Author Archives: jkwlui

Liver kept alive for 24 hours outside of body

Posted on March 18, 2013 | 1 comment

Hundreds of thousands of lives are leaning on the edge waiting for the right organ and a new life. However, donated liver still remains a scarce resource these days and many lives are lost while waiting for the right liver. What makes the situation worse, is that over 2000 livers were wasted every year in the US and Europe because they were damaged during transport by the ice pack and solution used as the only method of preservation. However, a new device has recently been unveiled in London, England by the University of Oxford that keeps a donated liver at body temperature before they reached the patient waiting for transplant.

Because of the fact that an available liver must be matched with an appropriate receiver, it’s rare that an available liver is in close proximity to the receiver’s hospital. Therefore a long transportation time is sometimes incurred during which the liver is easily damaged because it is kept out of it optimal living conditions. The new device, however, allows the donated liver to be kept for at least 24 hours, what’s even more amazing, is that the liver keeps on functioning while in the device.

A donor liver connected with the device

The device simply acts as a body and supply the liver with oxygenated blood and nutrients, but the trick is, how much and at what pressure. “The key is that the system ‘listens’ to the organ to find out how much blood to supply, and at what pressure,” says Stuart Kay, of Team Consulting in Cambridge, UK. There are multiple sensor for the flow of fluid, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels and sugar concentration in blood to create the optimum environment for the liver. Currently this device only works for donated livers, but the researchers at Cambridge are certain that it can be modified to fit other organs as well.

Check out this video on the actually hooking up of the liver and the device!

http://www.newscientist.com/video/2228569979001-device-keeps-liver-alive-outside-the-body.html

by Jonathan Lui

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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The Large Hadron Collider – advancing our knowledge or our doomsday?

Posted on February 25, 2013 | 1 comment

The Large Hadron Collider is the largest man-made high-energy particle accelerator, which aims to allow scientists to test theories of particle physics. Through the collider, Physicists hope to find answers to some of the world’s still unsolved mysteries, such as the existence of the Higgs boson, a.k.a the God’s particle. Ultimately, it would advance our knowledge about the universe that we live in, and address the questions as to how it all began. However, some people has raised concerns as to the safety of the collider, due to the nature of the amount of  energy involved in the experiments and of the many laws of physics still unknown to us. There is even a website called Has The Large Hadron Collider Destroyed the World Yet, signifying the existence of large amount of concerns from members of the scientific community and the general public.

The Large Hadron Collider lies in a tunnel 175 metres beneath the border of France and Switzerland near Geneve, Switzerland

Opposition of the large hadron collider has proposed two such “ways” the world as we know it will end because of the Large Hadron Collider:

Micro black holes

Although the theory of the large hadron collider would ultimately reach energies high enough to create black holes has been disproved by the Standard Model of particle physics, some extensions of the Standard Model do however predicts the possible existence of micro black holes during the operation of the collider. Unlike the widely known black holes, micro black holes loses mass quickly than it gains, and eventually dissipates and vanishes. Therefore they are deemed harmless by most theories of physics now known to man.

Strangelets

A Strangelet is a hypothetical particle that consists of equal number of up, down and strange quarks, the elementary particles that form matters. Physicists predict the creation of such particle would results in a fusion process in which all nuclei that form all matter in a planet would be converted to strange matters. However, currently models suggest that strangelets, even if they can be produced, are short-lived and unstable under low temperatures, where the collision occurs in energies higher than the stable environment in orders of magnitudes.

Current theories have predicted the probability of a catastrophic event happening because of the collider is virtually none. However, if you are one of the people that lose sleep thinking about possibility of the end of world, you can rest assured until the year 2015, because during which the Large Hadron Collider has been shut down for upgrades since the end of 2012.

Jonathan Lui

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Posted in Issues in Science

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FAST: The mnemonic that might one day save your life

Posted on January 30, 2013 | 4 comments

A cerebrovascular accident (CVA), also known as a stroke, is a potentially life threatening medical condition if left unaware and untreated. However, if the patient suffering from a stroke receives immediate medical attention, there is a high chance of survival and the patient is more likely to have limited damage by the stroke. Studies have shown that most people with stroke symptoms are still not getting to the hospital fast enough. Therefore, it is crucial that the local emergency services are contacted immediately after a person displays symptoms that resembled that of a stroke. Imagine the situation where you are dining at a restaurant and a person seated next to you experience a stroke. How would you know if this person is indeed having a stroke and needs immediate medical attention?

Signs of stroke

A stroke can happen to anyone of any age and health conditions. It can also occur at anytime and anywhere, so knowing how to detect whether a person or even yourself is potentially having a stroke may prove to be useful in case of emergency. A stroke is caused by disrupted blood flow to part of the brain, causing extensive damage to brain cells. When supply of oxygen is cut off by the disrupted blood flow, the brain cells fail to perform like they usually do and causing stroke symptoms that present themselves in several ways:

1. Sudden numbless of the face, limbs, especially on one side of the body
2. Sudden confusion or troubles speaking or comprehending
3. Sudden trouble seeing in either or both eyes
4. Sudden difficulties walking, balancing or in coordination
5. Sudden head aches

A full list of signs of stroke

FAST, or the Face Arm Speech Test

The FAST mnemonic is developed by a group of physicians and paramedics as a way to detect potential stroke patients and to deliver immediate treatment to the patient as quickly as possible. The four parts of the FAST mnemonic are namely:

Facial Weakness – whether a person can smile without dropping of the mouth
Arm Weakness – whether a person can hold up both arm
Speech Difficulty – whether a person can speak or understand speak
Time to act

with the last part “Time to act” signifying how important it is that the suspected stroke patient be sent to the hospital immediately for diagnosis and treatment.

The time frame for treatment is approximately 3 hours starting from the onset of symptoms where a drug that dissolve blood clots may be effective to prevent further brain cells damage. Knowing how to detect for potential stroke signs will speed up the process that the patient gets to the hospital, and potentially saving precious lives.

Jonathan Lui

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Posted in Biological Sciences

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