The NEED for technology

Evaluate the importance of various technologies, including Canadian contributions, to our understanding of internal body systems (digestive, circulatory or respiratory)

It quite simple, without certain technologies that are present today the health care system would be nonexistent. Many discoveries and knowledgeable information would not be known. How would the image of a cell be known without technology? The structure of the cell is one the fundamental concepts in human biology.

Health technologies form an indispensable component of the services heath systems can offer in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. Health technologies also alleviate disability and functional deficiency.

The greatest invention of the 1600s, the microscope, changed the way people understood and explained the universe. No one scientist was responsible for the development of the microscope. Instead, the development of the microscope was an ongoing process that involved technological advances in glass making and lens polishing, along with refinements to existing models. The invention of the light microscope allowed for scientists to view the contents of cells, and led to the realization that plants and animals share many common cellular features. Without the light microscope, scientists would not have known the existence of Escherichia coli, which is a colony of small rod-shaped bacteria, that lives in the human intestines. These microbes continuously supplies the human body with important vitamins, and helps break down and food we consume.
The light microscope has further developed into the electron microscope, due to James Hillier and Albert Prebus, graduate students at the University of Toronto. Since then, further developments in the field of microscopy have led to:

The Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) which develops an image that is produced by a beam of electrons passing through a very thin slice of specimen. The image appears on a screen and is a flat, two-dimensional image.

The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) produces an image by a beam of electrons which scans across the surface of the sample. As secondary electrons are released by the sample, they form an image which is somewhat three dimensional.

The Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM) produces an image of a sample by placing a minuscule electrical probe near the surface of the sample. The images produced are used for atomic-level imaging and for manipulating molecules and atoms.

The use of the microscope has led to an understanding the structure of the cell and its functions. It provided the basis for determining how tissues and organs work. It has identified bacteria, viruses, and process that allows for a positive impact on the health care system.

A Canadian researcher, Dr. Gurmit Singh, who works at the Hamilton Regional Cancer Centre (and McMaster University) is studying the way the mitochondria of a tumour's cells differs from those of a normal cell. In healthy cells, any distribution of the mitochondria causes cellular respiration to stop, which leads to the death of the cell. In tumour cells, the abnormal mitochondria allows the cell to continue to live, increasing the size of the tumour. In Dr. Gurmit Singh's studies, he hopes to find a way to activate the normal death signals in tumour cells, allowing the destruction of the tumour.

A microscope is limited to viewing a small sample of any matter. In contrast, a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan is defined as a procedure in which an X-ray machine takes many pictures of an object from different angles; a computer then reassembles the image to allow viewing of the object in cross section and in 3-D. The CAT scan is so accurate that it can detect abrasions as small as one millimetre. The scanner also distinguishes between gases, liquids, and solid tissues, and is able to identify tumours embedded in the bran or liver. CAT scans are particularly useful as a diagnostic tool for assessing head injuries involving blood clots.


An endoscope is a medical instrument to view the interior of the body. It can be fitted with a light-emitting glass fibre and then positioned inside a patient's body. This medical device is inserted directly into the organ and can consist of the following: a rigid or flexible tube, a light source connected to the tip of the tube, and a lens system, transmitting the image to the viewer. An endoscope was first introduces into a human in 1822, but Willian Beaumort. This device can be used to view: the esophagus, the stomach, stomach ulcers, small intestine, or large intestine (digestive system), the nasal passage or nose (respiratory system).


It quite oblivious to everyone, that the heart is one of the most important components in the human body. But does anyone wonder, is it possible to MAKE a heart? Dr. Michael Sefton, director of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, has been studying and experimenting on how it would be possible to create components of the the heart. This breakthrough in medicine would provide an unlimited number of hearts for transplant that would be grown in the laboratory.
PROCESS IN MAKING A HEART:
1) Cells are placed along plastic scaffolding. Typically, biodegradable plastics are used.
2) The scaffolding, seeding with cells, is placed in a bioreactor that provides nutrients and oxygen needed to support cell division. The bioreactor acts as an incubator maintaining constant body temperature.
3) The cells secrete proteins and growth factors that bind them together to form a living tissue on the scaffolding.

The sphygmomanometer is defined as a device used to measure blood pressure (the force of blood on the walls of the arteries). Blood pressure is traditionally measured in millimetres of mercury ( mm Hg ). A sphygmomanometer consists of a cuff with an air bladder that wraps around a human's arm, a small pump is used to inflate the air bladder, thereby closing off blood flow through the brachial artery, one of the major arteries in the arm, and a measuring unit. This device had been invented by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch, in 1881. High blood pressure can be a serious health problem, as it can weaken an artery and eventually result in its rupture. Equally, low blood pressure reduces the capacity to transport blood in the human body. A sphysmomanometer is important in monitoring the circulatory system and can reflect the health of the respiratory system.

In conclusion, health technologies are a major component of the health care system. Without certain technologies, many diseases would not be known, many people would die of unknown causes, and the existence of the universe and human body would still be unknown. Basically, everything would be unknown.

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WORKS CITED LIST:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/question146.htm
http://www.yesmag.ca/how_work/microscope.html
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bodyct
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153737.php
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/upperendoscopy/