The Stranger Inside You: Chimeras (Blood Transfusions)

[Guest Nicole]

 

 

[JW Insider]

I personally have had the DNA of several different cows, steers, bulls, fish and chickens in my digestive system. This makes me a chimera, too. I'm told that some of that DNA stays in your colon for years. (Not to mention a few times when I have also had the DNA of a crawfish, lobster, clam, oyster, rabbit, bison, deer, and pig in me. Probably not all at the same time, however.)

I like the way the man in the video gives the impression that the speaker might be a doctor by dressing him in white and displaying the words "medical center" on his clothing. He forgot the clipboard and stethoscope, however, which always creates a more convincing image.

At first I thought this was going to be a repeat of the long-debunked theory that a blood transfusion or heart transplant from a criminal might make you become a criminal, too.

[Queen Esther]

I'm  sure,  our  own  personality  is  in  our  DNA, brain, mind, blood,  character  etc.  -  JW  never  endangered  by  these  worldly  things !!

[Evacuated]

On 7/22/2016 at 22:30, JW Insider said:

I like the way the man in the video gives the impression that the speaker might be a doctor

Now here's a thing @JW Insider. Do I detect a note of cynicism in your post here? Not up to your usual well researched responses as the participants in this video appear to be bona fide medical professionals:

http://anest.ufl.edu/about-us/faculty/bruce-davis-spiess-md-faha/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryeh_Shander

I suspect too that there may well be a difference in the effect on your own system of the ingestion of the flesh, (I presume), of the multitude of animals that you list above as opposed to having been transfused with the blood of that same menagerie.

 

 

[JW Insider]

23 hours ago, Eoin Joyce said:

Do I detect a note of cynicism in your post here?

Wasn't me. Must have been someone I ate. :o)

Yes. It's not that there is no such thing as medical micro-chimera. It's the way this is overblown and made to sound so dramatic. First it starts out with the incorrect implication that you might get convicted incorrectly for a crime (or get away with a crime) because the DNA evidence from a crime scene will be wrong. (It won't be.)

Then comes a series of exaggerations that are, in fact, so wild that they are evidently intended to lead to misunderstanding. This starts from the very first sentence: "If you get my blood you will now have my DNA." Because he is dressed up in his doctor's attire and speaking with such authority, you will likely get the idea that this is always going to be a true statement.

It isn't necessarily true at all.

In fact, it rarely happens unless the transfusion included unreduced white cells AND the person was still experiencing injury trauma (when the body puts white blood cells to greater use) at the time of the transfusion AND there is a strong likelihood that the micro-chimera condition won't remain in the system more than a few weeks. (Studies of many transfused women after giving birth only hold onto the extra white cells in their system for a about six weeks, never longer.) Most blood therapy today does not make use of whole blood transfusions (including unreduced white cells) because the various components are so valuable as separate components, and often only the red cell component is the portion wanted for improving oxygen distribution after traumatic blood loss. So it's possibly true, but not necessarily true.

But they also changed the voice in a way to create a kind of "eeriness" similar to the way a "science" channel uses pseudo-science for ratings. They dress up people and change the voice to add credence to the possible "reality" of a UFO or haunted house or an unidentified "chimera" or prehistoric beast, etc. On those shows, if a wolf bites you, you might get just enough of its DNA to become a wolf-man chimera. And from this video, you may actually think that there is some science behind the idea that if a wolf bit you, you may become a different animal. In fact that very type of wording was used in the video: "You will become a kind of chimera. You will become a blended animal. You will no longer be a single, distinct human being." That's not at all what the real medical research is about. It's only about the fact that some allogenic white cells can remain in the bloodstream for several years.

Then the video gives the notion that the tests from WWII vets done 10 years ago (I think) proves that we don't have the foggiest notion about the possible long-term effects. Actually, the discovery of MC (micro-chimera) in this test group gives us exactly the same amount of information about the long-term effects as if we had gone out looking to find such a group of such persons to test. So far, they tell us that there are no long-term effects, although further study might show that there is some (probably minimal, or at least heretofore unnoticed) effect on immunology.

The whole video, in other words, was just some hyped-up, dramatic language that ended up saying we don't yet know if there is or will be anything significant about this discovery. 

I found it interesting, and maybe more will be discovered someday. But I was guessing that it was a situation where someone's research needed to be hyped up like this, because it was about to relegated to the scrap heap of insignificance, and the doctor doesn't want this piece of his work to be forgotten.

[JW Insider]

On 7/22/2016 at 7:40 PM, Queen Esther said:

JW  never  endangered  by  these  worldly  things !!

Micro-chimera is also common for a time after organ transplants, even without transfusions. There is also a level of micro-chimera that can occur in both directions between mother and child during pregnancy (usually dangerous, as mother and child may have different blood types), and of course, white blood cell transference (not into bloodstream) during breast-feeding from mother to child. 

[Queen Esther]

36 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

Micro-chimera is also common for a time after organ transplants, even without transfusions. There is also a level of micro-chimera that can occur in both directions between mother and child during pregnancy (usually dangerous, as mother and child may have different blood types), and of course, white blood cell transference (not into bloodstream) during breast-feeding from mother to child. 

I  don't  know  all  these  details,  but  will  inform  me  little  more  -  thanks !

[Evacuated]

10 hours ago, JW Insider said:

I found it interesting, and maybe more will be discovered someday.

That's better. I am reassured.