139: marvels of medicine

Thank you to Reasons to be Hopeful reader AJ for sending in today's story, which comes from the Reader's Digest. It documents some recent medical breakthroughs - new technologies, some of which are available now and others that are on the horizon. I've posted on one of them before (stem cells taken from skin tissue - Day Forty) but the others entail discoveries such as new vaccines (e.g. for flu and MS), new diagnostics (e.g. less painful alternatives to mammograms) and new drugs (for Alzheimer's). The latter case is particularly striking - when Alzheimer's sufferers took this new drug, currently in clinical trials, they scored better on memory tests within just two weeks and one patient was able to speak in full sentences again. All are breakthroughs that US patients will benefit from within 5 or so years, though some are available already. Let's hope they make it to other countries across the world soon too - spread a little hope, as I always say...