Artificial Blood Made In Romania 232
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.
Makes sense (Score:5, Funny)
Vlad's Synth Blood Bank, how many I help you? (Score:5, Informative)
I just used my last karma point on the pen-testing post, but I was thinking similarly.
Sookie! (Score:4, Informative)
The Sookie Stackhouse (southern vampire series) books (and the "True Blood" TV adaptation) come to mind as well.
For those unaware of the series: They start from shortly after the big reveal, where the vampires came out of the closet after the Japanese invent a blood substitute that provides adequate nutrition for vampires, allowing them to live without hunting people.
Re:Makes sense (Score:4, Funny)
Indeed, quality control issues: solved.
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Re: Makes sense (Score:3, Informative)
Haha, funny. I grew up in Romania and fried chicken blood was one of my favorite treats.
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Seaworm haem is people!!
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Pleasing taste ... some monsterism.
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And Cluj specifically is in Transylvania
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Tablets and computers in the classroom is a Trasnsylvanian conspiracy to reduce the amount of wooden pencils in schools everywhere. Now this.
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Actually Prince Vlad Dracul was from Wallachia. It was changed for the book as Transylvania sounded more mysterious, while Wallachia sounded like it could be a rural county somewhere in Cornwall.
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I was about to say... shouldn't be difficult given that it's the home of the good Count
dracula or duckula?
This HAS to be a Halloween joke, right? (Score:3)
Isn't it bad enough that we get so many of these bogus stories on April 1st?
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Not just that. The research facility for this *is* in Transylvania.
Wrongly spelled name (Score:2)
Please replace the misspelled name with the correct one: Babe-Bolyai University.
http://www.ubbcluj.ro/ [ubbcluj.ro]
Let the Transylvanian jokes commence! (Score:3, Insightful)
heh. Romania, Dracula, Artificial blood, Halloween ... the late night talk show writers should have a field day with this one if it isn't some sort of elaborate ruse.
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It coming from the daily fail I had my doubts, so I followed a link from them to softpedia, that had a link to a Romanian news source, I don't know Romanian though to know if it is an Onion like site or not.
http://www.descopera.ro/dnews/11576517-inventia-extraordinara-a-unui-cercetator-din-cluj-sangele-artificial-creat-cu-ajutorul-viermilor-marini-galerie-foto [descopera.ro]
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Sometimes serious sites put up bullshit on holidays, but they usually put in some disclaimer. I would not be able to recognize a disclaimer in Romanian.
9 out of 10 vampires prefer real blood though (Score:5, Funny)
Re:9 out of 10 vampires prefer real blood though (Score:5, Funny)
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This might actually be a solution for the crazy Jehovah's Witnesses in the US that will watch their injured child die rather than allow a transfusion.
(Although I hate to see good science enabling bad religion.)
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If we can get science to mitigate the ill effects of a religion, then it's a good thing.
Of course, it's about control, so they will likely come up with some excuse not to use this.
not flaming (Score:5, Interesting)
Would something like this be accepted by groups like Jehovah's Witness' that do not accept blood transfusions?
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should we care? Evolution in action.
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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 ?
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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 ?
I read about it in Awake!
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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 ?
I read about it in Awake!
I actually LOLed.
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I found no relation with Jehovah witnesses, so I'm curious to listen where you heard about this ?
He's a Jehovah Witness. He stuck his head in a box and it came to him.
Re:not flaming (Score:4, Funny)
He's a Jehovah Witness. He stuck his head in a box and it came to him.
I think you've confused them with Mormons, you soulless bastard.
No, the Mormon guy had magical glasses, dickhead.
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Thanks ! That was an interesting link, why didn't you mention it in your post ?
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Thanks ! That was an interesting link, why didn't you mention it in your post ?
Get over yourself. Jeng is not your personal research assistant, and owes you nothing, citations included.
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You're completely correct. All of our experimental/never-been-tried-before surgical procedures definitely should be tried on JW's first. If you end up running short, let me know. I have at least 2 a month ask to come in my house and I'd be happy to net them for ya.
Re:not flaming (Score:4, Interesting)
That's like saying that from all the crack babies born in the 80s, some went ahead and became doctors and programmers, so crack can't be all bad.
Actually it would be more along the lines of "War is hell, but at least we make healthcare advances because of it."
If you are wasting public resources to do these type of interventions, then only luck could turn them into something else than waste.
No, people who have trained their whole lives to save people don't come up with new lifesaving techniques due to "luck". And do you know if they are using public resources do do those type of interventions, or are you just making wild speculations in an attempt to bolster your case that there are no positives outcomes of bloodless surgery?
The research doesnt back it up (Score:3)
"Cocaine is undoubtedly bad for the fetus. But experts say its effects are less severe than those of alcohol and are comparable to those of tobacco — two legal substances that are used much more often by pregnant women, despite health warnings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27coca.html?_r=0 [nytimes.com]
Re:not flaming (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Just think of them as overly enthusiastic test subjects.
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Informative)
Accepting blood transfusions may not be selecting for the group you think it is.
If you dig around the references here Bloodless Surgery [wikipedia.org] 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.
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Not really.
the death rate isn't high enough to impact evolution
BTW, bad thinking can take down people besides the bad thinkers, like their kids, neighbors, and so on.
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Insightful)
I respect their choice to die rather then accept modern healthcare.
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This is a flamebaity question, but: do you respect that they make that choice for their children?
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I believe ether parent should be able to abort their children until the age of 18. They would call the school counselor and have the brat 'aborted'.
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I believe ether parent should be able to abort their children until the age of 18. They would call the school counselor and have the brat 'aborted'.
You mean the 72nd trimester.
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I do not think that doctors should take into consideration the religious preference of a parent when treating a child. Once that kid hits 18, fine then the new adult can make their own decisions, before then you go with the most medically sound option.
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Did the parent go to medical school?
Hell, did the parent even go to parenting school?
Just what do you think it is about a parent that makes you think that they know what is best for their children, especially in matters that they have absolutely no education in?
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As has been shown, the chemical release post birth gives the mother more confidence. So unless they have been trained with critical thinking skills, that boost in confidences makes then think every wild ass idea is right, and that they somehow have special knowledge.
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No they don't. We respect what we admire. And people with silly beliefs that are harmful are not to be admired, just tolerated. And only as long as they are the only ones harmed.
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Not going to address his point?
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I might find your beliefs utterly silly and without merit, but I can respect that you have your beliefs and that you stick to your beliefs.
It takes balls to go have surgery without the safety net of a blood transfusion, to not just tell the doctor "I'm not really all that religious, just save my life, whatever it takes."
Now if someone is making that decision for a child, lock the fucker up.
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WTF? Let me restate it for you: You don't need to respect morons, only tolerate them.
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From Wikipedia:
"Watch Tower Society publications teach that the Witnesses' refusal of transfusions of whole blood or its four primary components—red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma—is a non-negotiable religious stand and that those who respect life as a gift from God do not try to sustain life by taking in blood,[4][5] even in an emergency.[6] Witnesses are taught that the use of fractions such as albumin, immunoglobulins and hemophiliac preparations are "not absolutely prohibited" and
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Something like this would probably end up being classified something along the lines of a "hemophiliac preparations" which is a grey area.
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More for the rest of us i guess. Their choice.
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This Romanian compound appears to contain only salts and this protein from a sea worm. It should be considered to be no different than an ordinary IV solution from the J Witnesses' viewpoint. The hemerythrin protein would be similar to albumin (another protein).
However, we are dealing with religious beliefs here where people can make up all kinds of crazy stuff so hard to predict.
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
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In this case though, the fake blood is manufactured from actual blood. I think you'll find a good many Jehovah's Witnesses will decline this substitute. Now, if you get into the artificial bloods based on strictly man made materials you won't have any issues.
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What part of "extracted from sea-worms" leads you to the conclusion that "it was never part of a living creature"? A polychaete annelid doesn't exactly exude proteins like a cow gives milk or a spider spins silk -- someone has to harvest the worms, kill them, gut them, dry their exoskeletons out, grind them into a powder, and dissolve them in order to "extract" the proteins. Just because that takes place in a "chemical factory" doesn't alter their animal origin.
Re:not flaming (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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I'm not trying to cause a flamewar or anything but can someone explain to me why it would be "OK" to accept a new Liver but not Blood from a donor? I just don't see how getting cell type A from donor 1 is any different than getting cell type B. You are still violating "God's Gift of life" by taking cells from another.
To be clear IANAJW
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In the Hebrew Scriptures (the "old testament"), God's requirement was to, out of respect for taking the life of an animal and out of respect for the request of the animal's creator, the blood be poured out rather than put to use.
In the Greek Scriptures (the "new testament"), the holy spirit guided the apostles to continue the prohibition on blood. They put it on the same level as fornication and idolatry, which makes it quite a serious matter.
Biologically, it doesn't matter whether it's tissue-A or tissue-B
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Hopefully it will be something at least as useful.
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I sincerely hope not. Give Darwin a chance!
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Bloodless surgery (or more properly, the use of techniques developed for bloodless surgery to do surgery with less blood) is useful. Even with good compatibility, transfusions still have side effects which you generally want to avoid and minimizing surgical blood use helps take some pressure off the blood supply and keep it available for stuff where blood is absolutely needed.
TruBlood (Score:2)
Researchers from babe university (Score:2)
in vampire country make trublood on halloween - good show!
salt and worms (Score:2, Insightful)
It looks like all the vampire jokes are covered already, so on to the actual subject.
From the summary and the wiki-link, this is a mixture of saltwater and an oxygen carrier molecule from certain worms. As long as it doesn't trigger any sort of allergy, this should work well for short duration needs (like surgery) and the simplicity of the chemicals suggests that it can bypass the protein marker issues with human blood supplies.
Problem solved (wipes hands) ... (Score:5, Informative)
And thus begins the plot of Daybreakers [wikipedia.org].
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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So how many pints of real blood do you need to make a pint PolyHeme, also how expensive is it?
With purely artificial blood you don't have to worry about how many people are donating blood, you just make more.
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Of course, there's no reason there can't be two (or more) different solutions to the problem, that would probably be beneficial to the patient.
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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.
Apparently there are many [wikipedia.org].
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I think "13.2 percent of patients receiving PolyHeme died versus 9.6 percent among the control group" might have something to do with why we forgot about it. The non-matching and non-refrigeration aspects make it interesting for combat and less advanced regions though.
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What is the advantage of artificial blood? If it can't be made in higher volumes than from collecting real blood of the right blood type, or made more cheaply, then it isn't very useful. Though if there's some specific problem that prohibits using someone else's donated blood then it's useful (ie, a very rare blood type, or oversensitive immune reaction). Maybe donated blood isn't very safe in Romania?
read Lumley (Score:2)
Brian Lumley wrote about something very similar. Except the worms were vampires.
Cow Blood (Score:2)
You would thing the best and easiest way would just be to filter/treat cow blood in some way.
I won't even bother... (Score:2)
Vampires are SAVED!!!! (Score:2)
Crap...now we're stuck with Edward for centuries to come.
I thought they already did this (Score:2)
Strange. I had heard about this concept back when I was a kid and was curious as to why I hadn't heard more about it since then.
Back when I was in school we used to get a little magazine called "Weekly Reader" and back around 1991-ish I remember them having an article about scientists having created artificial blood. It didn't have any disease fighting capability but could carry oxygen (and was apparently white in color before being used).
Purple blood (Score:2)
Sign me up.
Old Man's War - Smart Blood (Score:3)
Are we getting to where we could create this? IF we can replace blood completely or in part with a substance that has nanites that accomplish some tasks better - perhaps we're ready for SmartBlood.
From a blog synopsizing the technology[1]:
[1] http://underbase.livejournal.com/49019.html [livejournal.com]
Jehovah's Witnesses Rejoice (Score:2)
how about we call it... (Score:2)
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Do Romanians celebrate Hallowe'en? It is celebrated in the Celtic nations such as Scotland and USA. In England, they only started celebrating it relatively recently.
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Triduum of All Hallows [wikipedia.org] is a (Roman) catholic holiday starting today. I see no reason why that might not have bled over. Regardless of origin, once it's part of Catholic tradition, it tends to get around a bit.
(I'm aware that romania is mostly orthodox)
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Hallowe'en is a Pagan festival to celebrate the Autumn (Fall) equinox. They believed that this was the time of year that the spirits of the dead would wake up for the winter, and it was necessary for young people to dress up as skeletons and ghosts and to have lanterns designed as such in order to confuse them and scare them away. Absolutely nothing to do with the Catholic Church or Christianity, it was around before they came along.
All Saints' Day is tomorrow, and All Souls' day the day after. Those are
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I worked the trail backwards to a Romanian news source because it was just too coincidental, but since I don't read Romanian I stopped there.
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The washington times story is just a copy/paste of the other article linked in the summary. The other link you provided is a list of all the publications Radu Silaghi has put out, this one is not listed there as far as I could tell.
Polyheme and Hemopure... (Score:2)
The one you are remembering was probably PolyHeme [wikipedia.org]. It wasn't a hundred years ago, but there technical and industrial barriers blocking the development of this type of product didn't really fall until the 70's.
The non-consent trial (technically opt-out, but you had to do it before you got your trama injury) for PolyHeme weren't just disturbing, Polyheme didn't perform well in these trials (for example, the chicago trial [chicagotribune.com]). This is probably why you haven't heard much about this since that time.
Because of the
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Why would trials be run this way as opposed to informed consent if the product was suspected to actually work?
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In related news Anna Paquin goes into hiding.
Re:True Blood? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, because the only thing stopping True Blood from becoming a reality was the lack of artificial blood.