20050823   

Michael considered fate at 13:32   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment

Know how I was sayin' that all it takes is to dream something up and sure enough, a few weeks later you'll stumble across someone already doing it? Yah, well.. I imagine everyone in the world has wished this one once: invent a no-sleep pill (one that doesn't start with c o c a). Well, maybe it was a week later but years and years later but it looks like we're one step closer to reality on this one:

A drug dubbed CX717, made by Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Irvine, California, reverses the biological and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation, according to results of animal studies...

... When monkeys were subjected to 30-36 hours of sleep deprivation, average performance accuracy dropped to 63 percent, which was restored to 84 percent after CX717 treatment.

The distinct shifts in EEG recordings and changes in brain scans following sleep deprivation were also reversed by drug treatment.

Ohhh but my favourite quote from the article?

"The fact that (compounds like) CX717 can temporarily alleviate the effects of prolonged periods of sleep deprivation...indicates their potential applicability to many circumstances in which human performance is compromised by extensive sleep loss"

Talk about smart of the 'Smat' variety.. Let me rephrase that quote for you so you can see the real genius: the fact that this drug can alleive the effects of prolonged sleep dep indicates it has potential to be used for... alleiving the effects of prolonged sleep dep.

Brilliant.

So imagine - now you can tivo all the reality shows and spend all night catching up on your soaps, and still be fresh and spritely for work in the morning. Ohhhh yah, progress baby. Progress.

Though I guess the drug might help restore memory loss in Alzheimer's patients, too. I think we're supposed to feel warm and fuzzy about that one. Anything to help the infirm, right? I love these cross-gender drugs (as I will call them), Viagra is their president. Heart medication my ass.. glad they researched that one good and thorough, now that the updated labeling includes cautions to doctors in prescribing Viagra to patients who have had a) a heart attack, stroke, or life-threatening arrhythmia, b) significant hypotension or hypertension, or c) a history of cardiac failure or coronary artery disease with unstable angina. Funny, weren't they researching the drug for heart problems in the first place?!?.. oh yes, pulmonary arterial hypertension indeed. My favourite serious adverse effect is "sudden death". Yah, i guess you could call that serious. I mean, I don't mind a little myocardial infarction or ventricular arrhythmias, that's a walk in the park but I draw the line right between long prolonged and painful death and sudden death.