Interesting article ...
QUOTE:
"Although hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic in high doses, it may activate some of the mechanisms that cause other animals to go into hibernation, they wrote in this week's issue of the journal Science.
Finding a safe way to do this in humans could lead to new ways to treat cancer and prevent injury or death from blood loss, or help people undergo and recover from surgery better, said the team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
"We are, in essence, temporarily converting mice from warm-blooded to cold-blooded creatures, which is exactly the same thing that happens naturally when mammals hibernate," said Mark Roth, who led the study, in a statement.
"We think this may be a latent ability that all mammals have -- potentially even humans -- and we're just harnessing it and turning it on and off, inducing a state of hibernation on demand," said Roth, a biochemist.
Bears do it, amphibians do it, and people occasionally hibernate, too. Many cases have been documented of small children, and the occasional adult, reviving from near-drownings in icy water after their body temperatures had dropped and they had stopped breathing for more than an hour. "
Full Article here:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news...5090002272149&dt=20050421150900&w=RTR&coview=
QUOTE:
"Although hydrogen sulfide gas is toxic in high doses, it may activate some of the mechanisms that cause other animals to go into hibernation, they wrote in this week's issue of the journal Science.
Finding a safe way to do this in humans could lead to new ways to treat cancer and prevent injury or death from blood loss, or help people undergo and recover from surgery better, said the team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
"We are, in essence, temporarily converting mice from warm-blooded to cold-blooded creatures, which is exactly the same thing that happens naturally when mammals hibernate," said Mark Roth, who led the study, in a statement.
"We think this may be a latent ability that all mammals have -- potentially even humans -- and we're just harnessing it and turning it on and off, inducing a state of hibernation on demand," said Roth, a biochemist.
Bears do it, amphibians do it, and people occasionally hibernate, too. Many cases have been documented of small children, and the occasional adult, reviving from near-drownings in icy water after their body temperatures had dropped and they had stopped breathing for more than an hour. "
Full Article here:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news...5090002272149&dt=20050421150900&w=RTR&coview=