from Amazon
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Good “blood doping”
The latest in medical technology:
Platelet-rich plasma is derived by placing a small amount of the patient’s blood in a filtration system or centrifuge that rotates at high speed, separating red blood cells from the platelets that release proteins and other particles involved in the body’s self-healing process, doctors said. A teaspoon or two of the remaining substance is then injected into the damaged area. The high concentration of platelets — from 3 to 10 times that of normal blood — often catalyzes the growth of new soft-tissue or bone cells. Because the substance is injected where blood would rarely go otherwise, it can deliver the healing instincts of platelets without triggering the clotting response for which platelets are typically known.
“This could be a method to stimulate wound healing in areas that are not well-vascularized, like ligaments and tendons,” said Dr. Gerjo van Osch, a researcher in the department of orthopedics at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “I call it a growth-factor cocktail — that’s how I explain it.”
Since this doesn’t make you look like The Hulk (steroids) , or have the side-effects of real blood doping (heart attack, stroke, and pulmonary embolism), then it’s impossible that the media will be able to spin this negatively. There is no doubt that if you make a magic pill that makes your job easier, but it costs you a bit in terms of your health, most people would take it. A writer will do it if it makes him the next Shakespeare. An artist will do it if he will be the next Picasso. A scientist will do it, if it gives him the inspirations of Edison. Hockey players (used to) take a concoction of Sudafed and caffeine. Whatever it takes.
Platelet-rich plasma therapy? It’ll be the new black.
Among academics, the use of Modafinil as a brain enhancing drug is (supposedly) quite common. From the link (click my name; you may need an academic connection to read the article):