illnesses

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

In Ultraclean Labs ‘Humanized Pigs’ Are Being Created To Study Human Illnesses And Treatments

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires all new medicines to be tested in animals before use in people. Pigs make better medical research subjects than mice, because they are closer to humans in size, physiology and genetic makeup. Pigs with human immune systems. Ahlea Forster, CC BY-SA In recent years, our team at Iowa State University has found a way to make pigs an even closer stand-in for humans. We have successfully transferred components of the human immune system into pigs that lack a functional immune system. This breakthrough has the potential to accelerate medical research in many areas, including virus and vaccine research, as well as cancer and stem cell therapeutics. Existing biomedical models Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, or SCID, is a genetic condition that cause...

Children With Lethal Cancers And Incurable Illnesses Have Benefited From The Affordable Care Act, They’ll Suffer If Overturned By The Supreme Court

The Affordable Care Act once again is headed for a date with the Supreme Court, with health insurance coverage for tens of millions of Americans possibly on the line in a case that will be heard Nov. 10, 2020. But a much smaller group of people with exceptional needs could also lose coverage – children with cancer and other serious diseases. This benefit is an example of another benefit of the ACA, and one that many people don’t know about, that could go away if the court strikes down the ACA. Under the law, children with cancer and other serious illnesses who are enrolled in hospice care – or end-of-life care – can still receive coverage for medical treatment. Through this provision, the ACA gives these very ill children and their parents a glimmer of hope. The law mandates an option ca...

Why bipolar disorder is becoming more ‘desirable’ than other mental illnesses

Bipolar disorder is a severe mental health condition. But in recent years it has become the one mental health diagnosis that patients are willing to accept. Research shows that to some people it has actually become “desirable” when compared with other mood disorders. This could be because of bipolar disorder’s association with creativity. For example, Charles Dickens and Beethoven are thought to have had bipolar disorder. The de-stigmatising effect of considerable media coverage could also be factor. As could its association with successful celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Kanye West and Carrie Fisher. Figures like Fry – who made the revealing BBC television documentary, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive – have used their positions to bring home the disturbing realities of the cond...