BUKIT LANJAN: What’s up Doc? You need to acquire new knowledge and skills to remain relevant!

Stem cells have led to some amazing medical benefits.
New Technology Allows Scientists to Grow Teeth from Stem Cells
by valleydale
Now, stem cells have allowed scientists to grow new teeth. At this year’s Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition, researchers announced a new technology that allows stem cells to grow into new teeth. The technology is expected to be an effective way to replace missing teeth without the high costs of implants and other surgeries. Today, dentists struggle with implants for a number of different reasons. First, the cost of implants is prohibitively expensive for some patients, and second, the implants must be designed to last for long periods of time. Unfortunately for those who need new teeth today, the technology isn’t particularly close to being completed. The researchers claim that they should be able to implement stem cells in mice within five years. If those tests are successful, then human tests could be a few years further down the road … for more, go to http://valleydaledental.com/new-technology-allows-scientists-grow-teeth-stem-cells/ 

BUKIT LANJAN: What’s up Doc? You need to acquire new knowledge and skills to remain relevant!

It is globally acknowledged the human lifespan has been improving due to medicine and new technology.

And, the average lifespan is now at 79 years.

“New medicine and technology are certainly improving the average life expectancy,” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff said.

“For example, dental and health care. We may not even have to worry about that.

“Dentists may lose their jobs or business if they do not upgrade their knowledge and skills. Researchers are already using new technology to grow teeth using stem cells!” he added.

Syed Razak said: “Isn’t that amazing? With stem cell research and technology, all doctors and specialists in the world may need to acquire new knowledge and skills to remain relevant in their profession.”

Life expectancy at birth reflects the overall mortality level of a population. It summarizes the mortality pattern that prevails across all age groups in a given year – children and adolescents, adults and the elderly. Global life expectancy at birth in 2015 was 71.4 years (73.8 years for females and 69.1 years for males), ranging from 60.0 years in the WHO African Region to 76.8 years in the WHO European Region, giving a ratio of 1.3 between the two regions. Women live longer than men all around the world. The gap in life expectancy between the sexes was 4.5 years in 1990 and had remained almost the same by 2015 (4.6). Global average life expectancy increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s. Those gains reverse declines during the 1990s, when life expectancy fell in Africa because of the AIDS epidemic, and in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The 2000-2015 increase was greatest in the WHO African Region, where life expectancy increased by 9.4 years to 60 years, driven mainly by improvements in child survival, and expanded access to antiretrovirals for treatment of HIV … for more, go to http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends_text/en/

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14), said the advancement of health care and digitalisation of medicine “is becoming more and more innovative and super efficient”.

“This may result, in the not too distant future, in further improving the life expectancy of humans,” he added.

Read this dpa tech report that was posted by The Star Online for details:

"Can data make us healthier? How digitisation is advancing medicine

TECH NEWS
Thursday, 1 Feb 2018
10:30 AM MYT
 

Apps like Medica have already been demonstrated as a new, digital means of carrying out an ultrasound. — dpa

Tablets that dissolve in your stomach and then send out a signal about correct intake, contact lenses that constantly measure eye pressure to prevent glaucoma: many things that currently sound like science fiction may in fact be everyday forms of medical treatment in the future.

The healing arts, so far not affected by digitalisation to any significant degree, are about to change. That entails treatment options for patients, simplification for doctors, business opportunities for companies, and also risks for data protection.

Around the world, the digital health market is expected to more than double by 2020, to reach a total volume of US$200bil (RM779.54bil), according to the Roland Berger consultancy firm.

Investors have put their trust in growth companies that are developing health apps for smartphones. Such apps could record blood pressure and body temperature, deliver preliminary diagnoses and recommend that the owner of the device go to the doctor, say.

Further, electronic patient files could improve treatment and cut costs by 80 billion dollars for the health system as a whole, says Thilo Kaltenbach, a partner at consultancy Roland Berger.

In many countries, hospitals and research institutions are already producing huge amounts of digitalized data, such as X-rays, lab results and doctors' letters. However, that information is only rarely combined for thorough analysis.

Patients, in turn, often struggle to get the correct diagnosis from doctors, and they could benefit from the availability of data on similar medical cases or longer-term experiences.

In Germany, a project is underway to bridge the gap between patient treatment and research. The idea is to help researchers gain a better understanding of illnesses, something that is urgently needed to find new prevention, diagnosis and treatment options.

If this project is implemented across the board, hospitals and doctors will be able to access patient data on a common interface and to draw on all the relevant information available in the entire health system.

Britain has had a good experience with the integration of data on people who are actually affected by medical issues, says Susanne Mauersberg, a health expert at the federation of German consumer advocacy organizations.

"With big data, it is essential to include more patient experiences in research," she explains.

Doctors' representatives also welcome the use of anonymised treatment data.

And yet, for such progress to be generally acceptable, high scientific and ethical standards need to be adhered to and the patient needs to retain control over use of their details. Data protection needs to be enforced.

In this regard, Mauersberg is less impressed with the example of the United States, where specific patient profiles are used.

Private firms are also interested in the financial and medical value of patient data. The software giant SAP, for example, is working with Berlin's Charite university hospital on a project that seeks to improve treatment for chronically ill patients through the use of patient data.

"Hospitals have tons of data that they cannot use at all on their own," SAP expert Kai Sachs told a conference in Frankfurt.

Analysing this data and making that analysis available to doctors could improve patient treatment. The data may prompt a warning about heart damage, for example, when the patient's resting heart rate is regularly too high or when data fluctuations indicate there may be a damaging build-up of fluid.

SAP warns the project is only in the prototype stage for now, and that it respects all relevant data protection standards.

At any rate, digital projects are not cheap, and money is not something hospitals can generally spare. Technology is only one hurdle for digitally enabled health improvements, and funding may prove harder to obtain. — dpa"

N.37 LET BUKIT LANJAN SOAR WITH SYED ABDUL RAZAK ALSAGOFF