This week's lesson on the healthcare and biomedical industry was really informative looking into various interesting technologies in the industry. The lesson covered the disparity in terms of healthcare utilisation between South Asia and the USA. We also talked about the main areas of biobusiness opportunities with some really interesting topics such as biotechnology. With the change in demographics around the world, consumer demands have also changed. This has also caused different health problems.
One area that interest me was the types of diseases that changes with the world demographics. With the advancement of medical services, diseases in developed countries changed from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. For example, obesity is increasing at such an alarming rate in developed countries, and this in turn causes many other health problems such as high blood pressure, heart diseases etc. Comparing this to the developing countries, where people are dying of common flu, minor infections everyday, I feel that there really isn't a best of both worlds.
While we have managed to find vaccines for diseases that caused epidemics in the past, new diseases are constantly appearing. Every time there is a cure for a disease, a mutation in the strains of these virus occurs and we are back to square one. So this actually made me think of a rather pessimistic future, "will there be a day when we can no longer find a cure to this mutated super viruses?"
The idea of the digital wallet with all the relevant cards inside was extremely appealing to me. The fact that you can keep all your cards as softcopies inside an electronic device certainly can cause me alot of convenience. People may argue that if i happen to lose it, i will lose all my credit cards, atm cards, etc etc. But with so many important documents in one device, will you still be so careless with your digital wallet? I guess not. Further improvements can also be made to make it even more compact and useful. The smartphone functions can be fused with this digital wallet, maybe it can be configured to your home and your car, and i am sure there are endless possibilities to this. To relate this the topic of biomedicine, this device can have a "sos" button such that when it is pressed, important health information about the individual can be shown such as allergies, blood type, health conditions, past health history. This could in turn be vital especially for first aid.
DNA genetic engineering and stem cells is an area of constant controversy around the world. I, however, feel that this is an area of great potential and possibilities. Like what we have seen so far, every technology comes with limitations.and any new technology will be exploited in the wrong way by some human beings. Thus it is important to weight these pros and cons and determine if the technology can bring more good to our lifes.
One area that interest me was the types of diseases that changes with the world demographics. With the advancement of medical services, diseases in developed countries changed from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. For example, obesity is increasing at such an alarming rate in developed countries, and this in turn causes many other health problems such as high blood pressure, heart diseases etc. Comparing this to the developing countries, where people are dying of common flu, minor infections everyday, I feel that there really isn't a best of both worlds.
While we have managed to find vaccines for diseases that caused epidemics in the past, new diseases are constantly appearing. Every time there is a cure for a disease, a mutation in the strains of these virus occurs and we are back to square one. So this actually made me think of a rather pessimistic future, "will there be a day when we can no longer find a cure to this mutated super viruses?"
The idea of the digital wallet with all the relevant cards inside was extremely appealing to me. The fact that you can keep all your cards as softcopies inside an electronic device certainly can cause me alot of convenience. People may argue that if i happen to lose it, i will lose all my credit cards, atm cards, etc etc. But with so many important documents in one device, will you still be so careless with your digital wallet? I guess not. Further improvements can also be made to make it even more compact and useful. The smartphone functions can be fused with this digital wallet, maybe it can be configured to your home and your car, and i am sure there are endless possibilities to this. To relate this the topic of biomedicine, this device can have a "sos" button such that when it is pressed, important health information about the individual can be shown such as allergies, blood type, health conditions, past health history. This could in turn be vital especially for first aid.
DNA genetic engineering and stem cells is an area of constant controversy around the world. I, however, feel that this is an area of great potential and possibilities. Like what we have seen so far, every technology comes with limitations.and any new technology will be exploited in the wrong way by some human beings. Thus it is important to weight these pros and cons and determine if the technology can bring more good to our lifes.
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