Modern world: causes, diagnosis, preventions, treatments

Question 1

Give 4 examples of our knowledge of the causes of disease in the modern world.

Answer 1

1. By 1900, Koch had made belief in germs universal.
2. 1902, Archibald Garrod: chemical pathways
3. 1953: structure of DNA understood
4. 1990-2000: Human Genome Project

Question 2

What are 9 common technologies used to make a diagnosis?

Answer 2

• Blood pressure monitors
• X-rays
• ECGs / electrocardiograms
• Endoscopes
• Blood tests
• Utrasound scans
• Blood sugar monitoring for diabetes.
• MRI scans
• CT scans

Question 3

How has greater emphasis been put on lifestyle factors as causes of disease? What makes this different to in the past?

Answer 3

Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, researchers have further looked at how diet and exercise have direct, causal links to illnesses such as a cancer and diabetes.
Thing like this have been hunches or rational thoughts linked as far back as to Ancient times, but we have now proved them with scientific methods.

Question 4

Give 3 examples of vaccinations discovered in the modern world.

Answer 4

1. 1942: vaccination against diphtheria
2. 1950: vaccination against whooping cough
3. 1961: vaccination against tetanus

Question 5

Give 4 examples of antibiotics discovered in the modern world.

Answer 5

1. 1928: penicillin
2. 1932: prontosil
3. 1938: M&B 693
4. 1943: streptomycin

Question 6

What understanding of cures do we have in the modern world?

Answer 6

Vaccines led to the understanding that the body produces antibodies to fight disease, so a cure should do this artificially.

Salvarsan 606, the first chemical cure, was discoverd in 1909.