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Technology and healthcare: The future of medicine

From using the alarm on your phone to wake up in the morning to reserving seats at a fancy restaurant for dinner, technology plays an important role in everyday lives. 

This also includes health care. This marriage between technology and healthcare is responsible for improving and saving countless lives all around the world.

By analyzing the revolutions in healthcare, we are able to see a trend towards personalized healthcare. We want to understand our own bodies.

This is the basis of personalized medicine as a whole. We want to understand how our bodies are working, what are the problems it faces, its causes, and available methods of treatments.

When it comes to healthcare, the dependence on medical technology cannot be stressed enough, and the role played by innovation is a crucial one. Areas like biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, information technology, the development of medical devices and equipment, and more have all made significant contributions to improving the health of people all around the world.

From “small” innovations like adhesive bandages and ankle braces, to larger, more complex technologies like MRI machines, artificial organs, and robotic prosthetic limbs, technology has undoubtedly made an incredible impact on medicine. As a result, healthcare practitioners can continue to find ways to improve their practice – from better diagnosis, surgical procedures, and improved patient care.

Digital Medicine

Remember back in the day when you wanted to catch a cab you would have to run out and wait for a cab to come by and wave. Now you can skip all of that and do it with just a flick of your finger in your phone and it is done. Imagine you being able to do that with when it comes to your Medicare. Now stop imagining and do it.

With on hand access to any type of information they need – from drug information, research and studies, patient history or records, more and more physicians, hospitals and practices using medical technology like mobile devices on the job. Applications that aid in identifying potential health threats and examining digital information like x-rays and CT scans also contribute to the benefits that information technology brings to medicine.

WearableMedicare

The future of medicine and healthcare is in the empowerment of patients as well as individuals taking care of their own health through technologies, one cannot leave out the importance of devices like health trackers, wearables, and sensors. They allow one to get to know more about themselves and retake control of their lives.

Whether or not, you want to manage your weight, your stress level, your cognitive capabilities better or you would like to reach an overall fit and energetic state, one can suggest a variety of wearables starting from Fitbit Surge for fitness tracking, to the Pebble Time and Sleep As Android for sleep tracking or the Muse headband for enhanced meditation.

To put this into perspective, let us consider the life of Paul. After retiring Paul and his wife retired to rural Sothern Spain. On most afternoons they usually go for a walk on the countryside. Although lively and energetic on the outside, Paul has a history of cardiovascular disease which can threaten to flare up at unexpected moments.

Thanks to the advancements in digital Medicare his physicians are now able to provide personalized advice and preventive care whenever he needs it. Using analytic technology that uses clinical and operational data, Paul’s doctor is able to get real-time insightful information form the mountainhistorical data from Paul’s previous checkups, like lab results, vital readings and more.

Thanks to machine learning algorithms, which use this data, one is able to know when Paul is at risk from a major clinical deterioration. This, in turn, helps doctors to provide advice on resource planning and ensure the right staff is available at the right time.

After his relaxing walk, Paul visits the community center for his regular checkup. Although the nearest town is miles away, thanks to the virtual care room at the center, he is able to have access to the latest technology and medical equipment to receive the best medical care and advice without even having to go to the hospital.

Paul can talk to his doctor via Skype while also taking the reading of his blood pressure and other tests. And on his way back he gets an email from his doctor confirming his prescription has already been ordered online and will be received soon by post.

The next morning Paul feels a bit under the weather. So he uses a health care chat box online to find out what could be wrong. Through simple questions and answers, the chat gives some recommendations on what could be the problem and what could be done about it.


And if his condition doesn’t improve in two hours a visitor doctor can drop in to conduct a further test and review his past medical history and if needed recommend a visit to the hospital just to be safe. While all of this data is saved to the cloud and can be used by physicians to collaborate and consult one another to come up with a solution to provide better care.

 

BioData

The thing about biological data is that it’s deep, dense and diverse. In the past, unstructured data was inaccessible to computing systems without human collation and structured data was incomplete.

Computing has evolved to parse this heterogeneous data, with programs that combine machine learning, natural language processing, and advanced text analytics.

With the advent of EMR, medicine began to gather unstructured data sets of real-time, comprehensive information
This has led to radical innovation by allowing the generation of hypothesis from loosely associated processes.

An example of this is the 1980’s work by Swanson where Raynaud’s disease was loosely associated with fish oil, and this loose association was used to successfully reverse the symptoms through a clinical trial.

Research

Medical scientists and physicians are constantly conducting research and testing new procedures to help prevent, diagnose, and cure diseases as well as developing new drugs and medicines that can lessen symptoms or treat ailments.

Through the use of technology in medical research, scientists have been able to examine diseases on a cellular level and produce antibodies against them. These vaccines against life-threatening diseases like malaria, polio, MMR, and more prevent the spread of disease and save thousands of lives all around the globe. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that vaccines save about 3 million lives per year, and prevent millions of others from contracting deadly viruses and diseases.

Genome sequencing

The initial investment for the research into genome sequencing is quite hight. The Human Genome Project cost approximately $2.7 billion for the US government. That being said, in January 2017, DNA sequencing giant Illumina unveiled a new machine that the company says that one day would be able to order up your whole genome for less than $100. This, in turn, would mean that you might have a cheaper genetic test than a general blood test (for which prices vary between approximately $10-150).

And this has a lot of potential. You can get to know valuable information about your drug sensitivity, multifactorial or monogenic medical conditions and even your family history. There are already various fields of study and business considering the advantages of genome sequencing, such as nutrigenomics, the cross-field of nutrition, dietetics, and genomics.

Some companies like Habit, a California-based start-up are offering personalized diets based on genetic codes. And the Nova Scotia-based performance company, Athletigen Technology Inc. that aims to use collected DNA information of sportsmen to improve their performance, health, and safety.

Drug Development

The process of developing new drugs is a long and expensive one. However, thanks to improvements in healthcare technologies, there are ways to solve this problem ranging from artificial intelligence to better organizational procedures, revolutionary being the concept of in silico trials. Individualized computer simulations are used in the development or regulatory evaluation of a medicinal product, device or intervention.

Robotics 

Robotics is one of the most exciting and fastest growing fields of healthcare. Developments range from robot companions through surgical robots like pharmabotics, disinfectant robots or exoskeletons. The potential these devices have include paralyzed people being able to walk, rehabilitation of stroke or spinal cord injury patients.

Artificial intelligence

The evolution of machine learning raises the threshold of intelligent analysis beyond that of the human brain and can teach us more about what it means to be human.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to redesign healthcare completely. AI algorithms are able to go through medical records, design treatment plans or creates drugs way faster than what can be done today.

Last year, the start-upAtomwise, launched a virtual search for safe, existing medicines that could be redesigned to treat the Ebola virus. They found two drugs predicted by the company’s AI technology powered by supercomputers, which may significantly reduce Ebola infectivity.

Nanotechnology

With the dawn of the nanomedicine age, nanoparticles and nanodevices are predicted to operate as precise drug delivery systems, cancer treatment tools or tiny surgeons.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute have been experimenting with exceptionally micro-sized robots that literally swim through your bodily fluids and could be used to deliver drugs or other medical relief in a highly targeted manner.

These scallop-like microbots are designed to swim through non-Newtonian fluids, like your bloodstream, around your lymphatic system, or across the slippery goo on the surface of your eyeballs and provide necessary evaluation and drug delivery almost anywhere in the body.

3-D Printing

There are already at least 12 ways in which 3D-printing can be utilized in healthcare ranging from printing tissues with blood vessels to bones and synthetic skin. 3D-printing in every corner of the world already. “Not Impossible Labs” based in Venice, California took 3D printers to Sudan where war had left many people with amputated limbs. Mick Ebeling, The organization’s founder, taught the locals how to operate the machinery, create patient-specific limbs, and fit these new, very inexpensive prosthetics helping make their lives a little bit better.

With the help of 3-D printing, there is potential to revolutionize the medical supply chain by changing the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, inorganic devices, prostheses or implanted inorganic materials.
3-D printing has also had potential in tissue engineering by helping regenerate damaged or diseased human tissues. “Bioinks” can be made from extracellular matrix components like collagen and hydroxyapatite, live cells or cell-supporting hydrogels.

Conclusion

Anyone of these advancements would represent a significant improvement in the medical industry. We now have the proximate ability to make smart life-changing decisions by collect wide-ranging and accurate biological information, structuring the resulting data, analyzing it with AI systems capable of generating novel hypotheses, generating a 3-D print of biological tissues and controlling these products remotely.
It is up to us to make the future brighter by making it smarter.





Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2017/12/14/how-five-technologies-are-shaping-the-future-of-health-care/3/#310ebbde441f
https://content.iospress.com/journals/technology-and-health-care/Preprint/Preprint
http://medicalfuturist.com/ten-ways-technology-changing-healthcare/
http://www.healthcarebusinesstech.com/medical-technology/

Hair and Health

Your hair can be considered a good indicator of your health. Losing about 100 hairs a day is normal as it will quickly grow back to replace the fallen ones.

Excessive hair loss can happen in many ways depending on its cause. It can show up on just your scalp or your whole body, be temporary or permanent, and happen suddenly or gradually.

The most common signs of hair loss include:

-    Gradual thinning on the top of the head- most common form of hair loss, appearing in both men and women. With the symptoms in men starting with the receding of the hairline from the forehead with a letter M shape and in women with the broadening of the part in their hair.

-    Bald spots- usually affecting the scalp it appears in smooth, circular bald spots that may sometimes also appear on the beard or on the eyebrows.

-    Sudden loosening of hair- can be caused by either a physical or emotional shock. It results in the hair loosening and handfuls of hair coming out when combing or washing your hair or even at a gentle tug.

-    Full-body hair loss- certain medical conditions and treatments like chemotherapy can result in this kind of hair loss, in most cases it growing back.

-    Scaly patches spreading over the scalp- accompanied by other symptoms like broken hair, redness, swelling, and occasional oozing, it is a clear indicator of ringworm.

Causes

Normal shedding of the entails losing around 100 hairs a day. This does not cause much visible thinning as new hairs take its place. Excessive hair fall occurs when this natural process is disrupted and the normal hair follicle is replaced by scar tissues.

The exact reasons for this are still debated but there are some generally accepted reasons

-    Family history or genetics

-    Hormonal changes

-    Medical conditions

-    Medicines

Family history

The hereditary condition called male-pattern baldness or female-pattern baldness is one of the most common causes of hair loss. Occurring in predictable patterns — a receding hairline and bald spots in men and thinning hair in women.

Hereditary factors also determine the age at which baldness starts its manifestation and can range from age groups of early puberty to the late forties.

Hormonal changes

The hormonal conditions that can affect hair fall are,

-    Temporary hair loss caused due to childbirth, pregnancy, the onset of menopause and the hormonal imbalances that accompany them. These changes can also onset the thyroid gland and that in turn can also cause hair fall.

-    Hair loss caused by the body’s immune system attacking the hair follicles resulting in smooth bald patches on the skin.

-    Infections caused by ringworm where the hair and skin of scalp are invaded leading to scaly patches and hair loss, which once treated grows back.

-    Scaring of alopecia caused by diseases like lichen planus, certain variants of lupus and sarcoidosis can result in the permanent loss of hair in the scared areas.

-    Trichotillomania also called hair-pulling disorder which causes people to have an irresistible to pull out their hair.

Medication

Certain medications concerning cancer arthritis, depression, heart problems, high blood pressure and birth control. Intake of too much vitamin A is also known to cause hair fall as well.

Other causes

-    Radiation therapy

-    A trigger event-this type of temporary hair loss occurs after a few months after an emotional or physical shock

-    Lifestyle choices- excessive hair styling, hairstyles that pull on their hair tight, such as pigtails or cornrows, can cause inflammation of hair follicles that leads to hair loss. If scarring occurs, if scarring occurs, there is a risk that the hair loss is permanent.

Risk Factors

Apart from the above-mentioned causes, there are certain factors that can risk hair fall, namely

-    Family history

-    Age

-    Lack of nutrition

-    Certain medical conditions, such as diabetes

-    Stress

Preventive measures

The most common cause of thinning hair for both men and women is a hereditary condition in which sex hormones cause hair to fall out in a particular pattern. 

While male or female pattern baldness is permanent, there are certain measures you can take to slow it down and treat it.

Find the cause

Hormonal fluctuations can lead to impermanent hair loss. Women who are pregnant, have discontinued birth control, or are going through menopause may experience temporary hair thinning.

Certain medical conditions can cause hair loss. 

Treating these conditions can help slow or halt hair loss. If you are concerned you may have one of the following conditions, talk to your doctor about starting a treatment program so your hair will start growing back in.

Certain medications lead to hair loss. If you're on a medication that lists hair loss as a side effect, you can discuss other options with your doctor.

Hair loss can result from physical or mental shock as well as stress. 

Any type of shock to nervous the system is going to have a physical effect, and hair loss is a common occurrence when these conditions are at play If you're chronically stressed, dealing the causes of your stress is an important way to keep yourself in good physical condition.

Avoid tight hairstyles

Tight braids, weaves, and other pulled-back hairstyles can cause hair to pull out more easily. Wearing your hair down or pulled back loosely.

Get nutrition for hair

Massaging your scalp can stimulate hair growth by increasing circulation around your hair follicles. Place the pads of your fingers on your scalp and rub your scalp in a circular motion. Start near your forehead and make your way along the sides and back of your head, concentrating on areas that are thinning.

Get unstressed

Taking measures to decrease your stress level might help to slow it down. If you lead a high-stress life, trying the following measures to calm down on a daily basis can help:

Get more sleep. Lack of sleep causes your body to produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Exercise frequently.

Try meditating or yoga.

Get more sleep. Lack of sleep causes your body to produce the stress hormone cortisol.

Exercise frequently

Try meditating or yoga.

Eating a nutritious and well-balanced diet

Make sure you are getting plenty of protein and omega-3s in your diet so your body can create new hair. Hormone-related hair loss can sometimes be treated with a cream like minoxidil, which is available as an over-the-counter cream or foam.

Protein

 It's one of the building blocks of your hair, and if you aren't getting enough, hair loss can occur. Thinning hair is common among vegetarians and vegans who aren't taking in enough protein. Adding the following foods to your diet can help:
Fish, chicken, beef, and pork

Black beans, chickpeas, and other legumes

Tofu

Dairy products

Omega 3

The body needs omega-3 fatty acids to create new hair. Getting plenty of omega-3s is essential for hair growth, so stepping up your intake of the following foods can help a lot:
Salmon

Sardines

Walnuts

Avocados

Sources

  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hair-loss/symptoms-causes/syc-20372926

  https://www.rewardme.in/beauty/hair/article/fight-hair-fall-with-these-simple-steps