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Charlie Traffas
Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com.
Health & Wellness
2006-03-30 14:20:00
How can something so small be such a big deal in the scheme of life?
ANSWER: (Part 2): In last month’s column, I stated that I believe nanotechnology will become the basis for the biggest changes in how we live that have ever occurred in man’s history.  I also said that I realize how totally outrageous my statement sounds, but I believe it to be true.  I concluded by suggesting that future columns would provide examples of how nanotechnology-based processes may change our lives dramatically.As we look to the future, we can paint scenarios showing the wide range of opportunities and benefits associated with nanotechnology development.  We can look at the prospects and possibilities, but we cannot make solid predictions of what will happen.  This is because human choices and discoveries will depend on a wide range of factors and alternatives far beyond our ability to anticipate or to control.Let’s look at a scenario having to do with healthcare and nano-medicine that cures:Linda Miller has been hoarse for several weeks, and now she has a terrible head cold.  She stops at the local supermarket and buys a $5 bottle of nose and throat spray that is advertised to be “The Cure for the Common Cold.”  For her $5, Linda is purchasing 10 billion nano-size molecular mechanisms programmed to recognize each of the 500 most common viruses that that cause colds, influenza, and the like.  Within 3 hours of using the spray, 99 percent of the viruses in her nose and throat will be destroyed, and the rest will be on the run.  Within six hours, the medical mechanisms in the spray will become inactive and will soon be cleared from her body.  Linda quickly feels much better, and she will not infect her friends at dinner this evening.A few weeks later, the hoarseness Linda was experiencing before she caught her cold is still present, and it seems to be getting worse.  However, she is too busy to be concerned, so she ignores it.  Finally, after returning from a vacation trip and getting caught up with everything, Linda makes an appointment to see her doctor.Doctor Jones looks down Linda’s throat and gives a thoughtful, “Hmmmmm.”  He asks Linda to inhale an aerosol spray, cough, spit in a cup, and then go relax with a magazine.  He places Linda’s sample in his cell analyzer, and five minutes later, the diagnosis pops up on a screen.  Linda has a malignant cancer of the throat.The machine has the ability to analyze the cells in more detail, so Doctor Jones touches the “Proceed” button on the screen.  Twenty minutes later, he returns to the screen to check on progress, and the news is good.  Linda’s cancer cells are all of one basic kind, displaying one of the 16,314 known molecular markers for malignancy.   The molecular markers enable cancer cells to be recognized, and if they can be recognized, they can be destroyed by nano-sized molecular machines that have been programmed to react to those markers.Doctor Jones instructs his cell analyzer to produce a test sample of molecular “immune machines” to go after cancer cells bearing the same marker as those in Linda’s throat.  He tests them on the cells in Linda’s sample, and sees that they work as expected.  He tells the cell analyzer to produce a larger batch.When Doctor Jones walks into the room where she has been waiting, Linda puts down her magazine and says, “Well, Doc, you look serious.  What’s the word?”“I found some suspicious cells, but this should clear it up,” he replies.  He gives her a throat spray and an injection.  “I’d like you to come back in three weeks, just to be sure.”“Oh, do I have to?” she asks.  “I am so incredibly busy.”“Linda,” he lectures her, “We need to make sure it’s gone.  You really shouldn’t let things like this go for so long before you come in.”“OK, fine, I’ll make the appointment.”  As she is leaving the office, Linda thinks fondly of how old-fashioned and conservative Doctor Jones is.The roll nanotechnology will play in the future of medicine will be to work with the body’s natural systems to achieve the desired results.  Linda’s story is a good example.  The natural molecular mechanisms of the body’s immune system already destroy most potential cancers before they grow large enough to be detected.  With nanotechnology, medical science will new build molecular mechanisms to destroy the cancer cells that the immune system misses.  This will enable most cancer victims to be treated successfully without discomfort or side effects.  Similar processes will be available for other treating other diseases as well.
 
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