Evening star., 1942-01-22
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
A new emergency shock drug" has
just come out Of New Zealand.
1t delays death for two or three hours
until a wounded man can be taken to
some place where blood plasma is avail
able for TRANSMISSION.
The strange effects of the chemical,
S-methyl-iso-thiurea, are described by
Dr. p. H. Smerk Of the University Of
New Zealand in the latest issue OF the
British Medical Journal to reach here.
The chief symptom Of shock is quick
fall in blood pressure. The sovereign
remedy is q blood TRANSMISSION at once.
The new drug, harmless IN measured
doses, has much the same temporary
effects, Dr.. Smerk says. He urges that
supplies be available in all areas sub
ject to bombings.
The chief effects are to raise the
blood pressure and stimulate respiration.
It also slows the heart beat. The chief
experiment has been with 20 patients
in Cairo Egypt hospital. whose blood
pressure was down to the point OF "cir-
culatory terminal collapse" There was
no hope that they would live more than
few hours in any case.
The effect of injections Of the new
drug. was to double the systolic blood
pressure and keep it up, without any
thing else being done, from is minutes
to an hour. 1t might well have saved
the lives of these patients if their con-
dition had been due to shock.
S-methyl-iso-t -thiurea seems to act di-
rectly on the blood system itself. Blood
pressure is largely under control Of the
nervous system, but the drug proved
effective in dogs whose central nervous
systems had been largely destroyed and
whose sympathetic nerve endings had
been paralyzed.
In other dogs the blood pressure de-
liberately was reduced to the point
where the heart would have stopped
beating in about minute. With no
other treatment but an injection of the
drug these dogs we're kept alive for as
long as two hours. At any time their
lives could have been saved by a plasma
TRANSMISSION.
DR.. Smerk is working in collaboration
with Egyptian physicians.
The drug, he insists, will save no lives
by itself. 1t only delays death In cases
of extreme trauma until better remedies
can be given.
In the same journal Dr. N. M. Mutch,
senior physician Of Guys Hospital In
ka11e ,F ~ q
new sulfa drug-sulfonamide E. o. S.
which Is considerably less toxic than the
sulfapyridine used in treatment Of pneu-
monia, is nearly tasteless, and Is freely
soluble in water.
1t has been found as effective as sui
fapyridine In such infections as puer-
pural fever, pneumonia, cerebrospinal
meningitis, septic wounds, and acute in
fections Of ears nose and throat.
The great advantage, he points out, Is
the solubility of the compound. 1t can
be administered by injection into the
blood stream or by mouth for persons IN
too weak q condition to swallow any
thing solid
1t is of great value. DR.. Mutch says, In
the treatment of very young infants to
whom it can be administered in liquid
form with a medical dropper. Such in
fants are subject to such maladies as
meningitis.
A crucial test at Guys Hospital was
with "a cases of meningitis, ranging in
age from seven months to 50 years, who
were admitted in comatose condition.
The cases had progressed so far that
little hope was held out for them.
Actually, DR.. Mutch says, only three
died and these deaths were due to COM
plicating conditions, other than the
meningitis itself.
A distinct advantage, DR.. Mutch says.
is that the new drug in liquid form does
not have tendency to crystalline in the
urinary passages. This is drawback
of LIQUID forms of both sulfonilamide and
sulfapyridine.
An animal that protects itself from
cold by changing its color from red to
green and becoming essentially q plant
is described by Drs. L. p. johnson and
Theodore l.. jain of the University OF
Iowa in the current issue Of Physiological
Zoology issued by the University OF
Chicago.
The animal is a microscopic fresh
water creature, Euglena rubra. The SCI
entists discovered that when the temper
ature of the animals was lowered to be-
low 80 degrees centigrade the red pig
ment near the surface of the body
migrated to the center, leaving chloro-
phyll at the surface which gives the
animals a green color. Chlorophyll is
the green material in plants which uses
the suns energy to convert carbon
dioxide and water into foodstuffs.
The red color was restored by heat
ing, or by subjecting the animals to
infrared rays, artificial light or SUM-
light The chlorophyl in the little ami