The Medical Thread

[Endless Soul]

So anyways, in case anyone was wondering where I disappeared to, I've spent the last month in a hospital fighting off pneumonia after getting back from my trip to Seattle during Thanksgiving week.

The pneumonia is licked, and I'm almost out of this rehab center. However, after being intubated for 10 days, I'm still having some problems swallowing, and I need to be careful how I eat. Also, my voice still sounds like a hoarse whisper.

Anyhow, my laptop was finally brought to me so I'll talk to everyone later.

[NoemiChan]

Pneumonia is a serious illness for both the young and the opposite of it.^^

Hope it doesn't come and infect you again, Sir.

[AnimeFan188]

Insulin pill may soon be a reality for diabetes treatment:

"Careful chemical structuring gets insulin through the stomach and into the blood."

See:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/...tes-treatment/

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Insulin pill may soon be a reality for diabetes treatment:

"Careful chemical structuring gets insulin through the stomach and into the blood."

See:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/...tes-treatment/

Good. Injections are a pain....^^

[AnimeFan188]

Researchers Aim to Speed Cures to Patients:

"Hoping to speed development of treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's and other
diseases, scientists are testing new methods to research promising medications.

Bringing a new drug to market typically costs upward of $100 million and can take
as many as 15 years of research, testing and regulatory review. As a result, health
experts worry that not enough innovative medicines are being developed, or that
the progress is too slow."

See:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...90572010514840

[DarkSage]

I have these allergies. I think I'm allergic to dust. Allergy tablets only seem to work for me. I wish there was a permanent solution...
It can get so bad. Uncontrollable sneezing and burning itchy eyes...

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by DarkSage

I have these allergies. I think I'm allergic to dust. Allergy tablets only seem to work for me. I wish there was a permanent solution...
It can get so bad. Uncontrollable sneezing and burning itchy eyes...

I think allergies are meant for life.

[DarkSage]

Originally Posted by NoemiChan

I think allergies are meant for life.

That is what my doctor told me. It is depressing. :/

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by DarkSage

That is what my doctor told me. It is depressing. :/

At least, you know what your allergies are and ways to relieve its effects.

[DarkSage]

Originally Posted by NoemiChan

At least, you know what your allergies are and ways to relieve its effects.

Yes that's true. Are you allergic to anything?

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by DarkSage

Yes that's true. Are you allergic to anything?

I'll answer that... None. But stop here.

[MrTerrorist]

Let's finish this vaccine argument (with sources)

[Guernsey]

Can anyone tell me about Obamacare, what it entails and what is the deadline?

[AnimeFan188]

Scientists hail breakthrough in embryonic-like stem cells:

"In experiments that could open a new era in stem cell biology, scientists have
found a simple way to reprogram mature animal cells back into an embryonic-like
state that allows them to generate many types of tissue.

The research, described as game-changing by experts in the field, suggests
human cells could in future be reprogrammed by the same technique, offering a
simpler way to replace damaged cells or grow new organs for sick and injured
people.

Chris Mason, chair of regenerative medicine bioprocessing at University College
London, who was not involved in the work, said its approach in mice was "the
most simple, lowest-cost and quickest method" to generate so-called pluripotent
cells - able to develop into many different cell types - from mature cells.

"If it works in man, this could be the game changer that ultimately makes a wide
range of cell therapies available using the patient's own cells as starting material
- the age of personalized medicine would have finally arrived," he said."

See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A0S0UM20140129

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Scientists hail breakthrough in embryonic-like stem cells:

"In experiments that could open a new era in stem cell biology, scientists have
found a simple way to reprogram mature animal cells back into an embryonic-like
state that allows them to generate many types of tissue.

The research, described as game-changing by experts in the field, suggests
human cells could in future be reprogrammed by the same technique, offering a
simpler way to replace damaged cells or grow new organs for sick and injured
people.

Chris Mason, chair of regenerative medicine bioprocessing at University College
London, who was not involved in the work, said its approach in mice was "the
most simple, lowest-cost and quickest method" to generate so-called pluripotent
cells - able to develop into many different cell types - from mature cells.

"If it works in man, this could be the game changer that ultimately makes a wide
range of cell therapies available using the patient's own cells as starting material
- the age of personalized medicine would have finally arrived," he said."

See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A0S0UM20140129

Does anyone have trouble accessing nature.com? It's like the news just crashed the site....

[SaintessHeart]

Passion for vodka kills Russian men in their thousands

(Reuters) - A quarter of all Russian men die before they reach their mid-fifties and their passion for alcohol - particularly vodka - is largely to blame, according to research published on Friday.

A study of more than 150,000 people found extraordinarily high premature death rates among male Russians, some of whom reported drinking three or more bottles a week of the potent clear spirit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, deaths among heavy drinkers were mainly due to alcohol poisoning, accidents, violence and suicide, as well as diseases such as throat and liver cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia, pancreatitis and liver disease.

"Russian death rates have fluctuated wildly over the past 30 years as alcohol restrictions and social stability varied under presidents Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin, and the main thing driving these wild fluctuations..was vodka," said Richard Peto of Britain's Oxford University, who worked on the study.

The researchers, including David Zaridze from the Russian Cancer Research Centre in Moscow, noted that whereas British death rates between age 15 and 54 have been falling steadily since 1980, mainly because so many people there have stopped smoking, Russian death rates in this age range have fluctuated sharply - often approximately in line with alcohol consumption.

Under Mikhail Gorbachev's 1985 alcohol restrictions, alcohol consumption fell by around 25 percent - and so did the death rates, they said. And when communism in Russia collapsed, alcohol consumption went up steeply, as did death rates.

More recently, since Russian alcohol policy reforms were introduced in 2006, consumption of spirits has fallen by about a third and so has the risk of death before age 55, the researchers said - although that risk is "still substantial".

For this study, published in the Lancet medical journal, researchers asked 151,000 people how much vodka they drank, and whether they smoked, then monitored them for up to a decade.

Around 8,000 of them died during that time, and the results showed much higher risks of death in men who smoked and who also drank three or more half-liter bottles of vodka a week than in men who smoked and drank less than one bottle a week.

Zaridze described the relationship between vodka and deaths as a "health crisis" for Russia, but stressed it could also be turned around if people were to drink more moderately.

"The significant decline in Russian mortality rates following the introduction of moderate alcohol controls in 2006 demonstrates the reversibility," he said.

"People who drink spirits in hazardous ways greatly reduce their risk of premature death as soon as they stop."

[Hiss13]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Scientists hail breakthrough in embryonic-like stem cells:

"In experiments that could open a new era in stem cell biology, scientists have
found a simple way to reprogram mature animal cells back into an embryonic-like
state that allows them to generate many types of tissue.

The research, described as game-changing by experts in the field, suggests
human cells could in future be reprogrammed by the same technique, offering a
simpler way to replace damaged cells or grow new organs for sick and injured
people.

Chris Mason, chair of regenerative medicine bioprocessing at University College
London, who was not involved in the work, said its approach in mice was "the
most simple, lowest-cost and quickest method" to generate so-called pluripotent
cells - able to develop into many different cell types - from mature cells.

"If it works in man, this could be the game changer that ultimately makes a wide
range of cell therapies available using the patient's own cells as starting material
- the age of personalized medicine would have finally arrived," he said."

See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A0S0UM20140129

I just noticed this and it's pretty interesting. I went to the site for Nature and only found an abstract for the paper referenced by it but despite that, it's pretty obvious that this research is an important breakthrough in the field of stem cell research.

Still, the original paper is 10 months old so I assume that there was more research done on the field in the mean time. Still, when this is finally applicable to humans, it could eliminate the ethical concerns against stem cell research. (I only say could since there will always be people )

[AnimeFan188]

Lose Weight By Ballooning Up With New Pill:

"A new diet pill called the Obalon inflates inside your stomach to mimic the results of
weight loss surgery. Once you swallow the pill, the device can stay in your stomach
up to three months before it is removed.

The pill's maker, Obalon Therapeutics, claims overweight and obese patients can
lose up to 20 pounds in three months because it helps you feel full, so you eat less.
You can swallow up to three balloons in a 12-week period to speed up weight loss,
according to the company.

Currently the pill is available only for experimental use in the United States. But you
can buy it Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
Spain."



"Another weight loss method the ASMBS is following closely is the EndoBarrier, a
long, flexible tube resembling a plastic bag. The device attaches to the bottom of
the stomach and snakes through the first two feet of the small intestine so that
food does not come into contact with the intestine itself.

Dr. Holly Wyatt, an endocrinologist with the School of Medicine at the University of
Colorado, will oversee one of the 25 FDA EndoBarrier trials of more than 500
people beginning later this year. She said the device is based on the same
premise as gastric bypass but doesn't make permanent changes to the stomach's
anatomy, thereby avoiding many of the risks."

"The EndoBarrier was approved in Europe, South America and Australia in 2006 and
is expected to be approved for use in the U.S. by 2017, company spokesman Dan
Budwick said. He added that in foreign clinical trials, average weight loss was 20
percent of body weight in 12 months or less and many patients were also able to
reach healthy blood sugar levels and reduce or eliminate the use of anti-diabetes
medications."


See:

http://gma.yahoo.com/lose-weight-bal...opstories.html

[MrTerrorist]

CDC warns untreatable gonorrhea could spread like wildfire

That's scary to hear.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Lose Weight By Ballooning Up With New Pill:

"A new diet pill called the Obalon inflates inside your stomach to mimic the results of
weight loss surgery. Once you swallow the pill, the device can stay in your stomach
up to three months before it is removed.

Now, when they say "before it is removed", does that mean it needs surgery to remove, or that it's more like "before it breaks apart"?