Thursday, June 20, 2013

Medical Breakthrough Allows You To Live Without Breathing

A team of scientists at the Boston Children’s Hospital have invented what is being considered one the greatest medical breakthroughs in recent years. They have designed a microparticle that can be injected into a person’s bloodstream that can quickly oxygenate their blood. This will even work if the ability to breathe has been restricted, or even cut off entirely.
This finding has the potential to save millions of lives every year. The microparticles can keep an object alive for up to 30 min after respiratory failure. This is accomplished through an injection into the patients’ veins. Once injected, the microparticles can oxygenate the blood to near normal levels. This has countless potential uses as it allows life to continue when oxygen is needed but unavailable. For medical personnel, this is just enough time to avoid risking a heart attack or permanent brain injury when oxygen is restricted or cut off to patients.

Dr. John Kheir, who first began the study, works in the Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Cardiology. He found inspiration for the drug in 2006, when he was treating a girl in the ICU who had a severe case of pneumonia. At the time, the girl didn’t have a breathing tube, when at the time she suffered from a pulmonary hemorrhage. This means her lungs had begin to fill up with blood, and she finally went into cardiac arrest. It took doctors about 25 minutes to remove enough blood from her lungs to allow her to breath. Though, the girl’s brain was severely injured due to being deprived of oxygen for that long and she eventually died.

Microparticle Composition

The microparticles used are composed of oxygen gas pocketed in a layer of lipids. A Lipid is a natural molecule that can store energy and act as a part of a cell membrane, they can be made of many things such as wax, vitamins, phospholipids, and in this case fat is the lipid that stores the oxygen.
These microparticles are around two to four micrometers in length and carry about three to four times the oxygen content of our own red blood cells. In the past, researchers had a difficult time succeeding as prior tests caused gas embolism. This meant that the gas molecules would become stuck trying to squeeze through the capillaries. They corrected this issue by packaging them into small deformable particles rather ones where the structure was rigid.

Potential Future Uses

Medical: There is the obvious medical uses where the microparticles can be used to save off death from a restriction in breathing due to inflammation of the lungs, collapsed lungs, and the like. It would be good to have these injections ready in hospitals and ambulances for when the time is needed.
Private Sector: Really this can be used as a precaution for anything nautical where the potential to drown is a real danger. Deep sea rescue crews could inject themselves prior to making a rescue, underwater welders can use it in case they become stuck or air is lost to their suits. The potential use for anything water related seems extremely worthwhile.

Conclusion

In the end, this is an amazing medical advancement and I cant help but recall the movie the Abyss when they took the pill, their helmets filled with air, and they were told they can breathe the water. Well what if they really couldn’t “breathe” water” but since the urge to breathe is natural, that must take place… even if you’re not breathing air per se. But your body was provided with enough oxygen for a time period by taking a pill. It’s just goes to show that anything, absolutely anything that can be thought up, can potentially one day become reality. Thank you scientists, for reminding me that people and their ingenuity are nothing short of awesome.
The author of this article is Damien S. Wilhelmi, an SEO tactician and SEM strategist. If you enjoyed this article, you can follow me on twitter @JakabokBotch
Originally posted on: Tech Wench

28 comments:

  1. I was reading about this medical breakthrough when it occurred to me - could an injection like this allow a person to stay underwater for 30 minutes without breathing - like Marine Boy's chewing gum?

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is what it sounds like

    ReplyDelete
  3. "But i can't hold my breath that long" is no longer an acceptable excuse ladies.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i want to know if people will retain conscious while not being able to breathe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lack of oxygen causes you to pass out. So if there is oxygen...

      Delete
    2. Yeah. But it's hard to think how it would be like, not breathing but getting your oxygen.. You know..

      Delete
  6. if underwater wouldn't your lungs fill up with water? Would you be required to keep your mouth shut and what if you didn't?

    ReplyDelete
  7. i think this solution will only be used in extreme cases and not for fun stuff just like marijuana ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. ladies and gentelman, we present to you, the beggining of LCL from the Neon Genesis Evangelion series

    ReplyDelete
  9. As important to stay oxygenated, Its also as important to get rid of carbondioxide that make the body acidotic. Its not the low oxygen that make you want to breath, Its the carbondioxide, unless you have serious lung condition.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't know about this, like some one said what if lungs collapse or all the other major problems that happen when the body starts to close down (die). I'm not sure how I feel about this at all! Maybe because its hard to comprehend :s

    ReplyDelete
  11. Unbelievable. Let it stand the test of time and see.

    ReplyDelete
  12. For now this should just be strictly for use in life or death situations. although the idea is astonishing

    ReplyDelete
  13. Report fail: describes the stuff - never gave us the name of it - stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is truly amazing. Too bad humans and money are here to fuck it all up.

    ReplyDelete
  15. How is this supposed to rid the body of CO2? It's the buildup of CO2 in the body that drives a person to want to gasp for air, not the lack of O2.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good observation.. Also reminds me, Oxygen is toxic in nature to be directly introduced into the bloodstream.. Hemoglobin transports it as radicals which prevents it from causing oxidative damage to essential chemical components in the body.. i.e DNA, RNA and the likes.. I hav assumed this because they hav really not explained the transport mechanism of O2 through those lipid "sacs".. Anyways, a beneficial discovery..

      Delete
    2. If you inject Oxygen into a vein with a 5ml-7ml, it will kill you. Look it up!

      Delete
  16. Just from the language used "To near normal levels" would imply that any time of stress or strenuous activity would greatly diminish its effectiveness. I would hang onto my scuba gear for the time being, but this is really cool.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Technology like this already exists and has since the 50's, it's called Cellfood.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I wonder what evil will this be used for...

    ReplyDelete
  19. To becky salibrici, you can't be dumb enough to make such comment, they put you on 100% oxygen when you have a problem at the hospital, even more so when you are in a hyperbaric chamber... The level of oxygen raises even more at 2 ATM your level of oxygen in your body can allow a surgeon to stop your heart without any permanent damages for a few minutes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Asking questions isn't dumb. But your calling me out is ignorant.

      Delete
  20. i want to know if people will retain conscious while not being able to breathe
    happy wheels
    super mario bros
    pacman
    agario

    ReplyDelete