Beta Version: Watch your eyes!

I ran across another choice beta version, this one for a research paper soon to be published. At this point, let me reiterate that these betas are not really meant to see the light of day. Although I'm pretty sure that this beta version would induce a snark from even the most stoic professor. As one can guess, my supposed field of speciality is cartilage and finding new methods to detect arthritis early. So, be nice to me. Someday your knees will thank you.
On another note, I recently learned that one of my professors has passed away. Dr. Sacks was a kind man, and a brilliant scholar. He knew how to make molecules fly, and he will be missed.
Now onto our regularly scheduled program. May the Schwartz be with you. :) kd
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a bad, horrible disease. The chance that you’ll get it increases as you age. Sorry to tell you this. In addition to personal pain and discomfort, this is also an economic burden on insurers and employers because really…who wants to work when they’re in pain? Hey, here’s some more good news. The current way of detecting OA is inserting a stick into your joint, moving it around and taking pictures of the area. You’ll likely have some young punk doctor playing around with your area of pain with a small rubber hammer, asking astute questions like “does this hurt”. If this invasive and demeaning method is appealing, then by all means continue to vote Republicans who like to decimate the NIH budget for breakfast and suppress technological advancements in their spare time. Anyhoo.

Diagnosis of disease by looking at eye tissue is rather appealing because it is non-invasive and most people see the eye doctor on a yearly basis, especially those older folks who have bad eyesight. There is precedent for diagnosis of diabetes, cataracts, and macular degeneration via analysis of ocular tissue using lasers. The last two applications are kinda no-brainers, but the first one is pretty rocking huh? The trick is to develop a method that uses a laser at low enough power so that the Einsteins at your local DOC don’t ruin your eyes with their newest 2 watt laser/toy.