The Interdisciplinary Journal of Health, Ethics, & Policy
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TUFTSCOPE THE INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF HEALTH, ETHICS, & POLICY A DISCUSSION WITH LYDIA X. Z. BROWN: DISABILITY JUSTICE POTENTIAL FOR WORLD’S FIRST HUMAN HEAD TRANSPLANT d 23AndMe: AT-HOME GENETIC Fall 2017 • Volume 17 Issue I TESTING JOURNAL HISTORY EDITORIAL BOARD INSIDE THIS ISSUE Since 2001, TuftScope: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Health, Ethics, & Policy has provided an academic forum for discus- Editor-in-Chief TuftScope | Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I sion of pertinent healthcare and biosocial issues in today’s Neeki Parsa world. The journal addresses different aspects of health- LETTER FROM THE EDITOR care, bioethics, public health, policy, and active citizen- Managing Editor Moving Forward.....................................................................................5 ship. It is operated and edited by undergraduate students of Tufts University and is advised by an Editorial Board Michael Seleman Neeki Parsa composed of Tufts undergraduates and faculty. Today the journal is one of the few peer-reviewed, undergraduate- Senior Financial Officer Ursula Biba NEWS BRIEFS published journals in the country. Selections From Our News Analysis Blog.....................................6 Faculty Advisors TuftScope Staff PUBLISHER AND PRINTER Harry Bernheim, PhD TuftScope is published by the TuftScope Journal organiza- Alexander Queen, PhD FEATURE INTERVIEW tion at Tufts University. The journal is printed by Puritan A Discussion with Lydia X. Z. Brown ..............................................8 Press, NH (http://www.puritanpress.com). Junior Financial Officer Michael Seleman Akari Miki COPYRIGHT TUFTSCOPE 2016 News & Analysis Editor BOOK REVIEW TuftScope is an open-access journal distributed under the Ted Midthun A Book Review of Mark Wolynn’s It Didn’t Start with You......12 terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which Neeki Parsa permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, Research Highlights Editor provided the original author and source are credited. The Kurtis Chien-Young statements of authors within this journal do not reflect the ORIGINAL ARTICLES views or opinions of TuftScope Journal or Tufts University. New Media Editor Robots? Surgery? Robotic Surgery?..............................................14 Leili Najmabadi Sachin Vallamkonda SUBMISSIONS INFORMATION Submissions on health, ethics, and policy topics from stu- Executive Manuscript & Layout Editors Smartphone App Interventions for Depression .....................16 dents, faculty, and individuals are welcome. For more infor- David Park Kurtis Chien-Young mation please email [email protected]. Clair Li Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes.................................................18 Acquisitions Editor Allison Kannam SUBSCRIPTIONS TO TUFTSCOPE Nikita Chaubal Subscriptions to the print edition of TuftScope may be obtained by emailing [email protected]. Lead Copy Editor The Plugged-In Physician.................................................................19 Jamie Tebeau Nikita Chaubal COVER IMAGE Copy Editors The cover image was created originally and independently Why Won’t People Eat Their Vegetables?..................................22 Rebecca Moragne by TuftScope. Cover image was obtained from the American Jesie Fu Helen Mizrach Museum of Natural History, and modified and designed by Annie Altman-Merino Clair Li and David Park, Manuscript and Layout Editors. Getting A Head: FEATURED STAFF The World’s First Human Head Transplant ............................... 24 FUNDING Jacqueline Katz Helen Mizrach TuftScope is funded by grants from the Tufts Community Grace Materne Union Senate. Sidharth Anand Planarian Went to Space, Got Two Heads................................. 27 Allison Kannam Annie Phan Katie Campbell CONTACT US Mohamad Hamze Email: [email protected] Alexander Pan Website: TuftScope.squarespace.com Address: Available on back cover. ISSN: 1534-7397 2 TuftScope | Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I | TuftScope 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE LETTER FROM THE EDITOR TuftScope | Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I Moving Forward Dear Reader, 23AndMe: At-Home Genetic Testing......................................................................30 Each year, the field of medicine adapts to the human body’s complexity with increasing depth and breadth; As Jamie Tebeau medical technology advances, the means by which healthcare providers apply their knowledge gradually follows suit. Healthcare moves forward by getting better acquainted with the science of the human body, but also by paying The Potential of Bexarotene and Irisin..................................................................32 attention to how the body interacts with its environment, both socially and physically. In this issue of TuftScope, Daniel Kaltman you will read articles that attempt to address health from three vantage points; The science of the human body and new interventions to rectify its circumstantial chemical malfunction, the social existence of the human and how we The Artificial Pancreas: A Personal Narrative .....................................................34 interact with the field of medicine itself, and lastly, the importance of our physical surroundings as it pertains to our Machlan Sawden physical and mental health. A Controversial Step Toward Life............................................................................ 36 When TuftScope published its first volume in 2001, America’s sociomedical landcape looked very different from its current manifestation. As Lydia X. Z. Brown illustrates in this volume’s Feature Interview, the history of disability Rebecca Moragne justice in America is a troubling one. In recent years, due to efforts by disability activists and organizers, the way we think about disability in the mainstream is set to gradually change, as we listen to narratives that complicate defini- The Case of the Icelandic Horse Epidemic...........................................................38 tions that are easy to take for granted as straight-forward. We can see the importance of physician-patient relation- Ted Midthun ships not only in these macro-consequences, but also in the seemingly small features of interaction. In her piece on the impact of internet self-diagnoses on the physician-patient relationship, Nikita Chaubal addresses the impor- A Type One Diabetes Vaccine....................................................................................41 tance of adapting to technological changes that affect the way we interact with one another, especially in medicine. Julia Greco In an integration of a personal narrative, Machlan Sawden discusses the current state of, and concerns around the impending artificial pancreas. With the personal nature of the article, Sawden simultaneously explains the science of the artificial pancreas while reminding us how interventions designed to prolong life are often applied to patients’ daily lives in a rather invasive way. These articles illustrate the inextricable nature of human social existence and medicine. As it pertains to physical health and medical science, in recent years we have come closer than ever to complet- Visit TuftScope online at ing the world’s first human head transplant, developed means to offer personalized gene sequencing as it has come TuftScope.squarespace.com to fruition in 23AndMe, and found a potential vaccine for type 1 diabetes. In this issue, TuftScope’s writing staff for references, prior issues, and addresses these developments. In their articles, they ask how much research has been done, what limitations the science news from our editors existing research has, and what research still needs to be done to more holistically understand the relevant issues. and contributors. To engage with the notion of the human body’s interaction with its environment, Ted Midthun and Jesie Fu discuss behaviors and circumstances that exacerbate poor health outcomes; These behaviors can range from not paying Cover image: In this issue, TuftScope explores enough attention to the origins of disease, to inadequate vegetable intake. With expanding resources and a growing several intersections of health and social justice. population of scientists and doctors, questions are being asked and answered at a record rate. In this issue of TuftS- Cover art designed by Clair Li and David Park. cope, you will get a snapshot of some of these questions and a few of their answers. My hope for a path forward is that our questions get more complicated, and that we encounter more moral conundrums as we venture into clarifying the human body and how to best take care of it. If our questions about the human body were ever simple, we likely would not have seen the progress we are in the midst of observing today. As these questions grow more complicated, they more accurately reflect the complexity of what it means to be a human, and feel okay. Get published! Contact us at Sincerely, Neeki Parsa Editor-in-Chief [email protected] They/Them/Theirs 4 TuftScope | Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I Fall 2017 • Volume 17, Issue I | TuftScope 5 NEWS BRIEFS New Insight into the Impact of Neanderthal DNA on the Modern Human Katie Campbell Selections From Our News Analysis Blog pproximately 100,000 years ago, humans began mi- Several Neanderthal alleles were observed to play a role in Agrating out of Africa to Eurasia where they interbred skin and hair appearance. Some of these alleles are involved Acquired by Ted Midthun, News & Analysis Editor with Neanderthals. Today,