2018: Major medical advances could save our lives

The year 2018 has been marked by many medical achievements, making it an important year for the health sector after the remarkable development of many areas, including the treatment of vision loss, paralysis and progress in the fight against cancer.

"First genetically modified child"

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A Chinese scientist has sparked a huge uproar in the scientific community, which will probably last for years announcing the birth of the world's first genetically modified child.

Chinese scientist Heih Jiankui said that he had twins modified to protect them from HIV and that they were healthy.

But no further detail on what the Chinese world has done has been published. Some therefore questioned the information that he had disclosed.

This also raised a great moral debate about the authorization of such operations.

Walking again after paralysis

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MAYO CLINIC

Swiss doctors have succeeded in helping many patients to walk after years of paralysis and sitting in their wheelchairs, thanks to a successful operation of the spine.

The spinal cord lesions in the patients stopped the nerve function and prevented the transmission of nerve signals from the brain to the muscles.

• How did the doctors manage to help paralyzed people walk again

The new surgical technique was based on the implantation of an electrical device around the spine of each patient, reinforcing the signals that the brain sends to both men.

This technique is still in progress. But in one case, the patient is used at home to practice daily work.

In other cases, there are signs of recovery and repair of damaged nerves in the spinal cord.

Fight cancer in an innovative way

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JUDY PERKINS

American Judy Perkins has survived cancer thanks to a new therapeutic method designed to stimulate the immune system.

She had a cancerous tumor the size of a tennis ball in the liver, in addition to secondary tumors in various parts of the body, and the doctors told her that it was impossible to heal and that three months before the departure of life.

But at the time, doctors at the National Cancer Institute were conducting new cancer treatment experiments using drugs to boost the immune system, and Judy decided to participate in the trials.

The doctors performed a genetic badysis of Jody's tumor to identify the rare changes that could make it visible to the immune system.

The researchers then took a follow-up position and the patient's immune system began to attack the tumor.

Scientists studied Jody's white blood cells to extract those that are able to fight cancer. They were synthesized in the laboratory and produced 90 billion cells that were reinjected into her body to fight cancer.

New belly and new baby

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Reuters

In 2018, the first healthy child was born as a result of the transplantation of his mother's uterus, taken from a woman who died in Brazil.

The woman who had the transplant was born without a uterus.

• The birth of the first child of a uterine transplant from a dead woman

She had the uterus of a Brazilian who had already given birth to three children and had died of cerebral hemorrhage. The operation lasted 10 hours in 2016 in Sao Paulo, and then was treated for infertility.

Six weeks later, the implanted uterus began functioning and the woman, aged 32, began to feel normal and her menstrual cycle began. Seven months later, fertilized eggs were implanted in the uterus.

Pregnancy naturally continued to give birth to a healthy child after a cesarean section.

Restore the view

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Battlefield

Doctors have made a major advance in the treatment of a common type of blindness resulting from macular degeneration badociated with aging.

The retina is part of the eye and allows direct vision, whether to recognize faces, watch TV or read books.

They have conical cells with high intensity color receptors and behind them a layer of feeder cells.

When this support layer no longer works, it causes macular degeneration and blindness.

Scientists have developed a method for building a layer of support cells, and then inserted it precisely into the back of the eye.

The formation of human eggs

A medical team from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland has successfully developed human eggs in the laboratory for the first time.

Girls are born with ovaries containing immature eggs and can not fully develop until after puberty.

• Production of human eggs in the laboratory for the first time

Decades of work have been necessary for success, but scientists can now grow eggs out of the ovaries until they reach maturity.

This technique can lead to new ways to maintain the fertility of children with cancer.

It's also an opportunity to explore the evolution of human eggs, many of which still represent a mystery to science.

The test detects all types of cancer

In 2018, scientists have taken a major scientific step to carry out a complete blood test to detect all cancers.

A team from Johns Hopkins University has experimented with a new way to discover eight common forms of cancer.

It relies on trace traces of altered DNA and proteins released by cancerous tumors into the blood.

This test looks for the mutations of 16 genes regularly appearing in cancer and eight often released proteins.

The tests were conducted on more than 1,000 patients with different cancers before they spread to other tissues.

In general, the test detected approximately 70% of cancers.

Role The microbes In our bodies

Science continues to discover the great importance of microbes and their impact on our health.

This year, the importance of microbes, including the lack of prevalence of one of the most common cancers in children, has been identified.

Lymphatic leukemia affects one in every 2,000 children.

• More than half of the human body is "not human"

Professor Mel Greaves of the Cancer Research Institute has gathered evidence over 30 years to demonstrate that the immune system can become cancer-free if it does not "attack" enough microbes early in life.

This means that young children should be exposed to microbes to form their immune systems to cope with and cope with diseases.

This does not mean that the study asks parents not to keep their children healthy and to stop helping them live in a clean and healthy environment.

But this suggests that there is a price to pay for the progress we are making in society and for medicines in different areas such as clean water.

The long-term goal is to give children a safe range of bacteria, such as yogurts, that will help form their immune system to deal with illnesses.

The artificial intelligence And ophthalmology

A computer has managed to interpret images taken at the back of the eye and to diagnose more than 50 eye diseases, as do seasoned experts in the field.

Thousands of scans were used to program the device on how to read the results of one's eye exam.

Then a comparison was made between artificial intelligence and man in the diagnosis of eye diseases.

Everyone was asked to provide a diagnosis for 1,000 patients.

Doctors hope that artificial intelligence plays a major role in identifying patients requiring urgent treatment without delay, so as not to aggravate their condition.

Other stories that have attracted attention

The story of the surviving child of Benedict, Republic of Congo, under the influence of the deadly Ebola virus. The child became a medical miracle to deal with the illness and had only six days.

And one of the worst cases of gonorrhea in the world, resistant to antibiotics.

For diabetes, scientists say that the disease is five distinct diseases and that the treatment can be adapted to each form.

Scientists in 2018 also successfully resolved the debate on antidepressants and said they had solved one of the most controversial medical issues after a large medical study found that antidepressants were effective in treating the disease.

In the United States, scientists have sought an unexpected ally in their efforts to develop a new flu treatment, llamas.

A pioneering study revealed why some cancers in patients are more deadly than others, although they seem identical.

She explained that the foods we eat can alter the growth and spread of cancer, and scientists hope to take advantage of the "types of food" cancer to improve treatments.

In China, two young mice were placed without mention.

The researchers also found that people who had been withdrawn from their appendicitis were less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, which gave rise to a keen interest in the idea that the disease that affects the brain started from the large intestine.