This is based on an Imaginary Concepts on NanoTechnology applying to medical field that was presented by my friends (Satish Gottimukkala, Prakash Kongara) and myself (Srujit Biradawada) during my Undergrad at “Dr. Pauls Engineering College” (Tamil Nadu, India) in the year 2009 along with other universities like “Narayana Guru College Of Engineering” (Kerala, India) and “IFET College of Engineering” (Tamil Nadu, India) during the same year and was used by several of my friends to use it for presenting in their colleges during various other years. This is such an inspiring article of mine that interested for many. đŸ™‚
“Introduction to Nanotechnology can be found here. Please refer to my previously published article.“
Introduction
Essentially, life is seen as complex molecular machinery filled with atoms that have been arranged dynamically with the DNA being at the center of it. Nanotechnology seeks to build a molecular assembler which will be used to alter the genetic programming enabling individuals to live longer. Recent studies have shown that most deaths are a result of heart complications and this is what nanotechnology seeks to reverse. Once a person dies as a result of a heart attack, their bodies are preserved using the cryonics principle before reviving them using nanorobots and molecular assemblers.
Carbon is the primary element found in medical nanorobots. However, this carbon comes in different forms with diamond being the most common. Diamond is preferred since it is chemically inert and very strong. Other elements that are used as diamond substitutes include oxygen, hydrogen and fluorine among many others.
The process of raising individuals from the dead is facilitated through cryonics. Here, researchers and scientists take individuals who have been declared dead through the legal and ethical medical procedures and replace their blood with certain chemical elements before preserving them in liquid nitrogen. At -196 degrees, every molecule in the entire body will be transformed into a solid form and cannot move around or react. Under these conditions, bodies can remain preserved for several years to come. However, such frozen patients can be repaired and potentially brought back to live. This technique has therefore been devised with the intension of saving lives and help people overcome fatal illnesses.
Once the heart of a particular patient fails, the patient is immediately placed in a specialized machine and conditioned using stabilizers like “anti-freeze” and other cellular stabilizers. This prevents the brain from degenerating which could potentially hamper the process of reviving the dead. The body temperature is then lowered to the point that it matches the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Here, all molecular change will have been halted and the patient will be ready to be preserved. When the body is ready to be revived, the body needs to be brought to normal temperatures by injecting the nanorobots into the patient triggering the coronary artery to work. The same nanorobots will traverse through the bloodstream to the brain and activate it.
What are Nanorobots?
Nanorobots can be defined as nano gadgets and measure anywhere between 3 and 5 microns. However, the individual components that make these nanorobots can measure up to 200nm with carbon being the prominent component. This carbon may also come in the form of diamond, the toughest and most inert material that exists to date. Nanorobots have multiple uses but in this case, they will be used to reverse heart blocks.
Cryonics
Scientists have defined absolute death as the situation when the essential information of the brain has been destroyed beyond being retrieved. To be precise, the logic behind the cryonic procedures is to at least preserve the brain. For cryonics to restore life there must be a brain to control the functioning of the rest of the body. Reasonably, the concept of cryonics implies that if you happen to freeze an individual in a manner that limits any damage, there is a possibility that the brain will also be preserved in a form that will be easily recovered once the dead body is brought back to life. Since the concept was invented, Dr. James Bedford remains to be the oldest person held in suspension since 1967.
Neurosuspension
Health professionals have coined the word neuro as a short-form for neurosuspension which is the act of removing as well as freezing the posterior part of an individual who has been declared dead legally. The argument here is that only the data on the brain is whatever is important. It is also assumed that a body to contain the brain that has been revived can be easily regenerated in the future. In principle, neurosuspension requires minimal maintenance and space (Pison et al., 2014).
In recent years, freezing of human embryos has been done successfully and has become a common practice in the medical field. Since the neurosuspension concept was introduced, several embryos have been frozen. One of the significant milestones achieved under this concept is a human embryo that was frozen in liquid nitrogen for over six years and has since grown to be a healthy baby.
Molecular synthesis
Nanorobots are known for taking away the required biochemical elements from the blood stream or in other cases the nearby tissues. Once these substances are taken, the cells of the blood vessels will be synthesized with a view – sealing the area of the block. The cells are immediately inserted in the affected regions which in the end result to a whole new section of the blood vessel which is safe from the risk of future blocks.
Nanorobots in reviving the dead
Recent development has seen nanorobots being programmed to help in the cure of cells that have been damaged, bone marrow as well as making the heart to start pumping blood again. Once the programmed nanorobots have been injected into a preserved dead body, the disease behind the death will be the first to be eliminated. Once the disease has been eliminated, the nanorobots will find their way to the coronary artery triggering it to pump blood like it was doing before. After the heart becomes functional, the next task for the nanorobots is to restore the brain to its normal working conditions (Kumar & Singh, 2014). At the same time, these robots will play a key role in enhancing changes in the patient’s genetic behavior. In the end of all these processes, a dead person will be raised from the dead.
Nanosensors
For the nanorobots to locate the block in blood vessels there must be nanosensors to aid in the same. Ideally, these nanorobots will need the four kinds of sensors shown below to be effective. They are: –
- Chemo sensors: The sensors are tasked with scanning the region they transverse to identify any chemical composition of cholesterols. The chemo sensors differentiate the compounds that have accumulated in the inner lining of a patient’s blood vessels from the real composition of blood vessel tissues. Here, any blocks will be accurately identified.
- Smart sensors: The information from the other two sensors is transmitted via the ad-hoc network which has been former by the smart sensors. The ad-hoc network makes it easy for the doctors who are monitoring these diagnostic procedures.
- Pressure sensors: These sensors are used while mounted on the sensor robots and are tasked with scanning vessels of the blood for any variations in the pressure. Pressure sensors are designed to generate reports on the sections of the heart that are potentially blocked. These reports are largely based on the screening of the vessels of the blood by these pressure sensors.
- Acoustic Sensors: The acoustic sensors navigates the army of robots through the patient’s blood system
Nanorobots have been equipped with nanolasers which are used to service the blocks immediately after subsequent confirmation. However, a molecular synthesis is carried out to prevent the recurrence of a block after it has been serviced out. In most cases, the servicing involves filling the gaps with new cells that have been generated by the robots through the process of molecular synthesis.
Actual process
The three main classes of nanorobots required are usually suspended in a liquid matrix before being injected directly into the patient’s vessels. The acoustic sensors found in the sensor robots are then activated and, in the process, begin to navigate the army of robots through the patient’s blood system before eventually landing at the pericardium. With time, the smart sensors found within the sensor robots become activated and ends up forming a network which connect all the three robot types together. This process is very crucial since it guides all the nanorobots to the most desired direction inside the bloodstream.
Complicated approach
The most complicated approach of diagnosis is implemented through the sensor robots. Here, the diagnosis is done inside the body. Once the sensors have reached the periphery of the heart, the next step will be scanning the pericardial vessels to be at a better position of locating blocks in their exact position.
Once the blocks have been successfully located, the next cycle of nanorobots will be used. This class of nanorobots is equipped with nanoscalars and will be crucial in the next stage of the diagnosis. Just like the robots, the lasers used for these procedures will be powered by the patient’s body through kinetic energy generated by the flowing blood. The pressure of the blood flow will therefore be a crucial part of the entire diagnostic process. The fact these lasers can be powered by the human body creates more room for nanotechnology inventions. Once these lasers are activated, they burn down the blocks detected in the blood stream (Yang et al., 2019). Remembering that the operation is held on a nanoscale, the results of the procedure are reliable and accurate. More importantly, these procedures do not inflict any damage on the surrounding tissues and cells.
Merits
- With this technology it is possible that frozen bodies will be easily repaired and eventually be labeled as alive.
- Super-effective medicine for a disease that could be otherwise fatal
- Extension of life and general life expectancy
Demerits
- Practical, real-life implementation can be difficult since it is too expensive
- There is a high possibility of uncontrolled population
- Although this approach may restore the physical body, it is incapable of repairing the mind
Conclusion
The concept of nanotechnology offers new inventions that will eventually have a significant impact on many areas with the medical field being the largest beneficiary. Nanotechnology will provide numerous opportunities for people to better the health field as well as create new systems that are in-line with the technological revolution being witnessed today. Nanotechnology is also expected to facilitate scientific as well as economic practices in both research and medical development.
This newest technology has a huge potential to introduce significant changes in the medical field by introducing new dimensions on disease detection and diagnosis. Nanotechnology is also expected to make meaningful contributions towards the therapy and general prevention of emerging diseases and conditions. Early detection is facilitated by the available tools and this is an area that this technology is expected to aid in. Nanotechnology is also expected to provide helpful insights in the mechanism of transformation which is a crucial part in developing preventive strategies when dealing with a certain condition. Additionally, this technology will provide reliable observation modalities which will be a reprieve for the cellular machinery. Finally, this technology will be vital in the analysis of crucial elements of the body such as the cytoskeleton and cellular mechanics which have traditionally been hard to analyze using the existing systems.
References
- Farokhzad, O. C., & Langer, R. (2009). Impact of nanotechnology on drug delivery. ACS nano, 3(1), 16-20.
- Kumar, N., & Singh, S. (2014). Cryonics: current status and future possibilities. Int J Engg Res Sci Tech, 2014.
- Pison, U., Giersig, M., & Schaefer, A. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,846,580. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Sarikaya, M., Tamerler, C., Jen, A. K. Y., Schulten, K., & Baneyx, F. (2003). Molecular biomimetics: nanotechnology through biology. Nature materials, 2(9), 577-585.
- Sotropa¹, R. M. B. (2018). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Nanotechnology. Romanian Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, 10(2).
- Yang, Y., Chawla, A., Zhang, J., Esa, A., Jang, H. L., & Khademhosseini, A. (2019). Applications of nanotechnology for regenerative medicine; healing tissues at the nanoscale. In Principles of Regenerative Medicine (pp. 485-504). Academic Press.