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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Want to know if you've got an STD? There's an app for that...
By Claire Bates
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1327982/Want-know-youve-got-STD-Theres-app-.html
Last updated at 8:35 AM on 10th November 2010
Scientists said a new mobile app could automatically make an appointment at a sexual health clinic after analysing a urine sample plugged into the phone (posed)
Anyone who is worried they might have picked up a sexually transmitted infection will soon be able find out... using their mobile phone.
Scientists at the University of London are developing a self-testing device that will instantly diagnose a host of common infections such as chlamydia.
Users will urinate on the device like with a pregnancy test and this will then be plugged into a mobile or computer.
Software will analyse the sample, make a diagnosis and recommend a course of action.
The £5.7million project, called eSTI² (electronic self-testing instruments for STIs), will use nanotechnology - advanced technology on a sub-microscopic scale. Researchers said it could revolutionise the treatment of sexual health.
Project leader Dr Tariq Sadiq, said: 'By making diagnosis easier to access in the community, with immediate results, we aim to reduce infection rates and improve sexual health.'
Dr Sadiq said that, potentially, eSTI2 systems could automatically make an appointment with the appropriate GP surgery or sexual health clinic, or send a message to the nearest pharmacy then use GPS to direct the user there, where their prescription will already have been prepared. It could also give options for informing a partner.
He envisaged them being available in pharmacies and perhaps even vending machines.
Dr Sadiq said: 'Mobile phones have changed the way we live and communicate, and our team of experts firmly believe that they open up a unique avenue for new ways to diagnose and control STIs.
'Currently, if you want to know if you have an infection, your sample is usually sent to a laboratory and the results come back in a few days.
'Imagine how much more likely you would be to get tested if you could test yourself away from a clinic and have an on-the-spot, accurate result, but still let a doctor or pharmacist know within minutes that you may need treatment.
'This kind of system could also speed up the process of communicating infection trends in the population to public health doctors, allowing for quicker responses to outbreaks of an STI.'
The proposal was put together as a direct response to the epidemic of STIs in the UK - which saw a rise of 36 per cent from 2000 to 2009 - and the reluctance for people to go to their doctor to find out if they are infected.
The project will bring together researchers with backgrounds in fields as diverse as telecommunications, microengineering, microbiology, and public health, as well as NHS technology adoption teams.
'The required technology is very close to becoming a reality,' said Dr Sadiq.
'But we need to address before we can use devices in the community such as confidentiality and data protection.
'It will also be vital to have tests that can be easily adapted to detect newly identified STIs, as all the causes of sexually transmitted diseases have still not been discovered.'
The Medical Research Council and the UK Clinical Research Collaboration have provided £4million of the funding for the ambitious project.
The rest has been made up by a consortium of researchers from St George's, University College London, Brunel University, Warwick University, Queen Mary, University of London, the Health Protection Agency, and industrial partners.
WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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