A few decades back, I knew a number of people who were able to cure their Social Anxiety Disorder with a cocaine addiction, but it appeared to be kinda easy to tip the teeter-totter a little too far over, if you get my drift - goddam people wouldn't ever shut up. I liked 'em better all repressed and bottled-up, like.
My mind is blown.
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Super Turbo Deluxe Custom
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elfro89 said:
Believe it or not, most people with cancer don't die from it anymore.
Wana's made a guitar said:
My weird sci-fi idea for curing AIDS is to just build a "prosthetic" immune system out of nano-bots that HIV can't hijack. A couple of years ago I heard about an experimental treatment for HIV using nano technology, and I got all excited because I've had that idea for a long time.
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hannaugh said:
There are a few rare cases of those with a natural immunity to AIDS. It has to do with the size of their T Cells. Ironically, in the 80s no one wanted to study them because they didn't have AIDS.
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ptirman
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Depends on which type of cancer Turbo. Pancreatic cancer - still a death sentence with less than 10% surviving and many physicians think that of those, most are misdiagnosed. Of the garden variety of pancreatic cancer (like P Swazy and Michael Landon had) still a very terrible disease. Mr Jobs has a non garden variety (I've read, I don't know) which may explain his survival.
Testicular cancer, on the other hand, many are completely cured.
Even amongst certain cancer types, like breast cancer, there are variations with some being treated very well with certain therapies while others still don't respond well. The disease has many faces depending on the cell of origin.
There have been many advances though and a reason for optimism. I love it when people think outside the box and try something different. A country doctor in Australia discovered that many people with ulcers got better with antibiotics. Led to the discovery of h pylori. Who would have thunk that it wasn't completely stress?
reluctant-builder
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tfarny said:
I can see that as a cogent argument. And I would certainly admit that my statements are based on mostly hearsay and emotion. But it's hard for me to see our drug companies as something other than a cabal. I'm not saying it's a monopoly, because it's not just one company, but it's very oligarchical and, empirically, it certainly seems like the drug companies make out much better than those who need the drugs. Maybe I'm a pinko, but I find it fairly unconscionable to bleed the ill dry of all their money because it's the price they must pay for their lives. Herpes is just an inconvenience where the stigma is worse than the disease, but HIV / AIDS ... that's real. And to fight that, you need to print money.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19072_5-useful-organizations-you-think-are-evil-thanks-to-movies_p2.html
Just thought some of you may enjoy that read.
Also, looks like drug companies make profit margins of about 18%, which isn't astronomical.
Dude, banks make almost 20%, compared to about 7% being the national average. Maxwell Bank, here I come.
Just thought some of you may enjoy that read.
Also, looks like drug companies make profit margins of about 18%, which isn't astronomical.
Dude, banks make almost 20%, compared to about 7% being the national average. Maxwell Bank, here I come.
Keep in mind that drug companies make almost nothing off of vaccines, and if they stopped making them, could make a hell of a lot more off of the sick people that would result from not using them. But they haven't stopped manufacturing them.
Although the drug companies do seem unbelievably horrible for things like... I don't know, pouring tons of money into cures for impotence instead of cures for herpes, I really doubt there are many people in the upper management of those companies who consciously think thoughts like "I don't think we should cure cancer because we can make more money if we don't," because the vast majority of people are just not that evil. I'm not saying they don't exist, I just don't think it is the majority like people make it out to be. And in addition to that, I think there are far more scientists and others involved in pharmaceutical companies who dream of their company (or they themselves) being "the ONE" that cured cancer and saved the world, etc. You can't buy a reputation like what something like that would create.
Although the drug companies do seem unbelievably horrible for things like... I don't know, pouring tons of money into cures for impotence instead of cures for herpes, I really doubt there are many people in the upper management of those companies who consciously think thoughts like "I don't think we should cure cancer because we can make more money if we don't," because the vast majority of people are just not that evil. I'm not saying they don't exist, I just don't think it is the majority like people make it out to be. And in addition to that, I think there are far more scientists and others involved in pharmaceutical companies who dream of their company (or they themselves) being "the ONE" that cured cancer and saved the world, etc. You can't buy a reputation like what something like that would create.
It's about want and need. I seem to remember reading Viagara was invented by accident, and increased bloodflow, which just happens to compliment a certain market. I'm pretty sure more guys would be interested (as far as the wallet goes) in, ahem, a little bit of help, instead of a cancer cure. They'd just buy it.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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This statement is what I hate most about this world.reluctant-builder said:
reluctant-builder
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Max said:
Yeah, a lot of the time it is accidental. Rogaine was initially intended to be for blood pressure, if I recall correctly, but it happened to regrow hair on the heads of men with a certain baldness pattern.
@Wana's, sorry if my statement itself is what makes you feel that way. I copped to it being somewhat irrational, far more emotional and based on negative hearsay than based on evidence and research. However, if you happen to share the sentiment that the desire to make money often supersedes being helpful or humane ... well, I'm sorry about that, too, albeit in a different way.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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No, it wasn't your post at all, not that my knowledge is is based on any actual fact either.reluctant-builder said:
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