Top 10 Medical Breakthrough

[question everything]

TIME had several lists of top 10 and, I admit, some of these were news to me and I consider myself informed about these issues. I suppose all the news about politics and the economy drowned other news:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863993,00.html

1. First Neurons Created from ALS Patients
Reprogramming a patient's ordinary skin cells to behave like stem cells, then coaxing them into the desired tissue-specific cells. Using the motor neurons created from ALS patients, scientists can now study the progress of the disease as the affected cells develop, degenerate and die in a dish.

2. Inflammation vs. Cholesterol
Recent research showed that when people with normal cholesterol and high levels of CRP — a protein marker for inflammation in the blood — took statins, their CRP levels plummeted and their heart attack risk fell 54%.

3. Scarless Surgery
A team at the University of California at San Diego performed the first such appendectomy in the U.S. in March, using camera-fitted scopes to guide the removal of a woman's appendix through her vagina.

4. Genomes for the Masses
Now you, too, can map your entire genome and reveal some of its many secrets — for just $399 and a little spit.

5. New Genes for Alzheimer's
Discovery of four new genes that contribute to the most common form of the disease. The genes emerged from a study of over 1,300 families, and although the genes' exact role in Alzheimer's isn't known yet, researchers think they may contribute to the death of nerve cells. Even more exciting is that one of the genes produces a protein that nerve cells use to communicate, another function that declines when Alzheimer's sets in.

6. A Five-in-One Vaccine
Pentacel, the first vaccine to immunize against five diseases at once — diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and haemophilus influenzae type B. The vaccine was studied in more 5,000 infants, who showed only minor side effects, including fever, redness and swelling at the injection site. Pentacel still has to be administered in four separate doses, three times between the ages of 2 and 6 months, then again between 15 and 18 months — but it cuts down by 30% on the 23 injections toddlers under 18 months normally receive.

7. Gene Screens for Breast Cancer
SPOT-Light mines patients' genes to determine who will respond best to the cancer drug Herceptin, which is effective against tumors that release an abundance of the HER2 protein. The SPOT-Light test can measure how many HER2 genes are present in a sample of breast tumor; the more genes there are, the more likely the tumor will respond to treatment with Herceptin. Breast cancer patients are also increasingly relying o n another gene test, OncotypeDx, which can determine the risk of breast cancer recurrence and which chemotherapy agents will work best against a particular tumor.

8. Blood Test for Down Syndrome
Now, a new genetic test may be able to pick up the disease with a simple blood sample from the mom-to-be. Because small amounts of fetal DNA enter the mother's bloodstream, the test is designed to detect abnormally elevated levels of chromosome 21 (an extra copy of it causes Down) in the mother's blood, which would indicate a baby with the disease. The test is still in the development stages, but could herald a new way to identify certain genetic conditions.

9. Seasick Patch for Cancer Patients
In September, the FDA approved Sancuso, a patch that releases a continuous dose of the drug granisetron, which blocks serotonin receptors and reduces queasiness. The prescription drug is already available to cancer patients in solution, tablet or injection form, but the patch makes delivery easier and more convenient. Once on, the Sancuso patch quells nausea and vomiting for about five days.


10. Stem-Cell Trachea Transplant
In a transplant first, doctors in Spain gave Claudia Lorena Castillo Sanchez, 30, a new windpipe, constructed from a donor trachea lined with Sanchez's own stem cells. Because the donor trachea was stripped of cells that could cause rejection, Sanchez, who suffered from tuberculosis and lost function of one branch of her trachea, avoided having to take the powerful immunosuppressant drugs that transplant patients normally require.

[semillama]

1. Those are all pretty amazing, thanks!

Number 10 is particularly interesting - I didn't know that you could actually strip cells from an organ and have be accepted in this way. I always thought that it was all of the cells that made up an organ that caused rejection.

[question everything]

2. This was the only story that was familiar

perhaps because it happened just recently, after the elections.

I think that what was left was just some connective tissues that provided the shape, but without the cell walls that have the antigens.

[andersonwillace]

3. nice post

nice post


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[midnight]

4. Wow to no. 3!