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A solution for medical needs and cramped quarters in space by 123wert sdfsf
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A solution for medical needs and cramped quarters in space |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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That's the idea behind the Intravenous Fluid Generation forExploration Missions, or IVGEN, investigation that was conducted onthe space station over five days in the spring of 2010. Sincestandard IV fluid bags used in hospitals would be too costly tosend and hard to keep from spoiling on long-duration spacemissions, the ability to make fresh saline right from the drinkingwater supply could save the day in emergency scenarios. Using the station's current recycled drinking water, the IVGENinvestigation demonstrated that it is possible to producemedical-grade saline in space. Now, the focus has turned to thelongevity of the IVGEN hardware and the shelf life of the solutionproduced.
"Basically IVGEN was a project to verify that, somehow, wecould take potable or drinking water, purify it, and mix it to makea normal, medical-grade saline solution that could be injected intoastronauts if the need arose," said John McQuillen, IVGENprincipal investigator at NASA's Glenn Research Center inCleveland, Ohio. The IVGEN experiment relied on U.S. Pharmacopeia, or USP,guidelines for producing purified water and medical-grade saline.USP is the authoritative source for medicine and healthcare productstandards. Water from the station's Water Processor Assembly was fed throughIVGEN hardware, where a series of filters removed air, bacterialcontaminates, particulates, and heavy metals upstream of the heartof the system.
The water then continued on through an internaldeionizing resin, similar to that used in home water purifiers,removing the bulk of the minerals and organics. The experimentproduced six 1.5 liter bags, or about 2.5 gallons, of purifiedwater. Two of the six bags were used to produce medical-grade saline. Todo that, the purified water was added to a bag containing apremeasured amount of salt and a magnetic stir bar for mixing.
Theresulting solution then was transferred to the final collection bagthrough a sterilizing filter, which removed any additionalremaining air and bacteria. Once back on Earth, the two bags of saline were shipped to a Foodand Drug Administration-certified lab to test whether the contentscomplied with USP standards. In the meantime, the hardware wasplaced on the shelf to undergo lifetime testing and ground studiesuntil needed for a future mission. "We are now wrapping up testing of the post-flight hardware.This testing was performed to see what we can learn from thecurrent state hardware, as opposed to when it was initiallylaunched," said Terri McKay, IVGEN project scientist at Glenn."We are also testing the filters to make sure they can satisfymissions of multiple year durations. The pharmaceutical productshelf life needs to be documented, as well." IV fluids have a shelf life of 6 to 18 months.
The concern is notjust with the saline itself. Other issues need to be considered,such as the possibility during the manufacturing process of theintroduction of germs into the saline. There also are potentialconcerns with the IV bag, such as a punctured seal that could allowgerms to get into the solution. There's even the chance that thebags themselves may destabilize over time and begin leachingchemicals or plastic into the solution. Once in space, damaged IVbags and saline cannot be replaced with a simple phone call to adistributor.
"As far as I know, there has not been much need for saline inpast missions. However, if there is a need for medical care on thespace station, the astronaut can be back on Earth in 24 hours. Butif you're halfway to Mars, you can't just turn around," saidDeVon Griffin, IVGEN project manager at Glenn. Astronauts, particularly those on missions to distant locations,need access to a medical kit that meets their immediate needs. Thatincludes having good saline at the ready.
Flight doctors produced alist of more than 400 medical conditions they are concerned abouttreating in space. Of that list, 115 require saline, includingsevere burns, acute anemia and broken bones. To satisfy medical requirements for long-duration explorationmissions, a spacecraft could be required to carry hundreds ofliters of IV fluid. Spacecraft planners can ill afford to surrenderthe mass and volume needed to carry that much liquid, which weighs2 pounds per liter, according to Griffin.
One NASA estimate is thata mission to Mars may need to carry as much as 248 liters of IVfluids, or about 65 gallons of liquid that may not even be used.That equals nearly 500 pounds of liquid consuming precious room andweight: weight that costs approximately $10,000 a pound just to getinto space. With operational limitations, such as launch mass, storage, andtight legroom on spacecraft, exploration missions need to minimizethe amount of IV fluid they transport. Either that, or the missionwill need the capability to produce purified water and saline inspace. IVGEN may provide the answer, using a single filtrationsystem capable of producing many bags of IV fluid via a device thatis smaller than a single bag of ready-to-use solution.
The proposed design of the IVGEN hardware for exploration missionsis pretty compact. With the exception of the accumulator, whichplugs into the potable water supply to get the source water,everything else could fit inside a small laptop computer. It wouldbe about 1.5 inches thick with a footprint of around 8 by 11inches, making it a real option for solving the problem of salinesupplies in space. I am Agriculture writer, reports some information about homemade milling machine , triple curtain rod.
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