Material Made From Crustaceans Could Combat Battlefield Blood Loss 76
MTorrice writes: A foam composed of a polymer derived from crustacean shells may prevent more soldiers from falling victim to the most prolific killer on the battlefield: blood loss. Pressure is one of the best tools that medics have to fight bleeding, but they can't use it on severe wounds near organs. Here, compression could do more harm than good. First responders have no way to effectively dam blood flows from these non-compressible injuries, which account for the majority of hemorrhagic deaths. The new foam could help stop bleeding in these types of injuries. It relies on chitosan, a biopolymer that comes from processed crustacean shells. By modifying the chitosan, the developers gave the material the ability to anchor blood cells into gel-like networks, essentially forming blood clots. The researchers dispersed the modified chitosan in water to create a fluid they could spray directly onto noncompressible wounds.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember seeing something like this as a coating to a wound dressing
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Not the same AC, but I also remembered this [militaryphotos.net] from years ago (2007).
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Dupe? (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember seeing something like this as a coating to a wound dressing
Correct. We (Israel) used this to terrific effect in last year's operation in Gaza. It saved lives on both sides.
Re:Dupe? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it kosher then? Or does reality temporarily take precedence over mythology when someone is wounded?
Bert
Nice veiled insult. Saving a human life is considered, as per our mythology, more important than any other commandment. We drive ambulances on the sabbath and use pig implants when that is needed to save a life. There is no "temporary" about that, it is our custom.
Some religions value the afterlife more than human life. Some religions value vague interpretations of scripture more than human life. Some politicians value religion more than human life. Jews believe in human life first, all else second.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Thanks for the reply and the elucidation. I think it is a very good custom that saving a human life takes precedence.
Yes, I had a blunt way of posing the question. I'm not really sorry about that. Being without any factual basis, religion is a personal hobby and should not affect other people's lives. These days, the news is rather filled with items that are at odds with that.
It is rather sad that science is brought to the battle field (both for killing and surviving). If only soldiers limited themselves to
Re:Dupe? (Score:5, Interesting)
Thanks, Bert. I agree with you on all accounts.
I've been on both ends of the assault rifle, and my children have been through one rocket damaging our home and dozens more landing nearby. The more we "advance" technology the more we enable any particular human to hurt more and more people around them. I long for the day when we forget how to forge rifles and pack blackpowder. Let the warriors (and I say this as a reserve soldier) fight with their fists. There is no way for either side to "leave the civilians out of it" when we are fighting with weapons with a ranges measured in kilometers. If you can't look the other side in the eye, don't pull the trigger / don't throw the punch / don't push the button.
And don't be afraid to call someone a false cleric if they are using holy texts / mythology / out-of-context quotes in order to convince you to hurt somebody.
Re: (Score:1)
Hope you, yours and everyone else remains safe.
Bert
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Jesus was definitely right about a lot of things. So were Muhammed and Budda and Pythagoras.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Great comment. Thanks.
Re: (Score:3)
We've been using this stuff for 10 years already in the military. You can buy it on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BCNTHC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
NOT the same thing, however in your defense the article does not make this distinction very clear without already knowing the definitions.. Quick clot and related technologies are for "compressible wounds" that are bleeding to the outside. If you can see the source of bleeding, you can usually compress it. TFA references "Non-compressible bleeding". [nationaltr...titute.org] These are typically truncal wounds that require an operation to fix.
This product is more in line to what TFA is referring to: and this product already ex [arsenalmedical.com]
Re:Wrong goal (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually the main purpose is to wound as many enemies as you can. Each wounded soldier takes 2-3 support people to care for them. The purpose of engaging in battle is to gain the specific objective (hill, town, city) as described by the mission objectives. A lot of killing takes place, yes, but it's actually the wounded that count the most from a tactical standpoint.
Re: (Score:1)
The whole purpose of battle is that one side thinks its lives are worth more....
Wrong Strategy (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Why spend so much money trying to save soldier's lives, when their very job and purpose is killing other soldiers ?
Their job is not to be killed and kill as much as possible of the enemy. As it's been seen from the last wars, fighting against a diminished army makes it easier to win the war.
QuikClot and Celox (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:QuikClot and Celox (Score:4, Interesting)
Is there a significant antigen left in this foam?
I know people can be allergic to almost anything, but this looks to me like only relatively simple innocuous compounds remain in the foam.
The point being on the battlefield, what proportion of people would be killed by this from anaphylaxis (say) rather than saved by it?
Rgds
Damon
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:QuikClot and Celox (Score:4, Insightful)
If this technology becomes common place, I expect those with crustacean allergies will be required to wear a red tag same as those with pencilin allergies.
It might even become practice to use it anyway and follow up with a treatment for the anaphylaxis, if the bleeding is severe enough. People can survive shellfish reactions with management - severe internal bleeding, not so much.
Re: (Score:2)
QuikClot is a powder that activates the appropriate agents in your body to jumpstart the clotting process. It is not perfect and it doesn't work well with heavy bleeding or anyone who is on blood thinners. Additionally, since it is directly used to create the clot you can't remove the shit without removing the clot... which will restart the bleeding. However that last point isn't that critical as you should only be removing the clot when in an appropriate medical environment to treat the wound.
This form wou
News fot nerds...from the 90's? (Score:1)
lol. Wow. This is *OLD* news. The military has been using this technology for over 20 years now.
Re: (Score:3)
lol. Wow. This is *OLD* news. The military has been using this technology for over 20 years now.
And you can even buy it from Amazon.com [amazon.com]
Re:Another tool (Score:5, Informative)
Peace would be much more efficient.
I agree. How do you suggest we create peace with ISIL/ISIS?
Perhaps we [time.com] should not have created ISIS [mintpressnews.com] in the first place. Blame Obama.
Or perhaps since the local area had already mostly found an equilibrium, we should not have toppled that evil-bastard Saddam Hussein. Yes, he was evil. Yes, I would not want him for my president. But he was reasonably well contained and provided a counter balance to the other powers in the region. Blame Bush II.
We can walk our way back in time and blame [nearly?] every U.S. president regardless of party back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. We can then start blaming the Europeans for carving up the Mid-East in such a way that it was a breeding ground for future wars. [google.com]
But peace? Do you have any concrete mechanisms that would actually improve the situation?
ITT: pretentious anons who didn't read the article (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, shellfish based bandages have been around for the last decade, yes. No, this isnt the same as that. This is a spray, not a bandage. No pressure necessary, just spray the wound like windex and you're good. This is a major advance and you lot are "lol omg seen this 10 years ago lolslashdot",
Re: (Score:2)
same substance, new delivery method.
i bet you could kill someone with an injection of this stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
I bet you could kill someone with an injection of this stuff.
Same is true for many things.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Read the article? I get the feeling sometimes that people here don't even bother to read the summary.
And sometimes, not even the title.
Re: (Score:2)
This is a major advance and you lot are "lol omg seen this 10 years ago lolslashdot",
It makes sense if you accept the premise that their purpose for being here is to feel smug and superior, not to get it right.
Paging Dr. Zoidberg... (Score:2)
Another material that helps stop bleeding (Score:1)
Here is another material that has been used to stop bleeding. Its been around for a longer time.
"Bleed-X Vet Hemostatic Powder originates from over a decade of research and clinical use in the human market. Since 2001, Medaforâ(TM)s patented Microporous Polysaccharide Hemosphere (MPH) technology has been saving lives in both humans and animals- clinically proven to be a superior method to control surgical and topical hemorrhage in over 2 million human applications.
Bleed-X Vet is indicated in surgical,
Re: (Score:2)
I've been using a nanotech solution whereby nanobots congregate and join together at the wound site in response to a protein cue given off by damaged blood vessel. Since the nano-bots are small and vaugely plate-shaped I've been thinking of calling them plale-lettes.
Re: (Score:2)
Best comment on the thread yet.
Re: (Score:2)
What happened to Topistat? (Score:2)
Back in the 1970's a friend who had been a medic told me about a spray clotting agent that was then saving lives called Topostat or Topistat. He found somewhere to buy it commercially and a few of up pitched in and got some spray cans. I never use it for more than patching up a scraped knee, but it seemed to be great stuff. Scrape you knee, spray on this stuff, and you had an instant scab to stop further bleeding.
I've never seen it again since, and even a search of the Internet seems to be completely ignor
PETA says (Score:2)
crustaceans are sea-gerbils!
Chitosan has been around for awhile (Score:2)
I believe this was reported in Slashdot years ago. Chitosan based bandages are available on Amazon. I carry one in the first aid kit on the motorcycle. Is this Retread Sunday?
battlefield blood loss (Score:1)
Craaaab people (Score:2)
This gives crab people a whole new meaning!