Transcripts For ALJAZAM TechKnow 20140502 : vimarsana.com

Marita davidson is a biologist specializing in ecologist and evolution. Tonight, swimming with sharks and a shark robot that will one day protect these fascinating creatures. Im phil torres, im an entomologist exploring spiders in the rain forests of peru. Now lets do some science. Hi guys, im phil torres, welcome to a very special episode of techknow. Were getting revolutionary access to technology, a revolution story, dr. Shini somara to tell it. It is one of the most interesting things ive ever done in my life. Changed my idea, machines replacing human bodies, essentially. Take a look. Breathing. It usually happens so naturally, most of us never ever think about it. That is, of course, until theres a problem. Currently, 1600 people are on a waiting list all desperately wait bwaiting for a lung transp. Which is why were here, to understand a Lung Transplant team, how they rush into action when a lung is available. And Game Changing technology. St. Josephs is starting the organ care system, also known as the ocs. The device allows the vital organs like the heart and lungs to stay warm and functioning generosity the human body. If approved by the fda, it could change the way donor organs are transported. Dr. Michael smith is the surgical director of Lung Transplantation at st. Josephs. Historically what weve done is taken them out of the donors body and put them into an ice chest. But on ice, fragile organs have a time limit of only six hours. That period of time theres no blood flow or air getting to those lungs, thats calls keep ya. Those lungs are deteriorating, arent they . Exactly. Those cells dont like that. What this device has done is taken it so we can remove the lungs from the donor and put them in this device that profuses the vessels with blood and also has a ventilator circuit that actually pushes air into the lungs. The lungs are constantly oxygenating warm blood as they would in someones body. And essentially, diminishes that ischemic time to almost nothing. Lungs been maintained on the organ care system for almost ten hours, nearly doubling the time they can be kept on ice. You are essential doubling the travel time, travel is a nonfactor. Katherine vosh is a josephs. It is her responsibility to monitor lungs in the device. Every second of the way from the donor hospital to the operating room at st. Josephs. This is the monitor which we take on the runs with you. And this is brains behind the whole machine. Were able to set how much blood flow we want to have go to the lungs or you how much volume we want the lungs to receive while theyre on the machine. So the lungs are in flight, someone will actually sit on this, which is required. On this device you can monitor function so you know when you transplant those lungs that those are good lungs. The transplant Surgical Team at st. Josephs is on call 247. When a donor is made available they rush into action, to retrieve the organs that are needed. Patients like victoria bloo bloomfeld, a 69yearold. We were gorgeous. Brian and victoria have been married for 47 years. Together they raised three children. They kept active lives, up to three years ago when vict yah was diagnosed with a chronic and ultimately fatal lung disease. My husband calls it resignation. To me it was acceptance that i knew how i was going to die. And you can either give up and say, boy, this is it, or you can take the last few years you think, and work with that and do the best you can. So thats what ive been doing, actually. Over the past few years, vict victoria has been tackling things on her bucket list. Including learning how to work with glass. Butter recently, her condition has deteriorated. She constantly needs splefnl oxygen. They supplemental oxygen. She contacted st. Josephs to see if she would be able to get a Lung Transplant. This is pulmonary phi borrows is. The medical director of the transplant team. Which indeed determined that victoria was a prime candidate for a Lung Transplant. How soon does victoria need new lungs . Victoria needs in the next few most a new set of lungs, before she will have an exacerbation, the mortality of that complication is extremely high. Psychologically are you ready for this transplant . Im ready for it. I dont have any option. There is no option. I either get transplant or i just deteriorate. Victoria decided to enroll in the ocs study. The trial is randomized. Meaning this if a donor match is found, a card will be picked to determine whether the lungs will be delivered on ice or on the new system. The goal to compare post surgery outcomes for patients who receive their lungs with the ocs system and those who dont. Just left victorias house. Meantly, shes got mentally shes got a great attitude to life, great lope, wants the phone to ring for her. And there may be another reason to hope that victoria receives the lungs on the ocs system. Early results from the study says the results are reduced, called primary graft dysfunction or pgd. People who have had severe episodes of pgd dont live as long after the transplant when you look months or years past the are transplant. It would seem that victorias case would prefer the ocs system just because its a much more fragile case. Yes, but we dont have control over which patients are going to get randomized. So it is going to be either one. We will know when her time comes if she gets randomized or not. Now the waiting game for victoria and her family. About the procedure and do you have any worries . Sometimes you get these thoughts, oh my god, of course they go through your mind. Night. In the morning youre just good to go. So i hope they call me in the morning. Thats my best time. Coming up next we witness a Lung Transplant team in action. And victoria finds out if she gets her socalled lungs in a botch. Hi guys, welcome back totec now shini, before the break we were introduced to victoria, a spirited woman on the donor list. I found victoria, a great grandmother, with a great joy for life, but she was in a Critical Condition where she desperately needed lungs. It was literally life or death. Take a look at what happens next. Victoria bloom felt desperately needs a Lung Transplant. She has got probably less than a year to le live. But a new device could mean the difference between life and death. You can see patients literally die on the waiting list of. Is that feasible . It could be, keeping moring patients on the waiting list. It has the capability of improving the functionality of the organs. Lungs in a box will she get them . Im too young to be put out to pasture. Glus got off the plane and jumped on a cab. Vicky is waiting for her double Lung Transplant. And they are arriving in ocs mches cs machines for those three hours i really i didnt want to think about it. You know, you want to receive the the call, but yet, on the other hand, youre scared to receive the call. In the last couple of weeks, i was i remember, just now its a little apprehension. You know, you do realize its a big operation. Now, the incision will come from underneath one armpit and go underneath the breasts and across the sternum and meet the other breast and arm pip. Some of these chest incisions will stay with you for quite some time. Thats why the epidural is there. Well see you inside, okay . Hes really cute. [ laughter ] i cant after a final consultation with dr. Smith, victoria is wheeled into surgery. At this point how are you feeling . Um, feeling pretty good. Im excited to get this Lung Transplant done for this patient. Whos been waiting on, on the donor side its usually pretty solemn. But on this side its pretty exciting. When victoria is prepped for surgery, theres one more critical player to arrive. Were waiting for the organs to come up in the organ care system and its quite nerve wracking. Are those the lungs . Yes, those are the lungs. These are the lungs, you can actually hear them breathing, sound like theyre breathing on their own. Although mechanical, it is so incredible to be standing next to them. While the team members prepare to remove the lungs from the organ care system, victorias surgeons extract one of her diseased lungs. The left lung is out. Can you see why were saying, this very small ,. Here is one of the lungs. Theres no mistaking victorias diseased lungs with the healthy donor lungs. Completely different. These are deflated. That accounts for some of the difference but it is very different. The way to think about this lung, its more stiff. When a sponge dries up, its more stiff and more firm. Thats way this lung is, more firm. But this lung is much softer. They replace victorias fibrotic lungs with the donor lungs, one at a time. And then, the moment of truth. Thats a lung inflated. And the right is inflated as well. The lungs are both fully inflated and victoria takes her first breath. How do you think it went overall . I think it went great overall. After four hours of surgery, victoria is breathing on her own with a new pair of lungs. It can change for her life. Before there was no life. Just whatever was left. 47 years of marriage, and now, i believe, many more years. Yes, we are sure hoping so. Honestly for me, that was the most humbling experience ive ever had, watching lungs being extracted from vickys body and being replaced. You know the donor the surge the hospital the ocs machine all came together at that perfect time. And now, vicky has a brandnew chance at life. Its truly miraculous. Its cutting edge technology, isnt it . Very much so. If this device is as efficient and efficacious as we think it will be then it can be a gamechanger in Lung Transplantation. So my question to you is why arent there enough lungs currently on the donor list . The ludges on the lungs on the donor list, 80 of them are not satisfactory for Lung Transplantation. There may be a stage where you can recondition lungs, actually recondition them by blasting them with antibuy anti biotics. I think for me seeing a hearts beating on a machine, kind of likes though lungs beating on a machine, i cant believe that that is our reality now. It seems absolutely science fiction. That they could treat these things outside of our body, seeing lungs are alive going from one human to another. They are actually starting chemical trials late this year on a liver in a box. So theyre starting to use this technology on all different kinds of organs. It affects us as humans, in a real way. Coming up after the break, marita, you did a story on sharks and robots. I got to go to catalina drug wars in mexico this guy saw someone they suspect and they just went after them now vigilantes have joined the fight i dont want to do this. Is it a Popular Uprising . Or a new wave of violence . Fault lines. Al Jazeera Americas hard hitting. Theyre locking the door. Ground breaking. We have to get out of here. Truth seeking. Award winning documentary series mexicos vigilante state only on Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. More on every screen. Digital, mobile, social. Visit aljazeera. Com. Follow ajam on twitter. And like alJazeera America on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. So you dont just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. Al Jazeera America. Al Jazeera America presents borderlands dramatic conclusion no ones prepared for this journey. Our teams experience the heart breaking desperation were all following stories of people that have died in the desert. And the importance. Experiencing it, has changed me completely. Of the lives that were lost in the desert this is the most dangerous part of your trip. An emotional finale you cant miss. We got be here to tell the story. The final journey borderland continues. Only on Al Jazeera America hey guys, welcome back to techknow. Im phil torres and im here with dr. Shini somara and marita davidson. Marita, you went through a bit of a swim. I got to are swim with researchers from cal state shark lab, measuring all sorts of environmental conditions. Lets take a look at it. This is catalina island. 27 miles off the coast of los angeles. A place known for its beauty both above and below the ocean that surrounds it. Most of the fish that call these waters home go relatively unnoticed. But one species is impossible to miss. Them. If you were from cal states shark lab, its not a bad place to set up shop. This is going to change how we study sharks in the ocean. Chris lowe, getting to know him and his work is getting your feet wet. Obviously, here a day at the office requires a different attire. And it also provides a different view of the world. It takes only a few moments underwater to understand chris lowes passion for the ocean. And for the sharks he studies. What is it about sharks that interests you from a scientific perspective . Theyre a canary in a coal mine for the ocean. They tell us how healthy the oceans are. As a diver you jump in the water and you want the sharks to come to you, and sometimes they do and most times they dont. So thats always been the tricky part, how do we find the way to study them . The answer, he believes, is this. This is a robot that weve been talking about and chris clark you are the man behind this. Tell me about this. Weve got this autonomous underwater vehicle, auv. We want to collect data, data about sharks. Once it dives down it uses a couple of different sensors, a compass. What do they do . It attaches a tag to the sharks, it listens to the tags attached to the sharks. And it will autonomously follow around, the sharks as they move. These are dummy plugs and these are attached to what we called hide growphones. Listening for acoustic tags that we will attach to a fish or shark and every two seconds they will just ping, ping. [ ping, ping, ping ] these have been used for about a decade now. They are used to measure water and light and salinity and color chlorophyll. We can build a 3d map around the animal that is tracking and it knows exactly where the animal is in that 3d space as its moving. Our goal is to be able to say when the animal suddenly dogs something different, is there some aspect of its environment that is causing it to do that . Well, of course everything is easier said than done. So thats why the group comes to catalina, testing. Were hiding the transmitter on the sea floor and get the robot out to find it, to get as accurate a positioning as possible. The two chris kno chrises know that they have hit the target when its circling. And guess when what, its circling now. I envision a day, when we can measure aspects of behavior that we have never been able to measure before. And were going to build a database of the ocean thats scale. This is going to change our view. If ive learned anything today, its that science and innovation can come in diverse forms, from machines and sharks, well see you next week on techknow. Dive deep into these stories and go behind the scenes to aljazeera. Com techknow. Follow our contributors on google, facebook, twitter and more. On techknow. These are some of the amazing spider goats small creatures, big impact how strong is it . Almost as strong as steel inspiring discoveries changing lives this could go in a human body. Right this is for an achilles tendon techknow every saturday go where science meets humanity this is some of the best driving ive ever done, even though i cant see techknow were here in the vortex only on Al Jazeera America announcer this is al jazeera. Welcome to the news hour. Im sammy in doha. Coming up in the next 60 minutes, a frantic search for survivors in afghanistan after an entire village is buried by a land slide. Confusion in nigeria as Police Reveal more girls were kidnapped than initially thought. Im barbara in europe. A new push by