Artificial Blood Made In Romania

First time accepted submitter calinduca writes "Artificial blood that could one day be used in humans without side effects has been created by scientists in Romania. The blood contains water and salts along with a protein known as hemerythrin which is extracted from sea worms. Researchers from Babe-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, hope it could help end blood supply shortages and prevent infections through donations." Wikipedia's entry on hemerythrin explains its unusual oxygen binding mechanism.

Comments

Makes sense

[Bohnanza]

Transylvania is in Romania

Vlad's Synth Blood Bank, how many I help you?

[themushroom]

I just used my last karma point on the pen-testing post, but I was thinking similarly.

9 out of 10 vampires prefer real blood though

[JoeyRox]

But the fake stuff will do in a pinch.

Re:9 out of 10 vampires prefer real blood though

[JeanCroix]

Yep. You think the anti-GM food hippies are bad, just wait til the anti-artificial blood vampires get their protests going...

not flaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Would something like this be accepted by groups like Jehovah's Witness' that do not accept blood transfusions?

Re:not flaming

[HornWumpus]

Why should we care? Evolution in action.

Re:not flaming

[Jeng]

Although I understand your sentiment, but many new surgical techniques have been made because of Jehovah witnesses refusal to accept blood transfusions. Many of these techniques end up being better than the one they replaced and therefor all of society gains benefits.

Re:not flaming

[quantumghost]

Would something like this be accepted by groups like Jehovah's Witness' that do not accept blood transfusions?

That would be a good question. Having worked at a hospital that took over as the regional "bloodless center", I witnessed a wide variety of behaviors from JWs. Some were not very "orthodox" and would take blood, others only after consultation with their elder, others steadfastly refused. Apparently there is a lot of variation amongst individual "churches", but INAJW..

I'll tell you, a "bloodless" liver transplant is not for the faint of heart. I've been involved with a few transplants that required > 100 units of packed red cells. Doing these with none.....that stressed our skills to the max. And before you think that liver transplants can and therefore should be done bloodless...not all of bloodless ones survived. This would be a nice breakthrough.

It's interesting that this is still a cellular based concept, having to clone red cells and somehow transferring the hemerythrin. The linked article did not specify much detail.

Re:not flaming

[HornWumpus]

I respect their choice to die rather then accept modern healthcare.

Re:not flaming

[Baloroth]

Artificial blood almost certainly wouldn't count, though, as it isn't technically blood at all: blood in the religious context of Jehovah's Witnesses refers to the stuff flowing through the veins of animals. Basically, if it was never the "life" of an animal it wouldn't count. Of course, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness nor an expert on their theology, so I couldn't say for sure (but I have read the biblical passage the doctrine comes from, and I would say it absolutely doesn't include fake blood in any way).

Re:not flaming

[CODiNE]

Accepting blood transfusions may not be selecting for the group you think it is.

If you dig around the references here Bloodless Surgery you'll see a small portion of the studies which have shown the benefits of avoiding blood transfusions.

A scientifically minded person would applaud advances in synthetic blood and bloodless surgery, not get hung up on one sub-group of the people it benefits.

Re:not flaming

[eulernet]

Citation needed !

To my knowledge, the new surgical techniques were invented to reduce operation's side-effects (less invasive surgery, less anesthetics, less hospital recovery).
It also reduces the cost of an operation.

I found no relation with Jehovah witnesses, so I'm curious to listen where you heard about this ?

Re:not flaming

[Frojack123]

They are of course free to do whatever they want on their bodies, with their own money.

Unfortunately, is most often the Children that are refused transfusions, and allowed to die for an otherwise
survivable injury.

Problem solved (wipes hands) ...

[fahrbot-bot]

And thus begins the plot of Daybreakers.

The film takes place in a futuristic world overrun by vampires. A vampiric corporation sets out to capture and farm the remaining humans while researching a blood substitute. Lead vampire hematologist Edward Dalton's (Ethan Hawke) work is interrupted by human survivors led by former vampire "Elvis" (Willem Dafoe), who has a cure that can save the human species.

PolyHeme

[pete-classic]

Have we forgotten about PolyHeme? It isn't truly artificial (it is made from human hemoglobin), but it is not infectious and is not type specific. And it can be stored for a year at room temperature.

Re:True Blood?

[amicusNYCL]

Yes, because the only thing stopping True Blood from becoming a reality was the lack of artificial blood.