Kerry Blackadar
med.ubc.caMon, 27 Apr 2020 18:27 UTC
New UBC research shows for the first time that soil silicates — the most abundant material on the Earth's crust — play a key role in blood clotting.
"Soil is not simply our matrix for growing food and for building materials. Here we discovered that soil can actually help control bleeding after injury by triggering clotting," says the study's senior author Dr. Christian Kastrup, associate professor in the faculty of medicine's department of biochemistry and molecular biology and a scientist in UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories and Centre for Blood Research.
The study, published today in Blood Advances, found that the presence of soil in wounds helps activate a blood protein, known as coagulation Factor XII. Once activated, the protein kicks off a rapid chain reaction that helps leads to the formation of a plug, sealing the wound and limiting blood loss.
While the researchers caution that there is a high risk of infection from unsterilized dirt, they say their findings may have implications for the future development of novel strategies using sterilized dirt to help manage bleeding and potentially understand infection after trauma.
"Excessive bleeding is responsible for up to 40 per cent of mortality in trauma patients. In extreme cases and in remote areas without access to healthcare and wound sealing products, like sponges and sealants, sterilized soil could potentially be used to stem deadly bleeding following injuries," says Dr. Kastrup.The study also uncovered that the mechanism by which soil silicates activate Factor XII and promote faster clotting is unique to terrestrial mammals, or those that live predominantly or entirely on land.
"This finding demonstrates how terrestrial mammals, ranging from mice to humans, evolved to naturally use silicates as a specific signal to Factor XII to trigger blood clotting," says Lih Jiin Juang, the study's first author and UBC PhD student in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. "These results will have a profound impact on the way we view our relationship with our environment."
The scientists' next plan includes testing if the response of blood to silicates helps prevent infection from microbes in soil. They will also look to test if silicates from the moon's surface are able to active Factor XII and stop bleeding.
"If moon silicates activate Factor XII, this discovery could prove useful in preventing death among people visiting or colonizing the moon, and it would provide further insight to identifying materials that may halt bleeding in very remote environments with limited resources and medical supplies," says Dr. Kastrup.
Reader Comments
I refused a tetanus shot 3 times last time I was admitted, only for the bastards to do it when i was under anesthetic*. Not recorded, no proof... but I found the injection site and nothing feels quite like the soreness in your upper arm is the result of a tetanus shot.
*for an open, freely bleeding** cut on my finger
**severed nerve and minor artery, microsurgery necessary.
No wine. À jeun!!
YES! That was my generation! NO tattoos at all. (Still that way.) Rather than tattoos, we simply acquired scars! The only (forgivable) reason for ANYONE to get a tattoo was a drunken weekend in the military.
So, let's see: left wrist - interesting story that one - you should've seen the other guy! Of course, actually, no one's ever seen him since!)
Left elbow: surfboard spinning in the air....
Right elbow, another nonperson never heard from since . . .
Bridge of nose:
1) Racquetball racquet across it; and;
2) Jack Daniels bottle that blew up on another guy's face, and base almost took my left eye out - but my reactions were on top of things;
Jeez: don't have the time. See the AB.
RC
Just was looking for common tattoos as I was (still am) blanking on the most inane, common one out there. (After all, there IS value in Mums.)
Though I didn't find the expression I was thinking of, I DID find THIS bit of inane puffery: ARGH.
Hell! While I'm at it, I'm going to also make some fugu sushi at the same time. (Lotsa puffer fish around here.)
And as everyone knows, sterile soil in remote places is always easily available for immediate application.........
The recipe came from Marie-France Muller Naturopathic doctor.
20grms M.C in 1 litre water.
First wash the wound as soon as possible in Magnesium Chloride solution, cover wound with bandage for as long as necessary.
Drink 2 glasses of solution a day for three days.
The magnesium oxygenates the blood making the proliferation of Tetanus impossible.
M.C is very cheap and found in good health stores.
I've heard a lot of good stuff about garlic which I LOVE and use all the time. Any info on that?
pesticides where nothing grows or crawls over or up out of is sterile,so voila,no need to rush dirt to an oven.Pert near any farm
in the US will provide the necessary dirt,but alas I will have to resort to wasting black pepper on my farm!!
Jack
6 year old playing in the dirt
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