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Salu
12-09-2006, 10:52
There's a bit a of debate going on as to which is the greatest medical breakthrough since the mid 1800s at the BMJ. From a non-medical viewpoint what would you vote for?

Try and answer BEFORE you visit the link below or you might be influenced....

When the BMJ was first published, in 1840, average life expectancy in the Western world was only about half as long as it is today. Some of the reasons for this are social and political: increasing prosperity and increasing longevity have, for the most part, come hand in hand. But many of the reasons are medical, in the broadest sense of the term. The meticulously recorded observations of epidemiologists; the chance discoveries of pharmacologists; the sheer bloody mindedness of surgeons; and the curiosity of physicians, not to mention the innovations of a mixed bag of engineers, physicists, and even politicians, have all helped to increase the length and quality of our lives......http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/333/7567/0-g?ehom
Hugh
12-09-2006, 10:58
Effective and appropriate anaesthetics (local and general).
Graham M
12-09-2006, 11:00
Instead of Hammers? :)
danielf
12-09-2006, 11:02
Contraceptives
Kliro
12-09-2006, 11:05
I'd say (in my limited knowledge) penicillin.
TheDaddy
12-09-2006, 11:06
I'd say (in my limited knowledge) penicillin.

I'd go along with that
Russ
12-09-2006, 11:09
Minoxidil :disturbd:
superbiatch
12-09-2006, 11:12
Prozac?
MovedGoalPosts
12-09-2006, 11:12
Infection control - simple washing and sterliisation of hands etc. Just a shame our NHS seems to have forrgoten that concept :(
Angua
12-09-2006, 11:14
Seems to me there are 3 different ways to look at this from Chemical to Medical to Surgical all equally valid to the person affected.
Salu
12-09-2006, 11:15
Effective and appropriate anaesthetics (local and general).

My grandfather was a surgeon. He said that a common way of anaesthetising patients was to put a mask on, turn on the nitrous oxide and wait till the patient went blue, then turn on the oxygen. :erm:

Makes you glad to be alive in the 21st Century...
Hugh
12-09-2006, 11:17
Instead of Hammers? :)

That's a bit unfair - there are no proven cases of people falling asleep watching West Ham! ;)
homealone
12-09-2006, 11:24
X-Rays & all the subsequent medical imaging techniques, such as MRI.
Pia
12-09-2006, 12:00
Chemotherapy, and screenings for cancer.
timewarrior2001
12-09-2006, 12:07
Transplant surgery/organ donors
handyman
12-09-2006, 13:26
penicillin was my 1st thought.
Sterilising medical tools must have had a major impact also.
ian@huth
12-09-2006, 13:35
Stem cell research.
Ramrod
12-09-2006, 14:02
Germ theory? (a little before the mid 1800's)
Jules
12-09-2006, 14:58
Has to be penicillin and the antibiotics that have followed it
dilli-theclaw
12-09-2006, 15:19
Speaking personally i'd say insulin - but i'm not sure when that came about. Otherwise i'd also go with penecillin.
TheBlueRaja
12-09-2006, 15:19
The Sewer / Sanitation.
Graham M
12-09-2006, 15:44
Speaking personally i'd say insulin - but i'm not sure when that came about. Otherwise i'd also go with penecillin.

Insulin is a chemical produced by the body to regulate the metabolisation of Carbohyrdrates, discovered in 1869. Humans stop producing it due to a malfunction of the Pancreas. Originally Cow or Pig Insulin was injected as it is very similar to Human Insulin but it wasn't very pure initially. Recent developments have meant that most Insulin now is produced through Genetic Engineering techniques. I beleive it is called Humilin.
dilli-theclaw
12-09-2006, 15:48
Insulin is a chemical produced by the body to regulate the metabolisation of Carbohyrdrates, discovered in 1869. Humans stop producing it due to a malfunction of the Pancreas. Originally Cow or Pig Insulin was injected as it is very similar to Human Insulin but it wasn't very pure initially. Recent developments have meant that most Insulin now is produced through Genetic Engineering techniques. I beleive it is called Humilin.Indeed - I have just been switched today to humalog (which the nurse told me was different/better than humalin :confused: )insulin. However it came about i'm very glad it did ;) :)
Maggy
12-09-2006, 16:33
The discovery of the double helix of human DNA followed by the mapping of the human genome.The one has led to the other and the latter will lead to some cures for some pretty unpleasant genetic diseases as well as basic cures for conditions like cancer and diabetes. :tu:
budwieser
12-09-2006, 18:58
The Sewer / Sanitation.
What did the Romans ever do for us? :D :D

I would say,,,,,, MRI Scans Or possibly Animal Testing to develope new drugs and treatments.
Shame it`s not done on Paedophiles and Rapists but there you go.