Global Pulse Blog

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced in Science that they created an experimental one-cell organism, Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0, that has the ability to reproduce.

An article written in the Wall Street Journal discusses the process used to create the cell:

To begin, they wrote out the creature’s entire genetic code as a digital computer file, documenting more than one million base pairs of DNA in a biochemical alphabet of adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. They edited that file, adding new code, and then sent that electronic data to a DNA sequencing company called Blue Heron Bio in Bothell, Wash., where it was transformed into hundreds of small pieces of chemical DNA, they reported.

To assemble the strips of DNA, the researchers said they took advantage of the natural capacities of yeast and other bacteria to meld genes and chromosomes in order to stitch those short sequences into ever-longer fragments until they had assembled the complete genome, as the entire set of an organism’s genetic instructions is called.

They transplanted that master set of genes into an emptied cell, where it converted the cell into a different species”

It may be possible for this new field, called synthetic biology, to one day provide alternatives to standard practices in many different industries. For example, the industrial life forms can be used to produce renewable fuels as well as vaccines.

This development also raises questions about concerning the ethics, law and public safety of artificial life. So I ask you all, what are some specific issues do you see needing to be addressed concerning synthetic life?

Some exciting news to share: Global Pulse Blog is now syndicated on MedPedia’s News & Analysis section!  About MedPedia:

The Medpedia Project is a long-term, worldwide project to evolve a new model for sharing and advancing knowledge about health, medicine and the body among medical professionals and the general public. This model is founded on providing a free online technology platform that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and transparent. [Read more.]

As a fellow organization that believes in open-access publishing, peer review, and online innovation, we applaud MedPedia’s work, and are proud to be part of it.  If you have a Medpedia profile, we invite you to check out ours, follow our blog and join our discussions!

Gaia by Alex Grey

Only 40 years ago, the image of our planet as a fragile blue ball in space inspired the first Earth Day.  Though people today are more aware than ever of the need to take care of the environment, challenges remain. Here at Global Pulse, we wanted to bring together stories of innovation and help increase awareness of the health aspects of environmentalism. On that note, Framing Science put together an excellent post on the inter-agency NIH report on the human health impacts of climate change, which range across a variety of health disciplines including:

• Asthma, respiratory allergies, and airway diseases
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease and stroke
• Foodborne diseases and nutrition
• Heat-related morbidity and mortality
• Human developmental effects
• Mental health and stress-related disorders
• Neurological diseases and disorders
• Waterborne diseases
• Weather-related morbidity and mortality
• Vectorborne and zoonotic diseases (like malaria, which can be transmitted from animals to humans)

One key aspect to addressing these challenges will be to re-invent farming to feed the future population, projected to hit 9 billion people by 2050, while at the same time preserving ecosystems. In the past decade, humanity past the point where over 50% of our population lives in urban areas, making cities vital to ensuring the future health of the planet and her people. The second great epidemiological revolution succeeded in part by controlling the health of our water,. Innovative architect Manit Rastogi plans to do the same for Delhi by transforming the polluted network of Nullahs (sewage laden stream) into a pedestrian and cycling network by using bio-remediation embankments. In San Francisco, newly launched Urban Forest Map is helping citizens take care of their city trees via the web.

As future medical professionals, many of us often cringe at the amount of waste generated by laboratories in the service of medicine and research. Oscillator gives a personal touch to this and shows a few simple ways to reduce waste in the lab while the EPA and DOE are busy designing the green lab of tomorrow.

In January 2010 PLoS Medicine published a very interesting four-part weekly series on this subject.  I have posted a few excerpts below:

The study had three aims; (1) to advance current understanding of the interplay of actors in the system; (2) to evaluate its performance; and (3) to identify opportunities for improvement.

Read the rest of this entry →

Part four of this series introduces telemedicine technology and one application of such technology, teledermatology.

Read the rest of this entry →

In the second part of this series I hope to introduce the healthcare system of Botswana.

Botswana has two parallel health systems—the public system and private system—each with its own hospitals, clinics, and physicians. Care in the public sector, including laboratory testing, hospitalization and medications, is free for all Batswana (citizens of Botswana are known as Batswana). Read the rest of this entry →

This summer I have had the opportunity to travel to Botswana to participate in global health work and contribute to research investigating the use of telemedicine technology for various healthcare applications. This is the first in a what I hope will be a series of blog entries in which I will discuss health care and medical issues in Botswana.

Botswana is a landlocked country about the size of Texas located just north of South Africa in southern Africa.

The majority of the 1.84 million population are Setswana (or Tswana) and are concentrated along the eastern part of the country due to the largely uninhabitable Kalahari Desert which occupies most of the rest of the territory. 35% of the population are 0-14 years old; 61% are 15-64 years old; and only 4% of the population is older than 65 years.

70% of people living in Botswana are Christian, 7% have indigenous beliefs, and 20% have no religion. While English is the official language, Setswana is still widely spoken and many older Batswana only speak Setswana.

Formerly known as the British colony of Bechuanaland, Botswana gained independence from the British in 1966, but has a long history of democracy through the tribal meetings of the kgotlas. The country is now a stable democratic parliamentary republic and has a market-based economy among the strongest in Africa. Most of Botswana’s wealth comes from diamond mines most of which are co-owned by DeBeers and the Botswana Government. Beef exports and tourism also contribute to the economy. Despite this socio-economic stability, poverty remains a concern with a large gap between rich and poor existing and unemployment remaining close to 40%. Education and healthcare are free, and the national literacy rate is greater than 80%.

For more general information about Botswana, check out the Botswana Tourism Board and check back for more entries!

A quick round-up of cool stuff in global health news:

The Global Health Magazine discusses use of technology for health in resource-poor settings.

The New England Journal of Medicine sets up an Online First page for H1N1 (a.k.a. Swine-Origin Influenza)

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières release The Photographer, a graphic novel documenting their humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

More coming soon!

The Kaiser Family Foundation has a new resource for global health. While new, it features plenty of handy information for us global advocates, such as a map of cumulative cases of H1N1 influenza (the subtype of influenza A causing swine flu), convenient fact sheets on U.S. Global Health Policy, and a policy tracker in which you can follow up on the latest global health legislation.