Genetic Surgery? Or Soldiers?

[Elven]

Seriously how long before this is the next thing? I have a hip defect, which also causes an issue with my spine.

I'm on the list for surgery, and I've been told that in 10years time I would likely be getting genetic surgery to repair the tissue/bone.

Makes me wonder just what tech the government has hiding with the good ol theory the government has 15yr more advanced tech, than the public knows about.

[chainsoar]

The whole genetically engineered super-soldiers concept is a bit too far-fetched for me. It smacks of moon hoax conspiracies and Illuminati. Way too far into the crazy camp for my liking.

[treesmoke]

The american military is allot more better at adding mechanical, computerized stuff to their arsenal. And from my knowledge hasn't been that great at modifying the actual body.

Last two times that they tried this that i know of was LSD, which failed horribly. And the fact that our government knew that the germans were able to make soldiers march normally for 10 extra miles through 3-4 feet of snow after not eating for days, by making them take Crystal Meth.

[Nemowork]

No, Benzedrine, its a form of Methamphetamine so they were taking speed not crack

If your tired, short of food and little Siberian men with big knives are looking to do something really nasty to you, you want all the help you can get to stay awake.

[treesmoke]

Originally Posted by Nemowork

No, Benzedrine, its a form of Methamphetamine so they were taking speed not crack

If your tired, short of food and little Siberian men with big knives are looking to do something really nasty to you, you want all the help you can get to stay awake.

Did i say crack, i thought that Crystal Meth was a form of Methamphetamine, and also an okay electronic band. Speed is a relative of crystal meth, at least from what i know.

[Nemowork]

My goof, but it was 4.00 in the morning for me

[lost in melb.]

Sheesh, they'll be using robots

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by lost in melb.

Sheesh, they'll be using robots

Or mexicans, like they do for cooking, gardening and laundry.

[Meursault]

Seriously though, in the medical sector, progress has accelerated so much in the last twenty or thirty years, I suppose Elven here may indeed soon be able to profit from some novel therapy. Not necessarily genetic, but maybe they'll find ways to manipulate bone growth without an open surgery.

[deepsepia]

@Elven

Originally Posted by Elven

Makes me wonder just what tech the government has hiding with the good ol theory the government has 15yr more advanced tech, than the public knows about.

"The Government" has some control over medical research, but not much. Every advanced industrial nation has big genetics programs, and there are plenty of private companies. The likelihood than anything meaningful could be kept secret for long is zero.

@Meursault

Originally Posted by Meursault

Seriously though, in the medical sector, progress has accelerated so much in the last twenty or thirty years, I suppose Elven here may indeed soon be able to profit from some novel therapy. Not necessarily genetic, but maybe they'll find ways to manipulate bone growth without an open surgery.

The big risk in anything that stimulates growth of anything is cancer-- the body seems to sit on a very fine balance of "growth and replacement that's beneficial" and "unregulated growth that's destructive". When you flip the switch marked "more growth" -- you get more growth, some of which you want, some of which, unfortunately, you don't want.

Elven wasn't specific, but in the orthopedic area, the big bio-engineering effort is in cartilage replacement-- I've never heard of it for the hip or spine, but that may be something on the horizon. For the knee, its an approved therapy, from Genzyme called "Carticel". There's nothing secret about it

During an initial procedure, the patient’s own chondrocytes are removed arthroscopically from a non load-bearing area from either the intercondylar notch or the superior ridge of the medial or lateral femoral chondyles. The 10,000 cells that are originally harvested are grown in vitro at Genzyme biosurgery for approximately six weeks until the population reaches 10-12 million cells. After this cell proliferation period, the patient undergoes a second surgery in which the millions of chondrocytes are surgically injected into the patient. These cells are held in place by a periosteal flap, a small piece of soft tissue from the tibia, which is sutured over the damaged area to serve as a watertight lid. The implanted chondrocytes can then divide and integrate with surrounding tissue under the flap and potentially generate hyaline-like cartilage.

Though Carticel has not been studied as an effective procedure through a wide range of patient backgrounds, results suggest that some patients can return to pre-injury function. Over 10,000 procedures have been performed since Carticel was introduced in 1995, and approximately 1,500-3,000 are performed per year. The cost of the treatment ranges from $20,000-$35,000. CARTICEL II is the second generation of the CARTICEL procedure. It is uses a "Fleece matrix" into which the grown harvested chondrocyte cells are planted. This fleece is then re-introduced back into the body usually via arthroscopy to begin the healing process. This CARTICEL II procedure is about to undergo clinical trials under the supervision of the FDA in the United States. This newer technique is known as matrix autologous chondrocyte implantation or (MACI). It is also available in Germany, UK, and Australia.

[Meursault]

yeah, my aunt has been wondeering if she should give the carticel thingy a shot because she has a badly sclerotic knee. If it would work as planned it'd be a huge relief for her.

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Meursault

yeah, my aunt has been wondeering if she should give the carticel thingy a shot because she has a badly sclerotic knee. If it would work as planned it'd be a huge relief for her.

Carticel looks safe. In Germany, there's a number of more advanced treatments available (Germany has had a more aggressive approach to making treatments available to patients than the US). This is an area where German companies have been particularly active . . . she'd have a bunch of choices. A bum knee is worth trying to fix, IMO.

Take a look at these guys:
http://www.biotissue.de/
http://www.codon.de/_/

The evidence of effectiveness is contradictory. Its something which logic suggests should work . . .experience so far has been mixed, with some "great results" and some "not much improvement"

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

Carticel looks safe. In Germany, there's a number of more advanced treatments available (Germany has had a more aggressive approach to making treatments available to patients than the US). This is an area where German companies have been particularly active . . . she'd have a bunch of choices. A bum knee is worth trying to fix, IMO.

Take a look at these guys:
http://www.biotissue.de/
http://www.codon.de/_/

The evidence of effectiveness is contradictory. Its something which logic suggests should work . . .experience so far has been mixed, with some "great results" and some "not much improvement"

Interesting, I'll ask my wife to do some research on what kind of evidence they have come up with so far.

[treesmoke]

Well there is a pill that keeps you from going to sleep with out feeling tired. It shuts off the hormone that makes you tired. But you have to stop taking it cause you can die in less then a week with out sleep.

And i am sure there is something they can do that can make bones heal faster. There is a bacteria that is naturally in your body, (that i think eats bone and shits calcium), it is the reason why kids heal faster then adults.

Most of the new surgical techniques comes from war surgery or/and people that have been in car accidents.