2000+and+Beyond+-+21st+Century+-+The+Future

//**__ Facts __**// In 2000, scientists with the International Human Genome Project released a rough draft of the human genome to the public on the Internet. For the first time, the world could download and read the complete set of human genetic information and begin to discover what our roughly 20,000 genes do. Patients may not even think of it as they sign in with a pad and pen, then sit in the waiting room while the nurse pulls their file. But doctors say the internet and information technology has actually changed the way they practice medicine for the better. Even doctors need to look things up from time to time. "Now I can be on rounds and in five minutes have more information on the topic than I need," Messner said. "On my iPod Touch, I can look up a medication, check the formulary to see if it's covered, check for interactions with a patient's other meds and double check details of the pharmacology of the med, plus quickly review the problem I am treating. And I don't even have to go online." There is no national smoking ban in the United States. However, 27 states and the District of Columbia have enacted restrictions, including seven states that banned smoking in bars and casinos in recent years. In a report issued last October, the Institute of Medicine said those public smoking bans have cut exposure to secondhand smoke, which, in turn, has contributed to a reduction in heart attacks and death from heart disease. Those looking for dramatic improvements in public health need look no further than the world of heart disease. A mere 25 years ago, when a patient came to a hospital with a heart attack, the best that could be done was to put the patient in a darkened room, give him or her morphine for pain and lidocaine, which doctors believed would prevent dangerous irregular heartbeats, and hope for the best. Heart attacks, called infarcts, were "big" and the damage to the heart muscle often was catastrophic, leading eventually to heart failure and death. By contrast, treating a heart attack now is all about speed: Speed the patient to the hospital so that a clot that blocks the life-saving flow of blood can be "busted" with drugs like the genetically engineered tissue plasminogen activator or tPA. "In 1998/2000, the American Heart Association set a decade-long goal to reduce coronary heart disease and stroke and risk by 25 percent by 2010. We actually realized this goal by 2008 and have seen continued improvements in the reduction of deaths due to coronary heart disease and stroke," said Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. "As of today we have seen a near 40 percent reduction in death due to coronary artery disease since 1998/2000." Research shows about half of the gains in heart disease came from new treatment interventions, Yancy said, and the other half, or up to 60 percent, are because of prevention. Probably no area of research has fired the public imagination and ignited the fires of public controversy as much as stem cell research. In reality, this area has generated more political action than reproducible clinical advances -- the much-publicized ban on federal funding of research was rescinded this year. But the clinical advances -- even when they have come from pilot studies --have been tantalizing. Stem cell researcher Dr. George Daley of Children's Hospital Boston, called the progress in both adult and embryonic stem cell research this decade "breathtaking." "Now we can make embryonic-like stem cells directly from skin cells, which makes it possible to model a multitude of human diseases in the Petri dish. New drugs based on stem cells are being developed, and the first human clinical trial based on products of human embryonic stem cells is expected in 2010," said Daley. "The science of the past decade has been spectacular, and we're hopeful that in the next decade, we'll start to realize the promise of new stem cell therapies." Herceptin, a drug that targets a type of breast cancer that is characterized by a specific cancer gene -- an oncogene -- called HER-2. Women whose cancers express HER-2, which is estimated to be about 25 percent of women with breast cancer, will respond to Herceptin even when other powerful chemotherapy drugs have failed. The other therapy, using a cancer pill called Gleevec, targets genetic mutation called bcr-abl (b.c.r. able) that causes cancer cells to grow and multiply in patients with a variety of cancers, including chronic myeloid leukemia, or with a stomach Cancer called GIST. Since the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy, or HAART, as this combination therapy approach is called, HIV/AIDS has evolved into a serious, but chronic disease with survival stretching into decades. Moreover, this "cocktail" approach to treatment, where drugs are combined in different ways or different sequences has become a model for treating other diseases ranging from lung cancer to heart disease.” In 1996, a 20-year-old person in the U.S. with AIDS expected to live about 3 to 5 years and now expects to live to be 69 years. That is amazing," said Dr. John Bartlett, past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "Think of it: In 1996, everyone in our HIV clinic was prepared to die. Now, they all live. And most of them look great. They just need to take the meds." Ten years ago someone would expect to see a six inch scar after a doctor removed an organ, but new techniques in minimally invasive surgery have virtually eliminated scars from some procedures.  In the late 2000s, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic started using a technique that removed the kidney-through the naval, leaving patients examining their belly buttons in search of a scar after donating their kidney.
 * 2000 and Beyond - 21st Century - The Future **
 * ** Human Geonome Project **
 * ** Doctors and Patients Harness Information Technology **
 * ** Anti-Smoking Laws and Campaigns Reduce Public Smoking **
 * ** Heart Disease Deaths Drop by 40 Percent **
 * ** Stem Cell Research: Laboratory Breakthroughs and Some Clinical Advances **
 * ** Targeted Therapies for Cancer Expand With New Drugs **
 * ** Combination Drug Therapy Extends HIV Survival **
 * ** Minimally Invasive Techniques Revolutionize Surgery **
 * ** Study Finds Heart, Cancer Risk With Hormone Replacement Therapy **

Until July 2002, most doctors treating middle-aged women believed that giving their patients hormones -- either estrogen alone or estrogen combined with progestin -- would protect their hearts from the ravages of age that seemed to attack women after menopause. Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, also was thought to be good for the bones, the brain, the skin, the figure and the libido, and was considered the best treatment to control the annoying and sometimes disabling symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, depression and sleep disturbances. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, which was sponsoring a placebo controlled trial of hormone replacement therapy in more than 161,000 healthy women, announced that it was shutting down the study because HRT increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer. But the news from the Women's Health Initiative, as the study was known, wasn't all bad. HRT did reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and fractures and was proven to be an effective treatment for hot flashes and some other menopause symptoms.
 * ** Scientists Peer Into Mind With Functional MRI **

The medical mind-readers are not trying to identify a card randomly selected from a deck. They are using sophisticated imaging techniques to map the way the mind works. The process, often called fMRI, traces the working of neurons -- brain cells – by tracking changes in the oxygen levels and blood flow in the brain. The more brain activity in one area, the more oxygen will be used resulting in more blood flow to that area. The patient lies awake inside an MRI scanner and he or she is asked to perform a simple task, like identifying a color or solving a math problem. As the patient answers the question, the fMRI tracks the areas of the brain that are activated. As the patient answers the question, the fMRI tracks the areas of the brain that are activated by tracing the speed at which the cells metabolize the sugar, or glucose. Using this technique, researchers are learning valuable information about disease such as depression, brain cancer, autism, memory disorders and even conditions such as the skin disorder psoriasis.
 * //__ Photographs __//**

Laser light is a new alternative to killing a virus, which is less damaging to human tissue than other methods.

Virtual reality exposure therapy uses a virtual reality unit to simulate situations that cause anxiety in phobia patients. Video games are also being used for health

There are two main types of artificial blood: hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). HBOCs may contain old human blood or cow blood, while PFCs are synthetic.

The surgery to implant an AbioCor artificial heart is extremely delicate. Not only are the surgeons cutting off and extracting the natural heart's right and left ventricles, but they are also placing a foreign object into the patient's chest.

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 * //__ The Impact of Medicine __//**
 * // Medicine impacted this decade of life by..... //
 * // Improved living conditions and standards //
 * // Found Medical advancements //
 * // Therapeutics improved //
 * // Cancer Pills //
 * //__ Role of Science played in Society __//**
 * Cures for diseases in public
 * Technology Advancements
 * Help for people all over the world
 * Advancements of the people
 * //__ Major Medical Advancements __//**
 * Mechanical Heart
 * Robotic Open Heart Surgery
 * Cure For Cancer
 * Genetic Analysis
 * Artificial Wombs
 * Faster MRI
 * 3D Ultra Sounds
 * Stem Cell Research
 * //__ Links __//**

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