Unit Eight Assignment

PART ONE:

1. Digiusto, D. L., & Kiem, H. (2012). Current translational and clinical practices in hematopoietic   cell and gene therapy. Cytotherapy.14(7), 775-790. Doi:10.3109/14653249.2012.694420

Theme: In this article Digiusto and Kiem talk about the history of Gene Therapy and what they have discovered about it as well as what kind of results scientists have discovered. In this specific article, they review recent progress in hematopoietic cell and Gene Therapy, describe some of the current issues facing the field of discuss clinical, technical and regulatory approaches used to navigate the road to product development.

Audience: The authors have written this article for librarians but it is useful for other educators and for students as well.

Relevance: This article answers my question by responding to the aspect of what they have discovered about Gene Therapy and what kind of results they have obtained and how well they can take those results and use them to help cure some forms of cancer.

Evaluation:

·                     Credibility/ Authority:
DiGiusto, David L: Department of Virology and Laboratory for Cellular Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, California, USA
Kiem, Hans-Peter: Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Departments of Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

·                     Accuracy: The information is used by librarians and others seeking to support student learning in the research process.

·                     Reliability/objectivity: This certain article is found on the EBSCOhost Database as well as many other peer reviewed journals.

·                     Currency: This article was published in August of 2012

·                     Scope/Purpose:  This information applies to professors, students and anybody else that is interested in General information about Gene Therapy, its background, it’s history, what it is, and how it could help transform lives. 

2. Parker, M. A. (2011). Biotechnology in the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss: Foundations and future of hair cell regeneration. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 54(6), 1709-1731. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/964190444?accountid=14902

Theme: In this article, the author Mark Parker provides an overview of the methodologies involved in the field of hair cell regeneration. He then presents a review of stem cell and gene therapy and provides a critical appraisal of their application to hair cell regeneration. He indicated that his work had led to new methods of regenerating cochlear hair cells in mammals. However, mammalian hair cell regeneration using stem cell and gene therapy are years -- if not decades -- away from being clinically feasible.

Audience: The author has written this article for librarians but it is useful for other educators and for students as well.

Relevance: This article helps talk about how Gene Therapy could be used like stem cells in regenerating hair cells in mammals.

Evaluation:

·                     Credibility/ Authority:
Mark Allen Parker: Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Tufts University. He holds a PhD and is a part of the Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Clinical Medicine community.

·                     Accuracy: The information is used by librarians and others seeking to support student learning in the research process.

·                     Reliability/objectivity: This certain article is found on, ProQuest and EBSCOhost Databases as well as many other peer reviewed journals.

·                     Currency: This article was published in August of 2011.

·                     Scope/Purpose:  This information applies to professors, students and anybody else that is interested in General information about Gene Therapy, and how it could be used to help regenerate mammalian hair cells.

3. Donegan, C. (1995, December 8). Gene therapy's future. CQ Researcher, 5, 1089-1112. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

Theme: In this article, the author Craig Donegan talks about how gene therapy could be beneficial in today’s society and today’s health. He talks about both how it could help reverse over 4000 gene mutations and saving people’s lives to it being wrong because now scientists see themselves as godlike because they are tempering with God’s plan. He also discusses a specific case about a 3 month old infant who had Canavan’s disease which is a rare genetic malady that gradually destroys the brain, paralyzing and blinding its young victims where most die before the age of 11 and how her parents turned to the future of gene therapy to save their little girl. He also addresses how researchers have become increasingly frustrated over the number of hurdles that they must clear before undertaking any clinical trials. He also stated that some researchers argue that the regulations that control experiments on human subjects have unnecessarily slowed progress in treating deadly diseases.

Audience: The author has written this article for librarians but it is useful for other educators and for students as well.

Relevance: This article talks discusses what researchers think about the regulations that are currently holding them back from moving forward in their research with their gene therapy and how it could possibly save many lives.

Evaluation:

·                     Credibility/ Authority:
Craig Donegan: is a staff writer for CQ Researcher, a weekly news and research publication of Congressional Quarterly.

·                     Accuracy: The information is used by librarians and others seeking to support student learning in the research process.

·                     Reliability/objectivity: This certain article is found on CQ Researcher Database as well as many other peer reviewed journals.

·                     Currency: This article was published in December of 1995.

·                     Scope/Purpose:  This information applies to professors, students and anybody else that is interested in General information about Gene Therapy, and how it could be used to save lives as well as about the regulations that are holding researchers back from moving forward.

PART TWO:

The article I am choosing for this part is Gene Therapy’s Future. That is the third article I have found and in the CQ Researcher database. It is one of the articles from Part one of this assignment. The citation of this article is

Donegan, C. (1995, December 8). Gene therapy's future. CQ Researcher, 5, 1089-1112. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

PART THREE:

This assignment was very interesting. I never thought about the fact there are many different views on a specific topic. That is what I found out from this assignment. I used 3 different subject specific databases to obtain information about my topic of “Gene Therapy”. This has opened my eyes and made me realize that there are many different viewpoints about I’m sure everything there is out there. I will definitely use this technique next time I have to do research in order to explore my options and come up with the best information I can find to write a great research paper that states all different viewpoints about my topic.