Topic: NASA medical tech imitating STARTREK?

[hmelton]

"Biologists have found that cells exposed to near-infrared light ? that is, energy just outside the visible range ? from LEDs grow 150 to 200 percent faster than those cells not stimulated by such light. The light arrays increase energy inside cells that speed up the healing process. "

Taken from a NASA news release

http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/releases/2003/03-199.html

Just something that might be of interest to the startrek fans.


Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief




 

[Sirgod]

That is pretty cool actually.

 

Quote:
 Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief

and tomorrow is a good day to look at the sky's. If the weather clears up here in Oklahoma that is.

Stephen

[Death_Merchant]

Odd isn't it?

For more than a decade, researchers have been studying how light-emitting diodes, or LEDs -- miniscule, ultra-efficient bulbs like the ones found in digital clocks and television remotes -- might aid in the recuperative process. NASA, the Pentagon and dozens of hospitals have participated in clinical trials. Businesses have sold commercial LED zappers to nursing homes and doctors' offices.

In a 2002 study backed by the National Institutes of Health and the Persistence in Combat program from the Pentagon's research arm, Dr. Harry Whelan (a neurology professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin) used LEDs to restore the vision of blinded rats. Toxic doses of methanol damaged the rats' retinas. But after exposure to the flashes of infrared light, up to 95 percent of the injuries were repaired.

Human trials have been less dramatic, but still shockingly effective. Using a Food and Drug Administration-approved, handheld LED -- playfully called Warp 10 for its Star Trek style -- wound-healing time was cut in half on board the USS Salt Lake City, a nuclear sub. Diode flashes improved healing of Navy SEALs' training injuries by more than 40 percent. And a Warp 10 prototype was used by U.S. Special Forces units in Iraq, Whelan asserts.

Magazines and television crews have drooled on cue. Medicare has even approved some LED therapy.

And nobody can explain how or why it seems to work....  

[Scott Allen Abfalter]

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

[Death_Merchant]

There may be another consequence to aging.

I saw a study (can't remember where) that suggested longevity (ie effects of aging) and cancer are evolutionary trade-offs.

As I recall, people with a certain enzyme sequence were more likely to get cancer early, but less likely to exhibit signs of early aging. The reverse was also noted.

One theory suggests that a body that is more internally aggressive in destroying abhorrent cells (ie cancer), is more likely to inflict "aging" upon itself....

Interesting if true. What is our future then?
a) Longer life but mostly spend in "geriatric mode"
b) Longer "youthful" life with frequent medical intervention to combat cancer  

[NJAntman]

Quote:

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

That would sure give the space-race a kick-in-the-ass. Can you imagine the Chineese never growing old and fruitfully multiplying? They'd have to pass the Moon up altogehter and head straight for Mars.  

[hmelton]

"Biologists have found that cells exposed to near-infrared light ? that is, energy just outside the visible range ? from LEDs grow 150 to 200 percent faster than those cells not stimulated by such light. The light arrays increase energy inside cells that speed up the healing process. "

Taken from a NASA news release

http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/releases/2003/03-199.html

Just something that might be of interest to the startrek fans.


Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief




 

[Sirgod]

That is pretty cool actually.

 

Quote:
 Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief

and tomorrow is a good day to look at the sky's. If the weather clears up here in Oklahoma that is.

Stephen

[Death_Merchant]

Odd isn't it?

For more than a decade, researchers have been studying how light-emitting diodes, or LEDs -- miniscule, ultra-efficient bulbs like the ones found in digital clocks and television remotes -- might aid in the recuperative process. NASA, the Pentagon and dozens of hospitals have participated in clinical trials. Businesses have sold commercial LED zappers to nursing homes and doctors' offices.

In a 2002 study backed by the National Institutes of Health and the Persistence in Combat program from the Pentagon's research arm, Dr. Harry Whelan (a neurology professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin) used LEDs to restore the vision of blinded rats. Toxic doses of methanol damaged the rats' retinas. But after exposure to the flashes of infrared light, up to 95 percent of the injuries were repaired.

Human trials have been less dramatic, but still shockingly effective. Using a Food and Drug Administration-approved, handheld LED -- playfully called Warp 10 for its Star Trek style -- wound-healing time was cut in half on board the USS Salt Lake City, a nuclear sub. Diode flashes improved healing of Navy SEALs' training injuries by more than 40 percent. And a Warp 10 prototype was used by U.S. Special Forces units in Iraq, Whelan asserts.

Magazines and television crews have drooled on cue. Medicare has even approved some LED therapy.

And nobody can explain how or why it seems to work....  

[Scott Allen Abfalter]

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

[Death_Merchant]

There may be another consequence to aging.

I saw a study (can't remember where) that suggested longevity (ie effects of aging) and cancer are evolutionary trade-offs.

As I recall, people with a certain enzyme sequence were more likely to get cancer early, but less likely to exhibit signs of early aging. The reverse was also noted.

One theory suggests that a body that is more internally aggressive in destroying abhorrent cells (ie cancer), is more likely to inflict "aging" upon itself....

Interesting if true. What is our future then?
a) Longer life but mostly spend in "geriatric mode"
b) Longer "youthful" life with frequent medical intervention to combat cancer  

[NJAntman]

Quote:

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

That would sure give the space-race a kick-in-the-ass. Can you imagine the Chineese never growing old and fruitfully multiplying? They'd have to pass the Moon up altogehter and head straight for Mars.  

[hmelton]

"Biologists have found that cells exposed to near-infrared light ? that is, energy just outside the visible range ? from LEDs grow 150 to 200 percent faster than those cells not stimulated by such light. The light arrays increase energy inside cells that speed up the healing process. "

Taken from a NASA news release

http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/news/releases/2003/03-199.html

Just something that might be of interest to the startrek fans.


Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief




 

[Sirgod]

That is pretty cool actually.

 

Quote:
 Today is a good day to read a NASA tech brief

and tomorrow is a good day to look at the sky's. If the weather clears up here in Oklahoma that is.

Stephen

[Death_Merchant]

Odd isn't it?

For more than a decade, researchers have been studying how light-emitting diodes, or LEDs -- miniscule, ultra-efficient bulbs like the ones found in digital clocks and television remotes -- might aid in the recuperative process. NASA, the Pentagon and dozens of hospitals have participated in clinical trials. Businesses have sold commercial LED zappers to nursing homes and doctors' offices.

In a 2002 study backed by the National Institutes of Health and the Persistence in Combat program from the Pentagon's research arm, Dr. Harry Whelan (a neurology professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin) used LEDs to restore the vision of blinded rats. Toxic doses of methanol damaged the rats' retinas. But after exposure to the flashes of infrared light, up to 95 percent of the injuries were repaired.

Human trials have been less dramatic, but still shockingly effective. Using a Food and Drug Administration-approved, handheld LED -- playfully called Warp 10 for its Star Trek style -- wound-healing time was cut in half on board the USS Salt Lake City, a nuclear sub. Diode flashes improved healing of Navy SEALs' training injuries by more than 40 percent. And a Warp 10 prototype was used by U.S. Special Forces units in Iraq, Whelan asserts.

Magazines and television crews have drooled on cue. Medicare has even approved some LED therapy.

And nobody can explain how or why it seems to work....  

[Scott Allen Abfalter]

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

[Death_Merchant]

There may be another consequence to aging.

I saw a study (can't remember where) that suggested longevity (ie effects of aging) and cancer are evolutionary trade-offs.

As I recall, people with a certain enzyme sequence were more likely to get cancer early, but less likely to exhibit signs of early aging. The reverse was also noted.

One theory suggests that a body that is more internally aggressive in destroying abhorrent cells (ie cancer), is more likely to inflict "aging" upon itself....

Interesting if true. What is our future then?
a) Longer life but mostly spend in "geriatric mode"
b) Longer "youthful" life with frequent medical intervention to combat cancer  

[NJAntman]

Quote:

There are a LOT of things we don't understand about the human body yet.  It's easier to prove if a treatment works or doesn't than to prove what the actual underlaying mechanism is.  

Any advance is a good thing.  

Although, and this is a complete tangent, it might not be good if we found a cure for 'aging'.  What if we found some medicine that simply stopped the effects of aging at, say, age 30.  No one would get old and die, except from disease or physical harm.  On an overcrowded planet.  That would certainly be blessing with a curse hidden inside...

 

That would sure give the space-race a kick-in-the-ass. Can you imagine the Chineese never growing old and fruitfully multiplying? They'd have to pass the Moon up altogehter and head straight for Mars.