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Scientists Create Artificial Blood
simm1701 wrote us with a BBC article link on a sort of artificial blood substitute being developed by an English university. The substance is light, can survive at room temperature, and keeps longer than real blood, allowing it to be used as a stand-in in emergency situations. "The new blood is made up of plastic molecules that have an iron atom at their core, like haemoglobin, that can carry oxygen through the body. The scientists said the artificial blood could be cheap to produce and they were looking for extra funding to develop a final prototype that would be suitable for biological testing ... A sample of the artificial blood prototype will be on display at the Science Museum in London from 22 May as part of an exhibition about the history of plastics."
I was almost out of V8.
Hax-fu?
Have a good weekend you damn troll! :-)
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
Can I get it in green?
But what about introducing plastic to the blood stream? Surely the body is going to flip out and attack it, which isn't exactly helpful in an emergency situation.
I like muppets.
I assume, though it's not mentioned, that it would be type neutral? That in itself would be a big advantage.
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
attacking my vinyl gutters and screaming, "plastic! PLASSSTIC! we must have plasssticcc!!!"
threw 'em a floppy and shut the window.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. -Gandhi
There are already a few companies making artificail blood in the US. One is Biopure. All of them are waiting either for the completion of clinical trials or FDA approval. The Biopure product has already been approved in other countries.
I can't help but to imagine robots that breathe for some reason.
Correct me if I am wrong, but a blood replacement is being used since the 80s. If I recall it correctly it was also some kind of artificial plasma. Jehova's witnesses (a group known by their non acceptance of blood transfusions) have beeing accepting this blood replacement for years now.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
i would like to know the long term side effects of this. Look at when breast implants were first appearing. They used silicon, and thought it was completely safe, but after some of the implants starting rupturing, they found out that some of the side effects can be horrendous. I would hate to see the same thing with this. I would especially hate to see that happen if using this substance wasn't ABSOLUTELY necessary. Imagine if use of this substance eventually becomes wide spread, people stop donating blood, and a year down the road we find out the stuff causes cancer or something.
IMHO, the research dollars would be better spent on developing a process to grow "natural" blood. Honestly i think that any research into the artificial growth of body parts, (like what has been done with mice and ears) is a step in the right direction. Use blood as a starting point and work up from there.
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
Posted Anon because I don't care about Karma. These guys may have invented a new type of fake blood but its not a new thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PolyHeme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_substitutes
There was a big stink a while back about FDA trials without consent. The problem is if your in shock and being serviced by first responders you don't really have time to fill out a consent form and the EMT's can't carry real blood with them so synthetic blood is the only option.
Blood substitutes have been around for a while. I remember seeing a demonstration of perfluorocarbon based artificial blood in the early 1980s. You could also breath the stuff. Or at least, the mouse they dropped in it could. This is a differrent approach, artificial hemoglobin, but I think there have been previous versions of that as well.
It is cowardly, and a betrayal of whatever it means to be a Jew, to act as a white man
-James Baldwin
every body protein has irregularities, and now you are going to invite the body to start attacking the fake blood. get out occam's razor and start slicing your theory...
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
I'd have to do some digging through the Slashdot archives, but I remember something similar mentioned a year or two ago. The story at the time was that artificial blood was being created with the idea of replacing blood in a patient undergoing emergency surgery. The real blood would be stored while the fake blood would provide oxygen and nutrients to keep the patient alive while being operated upon. Once everything is finished, the real blood is re-introduced to the body. I don't know how injuries causing grievous blood loss would be handled, though.
--Erik
silicon implants are messy when they rupture, but there is still no evidence at all they they cause systemic illnesses. Successful lawsuits do not determine science. Your point is still valid, but that is why studies are needed.
And now, Pam can complete her plastic makeover.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Given oil is used to make plastic..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Feud
668: Neighbour of the Beast
Good, otherwise I would lose my main source of livelihood :P
Monstar L
Forget different colours. What we should do is genetically modify cows to produce blood instead of milk. How awesome would that be?
Although it would give a whole new meaning to "clotted cream".
What is is all that is. Isn't that obvious?
I attended a lecture by Ray Kurzweil, where he talked about medical breakthroughs that are on the point of revolutionizing human life.
Among other things he talked about blood substitutes, describing how the day is near when you'll be able to take a single deep breath and sit on the bottom of your pool for 15+ minutes, so efficient will be your (artificially enhanced) uptake of oxygen.
He gave a great speech. I recommend his book, "The Singularity is Near."
668: Neighbour of the Beast
The real question is, how long will it be before you see it widely used in the pro peloton, and will they be able to detect it's use. :)
Does this mean that with this "new" type of synthetic blood that they would be able to do a more targeted delivery of specific type of medication, ie.. Cancer treatments, HIV/AIDS Medications and what not?
*AND*,
hemoglobin is spelled wrong in the article so says the
There are only two steps in the gathering of ultimate knowledge. Open your eyes and, RTFM!
Here's a link about the blood substitute in more detail2 075544,00.html
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
It's what all the wannabe Draculas will be drinking at Halloween.
they strongly discourage the use of this blood below 0 degree celsius, it is said it stiffens the body.
they've already administered a trial batch to Dick Cheney.
OMFG! I thought thin blood would keep me from being tortured for long for saving people's lives...
"Drink this? I'd rather be dead!"
-- Bela Lugosi
Couldn't they find something else that was a bit degradable? This would have to have some affect on capillaries throughout the body, not to mention the brain. How would one actually rid their body of these cells in the long run?
Better yet, how is someone's wounds going to clot up? I'm guessing you'll look like you have silly putty oozing from your bandage.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Floyd Landis was just one of 18 or so cyclists in last year's Tour de France who was caught on that particular type of drug test.
The other 17 had doctor's notes.
No shit.
http://trustbut.blogspot.com/
I hoping to make the switch to synthetic for the "rituals" as cleanup will be easier. Less litigation too!
Does it stain?
There aren't any "cells" in this artificial blood. It's only a mixture of compounds that can transport oxygen via individual molecularized constructs.
And am proud that we can now give them artificial blood as they build our Future of Tomorrow today!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
It's Aspertame for vampires.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
You rock me like the real thing... and if you were the real thing, you'd rock me even more
This unfortunately isn't new... Dr. Chang at McGill has been working on this for quite a while... see artificial cells: http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/artcell/artcell.htm :P
surprise surprise how old news is suddenly new news
I wonder why it's colored red, too. Is it just to make people feel better, or did all the iron atoms start to rust...
SmartBlood (tm)
In A Few Years...
Plastic blood enhanced with teflon nanoplating.
WHAT'S IN YOUR BLOODSTREAM?
My cat got very sick a few years ago after being bitten by a raccoon. When the local vet couldn't diagnose the problem we took him to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University. The cat couldn't even stand up and was fading fast so they wanted to give him a transfusion. But when they tried to match his blood type the samples reacted against every donor they checked. So they offered to try an experimental artificial blood.
The artificial blood kept him alive long enough to identify a parasite infection, start him on treatment for the parasites, and let him recover until a natural blood donor could be found and infused. He was hospitalized for over a week but finally recovered and is perfectly healthy now. The interesting side effect is that he bulked up massively since the illness. He's over twenty pounds and extremely muscular. I don't know which artificial blood they used and what other side effects it had, but it seems like it might have more applications beyond just blood replacement for emergencies.
AlpineR
AFAIK, plasma transports only limited amounts of oxygen and thus cannot completely replace blood. It can make up for some lost mass, but if all you have in your veins is plamsa, you're dead.
Blood Lite with that sucking chest wound?
PE? PP? PVC? Or are they using it to say "designer organic polymer"?
IANAD, but I have worked as a hospital chaplain.
This is a big deal for a lot of reasons. I'd like to point out a few of the less obvious
Jehova's Witnesses have already been mentioned, but add to this list dome forms of Judiasm, branches of Meninite Christianity, and others as divers as the Hmong refuse blood transfusions. Artificial plasma (sometimes called artificial blood) is acceptable as are the use of cell savers. Unfortunately neither of these are effective against the uncontrolled loss of blood, or against blood based diseases that kill of red blood cells. The ability to artificially add O2 capacity and not just volume to the blood will a very welcome thing for these groups. From first hand experience being with families, I can tell you that no matter what the ultimate decision, being caught between needing blood and keeping faith is a heart breaking and guilt ridden experence for doctors, patients and families.
The other issue I want to bring up is the trust of the blood supply. There is an unfortunate and sad history of treating minorities in the US with inferior medicine, which has included infected blood. The rumors that such practices are ongoing persist particularly in the homeless populations. My perception from talking with some of the people who believe these rumors is that artificial blood would be perceived as safer. Perception is often stronger then reality when it comes to patient compliance, and even if this remains a sub-optimal solution when compared to whole blood (my guess is this will remain the case though IANAD) it is better then refusing treatment.
I hope that this is proven to be save and effective.
Strive to make your client happy, not necessarly give them what they ask for
Now not only can your noses, your breasts, your pecks and so forth be plastic, but your blood can be plastic too!
"Plastic to the core, baby!"
This is 100% artificial blood, not a blood derived from animal blood. The best artificial blood? Modified horse. The one you mentioned? Bovine.
Do "I" care either way? Nope. I have a rare blood type and would accept anything.
But people with some religions do. Hindu's would not accept the bovine derived blood, and the Jehovia's witnesses wouldn't accept any form of blood derived from another's blood.
If the JW accept this product, then fewer of them will die in surgery, or have their children die. Fewer deaths all around is always a good thing in my book.
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
>> a sort of artificial blood substitute
<Mr. Announcer Voice> We've replaced Bob's regular blood with new SangKa blood substitute. Let's see if he notices... </Mr. Announcer Voice>
Does it taste as good as the real blood if you're a vampire?
I've been reading artificial blood articles on Slashdot for 5 years now. Maybe longer. The title reads as if its the first time. Just mentioning..
I seem to recall reading about an emergency blood substitute in the late 90s. The odd thing about it was that it wasn't red, but white. There was a picture of a lab rat (albino, of course) that had a complete transfusion and its eyes were silver. Does anyone else remember this?
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
Not the first time; see this press release from 2006: http://www.kumc.edu/news/publish/article_00818.sht ml
...they did... whats next and artificial heart? LOL
"Enjoy your cheap plastic replacement!"
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
As a Blood Banker... There have been many many attempts to create a replacement for banked blood. All of these have failed when tested on a biological model. Many have produced kidney damage in animal models, and many others simply did not work. This particular version is very early in it's development.
When it can keep a dog alive.... then call me.
Perhaps They could make the artificial blood out of the same sort of material that they use for dissolving sutures. Your red blood cell count usually takes a couple of weeks to come back to normal after a serious bleed. So as the artificial blood dissolves, brand new natural red blood cells take over.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
There actually is a series where vampires 'came out' to the world once a synthetic blood substitute that could support them was developed. It's the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris and is rather good.
Eventually PolyHeme was tested on humans using an opt-out technique (if you didn't have a special bracelet on your wrist, they could use PolyHeme instead of real blood in trama situations where you couldn't object to being a test subject). As you might imagine, medical testing using an unpublicized opt-out scheme was very controversial at the time.
Some people like shit.
I for one welcome our iron nucleied plastic fake blood jaemoglobin overlords.. Is there no open source text editing / word processing software that has a spellchecker? I say this because no full blooded (hah) poster would dare use a word processor that had to be paid for....
My other sig is a knife wound.
# A man lives at the corner of the street,
And his neighbors think he's helpful and he's sweet,
'Cause he never swears and he always shakes you by the hand,
But no one knows he really is a plastic man. #
# He's got plastic heart, plastic blood and veins
(Yeah, he's plastic man)
He's got plastic knees and [eh, sod this I can't make it rhyme and Ray Davis is going to sue me]. #
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
IMWTK
How is it Preston & Child wrote about this stuff years ago? If you read "Mount Dragon", you got a creepy feeling when you read the BBC article...
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
Now I could be from loyalty :)
ghostbar page.
Interestingly, it's also high in lycopene, works well on French Fries, and according to the package comes in 57 varieties.
"The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield!"
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
"The substance is light"
Patients will be in glowing health.
This isn't really news. There has been gradual progress towards artificial blood products for years. It will be a great thing when it is widely available. Blood banks are expensive, difficult to manage and carry hazards of their own (disease, mismatching).
If you follow the link it leads to a short BBC story akin to pub draught conversation.... cheers!
If I wanted my mind made up for me, I'd do it myself!!
Did anyone else notice the acronym of the headline? sorry, tate
I don't think the iron can get oxidized... if you look at a heme molecule, its complexed with all kinds of ligands I think we just studied this in class, but not in depth...so I don't know if oxygen could come snap off the ligands and rust it up.
Analytical chemists do it with fancy and expensive toys
I know if I had a choice between dying from a massive wound or getting pumped full of cyborg blood I'd take the blood. what's the worse that could happen? I might die a little later from some complication, it's a fair deal.
Now what if we have artificial blood that was better than the real thing and athletes started using it for a performance boost?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I'm sure these developments make up for a new and interesting twist in the current doping bruhaha in endurance sports, i.e., pro cycling...
For Jehovah's Witnesses, blood transfusions are forbidden, as they percieve it as 'consuming' blood.
A no-no according to some scripture or other.
I wonder if they can use this new syntheglobin stuff.
~!J!
How much did it cost to save your cat's life?
I am curious, how much did it cost to save your cat?
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