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Medical advancements from way back to today
Embryonic stem cell ethics debate sides
Embryonic stem cell ethics debate sides
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Recommended: Medical advancements from way back to today
It was not too long ago; I was sitting in the hospital with the feeling of confusion. I asked myself, “How is she going to survive?”. My aunt had a bad lung and I was with my family visiting her. I could not understand why the doctors were not able to help her. Why were they not able to just give her new lungs? Replace them with lungs that worked “normally”. It was not until recently I discovered that our medical knowledge was not very great even ten years ago when you compare it to today. It also made me consider what technologies and advancements we may have ten more years in the future.
It is unbelievable how much progress has been made by bioengineers over the past decade, and instead of being put onto a huge waiting list, an artificial organ can be made by using one’s own cells [5]. In developed countries, this is a revolutionary technology. It is so practical to be able to give an artificial organ to a patient that may not have been able to live otherwise. At this point in time we are able to create organs out of living cells. In ten years, maybe we will be able to create entire limbs. Who knows what will come next?
Human beings continuously changing in order to adapt to the situations that surround us so that we may create a better environment and life for our future generations. What makes this case any different? When looking at all the potential these artificial organs present, we must also consider some possible negatives and what issues may arise by researching and implementing them. The most obvious and well-known issue is potentially the main issue with regard to artificial organs. The main method of producing the organs is through the use of stem cells, which due to ethical reasons has been highly cont...
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...will be possible a decade from now? As these different technologies are being invented and implemented, schools all around the world are teaching the applications and the science behind them. This will allow our youth to take the next step forward in this field with a new understood knowledge of the topic. As it would now seem, there are so many possible benefits and few to no negatives from implementing artificial organs. It would be difficult for a scientist in this field to break an ethical code related to creating artificial organs, because there is a strict set of codes that they must follow. Ethics aside, If we can safely produce the resources required as well as implement these artificial organs in a way that is not only safe, but also will benefit the public, I say we go for it. That is why it is essential that we move forward so that mankind can advance.
"10 Medical Breakthroughs Expected in the Next 10 Years." n. pag. Web. 31 Jul 201
The Iron lung was one of the first medical advances made in the field of biomedical engineering (“Iron” par. 7). Philip Drinker, a professor at Harvard University, was the first person to invent an artificial respirator: the iron lung (Pendergast 119). Drinker was an American born who majored in chemical engineering (Schlager par. 2). He invented the iron lung in the year 1928 (Baughman 343). With the development of the iron lung, Philip Drinker established a way to save a patient’s life (Pendergast 119). He developed a machine that could work on anybody, no matter their body type (“Iron” par. 4). The iron lung, sometimes known as the Drinker tank, was invented to be used as an artificial respirator. This invention, however, was a means to keep patients with Poliomyelitis breathing, but it could not be used as a cure (“Poliomyelitis par. 7).
Stephanie Lee MS in Medical Device Innovation Personal Statement This past January, I had the most enriching opportunity to dissect and study the thoracic cavity of a human cadaver through the Advanced Cardiac Anatomy course held by the UMN. For the first time, I held a human heart within my hands, studied its anatomy, and was also able to closely examine the placement of a dual-chamber defibrillator. My company, Heraeus Medical Components, specializes in products for cardiac rhythm/heart failure management, so this was extra meaningful for me to not only see the leads, but also follow them to the sites of therapy within the heart. In a room of twenty-four cadavers, could I have somehow impacted any one of these patients’ lives?
Machines may advance the diagnosis and treatment of patients, but will never be able to replace...
An artificial organ can replace the non-functioning organ temporarily while the patient is waiting for a real organ to be ready. Artificial organs are becoming more popular due to the low price when compared to the real organs. The list of patients waiting for an organ transplant increases greatly each hour. Thousands of people die waiting for a transplant. Doctors are trying to figure out other ways, like artificial organs, that are faster and could save hundreds of people.
Currently 70,000 Americans are on the organ waiting list and fewer than 20,000 of these people can hope to have their lives saved by human organ transplantation.1 As a result of this shortage, there has been a tremendous demand for research in alternative methods of organ transplantation. Private companies are racing to develop these technologies with an estimated market of six billion dollars.2 Xenotransplantation, or cross-species organ transplantation, appears to be the most likely solution in the near future, and cloned pigs are the main candidates. Pigs and humans have remarkable similarities in physiology, which along with cloning makes pigs strong possibilities for organ donors. A controversial alternative method involves the use of genetically altered headless human beings as organ donors. Although this method may not be developed for some years, scientists are already discussing the necessary technologies. Whether the solution is the cloning of a pig or a human, organ farms may provide us with a solution to our ever-increasing need for donors.
The field of bioprinting, using 3D printing technology for producing live cells with extreme accuracy, could be the answer to many of the problems we as humans face in the medical field. It could be the end to organ waiting lists and an alternative for organ transplants. In 3D printing technology lies the potential to replace the testing of new drugs on animals. However, the idea of applying 3 dimensional printing to the health industry is still quite new and yet to have a major impact. Manufacturing working 3D organs remains an enormous challenge, but in theory could solve major issues present today.
Those who favour stem cell research are optimistic about the continued developments in stem cell research will open doors to many breakthrough discoveries in biomedical science. The scientific and ethical questions arise as rapidly as the reaching of milestones in stem cell research. There are two main types of stem cells, namely embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells in our body. But they have restricted-range of cells that they can further differentiate. On the contrary, embryonic stem cells have the ability to differentiate into nearly two hundred cell types in the human body, called pluripotency. The process of harvesting embryonic stem cells involves destruction of embryos (Mooney, 2009).
To reiterate, bioengineering will bring hope to the people who are in need of organ and body replacements in order to live a completed life. They will no longer need to wait weeks, months, or years for transplants that may or may not be given to them on time. Bioengineering will help solve medical problems of human beings using engineering concepts. Bioengineers will not only help the person’s medical complication, but it will also help their mentality, of feeling better about themselves and avoiding suicidal thoughts. I believe that bioengineering will create a new world where transplant lists will be immensely reduced, a world where there will be fewer disabilities, and a world where many lives will be saved. Bioengineering will change the world.
“Transplanting animal organs into humans is feasible.” USA Today. November 1999: 54-55. Gehlsen, Gale M., Ganion, Larry R. and Robert Helfst.
Recent discoveries involving cloning have sparked ideas of cloning an entire human body (ProQuest Staff). Cloning is “the production of an organism with genetic material identical to that of another organism” (Seidel). Therapeutic cloning is used to repair the body when something isn’t working right, and it involves the production of new cells from a somatic cell (Aldridge). Reproductive cloning involves letting a created embryo develop without interference (Aldridge). Stem cells, if isolated, will continue to divide infinitely (Belval 6). Thoughts of cloning date back to the beginning of the twentieth century (ProQuest Staff). In 1938, a man decided that something more complex than a salamander should be cloned (ProQuest Staff). A sheep named Dolly was cloned from an udder cell in 1997, and this proved that human cloning may be possible (Aldridge). In 1998, two separate organizations decl...
One of the most beneficial aspects to cloning is the ability to duplicate organs. Many patients in hospitals are waiting for transplants and many of them are dying because they are not receiving a needed organ. To solve this problem, scientists have been using embryonic stem cells to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones (Human Cloning). Skin for burn victims, brain cells for the brain damaged, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys can all be produced. By combining the technology of stem cell research and human cloning, it will be possible to produce the needed tissues and organs for patients in desperate need for a transplant (Human Cloning). The waiting list for transplants will become a lot shorter and a lot less people will have to suff...
Cloning can be helpful to those who. “The hope is that cells can be generated to cure these types of diseases where one cell has gone wrong. The growth and transplant of new nerve cells would help with Parkinson’s, the growth cells to produce more insulin for diabetics, and new heart muscle for those suffering from heart disease.” –MCB181 Honors Biology Group 1. Taking the risk of this cloning procedure cannot only extend a person’s lifetime but can also save their life from having to worry about reoccurring organ problems. The medical application of this achievement, benefiting an immense amount of people, is the therapeutic use of cloning. “It has already been shown that stem cells can be used to generate tissues and cells for specific areas of the human body. This can potentially allow for customized transplantation therapies and the repairing of damaged or diseased tissues in the body by replacing them with suitable cloned cells.” MCB181 Honors Biology Group 1. This procedure can allow transplantation therapies and repair damaged or diseased tissues in the body by replacing them with suitable cloned cells. Repairing and helping the cells in the hum...
Great medical discoveries pertaining to genetic modification are being made regularly and scientists are discovering new ways in which genetic engineering could be used to update certain medical procedures in the future. Complicated procedures such as organ transplantation have been made more successful with the use of genetic modification. Lab-grown bladders, windpipes, blood vessels and skin are some examples of organic matter that have been successfully grown with human cells and transplanted into human patients. The demand that the human population has on donor organs far exceeds the number of organs available for transplant. Genetic modification is the solution to this problem, in that, the advances being made in therapeutic medicine will save millions of lives in the future. Now that it is possible to alter the genes of an organis...
These procedures hold infinite possibilities in the practice of healing the sick. Of all of the procedures mentioned, cloning is the only method that has been given any amount of serious research. Cloning could do away with the need for organ transplants. Instead of a transplant, a new organ could be cloned, thus removing any chance that the body might reject the organs. Nano-robotics can be used to fight off foreign infections and repair internal wounds.