summary of all articles and questions needed for preparation of the tutorials of biomedical science and society including important notes from the tutorials
Biomedical sciences and society preparation tutorial 1
Article 1: book review: the birth of the pill, and the reinvention of sex, by Jonathan Eig
- By Kate Manning
- October 17, 2014
The book by Jonathan Eig is set in 1950. A woman, Margaret Sanger, had spent years in crusade to
start an organization that became planned parenthood met Gregory Pincus, a controversial scientist.
Pincus promised Sanger he could make a pill that could provide as simple birth-control. Sanger
wanted women to be able to have sex without fear of possible pregnancies so they could still pursue
education, careers etc. there was a lot of demand for this since the available birth control had a high
failure rate. Pincus was given 2000 from sanger and her organization and together with 2 other
scientists he found that injecting female rabbits with progesterone would prevent pregnancy. He
needed more money which was provided by Katharine McCormick, friend of Sanger. More than
money, Pincus needed human test subjects. He got these subjects, but with vile side effects, few could
stand treatment long enough to provide result.
Together with Edris Rice Wray, a female doctor, he did more testing on women in Haiti and Puerto
rice. They didn’t inform the test subjects about the purpose of the study or warn them of possible risks,
violating 2 protocols of modern medical research. However, their drug proved safe.
Article 2: NHS to offer safer Down’s syndrome test to pregnant women
- By: the guardian
Non-invase prenatal testing (NIPT) allows screening of genetic defects without risk of miscarriage, but
critics fear it could lead to an increase in abortions.
This new test will be offered to 10.000 women a year who have a higher likelihood of giving birthg to
a baby with Down’s syndrome or the less common Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes.
This new test eliminates the fear for miscarriage caused by amniocentesis. An invasive test (with risk
of miscarrying) will still be offered to women with a positive NIPT.
Documentary
Perspectives:
Health policy officer
- He feels there is a demand for NIPT since women want the information about their own
unborn children. He thinks it is a fact that Down’s syndrome is a severe mental disability and
that people with Down’s syndrome are a burden to their family or society for a long time.
Pregnant woman
- She does not want to know whether her unborn baby has Down’s syndrome and already has a
healthy baby with Down’s. however, the healthy baby is not the reason she does not want to
know. The ignorance of health care workers regarding parenting children with down is very
bad in her opinion, making her reject the tests.
Parent healthy downer (sally)
- She feels Down’s syndrome is not a disease, but more a type of person. She is not a fan of
screening out baby’s with the genetic defect since she feels it makes people with Down’s have
to justify their existence.
, Parent unhealthy downer (woman talked about around the 40 minute mark)
- This woman has a child with Down’s syndrome and is having a hard time parenting them. At
5 years old they have yet learned to walk and their temper is prescribed as bad, throwing
tantrums continuously. This woman’s perspective on NIPT is not discussed. However, this
story did help another woman to make the decision to terminate her pregnancy with a baby
with Down’s syndrome.
Tutorial 2 prep
Article 1: a clearer message on cochlear implants
- By Sara Novic
“portrayals of this technology as a miracle for deaf people overlook its potential downsides and
challenges.”
Sara Novic is a university teacher and regularly gets asked why she does not have a cochlear implant.
The answer is easy for her because she says she’s happy with how she is now. She says getting a
cochlear implant would be a big commitment since learning how to use it would take a lot of work.
She does use hearing aids that give her basic sound information. Cochlear implants are often
misinterpreted as the miracle for deafness, but not all people are eligible for one. The implants also do
not correct conductive hearing loss, replace dysfunctional nerves nor aid with central auditory
processing disorders. And users must spend years in auditory verbal training to learn to decode the
signals from their implants to understand sound and speech. This is something not realized by
mainstream media and thus many members of society. Surrounding controversy is often framed as
culture vs technology.
Many medical professionals present the decision to parents of deaf children as either or (either A.S.L
or the implant) and not both.
Laura Mauldin explained to Novic that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and children
of colour fare worse with the implants. The social factors that cause variability with the results of the
implant are less understood that the clinical factors. But these factors are important because the
success of the implant depends on years of follow up care and training, influenced by these factors.
Article 2: Science gave my son the gift of sound
- By Lydia Denworth
Her son has a congenital deformity of the inner ear and also a progressive condition called enlarged
vestibular aqueduct (EVA). Because of this, Alex (the son) was a candidate for a C.I. Alex was in low
percentiles for understanding speech and speaking, he was not getting what he needed from hearing
aids so the doctor said he should be implanted before he turned three. Because this age marks a critical
juncture in the development of language.
Denworth thought the device sounded momentous and amazing, which she feels is a common reaction
for a hearing person. Many people in the deaf community do not agree with this, Denworth even saw
cochlear implantation of children described as child abuse. Deaf people were lived contented,
fulfilling lives. Deaf community felt ignored by the medical and scientific supporters of C.I.
Still, Denworth wanted to give Alex a chance to use sound and made the decision to give him an
implant. After this hard work of practising speaking and listening began. After a year of the implant,
his expressive and receptive language were much better and above age level compared to hearing
children.
Article 3: between sound and silence
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