The AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) has a long and storied history extend

ing back to 1775! Possibly even further due to documentation prior to that parti
cular time period being either lost or destroyed.
The Defibrillator is a electronic device that must be used manually by an operat
or. It is most commonly used on individuals suffering from irregular heart beat
(tachychardia). Which occurs when the heart begins to beat irregularly causing i
nadequate blood circulation and great trauma to the body. Defibrillation restore
s the heart back to it's normal rate by having concentrated electricity reset th
e irregular heart.
Originally according to documentation the function and efficacy of the Defibrill
ator was tested on dogs. It was discovered that electrical shocks could reset fa
tal arrythmias by reseting the heart. The researchers used a range of shocks fro
m very low to extremely high with the results being effective in restoring norma
l heart function.
The first recorded example of a Defibrillator being used on a human being was in
1947 by Claude Beck who used it to restart the heart of a fourteen year old boy
who's heart stopped during the surgical procedure Beck was performing. The firs
t Defibrillator used spoons with wooden handles to deliver the shock to the pati
ent.
It was not until 1978 that the Defibrillator we see commonly today came into cir
culation. This was a huge jump from the Defibrillators used prior because now it
became safe and easy enough for individuals not trained in medicine to use it i
f the need arose. With this the AED has become increasingly more common in facil
ities and sometimes are even required to be present in businesses.
Research shows that AEDs save countless lives each year when used properly. Howe
ver, due to the highly traumatic nature of tachychardia on the body every follow
ing minute after the start of cardiac arrest reduces the individuals chances of
survival by 7%. After three minutes it falls 10%.
For Defibrillation to be effective a variety of factors must be focused on:
Speed is extremely important when performing effective Defibrillation. As listed
above the individuals chance for survival and recovery is reduced every second.
So quick and concise action must be taken.
Electrode Positioning is extremely important as well. If the electrodes do not i
ntersect around the heart the defibrillation will not be effective and the shock
s can possibly damage the patient causing other complications. Typically one ele
ctrode must be placed over the right pectorial and under the left floating rib.
Drying the skin is also a factor that must be done for defibrillation to be effe
ctive. Since defibrillation is delivery of electrical impulses it is very import
ant for the skin to be dry so the power of the device isn't mitigated by sweat w
hich the patient will undoubtedly be doing if they are in cardiac arrest.
Application of Pressure is the final factor since just applying the electrodes t
ypically is not enough some physical force must be exerted to ensure that the el
ectrical impulses are effectively delivered to the heart.
The Automic External Defibrillator is an amazing medical tool and with proper kn
owledge and training can be extremely effective in saving lives.
An aerial view of HIV s surface proteins (blobs) shows how eCD4-Ig can bind to the
virus and neutralize it.
ADAPTED FROM MICHAEL FARZAN ET AL., NATURE (2015)
An aerial view of HIV s surface proteins (blobs) shows how eCD4-Ig can bind to the
virus and neutralize it.
Stopping HIV with an artificial protein

Jon is a staff writer for Science.

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By Jon Cohen 18 February 2015 7:00 am 2 Comments
For 30 years, researchers have struggled to determine which immune responses bes
t foil HIV, information that has guided the design of AIDS vaccines and other pr
evention approaches. Now, a research team has shown that a lab-made molecule tha
t mimics an antibody from our immune system may have more protective power than
anything the body produces, keeping four monkeys free of HIV infection despite i
njection of large doses of the virus.
Intensive hunts are under way for natural HIV antibodies that can stop or neutraliz
e the many variants of the constantly mutating AIDS virus. Researchers have recentl
y found several dozen broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that are highly po
tent and work at low doses. But viral immunologist Michael Farzan of the Scripps
Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, and 33 co-workers have recently taken a
different strategy, building a novel molecule based on our knowledge of how HIV
infects cells. HIV infects white blood cells by sequentially attaching to two r
eceptors on their surfaces. First, HIV s own surface protein, gp120, docks on the
cell s CD4 receptor. This attachment twists gp120 such that it exposes a region on
the virus that can attach to the second cellular receptor, CCR5. The new constr
uct combines a piece of CD4 with a smidgen of CCR5 and attaches both receptors t
o a piece of an antibody. In essence, the AIDS virus locks onto the construct, d
ubbed eCD4-Ig, as though it were attaching to a cell and thus is neutralized.
In test-tube experiments, eCD4-Ig outperformed all known natural HIV antibodies
at stopping the virus from infecting cells, Farzan s team reports in this week s iss
ue of Nature. To test how it works in animals, they then put a gene for eCD4-Ig
into a harmless virus and infected four monkeys; the virus forces the monkey s cel
ls to mass produce the construct. When they challenged these monkeys and four cont
rols with successively higher doses of an AIDS virus for up to 34 weeks, none of
the animals that received eCD4-Ig became infected, whereas all of the untreated
ones did.