TRANSFORMING BLOOD
Of the four blood groups in humans, type O is the most useful in transfusions. Unlike other blood types—A, B and AB—O can be safely given to nearly everybody.
Thus a person with O blood has been dubbed the universal donor. Though 45% of the population are group O, the supply of donated O blood on hand is often not enough to meet needs. If it were possible to convert blood from the other three groups to type O, however, that supply would be dramatically increased. Researchers at the New York Blood Center have taken an important step toward that goal. Experiments directed by Biochemist Jack Goldstein have transformed type B red blood cells to type O. Using a "cutting" enzyme extracted from coffee beans, the researchers clipped a specific sugar molecule away from the surface of B red blood cells, making the cells virtually indistinguishable from those in type O blood.
Preliminary tests are very promising.
In volunteers injected with transformed blood, 95% of the converted cells were still in circulation after 24 hours. After one month, 50% of the cells survived, which compares favorably with transfusion of untreated cells. The volunteers suffered no side effects. Researchers are now looking for an enzyme that could change type A cells to type O. Only 10% to 12% of the population belong to group B, compared with 40% type A.
THE MICKEY FINN UPDATED
The Texas businessman was delighted when an attractive woman accepted his invitation for a nightcap in his Manhattan hotel room. But after a couple of drinks, he went blank. When he did not show up for a morning business meeting, his colleagues grew worried. They went to his room and found the Texan wild-eyed, heart pounding and his mouth dry as cotton. He was also hallucinating about little creatures that were trying to get him.
Some creatures had already got his money, credit cards and jewelry.
The old Mickey Finn ploy? Yes, but the visitor had fallen victim to a new and dangerous twist. In the past two years, New York hustlers have drugged scores of affluent-looking men (and a few women) not with the usual chloral hydrate—a sedative that simply makes a person drunk more quickly—but with scopolamine. This nervous-system depressant is normally used as a preoperative drug. It is also an ingredient in some prescription eye drops.
Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, director of emergency services at Bellevue Hospital, who discovered the larcenous trend and sees several cases a week, warns that the drug could cause heart arrest or coma. His advice:
"People should listen to their mothers and not take drinks from strangers."