Skip to main content

Turn any type of blood into a universal one | They have succeeded!

Every day in Spain about 6,000 blood transfusions are performed for different reasons. Sometimes, they are performed in an emergency situation (accidents or emergency operations) and other times they are blood transfusions which are scheduled as a result of some treatment, such as cancer.Whatever the reason, blood transfusions are one of the most frequent hospital procedures .For these transfusions, any blood type it is welcome, but the progress we are going to talk about today is, without a doubt, a revolution in this field.Scientists have managed to convert any type of blood into universal blood!

Are any the same? blood type?

Turn any type of blood into a universal one | They have succeeded!

As we say, any blood type is welcome, but the process is not t It is simple as it seems.Each and every one of the blood units that are taken from donors are subjected to a series of tests to check if they are suitable and will not transmit any infectious disease to the patient.With these tests the group is also determined blood.

This process is very important, since we have to keep in mind that our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from invading cells .Depending on the type of blood that one has, his immune system will make antibodies that will react against the other types of blood.Hence the importance of knowing your blood type.

What types of blood exist?

There are 4 main blood groups; Type A, Type B, Type AB and Type 0 .In addition to this classification, blood may or may not have another marker added called Rh factor.Scientists, depending on whether or not this marker is present, differentiate blood in "positive" (with Rh factor) or "negative" (without Rh factor).The combination of all these markers results in 8 different blood types; 0 negative, 0 positive, A negative, A positive, B negative, B positive, AB negative, AB positive.

Taking into account all these types of blood, the news that they have discovered the way to make any type of blood universal, it's great!

It was the researchers at British Columbia University who found a way to turn any type of blood into a universal one that could be used with any patient.

The results of their research were presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society and said the following:

The difference between blood types, it lies in the sugars on the surface of the red blood cells that the body creates .Type A has a class of sugars and type B different ones.Similarly, type AB has both types of sugars and the type 0 has no sugars.

Turn any type of blood into a universal one | They have succeeded!

The problem comes if a person receives a blood transfusion from a blood type that is not their own; their immune system will attack and kill the blood cells donated.

People with blood type 0 are known as universal donors since their blood type does not contain sugars and therefore anyone can receive it because it does not create rejection.

The discovery

A few years ago it was discovered that certain enzymes could eliminate blood sugars from any type of blood and turn it into Type 0 which, as we said, it is universal.The problem was at high cost and, as the researcher Stephen Withers pointed out in a press release, an enzyme that was efficient, safe and economical had not yet been discovered.His search for that enzyme took them to the human intestine.

Withers and his team already knew that the lining of the digestive tract contained Not the same sugars found in blood cells , and that bacterial enzymes inside human feces eliminated those sugars from the lining to promote digestion.

Knowing this, the researchers they were able to isolate an enzyme that eliminates sugars from blood types A and B, and transforms them into Type O.This enzyme turned out to be 30 times more efficiently than any enzyme previously discovered.

This finding still needs to be tested in a clinical setting, to determine if this blood type conversion process can produce some unexpected and unwanted consequences.All these checks will still take some time although Withers is quite optimistic and is convinced that the enzyme discovered by his team It could be a great medical advance and would end the great problem that exists today and is the shortage of optimal blood for any type of blood.

What do you think of this great discovery? Do you think it can be a before and after in terms of surgical interventions? Tell us your opinion! We are happy to read you!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Westermarck Effect | The explanation of the Tabu of Incest

According to its definition, a "tabu" is a morally unacceptable behavior either by a society, a human group or a religion.Incest is a sexual tabu that is present in most societies.In general, taboos usually be of a food, behavioral or language-related nature.Share in Science Daily Online to know what is called Westermarck Effect, which for many is the explanation of the Tabu of Incest . Content Index The Westermarck Effect: The psychological explanation of the Tabu of Incest Although it seems strange to us, not all societies considered incest as a tabu when it came to their rulers.By believing that the origin of kings and queens was divine and in order to preserve that superior blood, in some cultures the real incest was practiced (already in our blog we have addressed Incest among the Egyptian pharaohs and incest among the kings of Hawaii, for example). Incest is a word that comes from the Latin «incestus» or «incastus», that is to say «not chaste» and is «the p...

The Vadoma tribe | Of African origin and with ostrich feet

If you have reached this article, it is because you have surely heard about the Vadoma tribe, an African people famous for having ostrich feet.Like an ostrich? Yes, as you read it, the ostrich feet, like two big claws that come out, instead of the five fingers we are used to. Didn't you know this was possible? Do not worry, we were also surprised at some point, so at Science Daily Online we sat down to find out more about this Vadoma to bring you all the information you need to know about this particular African tribe. Don't forget to find out of the peculiar history of the Vadoma tribe. Content Index The Vadoma: the ostrich feet village Ectrodactyly is an alteration where the three central toes disappear to give way to two prominent claws. To begin, we have to locate ourselves geographically. We are in the amazing African continent, where the savanna opens in all directions , the heat reigns and the sun is at its zenith showing us all the curiosities of Africa tha...

Reincarnations: the curious case of the Cameron Macaulay child

Reincarnation. Today we do not know what happens when one comes to an end, when death covers our eyes with its cloak of darkness and takes us to the side of our loved ones.maybe a new life, in another body and in another country? That is what people who accept and defend reincarnation explain to us.An approach, for some hopeful, where various testimonies provide us with incredible and disconcerting stories. The story of Cameron Macaulay is one of them.A really shocking case, which you are interested in knowing. The sad memories of Cameron Macaulay Let a child of only three years talk to his mother of her " another mom ", it's nothing normal.Cameron Macaulay started very early to explain to the people around him what his other life was like. Quietly and without contradiction, he recounted what that "other mother" was like, a long-haired, loving woman.He also described how the house he lived in, far, far away from Glasgow, was white, large and near a...

Did the Egyptians know the sperm ?!

We have dedicated many articles to Egypt, among them: "the doctors of ancient Egypt", "Hitler's bewildering love for Nefertiti", "the Book of the Dead"...Today we want to present a anecdote more than Curious: A sperm appears on an exterior relief of the Luxor Temple.After discovering it, the researchers, like you, wondered, is it really a sperm? Judging by the image, it is exactly the same as one...We discover the answer to the riddle! The sperm of the Temple of Luxor In the exterior of the Temple of Luxor There is a religious scene in which the God Amon-Min appears with a erection, ejaculating, in which a sperm is perfectly represented (as you can see in the following video). How can it be? How could the Egyptians know sperm if they are only visible with a microscope of at least 1080 magnification? The God Min is one of the oldest deities of Egypt , appears in the pre-Dynastic era; he is represented as a man with erect penis...

The man who killed 40,000 elephants by mistake

Sometimes people, with the best will , make unforgivable mistakes .This is the case at hand: The man who killed 40,000 elephants by mistake. The man who killed 40,000 elephants by mistake As paradoxical as it may seem, The cause of this disaster was an ecologist convinced: Allan Savory .Allan was born in Rodhesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1935.He belonged to a family of farmers and throughout his childhood he heard that the herds of wild animals ended with the pastures of the extensive African grasslands.Overgrazing was considered for decades the cause of desertification .Because of this, the land was no longer susceptible or of feed the flocks or be cultivated ada .This inevitably led to famine and, therefore, to conflicts between the various human groups that populated these areas. Following that philosophy, between 1955 and 1969 , Allan Savory worked in North Rodeshia and later in South Rodhesia as an independent research and scientific officer .His role was t...

John Ssabunnya, the boy REALLY raised by monkeys

There is a specific term to refer to children raised by animals and this is "feral children" or "wild children".Throughout history there has been talk on many occasions of these infants fruit of the purest nature The best known and shocking case is surely that of John Ssabunnya , the little boy raised by monkeys. John Ssabunnya, the boy REALLY raised by monkeys Period of Ugandan Civil War ( 1981-1986 ).Imagine an unstructured family.A violent and aggressive father and a mother and a 3-year-old son at his mercy.The exact facts are unknown, but it is believed that John's father, a Ugandan from a town near Bombo, murdered his mother. The boy after this brutal act, fled to the jungle, terrified and looking for a way to survive. Kibale Jungle, Uganda Desperate he advanced through the jungle until he was alone.Far from his father, but exposed to all the dangers of the wildest nature. Detail.Clip of the episode of «Is It Real» about « Feral Children...

X-Seed 4000, the huge 4 km high building

Do you like skyscrapers? The huge buildings? If so, possibly the Burj Khalifa of Dubai will surprise you with its incredible 800 meters, but if we talk about a 4-kilometer-tall city-building would you sound very crazy? View from the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Get to know the X-Seed 4000! X-Seed 4000, the huge 4 km high building The titanic X-Seed 4000 is the tallest designed building in the world. All your plans are ready, but the titanic task involved in its construction is still missing, and building a skyscraper even higher than Mount Fuji (Japan) is a complex task. Mount Fuji , Japon Peter Neville, an architect of the Japanese construction company Taisei Corporation, was the creator of this idea, which continued to grow into what is now the X-Seed 4000; a huge pyramid-shaped building of 800 floors, with a height of 4 km and a width of 6 km, whose base is in the sea . It is estimated that its capacity It is between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people and would need 3 million to...

6 facts about Einstein that you probably don't know

Many agree that Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists in history, but as with many famous people, some facts about Einstein have been distorted or forgotten over time , do you want to know more about this genius? Here we go! 6 facts about Einstein that you surely do not know 1.Its authorship on the theory of relativity was debated The theory of relativity was full of accusations of plagiarism by German scientist David Hilbert and his supporters, because Hilbert claimed that it was he who had first discovered the theory and that Einstein had taken all the credit .In his defense, Einstein I affirm that it was Hilbert who had copied some of his documents. At the beginning it was thought that every scientist had discovered the theory by his side, but that was until it was discovered that, in fact, Hilbert had stolen some documents of Einstein without giving him any credit. Einstein published his discovery before Hilbert, who originally submitted some documents...

Will there be a Mega Tsunami in Hawaii?

The possibility of a mega tsunami in Hawaii does not seem to be pulled by the hair, if we consider that most of these catastrophes occur precisely in the Pacific Ocean, and that in the last 12 years we have had at least 3 big tsunamis : the one from Malaysia in 2004, the one from Chile in 2010 and the one from Japan in 2011. Will there be a Mega Tsunami in Hawaii? If you are a reader from Science Daily Online and you live in Hawaii do not panic, apparently the possibility that a mega tsunami hits the Hawaiian archipelago in the next 50 years is only 3%, and this information is derived from a study of 5 years by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), which began just shortly after the 9.0 earthquake that shook Japan in 2011, and was followed by an even more devastating tsunami. The Investi gators evaluated the behavior of the different plates and tectonic faults that cause earthquakes and tsunamis in the Pacific, as well as the behavior of some large tsunami...

DO NOT use false modesty, it hurts you more than you imagine

Cristiano Ronaldo said in an interview that being humble was a way of showing pride.Interesting, right? Will false modesty be an indirect way of showing off? Will your interlocutors perceive it that way? Well, the truth is that a study proves that he is right.When someone flatters us, we usually respond by taking away importance.But if our achievement it is evident, our friends can get angry and think "why does it do it? To repeat it again? Do you want me to give you your ears? ”And then your good intention turns against you. Don't use false modesty to complain to you According to the researchers in this study, many people resort to humility and the complaint to deny something that disturbs them or to boast an event indirectly .When this happens, in both cases it is received as a sign of arrogance.Let's look at an example, to clarify what we are talking about. You have a friend with a managerial position in your company.One day she arrives, with her head down...