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[RedKing]

Maybe someday we'll have retroviral therapy to restore DNA to an earlier "savepoint", which would also be an effective anti-aging treatment. But that sort of technology is a LONG way off.

Awesome side effects: Zombies.

Fixed. 


Actually the bigger worry I'd have is making sure whatever vector they used was utterly intransmissible. Otherwise you could potentially have a problem with other peoples' DNA getting overwritten on your own.

[TheBronzePickle]

At specialist cancer centers, they use no-carb therapy along with chemo to combat cancer. It supposedly sucks, since your body has to break down fat and protein to try and provide energy, but it has a much higher success rate.

[Bohandas]

ever do something on the internets that you can just feel in your bones is going to get you a virus? I'm feeling that every time I click on a new page where I'm surfing.

Jesus.

Do you mean like a computer virus?" Or like hiring hookers off of Craigslist?

[ChairmanPoo]

If you ask me the most promising cancer treatments being developed at the moment are the ones that spin around immunotherapy, particularily adoptive immunotherapy, many of which are already in clinical trials (eg: the ones with amazing results in regards to melanoma and, more recently, leukemia).
Further off, and far less developed (I don't think there have been any invivo trials yet), but also very interesting, are the so-called "smart drugs" based on DNA circuitry, which should be programmable to tell normal cells from cancerous ones, and instruct the later to self-destruct.

[Karnewarrior]

If you ask me the most promising cancer treatments being developed at the moment are the ones that spin around immunotherapy, particularily adoptive immunotherapy, many of which are already in clinical trials (eg: the ones with amazing results in regards to melanoma and, more recently, leukemia).
Further off, and far less developed (I don't think there have been any invivo trials yet), but also very interesting, are the so-called "smart drugs" based on DNA circuitry, which should be programmable to tell normal cells from cancerous ones, and instruct the later to self-destruct.

More useful could be some sort of "Scrub" Nanobot that could be remotely programmed to detect and remove harmful cells such as Cancer or deadly bacteria. Of course that opens up avenues for murder, like programming the Scrubbot to wipe out all the braincells of a particular person, but theoretically that would end soon after they put in a memory chip to tell who did it.

ROBOTS: CURING CANCER AND AIDS AND EVERYHING SINCE 2057!

Within a page this thread went from acupuncture to Nanobots. I love you Bay12.

[ToonyMan]

I can do poorly on a test if this happens right?

[RedKing]

Within a page this thread went from acupuncture to Nanobots. I love you Bay12.

Why not combine both? Have a series of nanobot clusters arranged at optimal points along the meridians, controlled by a bio-feedback monitor which directs stimulation at the proper points based on whatever the body's current condition is.

[Vattic]

Work tonight and I feel less than ready. The section I work on is doubling in size on the run up to Christmas and they never seem to recognise that it'll take more time.

I'm not as skeptical of chiropractic as some people. Hell, if the insurance covered it I'd head over to the acupuncturist. That'd likely work better than Backpainizine (isochloromethylbutylparasulfate-2,4,6)...now available in Tropical Fruit flavor!

From what I gather it works about as well as most other treatments for back pain. The only problem is that most treatments barely work. I can understand people wanting to use it instead of taking medication. The only problem is the cost.

I do have a problem with the British Chiropractic Association and how they've dealt with criticism from scientists through our dodgy libel system. Oh and the poor methodological quality of most of the studies bothers me greatly.

Acupuncture and TCM did wonders for my wife's allergies. Yeah, don't ask me how getting jabbed in the elbow makes you stop sneezing around cats for a while. I mean, I understand it -- I'm just not very good at explaining it in a way that doesn't start invoking mysticism.

The main problem with acupuncture is that it's almost impossible to do double blind or even blind studies on it. Giving someone fake treatment with the wrong acupuncture points wouldn't be ethical. It's also hard to hide from the patient that they are being given acupuncture as opposed to a pill of some sort.

I was raised in a fairly new-age spiritual environment and for some reason my intuition always raised alarms when hearing about acupuncture. Admittedly what beliefs I was raised we're dashed on the rocks when I noticed the people I knew who believed in this kind of thing never used them on a sick and dying family member (mostly not using ayahuasca, the supposed cure for everything). I got very interested in the subject, read much from both sides but came away feeling betrayed . These days I think medicine should be science driven as if it works it should be measurable. The lousy quality of the pro-camp studies imply that they know this too.

Sorry for my semi-rant but it's a topic that saddens me for many reasons so it seems appropriate.

[Bauglir]

Even failing a direct explanation for acupuncture, the placebo effect is a powerful thing, and I don't see a problem with it if it gets the job done. Well, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but it's close enough.

[ChairmanPoo]

No

[RedKing]

I'm not opposed to scientific inquiry being combined with it. The Chinese have done quite a bit of scientific research on acupuncture and qigong and its relation to bioelectromagnetism.

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) is a little more....iffy. I've done it and my wife has done it, and the results haven't really been any more or less impressive than with Western medications for many issues. She's willing to try it because she's a wannabe hippie anti-modernist (who ironically is terrified of most things Chinese because of lead and melamine and hygiene). I'm willing to try it because of my religious beliefs.

[Neonivek]

The problem with TCM is that it represents a fundemental misunderstanding of what medicine even is. As if Western medicine came out of some sort of etherial void.

The problem with acupuncture however is the same thing that is wrong with a lot of alternative medicine. For everything it actually can do there are twenty things it cannot yet is said it can.

[Willfor]

Acupuncture does work wonders for allergies. I used to be completely unable to drink coffee or anything caffeinated without experiencing stomach-flu-like symptoms. My former boss (who clued my in on it) and her husband both also had the treatments. I largely ignored the practitioners explanations of how it worked, and tried to justify it in a "it's affecting my nerves or something like that."

Problem solved, quite literally.

[Neonivek]

Acupuncture does work wonders for allergies. I used to be completely unable to drink coffee or anything caffeinated without experiencing stomach-flu-like symptoms. My former boss (who clued my in on it) and her husband both also had the treatments. I largely ignored the practitioners explanations of how it worked, and tried to justify it in a "it's affecting my nerves or something like that."

Problem solved, quite literally.

But didn't you just introduce an additional variable in there? in that... it was a psychological alergy? Actually were you tested for alergies before hand? (since you would still be alergic after the treatment given how it works)

[Willfor]

Acupuncture does work wonders for allergies. I used to be completely unable to drink coffee or anything caffeinated without experiencing stomach-flu-like symptoms. My former boss (who clued my in on it) and her husband both also had the treatments. I largely ignored the practitioners explanations of how it worked, and tried to justify it in a "it's affecting my nerves or something like that."

Problem solved, quite literally.

But didn't you just introduce an additional variable in there? in that... it was a psychological alergy? Actually were you tested for alergies before hand? (since you would still be alergic after the treatment given how it works)

I was allergic to a number of other things, that was just the most glaring one, and the one that had the largest impact on my lifestyle. My opinion is anecdotal though, and only intended to be a "it worked for me" statement. I am, above all, not the best person to ask whether it is scientifically valid as a treatment option, as my post demonstrates, I was not convinced of any explanation of how it works going into it, or coming out of it.