues.