SPRAY OF HOPE Military developing anti-suicide nasal spray as deaths hit record numbers
The Army has just handed a $3 million grant to researchers at the University of Indiana’s School of Medicine for the creation of an anti-suicide nasal spray. The project, to be led by Dr. Michael Kubek, an associate professor of neurobiology, is arguably one of the more unusual military efforts to thwart a record number of suicides among active-duty personnel and veterans.
(snip)
According to Kubek and his colleagues, a snort of their suicide-stopping neurochemical — a naturally occurring compound called thyrotropin-releasing hormone, or TRH — could be the solution.
(snip)
By harnessing new advancements in nanotechnology, however, Kubek’s research team has now devised nanoparticle drug-delivery systems, designed to dissolve over time inside the brain, that can safely usher TRH across the blood-brain barrier when inserted into the human nasal cavity.
The nanoparticle breakthrough was enough to convince military brass that Kubek’s nasal spray just might have a shot at preventing suicides. The project’s three-year Army grant will be used to ascertain whether TRH and the drug-delivery systems are safe, and then conduct a clinical trial to “show, in human patients, that this really can save lives,” Kubek said.
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/08/17/081712-news-anti-suicide-spray-1-4/
Treating the symptom not the cause... what could possibly go wrong with that I wonder? Freaky.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Although if my sinuses had to live in Arizona with the teabag nutballs like Brewer, Arpaio, and the rest, they'd probably end up killing themselves.
