New Apps for Microbiology
The significant increase or growth of mobile phones and the internet that has greatly penetrated into the global world has seen the emergence of the global app economy. The global app economy has seen the development of applications that have improved the global health, environmental and the economic status. However, in the recent years, the use of these applications in the health sector has raised concerns about their accuracy and reliability in patient management. This paper explores new apps for microbiology such as MicrobeWorld application, Biotechnology progress and other new instrumentation in microbiology labs as well as their impacts on the global economy.
The MicrobeWorld application is demonstrated to have been created by the American society. This advancement in the microbial sciences has enabled scientists and health professionals to acquire and comprehend the knowledge about various life processes for the improvement of the environmental, health and the global economic status. The MicrobeWorld application is of importance in the microbiology laboratories. It enables professionals to identify microbes and perform antimicrobial susceptibility tests in the laboratories (Schwaber, Navon-Venezia, Kaye, Ben-Ami, Schwartz, & Carmeli, 2006). Moreover, this application enables the control of various patients data. This is to allow effective comparison of various outcomes. In the agricultural sector, the application has enabled the production of organic fertilizers that are favorable to the environment.
Biotechnology progress has played a key role in the dissemination of information to the global world. The application features various techniques or mechanisms that focus on biological and engineering principles such as cell and tissue engineering. Biotechnology progress application has been of significant benefit to the agricultural sector as farmers use it to increase yields and to greatly reduce the impact of farming on the environmental status (Organisation, B2010). Moreover, the application has initiated the test and production of biofuels and chemicals that have helped in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In healthcare, biotechnology progress has promised the development of new cures of vaccines for the conditions such as cancer and tuberculosis.
In recent years, automation as a new instrumentation mechanism has been implemented in the microbiology laboratories. It has been of significance in the global economy. Microbiology is too complex to automate, and as such, the use of automation is a time wasting process. Human beings are capable of thinking faster than machines and that machines cannot think in that they are programmed. As such, more job opportunities are created in microbiology laboratories. Automation has been in the past viewed as an expensive technique in the microbiological laboratory processes. This has seen large amounts being spent on the technology. However, it is not cost effective for the laboratory processes. This is because the specimens and the test tubes are often relatively small making automation cost ineffective. With the emergence of automation in the microbiology laboratories, shortage of experienced personnel has been identified. This is because few students choose medical technology as a career. This has been depicted by the 50 percent decline in the number of graduates registered between 1983 and 2008 (Bourbeau & Ledeboer, 2013). Moreover, the pay for these medical technologists as compared with other health professionals is less hence discouraging many from venturing into the career.
To sum up, smartphones and the emergence of applications have become more common in the global society. MicrobeWorld and Biotechnology have been of significance to the microbiological sciences. However, great concerns need to be taken on such apps and regulatory measures should be globally formulated to prevent future harm to the health, environmental and economic status.
References
Bourbeau, P. P., & Ledeboer, N. A. (2013). Automation in clinical microbiology. Journal of clinical microbiology, 51(6), 1658-1665. Retrieved from http://jcm.asm.org/content/51/6/1658.long
Organisation, B. I. (2010). Healing, Fueling, Feeding: How Biotechnology is Enriching Your Life. Retrieved from https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/files/ValueofBiotech.pdf
Schwaber, M. J., Navon-Venezia, S., Kaye, K. S., Ben-Ami, R., Schwartz, D., & Carmeli, Y. (2006). Clinical and economic impact of bacteremia with extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 50(4), 1257-1262. Retrieved from http://aac.asm.org/content/50/4/1257.long