BREAKTHROUGH: Scientists Invent Particles That Will Let You Live Without Breathing

Originally posted by yourmaker
this has advantages for space travel one could imagine...

some of the crew would presumably need to be in some sort of comatose state for a long period of suspended animation during inter-planetary travel, they wouldn't need to be hooked up to ventilators (or whatever) using precious unexpendable energy.

/only thought that came to mind

They wont need stasis, they will use worm holes and shorten the trip to days not years.

Originally posted by bhornbuckle75
reply to post by v1rtu0s0

 

Hmmmm I wonder if I could go scuba diving now, without wearing the breathing mask....Just a tank full of these particles, and an IV going into my arm!

Ok...so I'm not sure how that would be more practical....but it would be incredibly cool!

ANd just imagine how much faster you can swim without the gear.

reply to post by CuriousR


well I doubt that the patients that they use this on will be doing any strenous activities, this is for someone who is not breathing on their own right ?

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Good technology. While one can think how this could be used for bad, there's no denying it's beneficial use.

One wonders whether the public will be able to make use of this medical breakthrough.

reply to post by KireDj


The scenerio is "not breathing and the need for oxygen". It is not "the heart is not beating". That is a whole other issue. Stay on target . LOL.

reply to post by BIHOTZ


Obesity is rampant in this country. We sure do need the lastest weight loss drug. Obesity is a killer.

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
Cool I'll live longer....I wasn't worried,I got diagnosed with COPD, lung capacity reduced to 30% 4 years ago.VA docs wouldn't guess but most said 15 years.
It's is a valuable safety tip.Don't be downwind when Chemical munitions go boom especially when its your side's demo work.

I have peripheral arterial disease. The veins in my legs are so clogged that my muscles don't get enough oxygen and cramp up when I walk for more than a hundred feet. Gimme those oxygenbots now!

This will help for folks like Jehovah Witnesses that don't accept blood transfusions.

I do see a few concerns.

1) How is this stuff removed from the body once the oxygen is depleted. You don't want them to linger to cause or contribute to blockages which will lead to heart attacks/strokes.

2) Would the extra oxygen put the body into tetany?

3) Watch out for this stuff to be used by professional athletes to give them an edge.

I'm thinking besides the obvious medical / emergency response applications from this, or near-future iterations of it, we'll look back on this one day as a critical early step toward our eventual colonization of another planet/moon in the solar system. That is...if we can get past the ancient Earthlings who are keeping us trapped here. (look for my book, release date July 15th, 2019, on sale for just 1500 Amero credits at Zeepglop stores everywhere on Virtual Planes 1 thru 154.) -

Sorry, my futurist-nerd kicked in.

Originally posted by jlfose
This will help for folks like Jehovah Witnesses that don't accept blood transfusions.

I do see a few concerns.

1) How is this stuff removed from the body once the oxygen is depleted. You don't want them to linger to cause or contribute to blockages which will lead to heart attacks/strokes.

2) Would the extra oxygen put the body into tetany?

3) Watch out for this stuff to be used by professional athletes to give them an edge.

I belueve J-witnesses don't go for medical intervention at all, this would be no different than a blood transfusion in terms of their acceptance. Or maybe that's just Christian Scientists.

1) interesting question, I would guess their first goal was to see if it worked, and for how long, but I would think if revival occured and respiration (to expel the CO2) was happening again, then the body would filter out the medication and basically pee it out after processing like any other meds.

2) that would just be a matter of proper dosing, if anything. There shouldn't be any "extra" oxygen, just "enough" oxygen, unless it's done wrong. Hmmm...maybe i'll become and oxygenationilogist - methibks this new field of medicine would pay better than anaesthesiologists - the easiest money in medicine (as long as you don't screw up)


3) You're pretty much guaranteed to be right. And it seems like unless an athlete was tested in a very short timeframe after a game (or during) there would be no detecting it (other than being the only 340# lineman after a long drive who isn't winded!)

Just wow.
It's nice to see something for the betterment of mankind for once.

Kudos!

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


This is cool, cool, cool, but I am not believing the part about CO2 build up. I am a critical care nurse, and I know from over a decade of experience that hypercapnia kills faster than anoxia. CO2 is an acid. It changes the blood ph. When your ph falls below about 7.1 - 7.0 for more than a few minutes the protein in brains cells denature in reation to the acidic environment, and you suffer severe brain damage, or die. Perhaps the extra oxygen helps buffer the ph a bit, but I wouldn't think that much as oxygen is caustic in and of itself, but not as potent as CO2. Read up on ABG monitoring and you will see what I mean. rescusitative measures involve more than just getting oxygen, althought that is EXTREMELY important, and I can very well see that an invention of this sort would be a powerful adjunct to rescusitation efforts. You still have to have gass exchange to rid the body of CO2, it is equally as important. Maybe they could also find a molecule that bids, and neutralizes CO2 at the same time. A molecular CO2 scrubber. Now that would rock!

I'm a paramedic, there's credentials.

Oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide during metabolism. Build up of carbon dioxide in the blood from inadequate breathing leads to a condition known as respiratory acidosis. This is what we see in patients with prolonged respiratory failure and in cardiac arrest. There is already a drug in existence called sodium bicarbonate that is given to bring the pH balance in the body back to normal. Another method would be using dialysis to clean the blood, something we do every day. Scrubbing CO2 from the blood is much easier than getting oxygen in there. Also 15 to 30 minutes is plenty of time to get someone hooked up to some kind of artificial respiration device in the hospital setting, making the worry over CO2 moot.

This is a bit simplified as the acid base balance system in the human body is very complicated. We have to maintain a blood pH around 7.35 to 7.45 for normal operations.

Before I get slammed. I was meaning a dialysis like system for scrubbing the CO2. Not necessarily dialysis as it's used now.

reply to post by mus8472


Right, I think this new medication would be an excellent adjunct, to what is already in use. Anything that buys time. If this stuff can really buy 20 or 30 minutes that is an eternity in a crisis situation. Getting it out after the fact is a secondary concern as long as the patient is still around to take it out of. Heck with a 20 minute window you could get someone on a by-pass machine.

hey my daughter suffers from a really rare genetic disorder (Methemoglobinemia) this mess's with the body red blood cells which disrupts the flow of oxygen she has never seen before type of it she is type 2 but as where its normally fatal in my daughter it is not well so far.

was wondering if anyone knows about this disorder maybe this could be used as a type of treatment to help the amount of oxygen in her body

Originally posted by jlfose


3) Watch out for this stuff to be used by professional athletes to give them an edge.

Yeah, just imagine how many tours Lance would've won with this stuff Hahaha.

Joking aside, some circumstances encountered during a heart-bypass surgery require the surgeons to completely clamp-off and stop all blood flow to the brain. The patient's head is actually put-on-ice to reduce the brain's requirement for oxygen and nutriment during that part of the procedure. The higher mortality rate and increased risk for brain damage might be mitigated with technology such as this, although the lack of circulation, seemingly, still presents a significant obstacle to a better outcome.

Originally posted by Dreamer99
reply to post by v1rtu0s0

 

Considering this tech is in its infancy, I would think that in time scientists will discover a way of making this last far longer than 30 minutes. Imagine the potential applications of something like this, especially if they could make it last indefinitely.

Astronauts, for instance, may not even need to breathe. Instead they may get a shot once or twice a day. They can bring the oxygen levels down in the shuttle, reducing the risk of fire to zero.

Divers, firefighters, and mountain climbers would carry this on them always, not to mention lifeguards, EMT's, and soldiers.

So many ways this could save so many lives. We live in an amazing time, technologically speaking.

I've pondered this for years, what if they made some kind of nanobot that emulated algae or phytoplankton or other minute plant that consumed the toxins in the bloodstream and created oxygen, maybe self replicating to a point of symbiosis? There are types that live in low/no-light environments that use chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis for their energy.
That would open up all kinds of doors for humans whether in the operating room, space travel, deep sea explorations...or general health.

Also, it's interesting to note, the carbon dioxide build up would not be dangerous for about 30 minutes, however a lack of oxygen can be fatal is less than 5 minutes.

Oxygen Removes carbon from the blood.
so No carbon dioxide build up.
you only get carbon dioxide build up in a room.

the only way this can work is for it to attach the carbon to its self.
the Lunges pass Oxygen in to the blood.
then carbon attaches to the Oyxgen.
This Makes carbon dioxide.witch exits the Lungs.

If you could get a organ LIKE the Liver.
to remove the carbon from the blood.
you would not need to breath at all.

Originally posted by Binder
reply to post by mus8472

 

Right, I think this new medication would be an excellent adjunct, to what is already in use. Anything that buys time. If this stuff can really buy 20 or 30 minutes that is an eternity in a crisis situation. Getting it out after the fact is a secondary concern as long as the patient is still around to take it out of. Heck with a 20 minute window you could get someone on a by-pass machine.

I'm not sure this would buy extra time for someone needing a by-pass machine. My understanding here is that you'd still need a functioning circulatory system and heart. This technology buys time in that it would temporarily replace only the respiratory function of the lungs by providing for the oxygenation of tissues without needing to breathe. (eg. you'd need a heartbeat/pulse but you wouldn't need to breathe/respirate)

reply to post by BULLPIN


You would need a much more in depth understanding of medicine to understand my statement. I was making an observation to an experienced healthcare worker. A by-pass machine operates for a limited period of time as your cardiopulmonary system, and can be used for a miriad of purposes by imaginative doctors.

To Budhha: you have the concepts of external, and cellular respiration all wrong. Oxygen catalyses, and powers all kinds of cellular activities, gets bound to carbon during cellular respiration, and is then expired during external respiration. There is a huge difference between molecular binding, and absorption.

In any case CO2 build up is more dangerous than lack of oxygen, and kills more quickly. This is the major reason behind the changes in current ACLS protocols. Both kill quickly, but hypercapnia (too much CO2) kills faster. The new miracle molecule may buffer blood ph, but there are other effects of CO2 that have to be addressed, and simply adding oxygen won't do it. It's like plugging the tail pipe on your car, and trying to fix the problem by giving it more fuel.