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Detoxing With Magnets for Fun and Profit
Ridgelift writes "Wired has an article on a new way to remove toxins from the bloodstream. The Argonne National Laboratory have designed nanoparticles which 'identify, and then latch onto, target molecules. The nanoparticles are injected into the bloodstream, where they circulate through the body, picking up their target toxins as they go. Once they have made their rounds, all that's needed to remove the particles from the body are a magnet housed in a handheld unit and a small, dual-channel shunt inserted into an arm or leg artery.'"
need is a car mounted version so I can plug in saturday night after a round at the bars. hmm mabee they could shunt the removed "products" directly to my carborator.. Profit !
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
Something to do with all these spare small, dual-channel arterial shunts I have lying around...
All's true that is mistrusted
Finally, an actual medical benefit from magnets!
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
I wonder how long you wouldn't be allowed to get an MRI for... I'd imagine those little beasties would tear you apart if you got one!
evil adrian
Now those people selling the magnetic bracelets and insoles are going to be using this as 'proof' that their useless peices of crap really work.
Technoli
I heard a saying: The 20th century was the century of physics. The 21st century will be the biology and medicine.
If you think about it, that's amazingly true. At the begining of the 20th century, Think about all we discovered - the atom bomb, computers, television, etc. Contrast that with our treatment of disease, which is rudementary at best. Just wait until genetic therapy become available, or disease attacking bacteriophages, or artificialy grown organs. I think medicine is in for revolution.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
I, too had similar thoughts, but in order to not appear redundant in my post I decided to find out the particle size of a typical virus.
I found this at drgreene.com
Viruses range in size from 20 to 250 nanometers
The average bacterium is 1,000 nanometers long.
If a bacterium were my size, a typical virus particle would look like a tiny mouse-robot. If an average virus were my size, a bacterium would be the size of a dinosaur over ten stories tall.
It could be a scale thing taht means this first generation of magnetic detox devices are too large to pick up virus particles. i don't know what sort of % you would need to remove of a viral infection compared to a bacterial infection to ensure a recovery by the casualty, but suspect it would be a lot higher for a virus.
Another problem could lie in the changing nature of viruses, making them a harder target to select for when designing your magnetised particles.
It would be a wonderful application if it works.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!
December 9, 2013
Drug Abusers Use Nanotechnology to Duck Routine Screening Tests
It seems that a technology poised to replace dialysis and other blood-purifying procedures has been hijacked to thwart detection of illegal substances in the bloodstream. Using magnetic nanoparticles, drug abusers can pull every last trace of an illegal substance from their system before submitting to the test.
"I first found about this from a friend in L.A.," says black marketeer Hans Gruber. "We are right now mixing cocktails to strip barbituates, THC, amphetamines, you name it. It's going to give a big boost to the illegal drug industry - people don't have to worry about being caught at work anymore".
On the other side of the issue, security analysts believe that surprise screening tests are the solution to this new development. Informing a candidate that they will be required to submit to a test immediately will help catch some of the would-be "nano-cheaters".
"Yeah, you could do surprise tests...or I could just offer a nanostripper with every drug purchase, to be run immediately after the customer comes down off their high." Such a practice still wouldn't let people go to work while intoxicated, but would keep them from getting picked up Monday morning for their Saturday night indescrecions.
It is unknown just how soon these "nanostrippers" will be readily available on the black market, but given the ease with which they can be synthesized, it is expected that production methods similar to the "meth labs" of the '00s could be employed. Even more interesting is the fact that the molecules are only regarded as Class C Nanoproducts under the Nanotechnology Protection Act of 2018, so very little punishment could be currently handed out for their synthesis and/or possession.
I wonder if there is enough concentration that this would set off airport metal detectors... :security guy bob: Sir, please step through the metal detector again :security guy joe: I don't understand it, he's completely naked and we've done a cavity search!
really then, what's the point?
I'd rather pay for a cab then jam an arterial shunt into my leg that could bleed me dry in under an hour. Couple that with the fact that I would be drunk whilst doing said leg jamming, and I'd choose to have my address and a cab company's dispatch number tatooed to my forearm.
But you go spend your money to get not drunk. I'll be the one in the back of the cab with the ugly girl who's going to get lucky, puking my guts out.. You have your fun... Uhh,
How much does this procedure cost?
From the article: "Small crystals of magnetite are added to the particles..." . Magnetite (Fe3O4) is magnetic because the 2 Fe+3 ions arranged with the Fe+2 ion in that specific configuration make for "magnetic domains", regions in the magnetite crystals where all the unpaired electrons are spinning the same way[0]. The iron in the hemoglobin in your blood is either Fe+2 or +3, no magnetic domains can exist because the hemoglobin molecules are floating around in solution and don't line up at all--no ferromagnetism. Even if you had a crystal of pure hemoglobin, it'd be paramagnetic (very weakly magnetic, like pure oxygen) or diamagnetic (no magnetic effects at all). You can see this for yourself by trying to pick up a drop of your own blood with a really strong horseshoe magnet.
[0] Well, not really, but the real explanation involves a lot of math and I can't remember it anyway.
Give a monkey a brain and he'll swear he's the center of the universe.
Hangovers are caused by your body being dehydrated. To fix the worst of the effect, drink lots of water (preferably the night before) or, if you happen to be an EMT, stick some saline solution right into your blood.
Not quite.
Hangovers are caused by your body producing acetaldehyde as it metabolizes alcohol. Dehydration does play a role, but it is a supporting role.
A good description of what happens, and good advice on what to do about it can be found here.
Alternatively, you can pick up the RU-21 pill designed by the KGB to keep their agents from getting hangovers.
Well, that's sort of right.
De-oxygenated hemoglobin isn't magnetic, but oxygenated hemoglobic is paramagnetic. That's why fMRI works. fMRI is a clever technique using the same MRI technology used for imaging, but tuned to see changes in blood oxygen concentration. It's used to estimate brain activity, and also to detect poor circulation in the heart.
According to http://www.rfsafe.com/research/rf_radiation/therma l_hazards/intro.htm:
Magnetite is found in certain bacteria and in the cells of many animals, including human beings.
Does this mean that this treatment would also pull out any bacteria in the body that contains magnetite?