Dinosaur “find of the year”
An amateur fossil hunter has unchanged what is believed to be the most complies skeleton of a rhino sized dinosaur. The well preserved. Remains of an armadillo like Polaeanthus, which measured some threeand1halfmetors long, and one and half meters tall, s discovered by 38yearold Mrs. Spear point on the Isle of Wight the south coast of England. Only two partial skeletons of the million year old creature have previously been discovered.
Mrs Spear point explained: “Thad been digging away at a clay d and just stumbled across the ones, I did not know what the ones were, but 4s soon is it had been identified, there was tremendous interest from the exerts.”
Local fossil expert Martin Simpson, who helped with the excavation, claims about 70 per cent of the original creature has been found, He commented: “It is the dinosaur find of the year. People are been waiting for this scallion = come out of the cliff for about 40 yours.”
Describing the find as “very in retesting”, Dr.Robin Cocks, head paleontology at London`s Natural History Museum, said the importance would depend on the fossil’s completeness. The best example, unearned in 1867 and held the museum, his about half the animal’s bones.” We look forward seeking the find,” he added.
Mr. Simpson hopes to put the dinosaur skeleton on display on the Isle of Wight after the bones have been cleaned and assembled. The fossil, which may prove to be worth up to 40,000 pounds, is likely to attract a lot of International interest from experts in this field.
Breathe easy
Respiratory distress is a common ease of death in premature babies, Newborn babies with underdeveloped lungs have difficulty in drawing their first breath if their lungs lack a surfactant chemical. Surfactants lower the surface tension of the air sacs (alveoli) of the lungs enabling them to open up enough to exchange oxygen, without sufficient surfactant these babies’ alveoli arc harder to inflate due to surface tension. This results in low levels of oxygen in their blood leading to damage to their Organs. Pediatricians treat such ‘babies using conventional therapies such as introduction of artificial surfactant into the babies’ lungs. Ventilators are also used to assist breathing, however, the raised gas pressure in ventilators can result in chronic lung damage, unfortunately, all infants do not respond to such treatment.
Premature babies with respiratory distress were made to draw their breaths through liquids in a clinical trial at five American hospitals. The lungs of these babies are filled with a perfluorochemical (PEC) liquid made by Alliance Pharmaceutical of San Diego California in. PFCs are odorless colored, biologically in en liquids made from hydrocarbons. It has the capacity todissolye20timesasmuch Oxygen as a saline solution and can absorb much more carbon dioxide. The fluid keeps the air sacs open and brings in oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide and takes it out of the lungs, the infants are kept on liquid (PFC) ventilation for at least 24 hours and for a maximum of 96 hours. Liquid ventilation is much more sale as there is less danger of damaging the delicate lung surface and also the pressure exerted is much lower.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 9, 1994
