Obama Care:
Henrietta’s family was unable to afford medical insurance, despite their ancestor’s contributions to science and medicine. Without medical insurance, the Lacks family had to pay the bill every time they received medical care. For example, “Sonny (Henrietta and Day’s third child) woke up more than $125,000 in debt because he didn’t have health insurance to cover the surgery.”
I believe medical insurance can be beneficial, especially with the high prices of medical bills. Medical insurance reduces or eliminates the price of medical or health care. One form of medical insurance in the United States is Obama Care, which lowers the amount of insurance and enhances the quality of medical and health care for individual who could otherwise not afford it, regardless of their gender, age or race. This proves to be valuable to many individuals and could have helped the Lacks’ live a healthier and happier life. For these reasons, I support Obama Care and it’s assistance to Americans who aren’t able afford medical care.
What are the positive effects of The Affordable Care Act? What are the negative effects?
Stem Cells:
“All stem cells, whether they are tissue stem cells or pluripotent stem cells, have the ability to divide and create an identical copy of themselves. This process is called self-renewal. The cells can also divide to form cells that go on to develop into mature tissue types such as liver, lungs, brain, or skin.” (CIRM) In other words, stem cells regenerate in order to create or renew tissues needed in the human body. In modern science, stem cells are used to regenerate needed tissues or parts of the body, and are more recently used to generate cancer therapies.
1. This article is about the first person to be treated with “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which will be considered a large milestone, if successful. Pluripotent stem cells are gathered from skin cells and inverted into their stem cell stage. Scientists and doctors hope to grow these stem cells into a “sheet of replacement retinal cells” and bind them to the patient.
2. Pros: Pluripotent cells match the patient’s genetics and regrow cells, tissues or parts of an organism
3. Cons: Carry the risk of creating tumors, causing genetic abnormalities and other unknown risks.
4. I think pluripotent cells have a promising future in biotechnology. These cells can help doctors easily grow stem cells for patients in need of new cells, tissue or organs. Although they carry risks, such as cancer and genetic mutations, I think the risks should be disregarded, until proven dangerous in human trial.
HeLa cells were essentially the “worlds first stem cell line” and went on to create research for stem cells that are commonly used today. Henrietta could have been helped by stem cells, especially with their promising future in cancer therapies. Unfortunately, this technology was not discovered in time to help her, but her cells helped lead to their discovery.
What interesting research have you read or heard about stem cells? How can this relate to Henrietta Lacks and HeLa Cells?
Henrietta’s family was unable to afford medical insurance, despite their ancestor’s contributions to science and medicine. Without medical insurance, the Lacks family had to pay the bill every time they received medical care. For example, “Sonny (Henrietta and Day’s third child) woke up more than $125,000 in debt because he didn’t have health insurance to cover the surgery.”
I believe medical insurance can be beneficial, especially with the high prices of medical bills. Medical insurance reduces or eliminates the price of medical or health care. One form of medical insurance in the United States is Obama Care, which lowers the amount of insurance and enhances the quality of medical and health care for individual who could otherwise not afford it, regardless of their gender, age or race. This proves to be valuable to many individuals and could have helped the Lacks’ live a healthier and happier life. For these reasons, I support Obama Care and it’s assistance to Americans who aren’t able afford medical care.
What are the positive effects of The Affordable Care Act? What are the negative effects?
Stem Cells:
“All stem cells, whether they are tissue stem cells or pluripotent stem cells, have the ability to divide and create an identical copy of themselves. This process is called self-renewal. The cells can also divide to form cells that go on to develop into mature tissue types such as liver, lungs, brain, or skin.” (CIRM) In other words, stem cells regenerate in order to create or renew tissues needed in the human body. In modern science, stem cells are used to regenerate needed tissues or parts of the body, and are more recently used to generate cancer therapies.
1. This article is about the first person to be treated with “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which will be considered a large milestone, if successful. Pluripotent stem cells are gathered from skin cells and inverted into their stem cell stage. Scientists and doctors hope to grow these stem cells into a “sheet of replacement retinal cells” and bind them to the patient.
2. Pros: Pluripotent cells match the patient’s genetics and regrow cells, tissues or parts of an organism
3. Cons: Carry the risk of creating tumors, causing genetic abnormalities and other unknown risks.
4. I think pluripotent cells have a promising future in biotechnology. These cells can help doctors easily grow stem cells for patients in need of new cells, tissue or organs. Although they carry risks, such as cancer and genetic mutations, I think the risks should be disregarded, until proven dangerous in human trial.
HeLa cells were essentially the “worlds first stem cell line” and went on to create research for stem cells that are commonly used today. Henrietta could have been helped by stem cells, especially with their promising future in cancer therapies. Unfortunately, this technology was not discovered in time to help her, but her cells helped lead to their discovery.
What interesting research have you read or heard about stem cells? How can this relate to Henrietta Lacks and HeLa Cells?