Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Estrogen and Hydrogen Sulfite on the Battlefield

It hard to imagine anything of good consequence emerging from a war, but life-saving techniques and technologies are one of those good things: From the BBC, Jason Margolis reports on experiments aimed at extending the so-called ‘Golden Hour’, the window of time needed to evacuate a soldier with severe traumatic injuries to a hospital -- the interview, aired here, explains how estrogen might save a soldier's life by restoring blood volume. Also, how hydrogen sulfide might be able to place the soldier into a state of temporary hibernation, slowing down metabolic rates, decreasing the need for oxygen. If this works on the battlefield, eventually it will make its way to standard practice for EMTs and in ERs.

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