Cardiac Patch for a Broken Heart 147
Roland Piquepaille writes "People who suffered from heart attacks or other heart failures often need transplants because their hearts are essentially non-functioning. But imagine what would happen if it was possible to engineer living heart tissues to fix these broken hearts? This is what bioengineers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City are starting to make. According to HealthDay News, their patches for broken hearts are made of heart tissue grown in the lab. Right now, animal trials are just starting and it will take at least a decade before human trials begin. But when these living bandages are ready for cardiac care, they'll have the potential to save millions of lives in the world every year."
Re:Public Health costs (Score:3, Insightful)
That's what we're doing (Score:3, Insightful)
Natural selection, we are enabling our species to maximize its population and survive regardless of obstacles. That way we can benefit from intellectual contributions of everyone (even those who may have a physical problem). Plus, we also want any good genes the person may have (for example, maybe the person has a bad heart, but maybe they also have an awesome improved kidney gene).
In a couple generations we may be able to do gene therapy and eliminate any detrimental genes.
So yes, our curing people of medical conditions is part of nature
Re:Why not stop the root causes? (Score:2, Insightful)
If people would walk, bike, run, or skate to their destinations more often we would have less of an obesity problem also. Moderation in everything, including moderation.
Cities DO have areas which are not polluted by car exhaust and other harmful things. Have you ever been to Manhattan? There's a small place called Central Park which can be accessed pretty quickly from just about the entire borough. Even in the areas further from Central Park are smaller parks and recreational areas within the apartment complexes. This is not the only city I have been to with recreational areas. In South Korea there is Seoul, Daegu, Pusan, Chinhae and countless other cities with parks. I have seen all of those as well, and they are nice. I have no doubt that most major cities have areas reserved for just that reason.
I don't get the feeling that I'm being gagged by diesel exhaust unless a bus just drives in front of me while accelerating, no matter which place I'm in. If it were such a big concern, more people would be getting carbon monoxide poisoning.