Modern Medicine

• Mendel - law of inheritance - if genes can pass features, then diseases can pass from one generation to next


  1900
• Franklin and Wilkins - creates images of DNA - DNA carries information from one generation to the next


  1951
• Watson and Crick - mapped out and replicated the structure of DNA - allowed doctors to study hereditary disease


  1953
• Human genome project - first draft


  1990-2000
• Importance of Lifestyle

  • More specific about how to understand and prevent disease
  • Understood more about the functions of the human body
• Smoking

  Causes lung cancer, gum disease, throat and mouth cancer, asthma
• There were a lot of anti-smoking campaigns
• Diet

  • More awareness of the harm if too much sugar is in one's diet
  • Diabetes, obesity
  • Dangers of saturated fat - heart problems
• Alcohol and Drugs

  • Liver disease
  • Cannabis links to mental health, cocaine can cause heart failure
• Sun


  Links to skin cancer
• Sexual health

  • Not using contraception can lead to sexually transmitted infections
  • Understanding how to prevent STI/STD
• Importance of Tech in diagnosing illness

  • Ultrasound scans - scan pregnant women and can determine if they are healthy, can check for any early diseases that may occur
  • Blood tests - diagnose any illness in the blood, can check the number of cells in the blood
  • MRI and CT scans - diagnose cancer, can check the brain for any tumours or disease
• Many British people had undergone hardship


  WW2
• Welfare state

  • Government took a more active role in the welfare of their people
  • People wanted government intervention
  • William Beveridge highlighted 5 evils that needed legislation - Want (social welfare), Disease (health care system), Ignorance (education for children), Squalor (social housing), Idleness (full employment)
• Labour party is elected, sees the creation of the world first welfare state


  1945
• NHS

  • Introduced in 1948 - paid for by national insurance
  • Everyone got free treatment - this includes hospitals, maternity, vaccines, GP, medicine etc
  • NHS gave everyone an access to a doctor - before 1948, 8 million people had never seen a doctor - this was due to expense
  • Everyone had access to advance treatment e.g. x-rays
  • More education to public health e.g. smoking
  • Increased life expectancy and decrease in infant mortality rate
• Preventing Disease

  • Devlopment for vaccines in infectious diseases e.g. 1954 - polio, 1964 - measles
  • Preventing disease caused by genetic problem - pre-empting cancer, women can be checked for the likelihood of passing disease on to children
• Importance of Lifestyle

  • Lung cancer - avoid smoking
  • Obesity, diabetes - limit intake of sugar and saturated fat
  • Liver disease - recommended alcohol intake
  • Mental health and other illnesses - avoid/limit alcohol or drug, therapists
  • Skin cancer - wear sunscreen and pro-longed periods under direct sunlight
  • STI - practice safe sex
• Lung Cancer


  • 150 years ago - extremely rare
  • Second most common type of cancer in the UK
  • Over 40000 diagnosed each year
  • 90% of cases are a result of smoking
• Diagnosis

  1. GP visit

  2. CT scan

  3. PET-CT scan
• Treatment

  1. Lung transplant - advanced surgery

  2. Radiotherapy - radiation to fight tumour

  3. Chemotherapy - chemical drugs to fight tumour
• Prevention

  • 2007 - public smoking ban
  • Government made anti-smoking campaigns, education in schools against smoking
  • 1965- banning cigarettes advertising in TV
  • 2007 - legal smoking age turned 18 from 16
  • 2007 - smoking ban in workplaces
  • Increased taxation on smoking products
  • Ban cigarette products from displaying in shops and enforcing health warning on packaging
  • 2015 0 ban on smoking in cars with under 18
• Magic bullets

  • Paul Ehrlich - begins testing for chemical compound in 20th century
  • 1907 - tested over 600 compounds
  • Salvarsan 606 - an effective treatment for syphilis
  • Prontosil cures strands on influenza
  • M&B 693 - fights pneumonia
• Penicillin


  • Alexxander Fleming - 1928 - identified fungi called penicillin that was effective at killing harmful bacteria
  • This was expensive to produce
  • 1939 - Florey and Chain - examine Fleming's work and made some successful test on mice
  • July 1941 - Florey and Chain secure investing from the US to grow penicillin in large vats, this made penicillin was mass produced due to infection in the war
• Advanced Technology

  • Keyhole and microscopic surgery
  • Rejoin blood vessels
  • Organ transplants
• Dialysis Machine


  Keeps patients needing kidney transplant alive by purifying blood
• Blood Transfusions

  • 1901 - Karl Landsteiner discovers three major blood groups
  • Allows for successful blood transfusions