Groningen Hospital doctor involved in breathtaking resurrection project

by | Aug 6, 2022 | How about that !

At American Yale University, scientists succeeded to bring a dead pig back to life. A full hour after the animal was officially declared dead, doctors managed to restart the blood circulation. Is this one of the first steps to immortality?

I love this kind of scientific news as I always believed medical science can do better.

The study results were published in the scientific journal Nature.

Compared to other scientific fields, medical science is still at medieval level. Look at the way they treat cancer. Instead of a modern genetic approach, rude methods are still the narrative.

The news from America and involvement of a Dutch doctor must trigger the attention of politicians as particularly in The Netherlands there is a long and unique history of non realistic ethics as it comes to inventive medical science.

In an article, published alongside the study, Dutch Dr. Robert J. Porte of the University Medical Center Groningen said that the findings have the potential to lead to new treatment strategies for people who have a heart attack or stroke

It emerged that cells don’t die. At least not as quickly as scientists assumed.

As the pig’s resurrection is just a first step, it is widely believed that with more research, the cutting-edge technique could someday at least potentially help preserve human organs for longer, allowing more people to receive transplants.

The researchers at Yale used a system they developed called OrganEx. It helped bringing back oxygen in the blood circulation system of the dead animal.

The recirculation method works throughout the dead pig’s body, preserving cells and some organs after a cardiac arrest.

Dr. Nenad Sestan, the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience and professor of comparative medicine, genetics and psychiatry at Yale, who led the study stated:

“The biggest finding is that cells assumed to be dead are still functioning hours after they should not be. What the findings tells us is that the demise of cells can be halted. And their functionality restored in multiple vital organs. Even one hour after death”

Trivial question remains: How could the research be applied to humans?

Scientists emphasize that the research is still at an extremely early stage and very experimental.

They hope that their work in pigs could ultimately be applied to humans, primarily in terms of developing ways to extend the window for transplants.

The current supply of organs is running short, with countless people worldwide waiting for transplants every step to increase the time frame in which an organ for transplant deteriorate is welcome.

Restoring a full functioning human body is far way beyond the horizon.

How “old” technology survives

by | Aug 1, 2022 | How about that !

The digital revolution does not hamper old technology from being used as in many area’s devices as fax machines, tape storage devices and record players are still alive. Not to forget Teletext, still popular in countries like Germany and The Netherlands.

Many music fans believe that analogue music sounds better. There is a strong demand for record players and also open reel tape recorders. New hardware is still available and on the rise.

At the office, fax messages are widely seen as more secure compared with email. Lawyers, notary offices and medical professionals still send countless numbers of faxes every day around the globe. I use the fax at least a few times a week. The fax machine of today is in many cases virtual and perfectly integrated in a digital environment.

For security reasons, many large companies store their vital data on tape.

The security matter goes even further than protecting content against violent intrusion. Data stored on tape is also better resistant to EMP shockwaves. In case of an EMP, data storage on traditional drives as hard disks and SSD could be lost.

Worldwide tensions are leveling up and chances of major disruption increase by the day. Just a nuclear explosion in space can wipe out all vital data in an instance.

Data backed up on tape is difficult to disrupt, steal or ransom.

As a result the sale of magnetic storage devices is at an all time high.

LTO (Linear Tape Open) devices, the first ones came out thirty years ago, are popular by an increasing number of companies.

Not as it comes to speed. Compared to modern hard drives and SSD’s, storage on tape is slow.

But when it comes to endurance and resistance against attacks it is the last resort.

Massive amounts of data is now stored on cassette tapes.

The modern cassettes don’t look by far as the pre historic IBM, Sony and Commodore cassettes. A modern cassette drive is one of a kind and can store up to 45 terra bytes.

Not vulnerable for attacks as the data stored on tape is always stored off line and meant to be used as back up only.

Slowness is better than loosing vital data. It might take a while to restore but it’s always worth it.

Tape storage hit the news as a Swedish company specialized in magnetic storage devices reported an over 40 percent sale increase compared to 2019.

The company explained the amazing jump in demand has to do with a sharp increase in ransomware attacks.