Once in a little while, these days, a revolutionary discovery rocks the
Internet especially, and then every other place. These discoveries range from
cosmetic regalia that feed into our own satisfactions to in this case medical
discoveries that will undoubtedly improve the health sciences by more than a
nudge. Currently I read a phenomenal medical discovery that I cannot desist
from thinking about. Imagine being able to supply yourself with oxygen without
the daily hassle of chest heaping, air sucking and lung- capillary interchange.
Lung cancer becomes an issue of “well let's prevent the cancer from
spreading"- without wasting time thinking about access to oxygen by the
rest of the body. Indeed the results of such a discovery can be fairly
concluded as consequentially beneficial but before I dive into my highly
quintessential notion of mechanically or manually available oxygen let me
explain the discovery itself. I was recently reading TechWench, a website that deals with quidnuncs in their terms like me
by providing news about gadgets and etcetera,
when I came across the topic -Scientists Invent Oxygen Particle That If
Injected, Allows You to Live without Breathing.
If really I am a quidnunc and of course one with
an interest in medical science you can imagine the rush of hormonal excitement
that blasted through my grey matter and the bulge that showed the whiteness of
my eyes. But of course I am exaggerating, yet I was very tantalized and begun
to think of how this was possible and what this really meant.
The great
benefit for reading my report here is the unconventional mixture of
perspectives that fully dissect issues such as these in order to avoid
inundating with unnecessary conclusions, which may turn out to be redundant, or does it?
So the body
obtains energy through a sequence of chemical activities that involves oxygen,
that said, any active occurrence within the human body will require oxygen.
Most of us probably learned that we obtain oxygen by breathing, but considering
the air we breathe is composed of a variety of gases other than oxygen it will
be enlightening to divulge the rather complicated process oxygen finds its way
from air into our cells. When air finds its way through the nostrils it goes
through the larynx and then the trachea which branches into the left and right
lungs. Connected to the branches, or the
bronchioles, are small air sacs, called an alveolus. It is here that lung capillary
interchange occurs. There is a rich supply of capillaries covering the alveolus that makes diffusion of
oxygen in and carbon dioxide out relatively simple.
Fortunately
the gases in air are proportionally distributed so as to make life a
possibility in the biosphere. The largest gas volume of air composition is
nitrogen with a whopping 78.08%, then oxygen with a surprising 20.85%, followed
minutely by 0.95% argon, 0.033% carbon dioxide and infinitesimal amounts of
neon, helium, krypton, nitrogen (1) oxide, hydrogen, xenon and ozone. Yes all
these are present! And to throw in questions that would keep your neural guards
in disarray - is there a possibility that these percentages can change and what
will this mean for the existence of life?
Then to cause more shamble, there is
news of 'air pollution' which is really a euphemism for changes in gas
proportions that are necessary for the sustenance of life on earth. The NY
times reports that there is a fearful increase of carbon dioxide emission by
400 part per million a day which may look small on a larger scale but is akin
to a doctor finding a genetic disposition to a cancerous gene which has the
grandest possibility to disintegrate a complete progeny generation. Clearly
this seems a little further from the topic but it ties into one perspective.
Nevertheless the
human body being as exceptional and equipped as it is, filters air for oxygen
through the use of partial pressure. Oxygen and the other gases bounce off the
walls of the alveolar at specific rates depending on their concentration, which
for oxygen is known as the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2). At a certain
partial pressure oxygen is allowed across the membranes of both the alveolar
and capillaries with carbon dioxide facing a similar ordeal but in an opposite
path. The mechanism that maintains gaseous exchange is known as diffusion which
requires a concentration gradient in order to be initiated. Typically a PO2 of
100 mm Hg and PCO2 of 40 mm Hg signifies rich oxygen within the alveolar,
which merits an exchange from a rather low PO2 = 40 mm Hg and PCO2 of 45. So
oxygen diffuses from the highly concentrated region which is from the alveolar
to capillaries and then Carbon dioxide diffuses likewise but in an opposite
direction.
Incidentally we
can conclude that it will be brilliant to live completely devoid of these
processes described above, yet have access to oxygen whenever necessary.
The discovery of readily accessible oxygen for respiration is by most
accounts more a blessing than it could ever be a bane. The oxygen is collected
in small lipid pockets that can freely flow in any blood vessel. Aside the many
health benefits, military uses have already been projected as pointed out by
Damien of tech wrench. Just allow your imagination to take you through a world
where you do not have to breathe to live. I am positive your mind may miss one
other essential aspect of the discovery that this may lead to an epoch of air
sale. This however is what we do not see coming... Should indeed our balance of
'clean air' become compromised as time is evidently leading to, there will be a
point where people will live completely on injected oxygen for basic survival.
Time leads to such a situation slowly like a snail, and until prevented will
surely be a reality just as injected oxygen now is. Of course the Boston
doctors that made the discovery had their motives embroidered in the medical
sciences. One of the doctors even told the story of how a young girl with
pneumonia died due to complication with her lungs that was not quickly resolved.
Now if people are
living on injected oxygen for basic survival the worse that I can conjure
happening is the annihilation of a complete race because they are either
deprived or do not have access to oxygen. And for that I will desist from
elucidating as politics tends to end up being nasty and grandeur.
To be vividly clear
this unfortunate ordeal has already been set in motion so this medical
discovery is not the trigger for a world where air is sold, but if care is not
taken and our actions revised - it may not be today but a generation will inevitably depend on injected
oxygen. Coupled with the greed and disparity in human characteristics many will
surely die. So if you will, help save the world, from this particularly
inescapable demise. This is a situation where prevention helps save from a
dangerously evasive method of cure.
