Virtual Medial Program – The New Healthcare Gateway By Herbalist Wendy Wilson

There is a new healthcare gateway being built which will transform the medical profession. New cutting edge technology is being tested in the UK by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. They are collaborating on a project using computer simulated interfaces of the human body. They call the project the silico Virtual Physiological Human (VPH). According to reports, the new virtual medical programs will not only streamline medicine treatments and research but will also address some of the economic problems associated with socialized healthcare.

Let’s take a look at what is coming from across the pond and see if this approach will benefit patients.

WHAT IS IT?

We’re told that the new Virtual Physiological Human interface will help physicians predict what problems patients will have down the road and offer time-saving approaches and treatment plans. The programs will have what I call “specialty sections” in which the interfaces will address cardio, pulmonary, neuromuscular, neurology and offer assessments for each and a management plan for the patient’s disease.

This is computer software that will run simulations of the human body and disease profiles. The interface will offer a prediction for future health risks. It is predicted that this interface will remove unnecessary steps or procedures (such as drugs, tests and surgery) to streamline treatment, time and costs.

It is predicted that this interface will significantly increase out-patient volume while decreasing in-patient volume. So it sounds like the Virtual Physiological Human should be the perfect fix to socialized healthcare systems which have resources currently unable to cope with demand. The European Union has been funding the research on the VPH since 2007 costing €220 Million ($303 million USD).

The short-term plan is that they intend to roll this program out to all countries in the EU.

“What we’re working on here will be vital to the future of healthcare.” Dr. Keith McCormack (Lead researcher at Insigneo Institute)

SOFTWARE LABORATORY

According to Dr. McCormack, the Virtual Physiological Human is software which is your physician, diagnostics and laboratory all in one and is designed to save HUGE amounts of time and money. If this is true, all Americans paying high insurance premiums on the healthcare exchanges should see a reduction in costs should the US government adopt this program.

This is a sophisticated technical application and may only be as good as it is programmed and operated.

This simulated human interface will be directly used in clinical practice supposedly to improve diagnosis and treatment. Will physicians be involved or will the process be run by clinicians? One thing I learned while working in the medical field, training is limited and many a secretary can be given white lab coat and a title of clinician. Will physicians be able to countermand the program?

Also, everything in technology is hack-able.

PRODUCING THE SILICO HUMAN

Who is going to manufacture the guts of this new silico human? Insigneo Institute is the lead research facility working with Sheffield University and Sheffield Hospital. Insigneo is a leader in biomedical models and for the last five years they have been working on creating this digital patient program.

We’re told that the program interface will be able to perform personalized treatment plans for active, healthy and the aging population. In addition, the Virtual Physiological Human will achieve scientific data for research and translate the research results into other languages.

That tells me that this interface will eventually be a global interface on many different levels. The interface is also being created to be used in education. Here is where my eyeballs widened; the interface is also intended to exploit the research results for commercial promotions and innovations. Information will be sold to companies and help create start-ups.

WORKING SCENARIO

Here is a scenario of how the Virtual Physiological Human will work. A young couple is expecting a baby and the interface would receive the parent’s biological information. The program will look for any problem areas and also search the files for various scenarios regarding risks of pregnancy; both to mother and baby. For instance; the program may indicate a risk of damage to the ligaments and tendons holding up the uterus (known as pelvic floor muscles) and the likely result of a future diagnosis of incontinence.

The interface can submit recommended treatments to minimize the future condition of incontinence. This interface will plant predictive healthcare needs and this information will be available to more than just the healthcare industry.

I predict it will be information sold to insurance companies (life, auto, etc), employment firms and law enforcement (Homeland Security). Your social value will be calculated and will determine how much will be spent on your healthcare in the future.

“It’s (Virtual Physiological Human) positioned as a predictive tool.” Dr. Xinshan Li, Professor University of Sheffield Department of Mechanical Engineering

WHAT ELSE?

This interface will grow in knowledge and patients will be the testing grown for its development. The virtual testing of treatments on patients will help the interface predict the future. This interface could take on the ability to “think.” Let’s wrap our brains around the possibility that this interface, this virtual human, could become the artificial intelligence in charge of your health.

Why would I say that? Well, Marco Viceconti, Insigneo’s scientific director, says this interface can stitch information together and sheer size is not a problem.

It will know in advance how a patient will respond to treatment and can “quantum leap the efficacy without inventing anything.” There are over 123 scientists and physicians contributing information to the Virtual Physiological Human. Dr. Paul Morris of the British Heart Foundation submitted work to help the interface create personalized “virtual arteries” of a patient’s heart.

The interface can predict how successful open heart surgery (or any surgery) would be on any given patient. I’m sure approval or denial of any treatment will rest on what the great Virtual Physiological Human says. We should find out within five years.

This virtual human interface is being promoted as the best thing since sliced bread. However, I know this will be a two-edged sword. Now, imagine you’re a young mother-to-be and this interface says surgery to save your baby would be in vain and therefore medicine won’t try because they are prohibited from trying.

The psychological impact of a computer denying you from trying to save your unborn child would be enormous; talk about nixing a miracle.

“Obviously this is the future of medicine. The idea is for us to have a virtual avatar to predict how our real bodies will react to treatment. Will this avatar tell me when I’m going to die?” Professor Peter Coveney, Director of Computational Science University College London

HOW DO YOU FEEL?

How do you feel about a computer interface mapping your entire body accounting for every foot of intestine, every ounce of blood and every cell and calling the shots regarding treatment? This is the NSA of medicine. Forget about the convenient doctor visit via computer. Technology such as this will put a whole lot of power into the hands of a select few. Ask, is it worth any positive advancements it may offer? If you participate in socialized healthcare you’ll have no choices.

BACK TO EDEN

I personally look to the power of foods and herbs to prevent a whole lot of health problems. I’d rather strengthen the body with the nutrition in herbs and avoid an unhealthy lifestyle than to have to deal with virtual human. Obviously serious trauma would be the exception.

I keep my cardio system strong with heart herbs; I use herbs to improve cognitive function, herbs to strengthen bones and muscles and herbs to clear the pulmonary (lungs). I put a whole lot of power into my own hands using God’s good herbs and so can you.

Call Apothecary Herbs for a free product catalog or to order toll free 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277 online http://www.thepowerherbs.com, where your healthcare options just became endless. If you are not sure which herbal formulas are right for you just call or email.

Sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/in-silico-first-steps-towards-a-computer-simulation-of-the-human-body-9340781.html
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/university-electronics/university-of-sheffield/insigneo-institute-builds-silico-virtual-physiological-human-2014-05/