BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, TRENDS, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGIES Edited by Małgorzata Anna Komorowska and Sylwia Olsztyńska-Janus Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies Edited by Małgorzata Anna Komorowska and Sylwia Olsztyńska-Janus Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Ana Nikolic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer Martina Sirotic Image Copyright Olivier Le Queinec, 2010. Used under license from Shutterstock.com First published January, 2011 Printed in India A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies, Edited by Małgorzata Anna Komorowska and Sylwia Olsztyńska-Janus p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-514-3 free online editions of InTech Books and Journals can be found at www.intechopen.com [...]... about the definition of disease and health Health and disease are largely seen as dichotomous categories into which patients may be placed By 8 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies portraying 'disease' and 'health' in this way, as if at opposite ends of a single axis, the biomedical model has not contributed to the resolution of the philosophical debate and finding philosophically... 'biomedical model' and 'medical model' are used In addition, the title 'disease model' may also be sometimes used This title is perhaps more telling One of the central characteristics of Western medical thinking is its emphasis on disease and with anything else which might be deemed to be 'wrong' with the patient 4 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies As the term implies, the biomedical. ..Preface Biomedical Engineering encompasses fundamental concepts in engineering, biology and medicine to develop innovative approaches and new devices, materials, implants, algorithms, processes and systems for the medical industry These could be used for the assessment and evaluation of technology; for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases; for patient care and rehabilitation, and for improving... mirror the dichotomy between 'disease' and 12 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies 'health' – which seems to be what the biomedical model seeks to do Help with enhancing one's quality of life is broader than this One must be clear about the purpose of making models Two major types of model may be identified These may be described as 'Models of' and 'Models for' 'Models of' are those... Importantly, the axes are arranged so that, as one moves along Fig 3 A new two-dimensional biomedical model 14 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies them, there is an increase in physical disorder and experiential disturbance the further one travels away from the origin With these increasing levels of disorder and disturbance come increasing levels of threat to individual survival As one moves... to promote the personal and professional interests of the researchers and research groups (Hyland, 1998) Gilbert & Mulkay (1984) showed that scientists have two ways of representing science: a formal “empiricist repertoire” expressed through impersonal public statements of evidence and procedures, and an informal “contingent repertoire” that stresses personal and social factors and which they use to... medicine and clinical engineering The panorama of problems presented in this volume may be of special interest for the young, looking for new, original technologies and new trends in biomedical engineering December 2010 Prof Małgorzata Komorowska and Ph.D Eng Sylwia Olsztyńska-Janus Wrocław, Poland Part 1 The Ethical and Legal Contests 1 Conceptual Models of the Human Organism: Towards a New Biomedical. .. in effect, an assessment 16 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies of the patient's ability to behave in a way conducive to their individual survival Adding this axis formalises the process Taking the four previously considered areas ([a]-[d] on Figure 3) and relating each to what the third axis depicts, position [a'] depicts an individual who feels well and has no physical lesions... label to be 20 Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies ascribed at the discretion of the clinician As was noted above (Campbell et al., 1979; Smith, 2002), classifying a particular condition as a disease can vary even between health professionals Here, need for assistance in personal survival and quality of life has taken precedence over any argument about what is and what is not... the biomedical model illustrates Any model by which we operate is an abstraction from what is currently known As a result, such models are always in need of refinement as knowledge and understanding develop Given this historical background, one might reasonably expect the biomedical model to be something which continues to evolve and to be refined as new knowledge and understanding emerge While research . BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, TRENDS, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGIES Edited by Małgorzata Anna Komorowska and Sylwia Olsztyńska-Janus Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies Edited. disease and with anything else which might be deemed to be 'wrong' with the patient. Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies 4 As the term implies, the biomedical. definition of disease and health. Health and disease are largely seen as dichotomous categories into which patients may be placed. By Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies 8