X-Message-Number: 33388
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Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:00:35 EST
Subject: Melody Maxim's Distorted Reality 21

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Sent: 11/21/2008 12:38:42 A.M. Pacific Standard Time   
Subj: Re: [CI_Sci] mixing reservoir  
NAME REDACTED, et al.,  
There is no doubt that ramping up the CPA concentration for the  first part 
of CPA perfusion in the patient with little ischemic injury is ideal.  

However, even in such good cases (now vanished from cryonics) it is arguably not
 desirable to linearly ramp all the way up to terminal concentration; in 
fact  this is not what is done at 21CM, or Alcor, for that matter. We did it 
in the  early days because that's all we knew to do and even then we would 
sharply  increase the slope of the ramp if we encountered edema (always the 
case in  ischemically injured patients).  
For the typical severely ischemically injured CI patient I would  not 

support ramping, but rather believe that stepped introduction with a  doubling 
of 
concentration with each 'pass' is the best approach.   
As to how to handle switching from one concentration to another or  how to 
'refill' a reservoir without introducing air, this is best done by using  
TWO reservoirs which are set up as shown below:  
This set-up allows you to switch from one concentration to another  or to 
refill a reservoir without introducing air. This set-up was rejected  several 
years ago as too complex. It completely avoids introducing air since you  
fill reservoirs ONLY when you are not pumping from them.   
You can also use a baffled reservoir like this:   
The baffle (you can  have more than one if needed) diffuses the stream of 
liquid and channels or  streams it down the sides of the vessel and this 
avoids entraining air in the  liquid.  
This can also be done with a slotted or perforated tube anchored to  the 
side of the tank:  
If you want to really equilibrate the patient with CPA and to  introduce it 
at a suitably non-toxic (low) temperature you will have to close  the 

circuit. This does not preclude fairly discrete steps up in concentration  but 
it 
does blunt them a bit (which is probably good). Below is the protocol  21CM 
was using to introduce and remove CPA from kidneys. It consists of a linear 
 ramp for the first part of the introduction procedure followed by a sharp 
step  up followed by a smaller (but still abrupt) step-up in concentration. 
The  step-ups are tolerable ONLY because the organ has first been loaded 
with at  least half the concentration to be subsequently stepped. Organs 

tolerate gentle  introduction of the first CPA much better than starting out 
with 
steps. In the  case of M22 they've found that a linear ramp is necessary up 
to ~5M CPA; they  very much want to go faster to minimize exposure time, but 
this was not a viable  strategy.  
Always remember that this is uninjured tissue under ideal  conditions. The 
problem with CI patients is that you are trading off reduced  osmotic injury 
for decreased cryoprotection (due to edema). Right now, that  seems like a 
very bad trade off.  
This is what Alcor shoots for, and at least in this case, achieved  
(courtesy of Brian Wowk):  
Notice that it takes them 4+ hours to get to terminal (target)  

concentration! This isn't being done because they want to be gentle it is what  
is 
actually required to achieve equilibration under real world conditions; the  
steepness of the 'ramp' attests to this. Note that venous concentration take  
quite awhile to equilibrate with the arterial concentration - over 2 hours in 
 fact. This may not be evident from the graph but what must be kept in mind 
is  that during the whole 'flat' part of the graph above 'concentrate' is 
steadily  being added to the system in order to maintain the desired 'target' 
 concentration in the recirculating reservoir (and thus in the patient). 
This is  very much my experience in ischemically injured patients and it is 
why I do not  believe that CI is reaching CNV in their patients. Too much of 
the  microvasculature is inaccessible to flow with the result being vastly 
decreased  surface area and much longer diffusion/equilibration times.   
Mike Darwin  
END OF COLD FILTER POST  
Fance Department 
(Login Finance_Department) 
Veteran Member 
Wow     February 4 2009, 1:11 AM  
What a lot of information! Thanks, Melody and Mike.   
Carry on,  
FD  
Melody Maxim Melody Maxim  
(Login melmax) 
Filtered User 
Been There, Done That...             February 5 2009, 11:23 AM  
...not inclined to do it again. I have no intention of even taking  the 
time to do anything more than glance at Mike's "Judge For Yourselves" posts,  
much less to respond to them in detail. What Mike doesn't seem to realize is  
that most of the audience here cannot "judge for (them)selves," which one 
of us  is making the better argument, in regard to perfusion equipment. I'll 
just make  a few brief comments:  
1. Mike is unaware of a lot of my responses to his suggestions and  

remarks. I'm not inclined to debate perfusion equipment and techniques at  
length, 
with Mike, because I find it to be mostly pointless and unproductive,  and 
thoroughly frustrating.  
2. I can't bring myself to wade through a lot of Mike's written  materials, 
for a number of reasons. However, since he claims his review of SA  was not 
confidential, I wish he would post it somewhere. I knew very little  about 
what was going on in cryonics, when I read it, having just arrived on the  
scene, so I can't really recall a lot of the details. As I've already 

written, I  was so put off by what I perceived as Mike's "hostility," (something
I 
can now  identify with), I could barely read the thing, and it was massive. 
I'd be  willing to give it a second chance, and possibly even review it, if 
Mike would  make it available to the public. (Unfortunately, I would guess 
his copy doesn't  include the comments and responses made by some of the SA 
personnel that were  included in the copy I saw.)  
3. Pictures are not always "worth a thousand words." I could grab  some 

construction workers off the street, gown and glove them, sit them behind  some
medical equipment and take pictures of them, and what would that prove?  
Even the addition of a "legally dead" patient, or a dog, wouldn't make those  
masked men and women competent. (As I recall, one of the photos Mike posted 
on  another discussion forum appeared to show a large bolus of air/foam in 
the  perfusion circuit, in the raceway of the pump. I didn't bother to 
mention  it.) 
4. If Mike is, as Wikipedia indicates, "second only to Robert  Ettinger as 
one of the most influential figures in the controversial field of  

cryonics," (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Darwin), then he's been of  
tremendous 
influence in an endeavor that, in my opinion, is possibly one of the  most 
miserable failures in medical science history.   
Mike Darwin Mike Darwin  
(Login mgdarwin) 
Veteran Member 
Re: Been There, Done That...     February 6 2009, 1:01  AM  
Melody Maxim writes:  
I have no intention of even taking the time to do anything more  than 

glance at Mike's "Judge For Yourselves" posts, much less to respond to them  in
detail. What Mike doesn't seem to realize is that most of the audience here  
cannot "judge for (them)selves," which one of us is making the better 
argument,  in regard to perfusion equipment.  
Mike Darwin: So, if I understand Ms. Maxim's position correctly,  the 
intelligent laymen and the non-perfusionist professionals who populate this  
list-serve are not capable of judging for themselves the merit of technical  

alternatives in cryopatient care, such as the use of centrifugal versus roller
pumps, or open (hard-shell) versus closed venous reservoirs? Not even if 
the  relevant background is provided along with the opportunity to have any 
questions  answered? That's an amazing assertion and implies that the people 
on this  list-serve, as well as every other non-expert in the world, are 
incapable of  understanding and making decisions in situations where even more 
complex  scientific and technical issues are in play. So, by this rationale, 
if you are  not a board certified climatologist you cannot judge for 

yourself whether global  warming is real and come to a decision about what to do
about it? In my opinion,  this is a condescending and patronizing statement 
which also appears to be  self-serving; only Ms. Maxim is qualified to decide? 
  
Just because everyone will not (or cannot) understand a technical  debate 
does not mean that the debate should not be undertaken. While there are  

certainly specialized venues for arcane scientific or technical discussions, the
 issues in question here hardly qualify. If this is not the appropriate 
place to  discuss these and related issues, then where is the proper place?   
Ms. Maxim goes on to write:  
I'll just make a few brief comments:  
1. Mike is unaware of a lot of my responses to his suggestions and  

remarks. I'm not inclined to debate perfusion equipment and techniques at  
length, 
with Mike, because I find it to be mostly pointless and unproductive,  and 
thoroughly frustrating.  
Mike Darwin: Well, if I am 'unaware' of a lot of Ms. Maxim's  responses to 
(sic) her suggestions and remarks that is easily remedied; why  doesn't Ms. 
Maxim post these responses and suggestions here? That seems only  fair since 
I can hardly be criticized for not responding to things I've 'never  seen' 
or 'am otherwise unaware of.'  
MM: 2. I can't bring myself to wade through a lot of Mike's written  
materials, for a number of reasons.  
Mike Darwin: Well, at least share your reasons with us. Even more  to the 
point, can you cite these written materials which constitute such a vast  sea 
of wading?  
MM: However, since he claims his review of SA was not confidential,  I wish 
he would post it somewhere. I knew very little about what was going on in  
cryonics, when I read it, having just arrived on the scene, so I can't 

really  recall a lot of the details. As I've already written, I was so put off 
by 
what I  perceived as Mike's "hostility," (something I can now identify 
with), I could  barely read the thing, and it was massive. I'd be willing to 
give it a second  chance, and possibly even review it, if Mike would make it 
available to the  public. (Unfortunately, I would guess his copy doesn't 
include the comments and  responses made by some of the SA personnel that were 
included in the copy I  saw.) 


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