Limb Transplants -- Modern Miracle or Future Frankenstein? We all know that transplants save lives. Liver, heart, renal, and other organ transplants are hardly controversial. But what happens when transplants do not save lives? What happens when they actually endanger them? At least twenty-one hands and arms have been transplanted since 1998 (and one in 1964) (1). Sure, the cosmetic and functional value of having a new hand could seem like a miracle to those without hands or arms, but do these
A few weeks ago The New York Times published the article Hopeful Start for First Uterus Transplant in the U.S. The article talks about the candidate who will be receiving the first uterus transplant and the expected outcome (Grady). This is exciting news for many women in the United States, but there are a few people that don’t share the excitement. Although there have been uterus transplants performed in other countries before, bioethical issues still arise. There have been some heated debates on
microenvironment leading to immunosuppression and diminished clinical
itself, many innate protective responses are interrupted. The transplanted lungs are dennervated resulting in impaired cough reflex and abnormal mucocilliary clearance mechanisms These disruptions, in addition to the need for high levels of immunosuppression, culminate in increased infection risk predisposing to viral (most importantly cytomegalovirus), bacterial, and fungal infections19. Chronic exposure to immunosuppressive medications also leads to metabolic dysregulation resulting in increased
Gene therapy is a technique that uses genes to treat or prevent diseases. It is the process of taking DNA from one organism and inserting it to another. No development in the field of biotechnology has inspired both greater fear and hope in human society than gene therapy. Here is the big question among the people. While this new advancement in gene therapy promotes new hopes to cure life-threatening diseases or help the amputee or physically disabled persons to lead life like a normal human, it
attack response of the T-cells within the body (6). As we know, immunosuppressive drugs work in a similar fashion to basically trick the immune system into slowing down. Options are limitless here, and the probability of securing a new form of immunosuppression in our lifetime is very
Dhaval Patel’s presentation, in which he examined the reasons to support embryonic stem cell research, brought about the need to impugn said motive. Through the course of said briefing, he cited that the benefits of using stem cells include; the ability to cure diseases, the social benefits that curing said diseases will bring about, and economic gains. Foremost stem cell research uses basic cells, which come from embryos, to investigate properties of the cell. Further, the usefulness of stem cells
rates creates an ethical issue with serious public health repercussions. Vaccine preventable diseases are dependent on herd immunity to increase population-wide protection to those individuals that cannot be immunized due to issues such as age, immunosuppression, underlying disease, or allergies (Halperin, Melnychuk, Downie, & MacDonald,
More than half of the people on earth live within 193km of the ocean, but even those who live nowhere near the ocean are dependent on the massive saltwater ecosystem that covers nearly three-fourths of our planet. SUSTAINABLE USE OF THE OCEANS Sustainable use of the oceans refers to the maintaining or conserving of the ecological balance in the ocean by avoiding the depletion of natural resources and marine life. Today’s ocean managers are challenged to use scientific knowledge of fish and replace
Feline leukemia is a misleading term in the fact that fewer than half of the cats infected with FeLV actually develop cancer. When they do, it is not the virus that is the cause of the cancer development, but it is because the virus causes immunosuppression and the cat’s own cancer-fighting mechanisms become weakened. Almost all cats that show active signs of infection do not usually live beyond two or three years after contracting the virus. (1, 2, 3, 5,
Organ and tissue donation is life-saving and life transforming medical process wherein organs and tissues were removed from a donor and transplant them to a recipient who is very ill from organ failure. It is said that one organ can save up to 10 people and may improve the lives of thousands more (Australian Red Cross Blood Service, 2011). Most of the donated organs and tissues came from people who already died but in some cases, a living person can donate organs such as kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas
A Brain Tumor is a mass of abnormal cells that vary in size. They can also be classified as Benign or Malignant. Benign Tumors are non-cancerous, and have definite borders that make removal of the entire mass possible. On the other hand, Malignant (Cancerous) Brain Tumors spread, aggressively invading nearby tissue, and have a higher chance of recurring after surgical removal. There are two types of Malignant Brain Tumors: Primary, and Secondary (Metastatic). Primary Brain Tumors begin in the brain
Patients who are already in a poor state of health can become infected more easily. There are several treatments that leave patients vulnerable to infection. For instance, immunosuppression and antacid treatment undermine the body 's defenses. The prolonged use of antibiotics may reduce the effectiveness of a patient 's own immune system. If a hospital warns patients of the risk of infections before the patient begins treatment
Ozone depletion directly affects society and the environment through increased exposure to UV radiation on humans, animals, plants and materials. Increased exposure to UV radiation can have serious adverse side effects for humans: Skin Cancer UV-B radiation can cause benign and malignant skin melanomas. A reduction in ozone levels increases the amount of UV-B radiation that can reach earths surface which would cause an increase in the number of occurrences of skin cancers, sunburns and premature
The focus for finding an immunological cure for diabetes mellitus type 1 should be directed to prevent maturation or cause inactivation of autoreactive T cells to halt the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells. Inactivation of the autoreactive T cells can be accomplished in two ways. First, antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, that present auto antigens can be modified to prevent maturation or expression of co-stimulatory receptor. Secondly, the T cell can remain in the naïve
contributes to a lot of death(WJH,2658/2659). The authors also believe that those who undergo transplant have high chances of survival as well as receive good guidelines to follow from the MC. He also believes with changes such as chemotherapy and immunosuppression there is a lot of promise for “curing” HCC. I believe in what the author says as well. Since this article was from 2015 there may as well be new methods to treat HCC. This article serves as an explanation for how HCC is doing and has been doing
Although tooth loss typically is associated with the elderly, edentulism can also affects children and adults if they do not practice proper oral hygiene.2 a. Trauma Babies and young children are most susceptible to losing teeth prematurely due to trauma, because their tooth roots and gums are still developing. If parents do not take the proper — and often immediate — steps to deal with dental trauma, their children's oral health can be permanently affected. Adults, particularly those who participate
Broderick and Blewitt explain that young adults feel as though they are still waiting for life to happen, but once individuals reach middle adulthood, they see themselves as “grown up.” When individuals reach middle adulthood, they may begin to reflect on their life satisfaction and determine what changes they need to make to live their happiest life. Life satisfaction is often measured by subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is an individual’s overall satisfaction with life and general
Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) belongs to the Gammaretrovirus genus, Retroviridae family and infects domestic cats and other felids across the world.1,6,17 The single-stranded RNA genome of FeLV has three genes, which are common to all retroviruses: gag, env and pol, which encode for the viral core and nucleocapsid proteins, surface proteins and viral replication enzymes, respectively. 8,13,17 FeLV is divided into four subgroups (A, B, C and T) based on the envelope surface glycoproteins.15 FeLV-A
“Getting an organ transplant could add four or more years to your life” (Brown, 2015). Anyone who has received an organ transplant can tell you how it saved their life. Any organ a certain person is given via transplant needs that organ in order to survive. The problem with this is, there are not enough organs available to be transplanted causing about twenty-one people to die per day (“Organ Donation Facts” 2015). This really shows how important it is for some people to receive their transplant