X-Message-Number: 2912 From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344) Subject: CRYONICS Keeping a Cool Head Message #2387 (Aug. 16, 1993) mentioned the work of Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman on producing a BRD ("Brain Resuscitation Device") for reducing ischemic injury to the brain after cardiac arrest. According to a recent report, this briefcase-sized unit not only cools the brain but also injects a cocktail of medications in a procedure that sounds remarkably similar to the stabilization phase of cryopreservations. The BRD wasn't created for cryonics purposes, though. Klatz points out that traditional CPR is particularly good at producing brain-dead patients, and _that_ is what prompted his invention to help save the brain, too. Oh yes, where did I see this news? On pages 38 - 46 of the Aug. 1994 OMNI magazine. Admittedly, this isn't Nature or JAMA, etc., but it is readily available on most newsstands. You may want to read this article for the connection between the BRD and organ preservation work (for transplantation purposes) at the Red Cross, too. Kevin Q. Brown PS: Given the similarity of the BRD to some cryonics procedures, cryonics researchers have yet one more reason to thoroughly document and publish their work, especially any of their new procedures or equipment. If they don't, they may find someday that their breakthroughs have been patented by someone else, and thereby lose access to their own creations. (Being in the computer business, I'm perhaps more sensitized to that kind of thing happening than people in most other businesses.) FYI: For an interesting example of using a patent to deny access to an invention, not just impose royalties, see message #74 (Jan. 11, 1992). Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2912