Posted on 01/28/2008 7:22:09 AM PST by RDTF
With the Starship Enterprise seemingly doomed after losing warp power, Mr. Spock exposes himself to lethal radiation in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. After repairing the engines and saving the day, Spock dies.
Evidently, the movie's writers didn't think scientists would find a drug to cure radiation poisoning by the late 23rd century.
Yet local scientists may be on the verge of doing just that more than two centuries before the setting of the Star Trek film.
Rice University's Jim Tour and his colleagues at two Houston health institutions have found a drug that, when given to mice before radiation exposure, is 5,000 times more effective than the best-available therapy for radiation injuries.
Officials at the Department of Defense, seeking remedies for the radiation sickness that would follow a nuclear strike, were so taken by the research that they recently gave Tour a $540,000 grant and asked him to compress the next phase of testing into an almost unheard-of nine months.
In that time, Tour's research group hopes to improve the drug so it works as well when given after radiation exposure as it does before.
"They originally asked for something in six months, but I told them that was impossible," said Tour, a chemist who directs Rice's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory.
Radiation disrupts cells by freeing molecules from their chemical bonds and allowing them to run amok inside the nucleus.
These so-called free radicals can destroy a cell's DNA, killing the cell or preventing it from dividing. The result can be a slow death of the victim as organs fail.
To address the problem, Tour and his partners at two University of Texas institutions — the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Health Science Center — have created a drug that's deceptively simple.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
in before the Trek geeks.
[clear throat]
Enterprise cannon DID have a radiation drug, however it was only good up to a point.
that said,
cool.
Every now and then a truly noteworthy headline shows up in “Latest Posts.”
"Tour conceded, however, that there are special circumstances surrounding the radiation drug that could accelerate its development."
"There is no alternative therapy, and the poor soul so exposed has no hope other than petitions to God," Tour said.
Thank you for this article. I was once a Health Physicist and I have to say, this is way cool!
If in fact this drug works as they hope, it would make small scale nuclear warfare a much more viable option. Thus the unintended consequence of his 'hope of saving 1 million people' could turn out to be the death of millions.
Interesting to note that Dr. Denham Harmon’s experiments at the University of Nebraska with lab rats showed average life span increases with the administration of BHT (+30%) and BHA (+50%) over the Control Group. He performed that research in the early 1950s. I suspect he has experimented with antioxidants himself since he is 93 years old and still goes to work every day.
If this drug stops free radicals in their path, wouldn’t it make sense to give it to everyone, exploding nukes or not? The article also indicates that the drug will also include substances to speed the repair of cells. Again, wouldn’t this have general health benefits exlusive of exposure to raditation?
“If in fact this drug works as they hope, it would make small scale nuclear warfare a much more viable option. Thus the unintended consequence of his ‘hope of saving 1 million people’ could turn out to be the death of millions.”
Maybe a more viable option to some groups, but it would be less appealing to the muzzies.
Bingo!
“raditation”
Uh, “radiation.”
At least I didn’t Carterize “nuclear” into “nukear.”
This is the same logic that the left uses to try to prevent us from having a missile shield. It is MAD.
There already is a compound undergoing lots of study, and
is approved for use post radiation therapy for cancer.
It is called amofostine. It is also involved in lots
of research for a protective effect post chemotherapy for
cancer.
One big question, does it protect tumor cells? So far the
answer is no....but who knows....
Finally, I would like to have seen further explanation
of how the nanotubes somehow allowed the BHT,BHA into the
cells. Now that would be pretty revolutionary, cause you
could theoretically tailor certain nanotubes for certain
cells, and get only the drug that is needed to those
cells...i.e. dopamine to striatal nigra neurons, or
antibacterials to only the bacteria, etc...
I would be aglow if there was a few journalists out there who didn’t always have to come up with “cutesy” headlines about scientists being “aglow”.
What the H is wrong with saying “scientists find new drug to treat radiation”?
The dude is supposed to be a news reporter, not a trash romance rag writer...
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