A consulting firm dealing with long-range, leading edge technological innovations and their consequences and implications for healthcare policy and practice.
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alt="http://hfdigest.com/wp-content/gallery/pics/robomed2.jpg" Since HFD began publishing at the start of 2003, we have been delighted to be able to report consistently good news in the war on cancer. Only a couple of months ago, we noted a two-year decline in cancer deaths in the US. But a WHO agency brings the sobering reminder that the good news […]
We have predicted elsewhere that the virtual world called Second Life (or something like it) will eventually become a serious venue for health care services and delivery. IBM seems to think along similar lines, and is investigating how to bridge between the real and virtual worlds. A key link in that bridge would be more […]
A trial of a second-generation retinal implant, much smaller and with higher visual resolution than previous models, is getting under way. If successful, the implant could be on the market in a little over two years. The artificial retina is one type of device that could benefit from a new way to connect nerves non-invasively […]
Recognizing that even the best physicians are out of their depth in dealing with the vast quantities of data generated by modern medical tests and devices, MIT researchers are moving post-modern medicine toward the inevitable: Diagnosis and treatment by machine. There’s no question that machines are getting better at it all the time. A device […]
Taking government out of the business of regulation may take us back to the era of snake oil and delight the diagnostic test industry, which is working to prevent government regulation of its burgeoning product line. Some genetic diagnostic tests are going direct to possibly desperate consumers with zero credible assurance of their worth. On […]
The World Economic Forum attributes to a “deterioration of the political and regulatory environment” a measured decline in innovation in the US, relative to (mainly) European countries and Singapore. Some US cities may also start to measure a decline in available nurses, thanks to a Virgin Islands health system which on March 1 began a […]
For the first time, human embryonic and fetal stem cells have successfully treated a human disease, albeit in mice. The researchers want to move quickly to human trials. The question will be whether it is more moral to protect cells taken from discarded embryos that will never reach infancy, than to suffer little children to […]
Given the acceleration of innovation in robotics, South Korean and European scientists think it is not too soon to start considering the risks, responsibilities, and ethicsrelating to increasingly intelligent and autonomous robots.Already, on the premise that robots will intrude much deeper into our lives, European researchers are working to make them sensitive to human emotions. […]
A Michigan startup claims to have developed agents that can prevent viruses from infecting cells. On the face of it, that’s a pretty staggering claim, but you never know. It’s also pretty staggering to claim that a substance is an antidote to obesity, diabetes, and even aging, yet investors have poured US$60 million into a […]
Death from cancer has declined for two straight years in the US. Whether the trend continues may depend on finding cures or preventives for prostate cancer, which could go through the roof as the baby-boomers age, but a glance through this issue of the Digest reveals a raft of genetic and pharmaceutical advances in the […]
