Protein from vampire bat saliva may be used to treat stroke victims.

[Fausto]

This is pretty spiffy.

Doctors would like to quickly dissolve the clots in brain arteries that cause about 80 percent of all strokes, the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. But their only widely available treatment, a bioengineered human protein called TPA, has drawbacks and is given to only about 5 percent of U.S. stroke victims.

If used improperly, the drug can trigger disastrous bleeding. One of its chief limitations is that it must be given within three hours of the start of stroke symptoms. Many victims, hoping their symptoms will go away, do not get to the hospital quickly enough.

So, in search of something better, researchers have been experimenting with another natural anticlotting substance, the saliva of Desmodus rotundus, the vampire bat. The hope is that the active protein, called desmoteplase, will be more precisely targeted at clots and can be used several hours longer after symptoms begin.

In theory, desmoteplase may break up blood clots in the brain without affecting the rest of the body's clotting system and with less risk of hemorrhaging inside the head.

 

[thomsbrain]

that's one of those things where it makes perfect sense, but for some strange reason no one has thought of it yet. strokes are bad news, so anything that help stroke victims is good. nice find, fausto.

 

[ThePresence]

Cool.

 

[Kadarin]

Noted side effects: Thirst for blood, unpleasant skin reaction to sunlight, dramatic slowdown in aging process, ability to fly.

 

[Feldenak]

Having watched my grandfather struggle because of a stroke...this is good news.

 

[Mill]

I thought some places had been using it as a anti-coagulant for awhile? Maybe not is stroke victims, but I swear I remember some third-world country using it in the place of anti-coagulant drugs they couldn't afford to buy.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Noted side effects: Thirst for blood, unpleasant skin reaction to sunlight, dramatic slowdown in aging process, ability to fly.

"Not recommended for those with a diet rich in garlic....."

 

[billbixbysmonkey]

I'd rather die.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: billbixbysmonkey
I'd rather die.

(Hope you do then.)

What's the problem? It's nothing really new. (ie: animal products). Do you drink milk? Or eat cheese?
And anyway, you might not die, you might just be left unable to move, or speak, or like a vegetable.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
that's one of those things where it makes perfect sense, but for some strange reason no one has thought of it yet.

Well, it's likely that this has been under development for quite some time. It's been known for a while that bats have natural anti-coagulants.

As for the garlic, sunlight, blood drinking business... This is probably the reaction of people back in history to a series of disease complexes they didn't understand. There is a certain class of blood disorders called porphyria which arise because of genetic mutations which muck up the production of hemoglobin. These patients are thus anemic and pale. For some their skin cracks, and the cracked skin is very sensitive to garlic and sunlight. A few early doctors recognized they were anemic, and told them to drink blood, which of course didn't help, but gave them a very bad reputation. There is even suggestion that some had scarring around their lips from the skin lesions which caused their skin to retract, making their teeth look more prominent (fangs).

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: billbixbysmonkey
I'd rather die.

From the tone and content of your post, it sounds like you'd be doing the gene pool a favor.