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Women should undergo fewer Pap tests for cervical cancer, medical group saysEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Just days after the release of controversial new guidelines recommending against routine mammograms for most women under 50, a different group of medical professionals has announced that the frequency of Pap tests for cervical cancer detection should also be decreased for most women. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 20, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Medical Technology Source Type: info

MIND Reviews: Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental HospitalsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
BOOKS Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 20, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Society Policy,Basic Science,Addiction Recovery,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Psychiatry,Psychology,Thought Cognition,Ethics,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

Illuminating the Lilliputian: 10 Bioscapes Photo Contest Winners RevealedEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We are approaching the millennial anniversary of the first meaningful written description of how lenses and light could be used to magnify objects. It was in 1011 that Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) began writing the Book of Optics , which described the properties of a magnifying glass, principles that later led to the invention of the microscope. The entrants in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition provide fitting tribute to nearly 1,000 years of making the invisible visible.Optical microscopy, energized by generation after generation of technological advance, continues to furnish dazzling proof...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 18, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Environment,Physics,Technology,Everyday Science,Science Education,Medical Technology,Communications,Computing,Consumer Electronics,Energy Technology,Energy Technology Source Type: info

Government panel recommends fewer and later mammograms, no self-examsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Most women would do fine to hold off until age 50 for their first mammograms and skip self-exams for breast lumps altogether, according to new government recommendations released Monday that came as a surprise to many in the medical community--and women in general. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 17, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Fish Kill: Nanosilver Mutates Fish EmbryosEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Smaller than a virus and used in more than 200 consumer products, silver nanoparticles can kill and mutate fish embryos, new research shows.Tiny particles of silver – potent anti-microbial agents that can kill bacteria on contact – are becoming increasingly popular in consumer goods, including washing machines, refrigerators, clothing and toys. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 17, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Environment,Energy & Sustainability,Ecology,Medical Technology Source Type: info

For Sale: Human Eggs Become a Research CommodityEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Paying a woman for her eggs to use in stem cell research has been a bioethical no-no for years. But this past June, New York State decided to allow just that, becoming the first state to permit public money to be used in this way. The decision, which allows payment of up to $10,000, will likely jump-start donations--and thereby research. Many bioethicists, however, worry that the financial incentive could exploit women and compromise their health.Ethical issues surround egg donation because the process is not without risk. It requires a series of hormonal stimulation injections as well as an invasive procedure to retrieve ...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 17, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Health Medicine,Mind Brain,Technology,Society Policy,Evolutionary Biology,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Ethics,Medical Technology Source Type: info

MIND Reviews: Shaken: Journey into the Mind of a Parkinson's PatientEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
DVDs Shaken: Journey into the Mind of a Parkinson’s Patient [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 13, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Mind Brain,Basic Science,Language Linguistics,Language Linguistics,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Thought Cognition,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

Readers Respond on "Grassoline"Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Feed the World As a retired farmer, I know that the information in “Grassoline at the Pump,” by George W. Huber and Bruce E. Dale, about agricultural residues is false in a most dangerous way. There is NO extra residue from the corn harvest. Sure, you can take it away and use it to create fuel. But that residue is desperately needed right where it fell, to renew the soil. All of it and more are needed to sustain our already low organic matter levels created by years of plowing and other unsustainable agricultural practices. Soil can and does “die,” and then it is unable to produce food. Energy creat...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 13, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Environment,Health & Medicine,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Energy Sustainability,Energy Sustainability,Alternative Energy Technology,Alternative Energy Technology,Clean Air Policy,Climate,Green Living,Psychology,Biotechnology,Biotechn Source Type: info

Fact or Fiction: Generic Drugs Are Bad for YouEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As we cope with the economic recession, we've all had to make concessions. It's been "good-bye" to European vacations, organic milk and magazine subscriptions. But there are those things we can't give up without risking serious illness or death, one of which is prescription medication. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 12, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Chemistry,Health & Medicine,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Ethics,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

Penile erectile tissue grown in labEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Advances in tissue bioengineering have enabled lab-grown bladders, tracheas, cardiac patches and now penis parts. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 10, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Everyday Science,Biotechnology,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Are doctors getting slower or are patients getting sicker?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
People are going to the doctor's office more often--and for longer visits than nine years before. So, has care improved or do people just need more medical attention? It's likely the latter, conclude the authors of a new paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine , published online Monday. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 9, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Ethics,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

The Color of Sin--Why the Good Guys Wear WhiteEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
When the Chrysler car company released a new model of its Dodge Coronet in 1967, the theme of its advertising campaign was the “White Hat Special.” Some of the ads featured cartoon cowboys riding around “keepin’ the prices low,” whereas others had the ubiquitous “Dodge Girl” in her signature white Stetson, chirping: “Only the good guys could put together a deal like this.”These ads did not need any elaboration. Madison Avenue knew that potential buyers had all been raised on film and TV Westerns and were familiar with the symbolism of white hats. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry,...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 9, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Environment,Health & Medicine,History of Science,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Infectious Diseases,Medical Technology Source Type: info

MIND Reviews: Brainy GiftsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Catch Some Slow Waves Zeo sleep monitor ($399) [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 6, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Mind Brain,Technology,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Basic Science,Language Linguistics,Language Linguistics,Addiction Recovery,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Psychiatry,Psychology,Thought Cognition,Medical Technolo Source Type: info

"On-pump" heart bypass surgery beats out beating-heart techniqueEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The best bypass surgery choice may be to use a heart–lung machine, after all, according to a new study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 5, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Everyday Science,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Apnea Treatment Improves Golf GameEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]The 12 million Americans with sleep apnea stop breathing for short periods during the night, sometimes hundreds of times. Now a new study finds that a good motivator for some apnea sufferers to get treatment could be improved athletic performance. Because golfers with obstructive apnea who regularly used the machine that keeps them breathing lowered their handicap by up to three strokes. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - November 2, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Health Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

TED MED: Grandma's little robot helperEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
For Colin Angle, the statistics make the case clear. Institutional care for the elderly costs an average of more than $10,000 per month, about equal to “the mortgage payment for a $2 million home.” At the same time, three out of four seniors want to continue living at home. To do so, many may need support from their adult children--who themselves are strapped for time while juggling the demands of work and family. “Something has to give in order for that to work,” Angle told the audience yesterday at the TED MED conference, which is being held this week in San Diego. “What am I going to do? We...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 30, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

TED MED: Grandma s Little Robot HelperEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
For Colin Angle, the statistics make the case clear. Institutional care for the elderly costs an average of more than $10,000 per month, about equal to “the mortgage payment for a $2 million home.” At the same time, three out of four seniors want to continue living at home. To do so, many may need support from their adult children--who themselves are strapped for time while juggling the demands of work and family. “Something has to give in order for that to work,” Angle told the audience yesterday at the TED MED conference, which is being held this week in San Diego. “What am I going to do? We...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 30, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Resuscitating Lungs For TransplantEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]Emphysema and cystic fibrosis patients who need new lungs are faced with a life-threatening problem: more than 80 percent of donated lungs can’t be used--they’re inflamed and barely functional. But a new approach, detailed this week in the new journal Science Translational Medicine , describes a novel gene therapy that can repair these damaged lungs--and make them available for transplant. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 29, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Health Medicine,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Smart Set: Exploring Intelligence in the BrainEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We’ve all seen the pretty pictures. Colored scans, produced by techniques that measure blood flow or the movement of a tracer chemical, reveal the activity of areas of the brain when we are thinking about something. The revolution in imaging in the past couple of decades has taught us a lot about what the brain is doing while we cogitate. One thing we’ve learned is that those more active areas aren’t always the same from brain to brain when considering a certain problem. Not all brains are the same size or shape, as you might expect, but they also think differently.So where does intelligence arise? Neuros...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 29, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Mind Brain,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Science Education,Language Linguistics,Language Linguistics,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Psychiatry,Psychology,Thought Cognition,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Medical Source Type: info

TED MED: Bringing Medicine Home for Better CareEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Eric Dishman, a behavioral scientist, was holding a battered cardboard box with a mailing label on it. He promised the audience a preview of a wonderful tool for improving elderly healthcare and independence at home. “You’d better get a close up of this,” he said to the cameraman recording the talk for yesterday’s TED MED conference that is running from October 27 through 30 at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, Calif. (TED MED stands for technology, entertainment, design.) Dishman, chief strategist and global director of product research, innovation and policy for Intel’s Digital Health Gro...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 29, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Why Your Doctor Should Know Where You Have LivedEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Genes and how you live are important to good health--but where you live is also critical, and its importance has been overlooked in the past. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 28, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Medicine Looks Ahead at TED MEDEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
“If you open your minds and let your imaginings run wild, you can see.” J. Craig Venter, the genomic scientist and founder of the J. Craig Venter Institute, was speaking yesterday about the potential for techniques involved in the field of synthetic life to improve medicine, but his words could have been applied to the all the talks during the opening session of TED MED (“TED” is for technology, entertainment, design). The conference is running from October 27 through 30 at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Speakers also described advances in using stem cells for regenerative medicine and tissue ...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 28, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Nerd a Vacation?: Travel with The Geek AtlasEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
After five years of gallivanting across the globe, Charles Darwin settled down at Down House in Downe, England. Other than day trips to London, he hardly left his neighborhood for the remaining 45 years of his life. After three days at a conference in London this past summer, I took a day trip to Downe to see Darwin’s house, which is now a small museum. What I did not know at the time was that I was visiting site number 043 in The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science & Technology Come Alive (O’Reilly Media, 2009).Author John Graham-Cumming holds a doctorate in computer security and is described in the book ...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 23, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Environment,History of Science,Society & Policy,Everyday Science,Basic Science,Science Education,Evolutionary Biology,Ecology,Thought Cognition,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Medical Technology,Communications,Energy Technology,Energy Source Type: info

A Loopy Idea That Works: Using Telecoils to Turn Hearing Aids into Mini LoudspeakersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Whereas standard behind- and in-the-ear hearing aids work well in relatively quiet, more intimate settings, these devices often lose their effectiveness in larger, public spaces where background noise puts the hard of hearing at a disadvantage. Although the technology to solve this problem--induction-loop systems that broadcast sound directly to hearing aids and cochlear implants--has been available for years, implementation has lagged, advocates say, because not enough is being done to promote their use. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 19, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Physics,Technology,Society Policy,Everyday Science,Basic Science,Medical Technology,Communications Source Type: info

Beating Heart Tissue from Stem CellsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]One of the goals of regenerative medicine is to make tissue to replace our own damaged body parts. That’s still a ways off. But starting with mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers have succeeded in creating heart muscle that actually beats. The study appears in the October 16th issue of the journal Science . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 15, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Health Medicine,Society Policy,Basic Science,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Ethics,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Hospital error leads to CT scan radiation overdoses in 206 patientsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
How well do hospital medical technicians know their equipment? Not well enough in the case of some healthcare workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where 206 X-ray computed tomography (CT) scan patients were given eight times the normal of radiation during brain scans over an 18-month period. The Los Angeles Times reports today that the cause of the overdoses has been traced back to a mistake the hospital made resetting a CT scanner. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 13, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Mind Brain,Technology,Science in Service,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Unraveling the Ribosome: Chemistry Nobel Awarded to Modelers of Cells' Protein-Maker [Update]Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be split among three researchers who, over the course of the past two decades, puzzled out--at the atomic level--the function of the ribosome in piecing together proteins. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 7, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Health & Medicine,History of Science,Basic Science,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

Unraveling the Ribosome: Chemistry Nobel Awarded to Modelers of Cells' Protein-Maker [Updated]Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be split among three researchers who, over the course of the past two decades, puzzled out--at the atomic level--the function of the ribosome in piecing together proteins. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 7, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Health & Medicine,History of Science,Basic Science,Medical Technology,Pharmaceuticals Source Type: info

Nobel Prize in PhysicsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]The Nobel Prize in physics goes to Charles Kao, of Standard Communications Labs in England and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and George Smith and Willard Boyle of Bell Labs in New Jersey. Kao figured out how to transmit light over long distances in optical glass fibers. From the official announcement: “Today, more than a billion kilometers of optical fiber around the world forms the backbone of modern global communication.” [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 6, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: History of Science,Physics,Technology,Everyday Science,Space Exploration,Cosmology,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Medical Technology,Communications,Consumer Electronics Source Type: info

Breakthrough: Bone Graft Grown in Exact Shape of Complex Skull-Jaw JointEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Bones often come in complex, delicate shapes, making it hard to find matching natural replacements for them in patients suffering from injuries, diseases or birth defects. Now researchers have grown bone grafts in the exact shape of a desired bone, an advance that could help provide doctors with just what they need for face , skull and other skeletal reconstructions.Although missing bone can be replaced by titanium , "there is no better substitute for lost tissue than living tissue," bioengineer Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic at Columbia University explains. "Although titanium is better than nothing--you need some...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - October 5, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Could a microchip help to diagnose cancer in minutes?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Current cancer screening often requires painful procedures and weeks of waiting to obtain results. But what if doctors could read a biological sample with a small hand-held device and come back with an answer in less than an hour? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 28, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Technology,What ' s Next,Biotechnology,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Teen Inventors Fight TinnitusEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
[ The following is an exact transcript of this podcast. ]Ever get a ringing in your ears after a loud blast of music on your iPod? That’s one example of the usually temporary condition called tinnitus, the sensation of sound even when no sound is being produced. But a new invention--created by high school students--may help. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 28, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Science in Service,Everyday Science,Basic Science,Evolution,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Cancer stem cell research gains traction, tackles new targetsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
BALTIMORE--In the decades-long war on cancer, as of late, researchers had been making little progress in comparison to colleagues treating other conditions, such as cardiac or infectious diseases. "Cancer research has really plateaued out," William Matsui , an associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine, said at the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit here on Tuesday. But pushing cancer stem cell research "gives us a novel way to study cancer," said Matsui, who also runs a lab at the university's Sidney Kimmel Comparative Cancer Center . [More] (Source: Scientific American ...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 23, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,What ' s Next Source Type: info

Turbocharging the Brain--Pills to Make You Smarter? (preview)Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The symbol H+ is the code sign used by some futurists to denote an enhanced version of humanity. The plus version of the human race would deploy a mix of advanced technologies, including stem cells, robotics, cognition-enhancing drugs, and the like, to overcome basic mental and physical limitations.The notion of enhancing mental functions by gulping down a pill that improves attention, memory and planning--the very foundations of cognition--is no longer just a fantasy shared by futurists. The 1990s, proclaimed the decade of the brain by President George H. W. Bush, has been followed by what might be labeled “the deca...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 21, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Health,Mind & Brain,Technology,What ' s Next,Science in Service Source Type: info

Medical Monitoring Networks Get PersonalEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
When computers, servers and digital storage devices began to find their way en masse into businesses and homes in the late 1970s and early 80s, industrious users figured out these systems could be linked together into local area networks (LANs) that enabled the rapid exchange of information from machine to machine. Medical technology makers are now hoping to scale this model down to the personal level by connecting wireless sensors placed on (or even under) a patient's skin to create "medical body area networks" (MBANs) that provide doctors with real-time info about their patients. [More] (Source: Scientific Ame...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 18, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Technology,Society & Policy,What ' s Next,Science in Service,Everyday Science Source Type: info

Gene therapy: An Interview with an Unfortunate PioneerEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Philadelphia--Ten years ago this month the promise of using normal genes to cure hereditary defects crashed and burned, as Jesse Gelsinger, an 18-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., succumbed to multiorgan failure during a gene therapy trial at the University of Pennsylvania. Today the boardroom of the Translational Research Lab at the university is filled with artifacts reminiscent of the trial. Books such as Building Public Trust and Biosafety in the Laboratory sit on the shelves, and “IL-6” and “TNF-α” are scribbled on the whiteboard--abbreviations representing some of the very immune factors that...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 16, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Technology,Science in Service Source Type: info

Sniffing out toxic chemicals--With colorsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Miners had canaries; physicists and medical technicians get radiation badges. But for those in other labs or factories with toxic chemicals, there has long been a need for practical sensors to warn workers when chemical concentrations get dangerous. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 14, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Health,Technology,What ' s Next,Science in Service,Everyday Science Source Type: info

Academic researchers receive on average $33k a year from the medical industryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Hardly isolated from commercial ties, researchers in the ivory towers--and labs--of U.S. universities receive an average of $33,417 of funding a year from medical device, pharmaceutical and other medical industry companies, according to a study published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 3, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health & Medicine,Space,Society Policy,Basic Science,Evolution,Energy Sustainability,Medical Technology Source Type: info

Building a Better Flu Vaccine--And Giving Chickens a RestEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As vaccine-makers gear up for the winter flu season, one biotech company is reporting success with an alternative method of developing a flu preventative that it says could work more effectively and be produced more quickly than traditional inoculations prepared in fertilized chicken eggs. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - September 2, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Technology,Society & Policy,What ' s Next,Science in Service,Everyday Science Source Type: info

Blood Not So Simple: Controversial Hemoglobin Substitutes on Life SupportEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Efforts to develop blood substitutes that could be used to treat soldiers or trauma victims in remote settings have held great promise as a way to infuse oxygen-carrying liquids into patients, thereby saving their lives when real or safe blood is in short supply. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 28, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Chemistry,Health,Technology,Society & Policy,What ' s Next,Science in Service Source Type: info

Should Doctors Disclose Conflicts of Interest to Trial Patients?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Medical research can have big rewards--both in gratifying discoveries and in potentially turning them into profitable treatments. To achieve the former, researchers work hard. Very hard. To obtain the latter, they can start companies or sign commercial funding agreements--well before testing is over. So, do patients undergoing clinical trials for new treatments have a right to know about these monetary interests? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 27, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Society & Policy Source Type: info

Could Battery Advances Mean a Better Robot?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Every robot has its limit.For the famous Roomba vacuum, it's two to three hours. For the several thousand robots deployed in Iraq, about the same. For the warehouse robots sorting our sneaker orders, eight hours. And the Energizer Bunny? Forget about it -- a few minutes, tops. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 26, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Technology,Energy Source Type: info

Deadly dangers of medical helicoptersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Although they have saved thousands of lives, the medical choppers that rescue and transport patients have also claimed the lives of hundreds of crew members in the past 29 years. The $2.5-billion-dollar private industry often pressures inadequately supplied pilots to fly under dangerous conditions, according to a Washington Post investigation published online today. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 21, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health & Medicine,Technology,Society Policy,Energy Sustainability,Medical Technology Source Type: info

New Injection-Needle Patch Lends Credence to the Promise: "This Won't Hurt a Bit"Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A nurse wielding a hypodermic needle is unlikely to conjure up calm thoughts, let alone inspire you to go solo and administer the injection yourself. But a new patch lined with short needles, each the width of just a few strands of hair, may soon grant squeamish patients a reprieve as well as a relatively simple opportunity to take matters into their own hands. The innovation could eliminate the pain and fear of getting shots, researchers say, and it could also make future vaccines and medical treatments safer, more effective and easier to self-administer. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 21, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Health,Technology Source Type: info

New Bone Cement Could Improve Spinal Treatments for Osteoporosis SufferersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
(Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 19, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Technology,What ' s Next,Science in Service,Everyday Science Source Type: info

Origins: The Start of EverythingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Where do rainbows come from, Daddy?What about flying cars--and LSD? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 17, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Archaeology & Paleontology,Biology,Chemistry,Environment,Health,History of Science,Mind Brain,Physics,Space,Technology,Society Policy,Energy,What ' s Next,Science in Service,Everyday Science Source Type: info

Gene Therapy Treatment for Blindness Proves Safe--and Effective--One Year InEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Gene therapy has been rhapsodized and vilified in its nearly two decades of human testing, helping some and making others sicker. But a new 12-month clinical trial has shown that, at least in one ocular disease, it appears safe and--perhaps even more impressive--effective. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 14, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Health,Mind & Brain,Society Policy Source Type: info

Seeing in Stereo: Illusions of DepthEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
All primates, including humans, have two eyes facing forward. With this binocular vision, the views through the two eyes are nearly identical. In contrast, many other animal groups, especially herbivores such as ungulates (hooved animals, including cows, sheep and deer) and lagomorphs (rabbits, for example), have eyes pointing sideways. This perspective provides largely independent views for each eye and an enormously enlarged field of view overall. Why did primates sacrifice panoramic vision? What benefit did they gain?We know binocular vision evolved several times independently in vertebrates. For example, among bir...
Source: Scientific American Topic - Medical Technology - August 14, 2009 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Biology,Mind & Brain,Physics,Everyday Science Source Type: info