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© 2011, 2012 Health Futures Digest
Genomic and Molecular Medicine After many attempts over the past two decades, genetically modified mosquitoes may finally have a chance of helping to eradicate the dengue fever with which mosquitoes annually infect 100 million people and cause 500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 22,000 deaths, mostly among children. For the disease of choroideraemia (rarer […]
A well-designed and -implemented study has shown that our descendants will live longer if we take the right steps to live longer ourselves. Healthier behavior can change gene expression in an individual, and the life-prolonging results of that change are passed on the individual’s descendants—even though, perplexingly, the epigenetic change itself is not passed on. […]
Here’s our weekly summary of tweets from @hfdigest, and their significance. Genomic and Regenerative Medicine Until now, the known genetic markers for melanoma have all been associated with skin pigmentation or moles. Now, three have been found that are not associated in that way, which means that people with those markers may be at even […]
Last month we wrote about bionics—the integration of human and machine, resulting in “cyborgs”—from a nervous system perspective. Specifically, we described developments in the “brain–machine interface” that connects electromechanical bionic devices—artificial limbs and organs—with the human nervous system. But bionics is not just about artificial devices. It is also about artificial materials that more or […]
Cyborgs, also known as bionic people, have been among us for some time. A heart patient with a pacemaker implant, a Parkinson’s patient with a deep-brain stimulator implant, an amputee fitted with a C-Leg… these and many more are machine-enhanced humans—cyborgs, or bionic people. Most bionic devices need to be activated and deactivated automatically, for […]
Development of the AbioCor heart can be expected to accelerate now that the FDA has approved its wider use. State-of-the-art myoelectric prosthetics are being fitted to wounded U.S. soldiers. The cost can be high or low, depending on how you look at it. A myoelectric tour de force — the bionic arm and shoulder fitted […]