Science & Health – Page 4 – The Daily Opinion

Cloning is Here (in Korea)!

You would have thought that cloning a woolly mammoth would mean big news in this country, however it apparently doesn’t as there’s been absolutely no coverage for it. Russia and South Korean scientists signed an agreement to work together to recreate a woolly mammoth recently.

This is especially interesting as the mammoth last walked the earth about 4,500 years ago. But global warming has finally provided us with something good as the bones of these mammoths were uncovered when the permafrost of Russia’s Siberian plains melted.

The famous clone scientist Hwang Yoo-Suk signed on behalf of South Korea with Vasily Vasiliev signing on behalf of Russia’s North-Eastern Federal University in the Yakutsk area of Siberia. This is monumental because the idea hasn’t sparked any protests from people who want to hold back science due to their outdated ethical beliefs. Or maybe it’s just countries like the UK and the US that have people like that?

Hwang Yoo-Suk is perhaps the most famous scientist specialising in cloning on the planet as he successfully cloned the first dog in 2005. He and his team also unveiled eight cloned coyotes in October of 2011. However, like any good scientist, he has had his fair share of setbacks as in 2005 his research that supposedly read that human cloning could now be done was found to be faked. Nevertheless, he continued on and he is now one of the most respected scientists in the world.

The woolly mammoth is expected to be created by using tissue from the remains of the mammal recovered from the Siberian plains. The tissues are supposedly going to be cloned by using the eggs from a modern Indian elephant.

The Korea Herald then reported that a nuclear transfer process would be used on the tissue and the eggs would then be implanted into a live elephant so the mammal can give birth to the mammoth. This is a mammoth undertaking (pun intended) and this will push our ability to clone animals even further. Maybe one day we will manage to clone a fully fledged human?

But is this wrong in any way? My answer is no. Some people may argue that it’s messing with nature and playing god, and most of these people hold on to silly beliefs from thousands of years ago, but more practical people might argue that it causes undue suffering to the animals involved. The fear of creating mutants and deformed organisms is also a genuine concern.

When it comes to the undue suffering of animals I would argue that this is nothing new and we regularly test our latest medicines on them all the time. Granted, it never makes the news, but it does happen. You have to think about it like this. You can’t cause zero pain and take zero risk and still take the rewards. There’s risk and there’s pain, but for that we get the rewards that can take us into the future. The problem with people is that they only care about themselves and where they are now. Too many people look to the present and not to the future, and the worst of them even look purely at the past. The only way we can get past this is by having a more open mind, and that’s probably why we are talking about South Korea and Russia instead of the USA and the UK. This is one woolly mammoth for now, but in the future who knows?

Clonetrooper — Soldiers of the future, or would it technically be the past?

Will We Soon be Booking Doctor Appointments and Accessing Medical Records Online?

The Coalition government has today unveiled plans for patients that allow them to book appointments with their GPs online, as well as check test results on the Internet too. Apps for smartphones are to be developed and patients will have access to all their medical records online as well. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said these plans will give patients more power.

Personally, I welcome this move because I tend to use technology every day. I use a smartphone and actually prefer to have most aspects of my life online, from banking to shopping. This move would really hone in the advances in technology and would allow the NHS to become a more accessible part of people’s lives.

I understand the dilemma a lot of patients face on a Monday morning when they have to book an appointment with their GP, often having to spend a considerable amount of time on the telephone trying to get in to see their doctor. In many cases, when individuals do finally get through they are offered an appointment much later in the week, or in some dire cases the following week. My elderly grandmother faces this dilemma each time she has to book an appointment, and to be honest it really isn’t fair. Much like it isn’t fair for people with children to spend so much time out of their day telephoning their local surgery when they really need to be doing much more important things in their lives. In that respect, you’d think that most people would welcome this plan, wouldn’t you?

There are critics of these new plans for the NHS. As ever, we need to look at the positives and negatives of the changes. We might be keen to see the NHS adapt to the 21^st century advances in technology, but many patients may not be ready to put their phone down and pick up a laptop. A lot of elderly patients will feel left behind, out of the loop and quite frankly angered by the new plans. In the technologically advanced generation we find ourselves in, are our older generations being left out or should they in fact embrace any future advances in technology?

The government needs to tread carefully when these plans are turned into reality so that users who don’t have Internet access or don’t use smartphones are included and can still easily access their local NHS branches.

It’s not only about being able to book appointments online. Patients will eventually have access to their medical records online, as well as test results being made available online too. This will raise questions about the issue of security for the proposed plans. Is allowing patients’ medical records to be accessed online a good thing, or will it be only a matter of time before hackers make their own plans to sabotage this information?

However, the government plan to enhance the system of booking appointments, they obviously need to take into account people’s views on security and sensitivity about their private information online.

But, to the vast majority of Internet users, who use online banking and enter their bank details online on a daily basis, is it any different accessing your medical records online and having test results sent through cyberspace?

A Lack of Dental Implants Can Cause More than a Broken Smile

It’s true. If you need dental implants and your dentist doesn’t offer them then you are in trouble. And this is not just because you are stuck with a broken smile that vaguely resembles the keys on a piano. Now you have to go through the arduous task of finding someone who does, but if there’s only one or two people in your area who can do it then you could end up paying out a lot of money.

But why don’t more dentists offer dental implants as part of their itinerary? Well the Dental Economics website sheds some light on this in an article by Anthony Sclar, a Miami-based oral technician.

Inferior supporting team.
More training.
Some dentists just don’t enjoy it.

Ok, if the dentist doesn’t enjoy it then there’s not a whole lot you can do about any of this. Most dentists tend to work in private practice so they are entitled to pick and choose which procedures they offer.

Broken teeth — This is probably why some dentists are not into this stuff.

In some cases, if an inferior team is present then there’s not a whole lot they can do about that either. If they have the ability to bring in a new team then that would be a good idea, but does the hassle really warrant the increased revenue? Some will say yes and some will say no.

Finally, let’s take a look at the dentists who just can’t be bothered. It’s their right to decide on what procedures they offer, but this might say a lot more about your dentist than you think. If they are too lazy to take a few training courses then maybe they’re too lazy to really care about your child’s toothache?

What will be the future of dental implants, though? Well the dental implant industry all around the world is on the up as more and more people are able to pay for this procedure. For example, the 8^th of May 2012 saw a press release from Healthcare Global talk about how ceramic dental implants are now available in Maryland, U.S.

But the future of the dental implant industry is already bright in the UK, because despite the fact that this country is dominated by the public healthcare industry, in the form of the NHS, the dental industry bucks the trend as it’s nearly completely privatised. So finding dental implants in Sheffield, London, Manchester, or Birmingham is not actually that difficult since many dentists prefer to keep away from the NHS.

“Like a patient etherized upon a table”: The horror of anaesthetic awareness

Whilst the statistical likelihood of finding yourself awake on the surgical operating table is less than 0.5%, the horrific idea of ‘anaesthetic awareness’ remains active in the popular consciousness. Although grouped under the title ‘general anaesthesia’, in fact anaesthesiologists administer a wide range of different drugs to place their patient into a sustained state of unconsciousness.

Despite the fact that televised medical dramas have made many of us familiar with the notion of being ‘put to sleep’ (we’ve all seen the injection of an induction agent such as sodium pentathol being given to the patient just before they’re wheeled into theatre), the process of anaesthesia is much more complex. After injecting this first drug, the anaesthesiologist also typically gives his patient an opiate (which works as a pain-eradicating analgesic), a benzodiazepine to reduce anxiety and a neuromuscular ‘blocking’ agent such as vecuronium. This sleeping state is then maintained by having the patient breathe oxygen laced with a vaporized liquid anaesthetic such as isoflurane.

Whilst medical advances have made anaesthesia the safest it has ever been, there are inevitably certain subsections of society who are more at risk of experiencing anaesthetic awareness. Although steps can be taken to offer alternative drugs to patients with medical conditions that would put their health in danger (like those with low blood pressure or women who require emergency caesarean operations) there will always be a margin of risk for anyone who undergoes surgery. Indeed, it is clear that any error in planning – no matter how small – could see the paralysing effects of a neuromuscular blocking agent become catastrophic for the patient. Even though the agent is used with very good reason (anaesthesia slows down the patient’s respiration rate and the paralysis induced by a neuromuscular blocker facilitates effortless control over their breathing), the fact that neuromuscular drugs make no impact on the patient’s consciousness leaves them vulnerable to an unimaginably horrific experience.

Certainly, in the event of any mishap (unanticipated patient tolerance, human or mechanical fault or if the other anaesthetic agents prove insufficient) then the patient is potentially left wide awake, unable to move and terrified. Whilst the clues are there for an observant anaesthesiologist (an increase in blood pressure and heart rate show that the anaesthesia is wearing off slightly), there is always a chance this could be missed.

Statistics vary on the specifics, but there is no doubt that anaesthetic awareness causes deep psychological effects for those who experience it. Although anaesthesia awareness remains relatively rare, the anxiety suffered by those who experience it should not be underestimated, with over 70% of victims experiencing lasting psychological symptoms for the rest of their lives. With such troubling and traumatic potential effects from anaesthesia, it’s no wonder that there are now medical negligence claims specialists helping people secure compensation for this horrible ordeal.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Magic Poo Machine

It sounds like a great title for a book does it not? Ok, maybe it’s just me then. Even though the title sounds too unreal to possibly be believable, it’s true. There’s a poo machine on our planet right now. And no, it’s not your grandmother or your bald-headed cousin fresh out of the womb. It’s actually in a museum in Tasmania.

Australia can be a strange place and this is just one of the reasons why. Dubbed as an ‘adult Disneyland’, the Museum of Old and New Art features a number of works, such as Egyptian mummies and pieces of art by young artists from all over the world.

However, none of these is the main attraction. And that is the legendary poo machine. Created by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, this machine is designed to replicate the human digestive system. It does so through a number of glass receptacles that hang in a row. The machine is then fed from one end and the device steadily digests its meal and then ejects it at 2pm daily.

The truth is that many visitors can’t handle the smell and some even throw up. I’ve no idea where they get its fuel from, but I’d like to think that it’s not from the staff. Surprisingly, the machine is actually hated by many visitors, and yet it also gets the most visits.

Now this certainly does challenge one’s interpretation of what art is. To me it seems more like a piece of engineering genius than anything else. If you look at the picture we have provided here then it looks more like an elegant machine than art. I would even argue that it could be used as a teaching tool to demonstrate the digestive system. Obviously, it wouldn’t be a live demonstration due to health and safety, however I think that a video link would be good.

This is not the only machine like this, though. This machine, which is actually named the Cloaca, is part of a series. Apparently, there are about five similar machines that have already been created by the artist. One of these poo machines will actually be exhibited at the Louvre in the very near future. Just don’t put it anywhere near the Mona Lisa or her facial expression will turn into a frown!

Why Some People Should Just Not Indulge in Masturbation

With May being National Masturbation Month, it’s only right to have a dedicated post. Masturbation is healthy. It’s a way to relieve sexual tension and it’s also how the body ejects some of its waste products. But there are some people who compromise this healthy action. There are some people who should just stop.

First of all, all of these stories will consist of men as a study published in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine discovered that teenage boys masturbate more than teenage girls. This is not designed to reveal anything particularly new, but they may be stories which you have never heard about before.

Broken Limb

Yes, somebody actually managed to break their third leg. It wasn’t through some exotic sexual manoeuvre – although I imagine that he will be telling his friends it was – it was through his own doing.

The guy who managed to break his penis, a Nigerian case report revealed, was actually twisting his penis towards himself with his right hand. It was sexually stimulating for himself, but the problem is that he heard a click and then felt lots of pain. But the good thing is that he could still have an erection after surgery, so all was not lost.

But this is actually a common way of masturbation and this very rarely has an impact on whether someone fractures their penis or not. Some people are more prone to fractures than others, but conventional techniques will rarely, if ever, have any detrimental effect.

Hitting it With a Foreign Object

The urethra is the place your urine comes out of. It rarely plays much of a part whilst sexually stimulating oneself through masturbation, but when you bring it into the equation it can have painful and humiliating outcomes.

One such incident occurred in Japan where a 40-year old man managed to stick a 55-inch tube into there for the purposes of masturbation. Eventually, he had to have it surgically removed due to the fact that it was causing bladder problems.

But this is the sort of thing that happens all around world; another individual stuck a copper wire up there, which inevitably led to it becoming entangled in his bladder. The point is that this is just something that should be avoided at all costs, no matter how sexually stimulating it may or may not be.

Suicide by Masturbation

Some people enjoy being strangled during sex. Don’t judge them, it might seem weird to you, but to them it’s completely normal.

On the other hand, some people take this too far, and one man certainly did as he managed to kill himself through this practice. Autoerotic asphyxiation is where the individual chokes themselves during sex or masturbation to deprive the brain of oxygen. People say that this dramatically increases the amount of pleasure felt during the ejaculation period. And it may well do. But it also puts your life at risk.

David Carradine is an actor who is believed to have died in this way as when the police found him he had a rope around both his neck and genitals. Now either he really annoyed somebody or he was hitting it pretty good that day. Although for an actor you would have thought that he would have no problem having sex with a real human being.