Bio Minutes Kanmani Bharathi

👉🏻 Imagine an infant who needs to be prematurely born. But care providers can easily put the baby in an artificial womb instead of thinking about the age of viability, possibly saving the life of an infant who would otherwise not have survived.

👉🏻 An artificial womb, also known as a biobag, is a system that enables the conception of a baby to occur outside the human body. An artificial womb is also considered an exceptional neonatal incubator in the general public; however, most scientists or care professionals might argue that very different purposes serve an incubator and an artificial womb.  

👉🏻 Ectogenesis (or exogenesis) is characterized as the growth of a child outside the womb . And we are using a form of this already. If premature infants are moved to humidicribs in a neonatal unit to continue their development, that is partial ectogenesis.

👉🏻 But an artificial womb could extend the period a fetus could be gestated outside the body. Eventually, we might be able to do away with human wombs altogether. But the time of gestation of a fetus outside the body may be prolonged by an artificial womb. Eventually, we would be able to completely do away with human wombs.  

👉🏻 While the moral and ethical implications of the progress and growth of artificial womb technology can not be ignored, the assumed purely technological advantages can also not be denied. In relation to prematurity, artificial wombs are frequently discussed, but they may have additional applications.

 Fetal growth assistance:  This is linked to premature birth. If a couple learns that their child needs to be born early, an artificial womb could be used to ensure maximum growth. This probability could have a major effect on the age of viability, which is about 24 weeks at present. Initiation of fetal development: Growing a baby in an artificial womb could theoretically provide the opportunity for full gestation of a child for someone who does not have a working womb or has been diagnosed with infertility.

Implications of fetal surgery: Certain fetal procedures should not be done until after term birth at this time. An artificial womb can give the chance for both successful surgery and term gestation in medically necessary cases. The normal viability age, which is the age at which a fetus can live outside the womb, usually hovers about 24 weeks. Infants born before 22 weeks actually have little chance of survival. Preterm babies born at the cusp of viability often encounter serious complications leading to injury or death. Of the babies born after 26 weeks, 50% have significant long-term disability.  It is also not necessary to disregard the ethical implications of preserving life within an incubator, which is current practice. Treatment at these ages also also leads to death, prolonging the physical pain of the infant and parents' emotional distress. This pain, when making decisions regarding gestation, treatments, and medically necessary treatment, must be addressed by all parties.



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#GMOmosquitoes #GMOmosquitoes #floridakeys GMO mosquitoes are mosquitoes that have been implanted with a gene or bacteria which was not originally present or naturally occurring in the insect. In one case, the implant in question is a self-limiting gene that disrupts the normal processes of mosquitoes’ offspring. These offspring will, in turn, not survive to adulthood. Over 750 million genetically modified mosquitos will be released in Florida Keys in the next two years. This pilot project is designed to test if a genetically modified mosquito is a viable alternative to spraying insecticides to control the Aedes aegypti. Notably, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are known to spread deadly diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever. The mosquito is also approved to be released into Harris County, Texas, beginning in 2021, according to Oxitec, the US-owned, British-based company that developed the genetically modified organism (GMO). Oxitec ( https://www.oxitec.com/ ) is a UK-based biotechnology company that develops genetically modified insects to assist in insect control. The genetically modified populations act as a "living insecticide". Destructive insects are controlled without the use of insecticides that may inflict unwanted side effects. The company claims that its method of population control is more effective than insecticides and more environmentally friendly.

This episode shows invention of Velcro.