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Yes I checked this one out with snopes first and I found the link on the 20/20 website as well Wink

Northfield Lab's experimental blood substitute Polyheme is currently in randomized phase III clinical trials recruiting patients without informed consent all over the country.

Confused Confused Confused

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2166058&page=1
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What are the potential risks of participating in the study?



Rash

Temporary, non-life-threatening increase in blood pressure

Transmission of hepatitis and HIV viruses

Kidney or liver damage with some resulting loss of kidney or liver function has occurred in patients who received other free hemoglobin products, but so far has not been found in patients who received PolyHeme®, however there is a potential risk that this may occur with PolyHeme® also.

Unforeseen happenings

http://irb.ucsd.edu/notices/polyheme/FAQs.htm
Hi WAHM....

Intersting Point... did you know in the chemist dictionary... "Poly" is a Plasticide bonding agent. To bring together.

So.. with out "Poly" .. Heme would not bind the oxygen and CO2 to the Hemotopes...

Also, Margarine main binding agent is "Poly"

or... "Plasticdes" aka... "PLASTIC"

If you put a tub of butter and a tub of margarine in a field. No animal, bird, bug or insect will touch the margarine... ever!!!

But, the butter will be gone in a matter of days. This is why I dont use, cook or sunbathe with margarine.

Butter, is a "Natural" element and is processed by the body "Naturally" I only use Butter. Personall, I think Margarine, causes problems, like blood clots, lumps, stomach and intestinal problems in the body.

It's just my thoughts about "Poylheme"... the "Plastic Blood"

Thanks for letting me share... Smile
First, I want to say that I do not agree with conducting research without informed consent.

However, being a researcher, I expect that the study was approved to be conducted without informed consent in order to keep it a "blind" study.

Getting permission to do a blind study without informed consent is extremely difficult. And I can assure you that this group _does_ have permission from the proper reviewing agency.

In order to be able to do a blind study, the researchers must prove that the potential beneifits significantly outweigh the potential risks. It is extremely difficult to get this type of permission and this study was definitely passed through many ethical reviews.

Again, I don't think that it is right to do research without informed consent.



On the topic of margarine and plastic and "poly"...

As a person who prefers to eat food that remembers where it came from, I never touch margarine. I think that it is totally unhealthy and nasty. I totally agree with Mike's opinions on the health problems caused by margarine.

But as a chemist, I can assure you that margarine is nothing like plastic. True, there are structural similarities between margarine and plastic. There are also structural similarities between water and hydrogen peroxide. However, we will all agree that water and hydrogen peroxide are very different. I don't think that margarine is safe to eat, but it is nothing like eating plastic. Both are bad, but they are two very different situations.

The margarine/plastic argument is common and has a good bottom-line, but it is based on a lot of incorrect assumptions.

As far as the meaning of "poly", I have never heard that it means "bonding agent". It is my understanding that "poly-" is a prefix for "many", so "polyheme" would mean "many hemes".

Oxygen binds to heme through a positive-negative attraction, much like the attraction of a household magnet. Margarine molecules bond to each other through a similar positive-negative attraction. Neither situation uses any type of adhesive or bonding agent.

Plastics and adhesives often have "poly-" names, but only because they are often large molecules, or "polymers" which are molecules made from "many" base units ("mers").

But I'm not always right. Smile

Thanks for listening to me talk about my favorite subject,

Roxi
(The Chemistry nerd with 6 years of graduate education in chemistry. And one more year to go.)
ROXI,

I really enjoyed your discussion. I heard about the poly conversation at a health and fitness seminar. But, I being human, may have altered its true meaning over the last 15 years... LOL

I for one, believe that margarine is NOT a healthy alternative to butter. I have converted my family away from margarine and I have convienced them that eating more small quantities of meals a day, DOES help in weight control and health. Not the large consumption of two meals a day. ( saving this topic for another time.. LOL)

Again, Roxi.... Thanks Smile
margarine, hydrogenated fat (which coincidentally is often in margarine), and high fructose corn syrup are all horrible items.

If I eat a food product that has a high amount of margarine, I get physically ill and will sometimes even vomit. But, I can eat a dinner roll and use 4-6 pats of butter (depending on the size of the roll) and no problem. Which tells me that margarine is bad bad bad!
quote:
Originally posted by eWonders:
ROXI,

I really enjoyed your discussion.


I enjoyed it too, Mike!

I totally agree with your ideas on nutrition - we eat about 5 meals a day and never worry about our weight.

Unfortunately, we can't get our relatives off the margarine and they won't touch butter because they think IT is unhealthy... I can't remember if they look at the calories or the fat or both, but they think it is bad.
quote:
Originally posted by AngelLisa:
LOL... call me a rebal but I ONLY eat margarine. I'm Only going to live once so I will eat what I enjoy eating. My grandfather lived to be 91 eating what he wanted. JMHO Smile


Well, you know... I shouldn't make myself sound all holier-than-thou with my opinion on margarine - I have a major addiction to caffiene and sweets. Smile I'm certainly not a model of perfection.

I personally prefer the taste of butter over margarine, so it is easy for me to say - "I won't eat it, it's unhealthy!" But do you hear me saying that about lattes? Ice cream? Nope! Smile

IMHO, there are a lot of worse things that a person can eat than margarine.
i will use margarine, but like i said, too much makes me sick. whereas butter, MmMMmMMmmMMmmmmm AhhhhhHhhhhhhhh <homer simpson drool>

There are some better margarines out there now. Mother uses one called something like "heart smart" supposedly no hydrogenated oils.

I'm not perfect either, i drink too much soda, i smoke, and dont get hardly any exercise. So, I too have my downfalls.
quote:
There are some better margarines out there now. Mother uses one called something like "heart smart" supposedly no hydrogenated oils.



I was using one called Smart Balance until I found the olive oil one. That one didn't melt well but the olive oil one does and it is very buttery tasting. Also comes in a spray which helps me to use less.

Now if only I could find a healthy sour cream. I like a little potatoe with my sour cream - I'm so bad!

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