Word: plasma
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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What the team found was that early in their development, tumors secrete three powerful chemicals that promote formation of a protective shield of fibrin gel around them. One substance encourages nearby blood vessels to leak plasma; another turns fibrinogen, a plasma constitutent, into fibrin; the third diverts immune cells away from the growing shield. Dvorak speculates that the tumor's chemical weaponry is so sophisticated that the fibrin itself encourages growth of blood vessels in the vicinity of the tumor, providing the malignant cells with a nourishing blood supply. As it enlarges, the tumor appears to secrete a fourth...
...banded Jlanet and its satellites, including briliantly hued closeups of the stormy Jovian Great Red Spot that would not look out of place in a gallery of modern art. It also sent back new data about Jupiter's Jovian radiation fields and found a "hot spot" of plasma, whose temperatures reach 300 million to 400 million degrees C. It even discovered a thin ring of debris around Jupiter, making it the third planet in the solar system (after Saturn and Uranus) known to have such a feature...
...somewhat similar to hemodialysis for kidney patients. For three or so hours, the blood is slowly tapped from the body, shunted into a centrifuge, spun and separated into its constituents by weight: heavy red cells sink to the bottom, white cells settle in the middle, platelets and fluid plasma rise to the top. Components can be selectively removed and the rest of the blood returned immediately to the patient...
...Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Drs. Daniel Wallace, James Klinenberg and Dennis Goldfinger worked with twelve patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis, for whom medications, including gold and penicillamine, provided no relief. They removed either plasma (a process dubbed plasmapheresis) or the white blood cells called lymphocytes and plasma (lymphoplasmapheresis) in 20 sessions over eleven weeks...
...treatment is admittedly still expensive (hundreds of dollars per session) and untested for long-term effects. But even as a research tool it may prove valuable. Says Klinenberg: "If we can identify the troublesome factors in the white cells or plasma, maybe we can do something to provide lasting relief or even a cure...