News: Man with no pulse

[Scott]

Read about this man in Canada a few days ago that is rather interesting. The man has no pulse and is still alive. New pump is medical breakthrough.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/12/13/mechanical-heart.html

[Yaddo 42]

It says the turbine keeps his blood in a continuous flow, so the "motor" circulating his blood isn't operating in the same kind of cycle that a normal human heart would, so no pulse. The headlines I've read elsewhere were playing it like a man with no pulse had been discover who was still living somehow, rather than the lack of a conventional, detectable pulse being a side effect of the device, often no device was mentioned in the headline. I wonder if they monitor the turbine's operating speed or measure the rate of blood flow in a part (or parts) of the body or through the device to see if he's healthy. Wonder how his blood pressure is affected.

If it works and is approved for wider use, congrats to the developers for nonconventional thinking (I hate the cliche "thinking outside the box"). The suspension in a magnetic field to prevent wear is an awesome idea as well. Wonder if it's shielded or if he has to avoid strong magnets in everyday life, like pacemaker recipients used to be cautioned to avoid microwave ovens and other devices.

[Andrew]

That is interesting  Has a rotary circulatory system ever been described in a science fiction book?  Seems like a novel approach and one I had not heard of before.  The Ymir's (from 20 Million Miles to Earth) system being made up of all vessels, vice any sort of heart, was always a neat concept.

Wonder if it's shielded or if he has to avoid strong magnets in everyday life, like pacemaker recipients used to be cautioned to avoid microwave ovens and other devices.

This is what finally kills off Donald in Microwave Massacre.

[peter johnson]

A cool magic trick that some unscrupulous "gurus" do to convince people they're divine is to "stop their heart" --
As with most magic tricks, it involves misdirection:
The trick is to put a rubber ball under the arm that the people you're getting to take your pulse are going to use.  If you squeeze your inner arm down on the ball, you cut blood flow to the wrist, ergo no pulse.  You then claim to have "Stopped your heart!"  momentarily, and thus earn great awe from your followers. 
As with card tricks, etc., what makes this work is to get everyone around you to agree that the absense or presence of this pulse is proof of your ability to stop your own heart -- God forbid anyone should show up with a stethescope!!
peter johnson/denny crane