Medicine
Your Genes Belong to Us: Gene Patenting and its Discontents
Genae Girard, a 39-year-old woman living in the US, had to pay a staggering $3200 for a single genetic test for the BRCA gene associated with breast and ovarian cancer, only to find that she was unable to request a second opinion upon receiving the positive test result. After consulting with doctors, Ms Girard was [...]
Staphylococcus Aureus: Horizontal Gene Transfer Scaring Antibiotics
Effective policy implementation is a challenging task, especially when taking into account a particular country’s large size and vast bureaucracy, such as those of the United States. One of the many fields that require constant attention is healthcare policy. Factors like age, social backgrounds, and community settings interact together to create a complex dynamic wave [...]
The Doctor-Patient Relationship in the Internet Age
Introduction The advent of the “information technology age” has led to a rapid change in the doctor‐patient dynamic. Before the Internet became host to a plethora of medical information and advice, the doctor‐patient relationship was confined primarily to office consultations. In that setting, doctors advised patients on the best course of medical action, and the [...]
Outsourcing Medicine: The Expanding Field of Medical Tourism
Medical Tourism In a country where 62% of all bankruptcies are the result of skyrocketing healthcare bills, it’s clear that the U.S. has a healthcare expenses problem [1]. Combine that with some of the worst mortality rates in the developed world, and you start to understand how Americans are in a lose-lose situation when it [...]
Obesity Epidemic: Will Money Talk?
In October 2010, obesity passed smoking as the most preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States [1]. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 68% of adult Americans were overweight or obese in 2008 [2]. A recent projection by Wang et al. estimates that of the 86% of American adults who [...]
Methylation: The Cause of Brain Tumor?
When one thinks of the word “cancer” breast cancer, lung cancer, and skin cancer are among the various types that first come to mind. One type of cancer that is often neglected is Brain Tumor. According to the National Tumor Society, more than 500 people per day are diagnosed with primary or metastatic brain tumor [...]
Dying Without Sleep: Insomnia and its Implications
Ideally, humans sleep for at least eight hours every day, meaning that we spend about a third of our lives “unconscious.” Scientists have yet to agree on why this unconsciousness is vital, but we know that without sleep, all mammals and birds would die [1]. Because sleep has only become the subject of research in [...]
The Growing Problem of Cleanliness
Within the last few centuries, humanity has made great improvements in cleanliness and hygiene. Modern cities, with added infrastructure and sewage systems, are completely unrecognizable from a century ago. The last few decades have also seen an unmatched rise in medical innovation. Because of these improvements in sanitation and medicine, mortality from infectious diseases in [...]
Stem Cell Research: Effects of the Patenting Landscape
Ever since stem cell research began in the late 1900’s, the field has been fraught with a variety of issues including bioethics, funding, and general skepticism. The debate on stem cells has been unrelenting, and policies on the field are usually contentious topics during political campaigns. Apart from bone marrow transplantation [1], all other potential [...]
Epigenetics: What It Means and Why You Should Care
Fundamental shifts in the way we understand our world and ourselves are rare, and when they do happen it is often with uproar. When discovery of the DNA double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 showed us that all of nature was bound together by a common molecular mechanism, it was assumed [...]
Hidden Obstacles in Cancer Research
While undeniable strides in medical research over the past few decades have proven invaluable in the search for a cancer cure, there is no shortage of obstacles that remain to be addressed. Perhaps the most evident are complications in the biology of the disease itself: among these, problems pertaining to cell identification and treatment specificity. [...]
Is All Fair in Love and Sport?
In the world of competitive sports, one hundredth of a second – the time it takes for lightning to strike – can define an athlete. One hundredth of a second can mean the difference between winning or losing, fame or anonymity, millions of dollars in endorsements or none. Because we handsomely reward strength, speed, and [...]
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