Nanoparticle Infused Gauze Quickly Stanches Wounds 155
jackieduvall writes "Medical gauze has received its first upgrade since World War I. Chemists have infused it with nanoparticles derived from kaolin clay, which somehow give it an amazing ability to stop severe bleeding. It was developed when the Navy approached a team of inorganic chemists at the University of California Santa Barbara to solve a problem with QuikClot, a zeolite-based hemostatic agent that became way too hot and caused burns when it came in contact with water or blood. While performing blood clotting tests, they realized that kaolin clay, which has been used as a control for clotting experiments since the 1950s, could also be used as a first aid product."
There is a video demonstration alongside the article. It shows the gauze halting the bleeding from a pig's aorta. The blood isn't excessive, but if you're bothered by that sort of thing, you may want to skip the video.
Humph... This happens a lot (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Humph... This happens a lot (Score:5, Interesting)
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Instead of using shrimp particles, they want to be politically correct and use nanoparticles.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/16/1518208 [slashdot.org]
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Re:Humph... This happens a lot (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Humph... This happens a lot (Score:5, Informative)
Bleeding isn't normally a big feature of eye surgery such as cataract surgery.
Maybe he has applications in retinal surgery in mind. Blood in the vitreous humour inside the eye clears away very slowly, and sometimes needs to be removed surgically, which is a very major eye operation. It would be good to have some substance you could inject into the eye which would clear the blood faster: in fact various things of this kind have been tried.
It doesn't seem that this stuff would be particularly useful in that way, as it arrests bleeding rather than clears blood.
Neurosurgery I can see, though.
It reminds me of when I did neurosurgery as a trainee, years ago; brain bleeds easily, and the more you touch it, the more it tends to bleed. We used to splosh peroxide on the bleeding spots to arrest bleeding (I don't know if this still goes on).
I remember a cynical anaesthesiologist saying he was convinced that peroxide had no actual effect in itself to stop the bleeding - what happens is that the peroxide fizzes for several minutes and during that time the surgeon has to keep his fingers away from the brain, and it's THAT that arrests the bleeding.
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Neurosurgeons basically melon ball the brain out (Score:2)
Liver surgeons, and orthopods ( bone docs like me) would really like this.
Buckaroo Banzai (Score:2)
--Buckaroo Banzai to assisting doctor, while performing neurosurgery.
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Yeah, this is the sort of thing you would want to issue to Soldiers to slap over a bullet wound on their thigh while they wait for the Medic to get to them. Every second counts when you're losing blood.
I think they're already carrying a bandage that slows blood loss, but nothing that stops it like this does. This could save a lot of lives in combat. Hell, I'd put some under the seat of my car in case I ever got into a wreck. :3
Animal Cruelty (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Animal Cruelty (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Animal Cruelty (Score:4, Interesting)
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That wasn't pig you were eating - it was clown.
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Don't be too nonchalant about the whole thing... don't forget that you (and I) taste like bacon [slashdot.org]!
This is why vegetarians are important (Score:3, Funny)
... they taste better when you eat them. :-)
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It's true. I once thought it would be fun to play with molten glass. It wasn't.
I haven't really had the same taste for pig since, though Chinese food gets a huge pass.
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Fuck him.
So our ancestors had it right? (Score:2)
Sounds (Score:5, Funny)
Also works for the runs... (Score:5, Informative)
I think the modern kaopectate has modified its ingredients, but kaolin clay like substances are still available for medical use. Nice to see a new implementation of this technology, with the "nano" prefix thrown in for sexiness.
Re:Also works for the runs... (Score:4, Funny)
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They had this new whizbang clotting agent, but it was very exothermic, so....
Their solution was to take a old, known clotting agent and grind it up really fine.
The End.
How anticlimactic.
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Ah... (Score:5, Funny)
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Or hybrids (I currently have coffee and baileys flowing through my circulatory system
A brief history of kaolin (Score:5, Interesting)
Porcelin clays are fired between three and four thousand degrees in order to vitrify- which means, to melt and fuse together. Glazes, which are based in sand and metal, vitrify at a lower temperature, which is why pots have two firings, the first to make them pots instead of shaped clay, and the second to decorate them.
Kaolin is not quite as common as dirt or sand but it is found all over the world and not too difficult to obtain. A good college ceramics department will have a barrel on hand.
The upshot of this, I guess, is that if you are foolish enough to stick your hand into a clay mixer, which is like a Kitchen Aid stand mixer on steroids, and get your hand torn off, sticking your hand into the barrel of kaolin dust would be amazingly good first aid.
OT : What's wrong with blood? (Score:2)
The blood isn't excessive, but if you're bothered by that sort of thing, you may want to skip the video.
Here's something that I've always wondered and never got an answer to. Why are some people bothered by the sight of blood? What's shocking about it? I really don't get it even a bit. Besides I always thought (my own) blood was kind of yummy.
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That's fine and dandy, but that doesn't tell me what people who are bothered even slightly by the sight of blood feel or think.
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Reinforcing my point: I've never seen anyone vomit at the sight of maroon paint.
Besides I always thought (my own) blood was kind of yummy.
I somehow doubt your first reaction to losing a hand would be to grab a dixie cup.
Somewhat off-topic: Am I the only one having trouble loading the video? I just see a black rectangle with a menu below.
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Social conditioning. When I was young I was tasked with beheading and plucking a bunch of chickens. I found it a bit nasty (I was an innocent suburban kid) because I was never taught nor had I experienced anything different.
My views changed instantly on eating the delicious stew made from my victims.
Conditioning. (Score:2)
Mind you, despite 3 years practise the missus still gets in a tizz as I sit stemming the bleed with tissue paper and/or superglue. Mostly because I'm making a mess on the carpet (I don't want to think about the row I'd get if I bled to death on the nice rugs).
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Jeezus. First of all, that's called a callus [wikipedia.org]. Second of all, why the hell are you cutting them off? Just use a pumice [wikipedia.org] stone to abrade them off. No blood, you can do it in the shower. No muss, no fuss.
Finally, unless you're a girly-man, you WANT calluses. They let the chicks know you're tough. Or something. Alright, calluses on feet are gross.
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Obligatory 911 reference (Score:4, Insightful)
As if the military had no other reason to look into this.
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nano technology? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd have to take such characterization with a grain of nano calcium chloride.
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Why mod this "interesting"?
There was no mention of "nanotechnology" anywhere in the article or summary. They are talking about nanoparticles.
Quoted from your local neighborhood Wikipedia:
"A nanoparticle which historically has included nanopowder, nanocluster, and nanocrystal is a small particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm."
See, no tiny machines necessary...
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I use a product called Surround (tm) that is finely ground kaolin to keep bugs off plants like apple trees and roses. Word is that some apple farmers used regular kaolin that wasn't properly processed and they killed their trees. So, size does matter.
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There are plenty of Brits around here - they're the ones who keep reminding us that Slashdot isn't just for Americans.
Clotting for non-clotters? (Score:4, Interesting)
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-b
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Short answer: No.
Longer answer: People with clotting issues are lacking in some of the components tha tmake clots, such as the platelets, or the proteins that turn into the fibrous strands, or the components that control the clotting reaction. All the kaolin does is accelerate normal clotting - there are othe
Commercial? (Score:2)
I use Celox already (Score:4, Informative)
In my personal trauma kit here at home, I use Celox:
http://www.celoxmedical.com/ [celoxmedical.com]
It is chitosan-based but claims to not affect people with seafood-based allergies. It produces no heat and is removed easily by water irrigation. I am curious why the DoD has not moved towards this product; you can get the celox-infused gauze that works much the same as this kaolin-based product already. If any of you are EMTs or just interested in having a good hemostatic agent in your kit, you should look into Celox. When everything else is equal, the disadvantages of Quikclot make Celox the clear winner.
-b
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You are correct; however, the similarity ends there. Quikclot is made fine mineral dust and Celox is based on a water-soluble, organic polymer.
>>It seems that the main appeal of the new Quikclot, aside from the non-burning, is that the clotting agent is integrated directly into the gauze pad.
Well, we've had Quikclot bandages for quite some time now- I r
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Without a valid reason to spend money on research it tends to be difficult to get money. Like I would love to do a 50 year research project on how having a harem of over a dozen women will effect erectile dysfunction in a man through adulthood... but I've yet to be able to convince the government on why they should spend their military
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Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding! (Score:5, Informative)
Multiple hospitals, fully stocked with everything you need.
Tons of food.
Enough electrical power to supply a city.
The most modern communication equipment in the world.
The ability to create something like 100,000 gallons of pure drinking water a day.
Helicopters for transporting supplies, personal, and the injured.
Construction equipment, bulldozers are handy things when buildings have collapsed.
Security. Natural disasters tend to attract roving bands of thugs who take advantage of the chaos to prey upon the helpless.
etc, etc, etc.
A carrier task force is about the best damn thing to have around when dealing with a disaster of that magnitude. I don't even need to list the huge sums of money and supplies donated by the American people and American businesses. I know of a lot of companies that sponsored donation matching.
Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding! (Score:4, Insightful)
That would be informative, otherwise you're essentially passing opinion (which I don't care about and leaves me less rather then more informed).
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> time, the largest giver in absolute dollars of any nation in the world.
Yeah, but most of that `giving` is to Israel. I'm talking about charity, to countries which need it. And by the Government, not the people. Finally, the US gives far less than the suggested minimum of its GDP. You're living the dream, arncha!
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You're joking, right? Are you totally ignorant of Israels situation, or are you just trolling?
Anyway, charity is charity, regardless of your uninformed opinion. Maybe someone somewhere thinks that drug users don't deserve to be given money, but that doesn't mean you're not being charitable when you give to a program to help drug users.
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Yuhuh. What's wrong with that? If I give a homeless guy coupons which he can only use to buy food from me, am I not being charitable? I've heard your line of reasoning before, but I've never understood it. Are you saying that the only way to be charitable is to give dollars? So when I give old clothes to goodwill, or donate blood at the blood bank, I'm actually being a stingy bastard?
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I guess a good analogy would be that you give food coupons to your wealthy friend and claim that you have now helped the poor.
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Helping people defend themselves against bigger opponents is generally considered charitable. Even ignoring that, giving is charitable regardless of how rich the recipient may be. If you give money to a museum, you're being charitable despite the fact that the Museum's exhibits are worth more than you'll ev
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Now just to be consistent, I'm sure you consider the money Iran gives to Hezbollah charity as well?
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I suppose that, in the sense that Iran believes that money is being used for the greater good of the Muslim world, you could say it was charity. On the other hand, the results speak for themselves, and it does say a lot about their ideology that they're fund
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This is a fundamental issue that I fervently disagree with.
The government of this country should give ZERO dollars in aid. It should come from the people. It is NOT the purpose of a Republican government (Republican as is in "a republic", not the political party) to redistribute the wealth of the citizenry, much less to foreign nations.
The American people are some of the most giving in the world, assuming they have money left to give and it isn't all sucked up by a se
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The United States Government is, and has been for some time, the largest giver in absolute dollars of any nation in the world. There are tons of references to this online but here is one: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp#ForeignAidNumbersinChartsandGraphs [globalissues.org]
A loan is not a gift.
Official aid is not free, there are strings attached.
No matter how you slice the numbers the United States through it's government and private citizens are the most generous givers
That is UTTER bullshit, your own link slices the numbers and in EVERY WAY but one, the US is far, far from first place, never mind your mistaken idea about giving VS loaning.
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It's pretty common knowledge that the USA is both [globalissues.org] the largest source of foreign aid in terms of raw dollars and one of the smallest sources of foreign aid in terms of GDP.
What's less well known is that close to two-thirds of that aid go to Israel and Egypt for the the purpose of buying weapons. [vaughns-1-pagers.com]
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If you're going to rattle off broad claims like this you should at least cite them.
The US give by far the most in dollars, but fairly low in terms of GNP. [oecd.org] But that is only counting UN Official Development Assistance contributions. I couldn't find numbers for private donations or other non-military aid. Although the Gates Foundation wrote just over $2 billion in grants in 2007, [gatesfoundation.org] which would put their giving on a
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Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding! (Score:5, Insightful)
The ships you speak of helped out in Indonesia, it took less than a week since, they were in the area and arrived before the Aussies could get there (and we live next door!!). The US had a shipload of choppers and spent weeks carting bottled water, desal plants, portable hostpitals, etc, etc. On one isolated island the choppers were attacked by some stone age natives with bows and arrows (who had survived by following their ancestors advice and going to high ground when the earth rumbled), but generally the assistance was greatly appreciated.
One point in your post bugs me, you don't need to denigrate the efforts of others (UN) to make the US look good. The US is great for initial releif and moving a lot of bulk in a hurry. The UN is great for long term assistance and opening the political doors that enable the US Navy to do it's stuff. In other words the US & UN work best together not in competition.
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I will continue the theame of emphasising the good works of the UN in the case of the tsunami. A snippet below from this link [un.org] dated ~4 weeks after the Tsunami hit. Note this is the area where the US were, the UN assisted across the rim of the Indian ocean to Ethiopia and brou
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No nation on Earth will allow a foreign forc
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BTW, according to the numbers, the average donation per capita of you Aussies was about USD 66. Holy shit, you guys ROCK!
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Thanks, most of it was private, I belive the govt gave $1B to Indonesia in cash and kind.
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If there is a systemic problem with the UN it is that the permenent members of the UNSC use it as a method of fight proxy wars where real people (ie: smaller oil rich nations) get caught in the middle, still it's preferable to nothing.
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Sorry, but I just couldn't let that go. Are you suggesting that cases of violence amongst the general population of a country are equivalent to systematic corruption within an organization?
Oh really. Care to cite an
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I have no idea how you read that into what I said, but I was suggesting that people who are constantly exposed to human trauma may appear cold and uncaring when complaining about the breakfast buffet. I am also suggesting certain political spin merchants will jump on such trivia to demonize others and fools will go along for the ride. I don't want to get i
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Ah. So the cold war was all about oil now, was it? And it was fought through the UN, was it?
Right! Because the Palestinian territories hold MASSIVE stores of oil! And the US support of Israel operates through the UN! Wow, you're so smart.
Well, except for the US. But yes,
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US companies were responsible for ~50% of the 'corrupt' money that changed hands, it was the UNSC's responsiblity to police the sanctions they themselves set up, but they ignored all of it with a wink and a nod until the US found it convienient to do otherwise for political purposes.
I can no longer argue with such willfull ignorance as such arguments are pointless, fuck you and your perfect spelling.
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Not to belittle US assistance, but as a percentage of gross national income the US is way low on the scale. It's true that the absolute numbers that the US gives are very high (about twice as high as the next highest country), but it also helps to keep in mind that we aren't really sacrificing all that much in order to do it. About 0.17% of our GNI.
Here's a page with some nice charts and numbers [globalissues.org].
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And we don't normally see a huge amount of aid in them. We provide it internally. Sometimes we'll get assistance from foreign governments in the form of various specialists. But not stuff like
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And what's wrong with that? Personally I think that aid/charity should be mostly a private matter.
16th, given the hundreds of countries, ain't bad, especially given our size and the fact we normally take care of internal incidents and disasters without counting in that international aid category.
Re:This is a US website (Score:4, Informative)
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See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stanches [merriam-webster.com]
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