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Engineering medicine is fine for some things. But I really believe that the human body reacts better to natural medicines. It only makes sense that 2 natural organic entities, the human body and natural medicine, would work well in conjunction with each other. I'm not trying to make this a "save the earth" issue but we have so many resources, in just the rain forests alone, and many more that have yet to be discovered. I'm sure engineered medicine has an important place but I think natural medicines should always be the first choice. I also agree with a previous poster. Get rid of the pharmaceutical lobbyists and get back to the business of healing people. It's amazing how greed causes the deaths of so many people for the benefit of so few. By the way, I saw this on Science Cheerleader.

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Several of the commenters seem to be opposed to the idea of engineering medicine. Their solution seems to be, don't get sick. Of course, that's not always within people's control. Some people are born with illnesses and some develop over time. In fact, even if all other illnesses are cured, you will eventually die of old age, which is nothing more than accumulated damage to your body. Engineering better medicines can help with developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and, yes, even aging. Your body is a very complex machine, but like other machines, when parts suffer damage, they can be repaired. The problem is that everyone's body is different, and thus treatments that work for one person may not work as well for another. Engineering better medicines needs to start with engineering diagnostic devices to determine which medicine or combination of medicines will work best for which people, possibly even synthesizing compounds specific to their subject.

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Adopting healthy life style and healthy diet is the key. Adopting a new healty think, new charge relations in every action and think, without the subjecting to the power-authority structure, learning the real power of love, I think is the road to the progress with healty life. Not too much tecnology, we need! Progress is not tecnology. Tecnology is only a little progress possibility in all the life.

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In response to Svetlana, Los Angeles and Hemophilia A. Yes, advancements are being made. Check out the research being done by Dr. Gupta at the Albert Einstein Coll. of Med. of Yeshva University. His team has cured hemophilia A in mice in their lab.

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nerve regeneration and curing neurological diseases are top of my wish list. The millions of people afflicted with these devestating conditions have little or no hope for any type of cure. People are struck down in the prime of their lives, often with small children. With these diseases, many others beside the patient, have their lives completely devastated. Unlike so many manageable chronic conditions, we people face continued, unstoppable, deterioration. We are treated as the lost causes. Even during hospitalizations, nurses, doctors, therapists, ignore us, mistreat us and treat us as somehow less human than their patients with potential for recovery. We're treated as time wasters. They can't understand our suffering. They don't understand our pain, so chose to sedate and dull our senses, when all we want is a chance at a cure, no matter how painful, or difficult, or remote it may be. We hear of all the sympathy and resources spent on the people who willingly self destructed their bodies with drugs, alcohol, gross obesity, reckless sexual behavior, etc. who want to claim a disease and use up the treasure and toil of medical research community ! That disgusts me! I do not "chose" a disease a day at a time! I did not inject, or swallow or ask anyone to enable my disease into being. I do not return time and again to a treatment facility on the taxpayer or insurance companies dime that only uses up the funds to cure REAL DISEASES. Please keep up the research with genetic, biotechnology. We want to be cured

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Where would such medicines make the biggest difference? I think the authors of the article just grazed over the most important issue driving this challenge. Health care costs are exploding. When the baby boom retires and begins to consume vast quantities of medicare, we will either bankrupt the country or cut them off, UNLESS we are able to engineer personalized health care. Moving to a personalized care based upon genetics should allow us to fight disease more effectively, striking at disease in its earliest stages when it is easiest to cure. The promise of personalized medical care is far lower costs and better results. Both of my parents experienced one form or another of senior dementia. This is one of the cruelest forms of disease leaving a shell that physically resembles a lolved one while robbing us of that individual. Determining what causes dementia and preventing it is just one example of where personalized medicine could not only reduce costs (without decreased capacity, they could care for themselves) but also improve the quality of life for the affected and their loved ones. Tony

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First prevention is very important and I would take it further and say that foods we know are bad for us should not be allowed to be made or should come with warning labels like tobacco products. Second drugs are not always the answer. We need to find alternative methods of control of viruses and such. One good example was in a recent article on livescience.com about using a viruses natural frequency to break it apart using a laser. This seems to me to be much more effective and without side effects than using a drug that it could become resistant to or could cause serious side effects.

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Where is medicine the cheapest in the world? Germany and Cuba. Why? Because the Government pays for everything and will only pay x amount. America is held captive by the lobbiest and pharmisudical companies. We need to get back to the natural stuff.

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Synthisized medicine is bad for you. They all have side effects. Granted sometimes the side effect are worth it. But God gave us everything we need in His creation, we just need to better explore all of natures natural remedies; which is what the major pharmicudical companies do anyway and then synthisize it so they can patent it to make more money from it. Three years ago I had a cough in my chest that I could not get rid of. I went to the doctor twice (a month apart) and got an antibiotic each time. Neither one worked. I found a natural compination of two garlics that were put together as away to improve your immune system. The stuff worked great and is cheaper than going to the Doctors office.

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I believe that improving th overall quality of human health will depend more on educating the public about disease prevention (health, nutrition, safety, etc) and aproaching the problems of disease from a more root-cause analysis than curing already existing cases.

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When you speak engineer better medicines, I am trying to understand why we are not covering nutrition as prevenative medicine. The research is already out there, it just never gets national attention. Why? Most addictions and diesease can be controlled , even prevented eating whole foods, Dairy and meat come on the data is out there how it contributes to the diseases we manufacture so many medicines for. Nutrition, it very simple when you think about it. It is a no brainer. I know this will never happen and it makes me so sad to think money is before people. Good Luck to the USA

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More research into endogenous retroviruses and genetically engineered medicines will benefit hunans as wel as all other living things.

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Adopting healthy life style and healthy diet is the key. No new medical treatments are really needed, I think.

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Mabey better drugs for HIV patients, of meds that conqure cancer?

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Healthy lifespan increase must be developed in concert with water and agriculture development, as well as population control measures/coordination. Also, having a background in organic chemistry and biochemistry, I think the DNA molecule should be investigated for its electromagnetic properties, especially in 'junk' DNA: it seems reasonable to me that its central channel would harbour such energy. This may be key to manipulating gene behaviour, as opposed to chemical manipulation alone. Does the junk DNA have global regulatory effects? This must be investigated.

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any development in finding stem-cells related progress in treating hemophilia? thanks you!

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I totally disagree with this approach. What is needed are more tools to get people healthy with the goal of putting the pharmaceutical businesses and AMA doctors out of business. Eliminate the need for medicines (and really, how many medicines do we really need anyway?) by promoting and obtaining great health for everyone.