We hear about people
being burned at the stake,
frozen, and crushed with
unbelievable amounts of
outside force. But what
really happens to the
human body when it’s
subjected to such
extremes?

1 Extreme Acceleration

G-forces never really
affected humans until as
late as the World War I,
when pilots began
mysteriously losing
consciousness mid-flight.
Thanks to US Air Force
officer John Stapp, we
then learned a lot more
about how g-forces hit the
human body, and the
research took some
serious dedication to the
cause.
Stapp subjected himself to
forces of up to 35 g, which
is the equivalent of
accelerating at 343 meters
per second squared (1,125
ft/s²). His bones cracked
and broke, and his dental
fillings flew out. But the
real effect, he determined,
was on his blood.
When acceleration
happens along a
horizontal axis, the body
tolerates the g-forces
comparatively well
because blood flow stays
on that same horizontal
plane. When g-forces act
on the body in a vertical
manner, things don’t go so
well. Beyond a certain
level (about 4 or 5 g for
most people), our systems
just don’t have enough
strength to pump blood,
and it all draws down to
our lower extremities.
Negative g-forces cause
the same problems,
interfering with blood
flow and making too
much blood accumulate
very quickly in one place.
That’s where g-force suits
come in. Air bladders in
the suits expand with
enough force to keep the
blood where it belongs,
preventing pilots from
losing consciousness.
Stapp survived a final run
in which he accelerated to
1,017 kilometers (632 mi)
per hour, stopped in one
second, and weighed
more than 3,500
kilograms (7,700 lb)
for a brief moment. He
ultimately died peacefully
at home at the age of 89.

2 Extreme Pressure

Decompression sickness,
commonly known as “the
bends,” happens when the
human body feels a
sudden drop in
surrounding pressure.
Blood can no longer
efficiently dissolve gases
like nitrogen. Instead, the
gases remain in the
bloodstream as bubbles.
In severe cases, the
bubbles accumulate in
blood vessels
and block flow, resulting
in dizziness, confusion, or
even death.
The milder form of
decompression sickness,
DCS I, usually results in
joint pain and tissue
swelling. Divers who
subject themselves to
pressure changes on a
regular basis can build up
an undetected case of the
bends that leads to
permanent joint damage.
DCS II is the type that can
kill. Those stricken by this
type experience conditions
such as vertigo, paralysis,
and shock.

3 Extreme cold

When the body’s
temperature drops to
about 30 degrees Celsius
(86 °F), all bodily functions
slow down. Fatigue,
clumsiness, and a delay in
reacting to outside stimuli
are among the first
symptoms.
One of the first systems to
fail around the 30-degree
mark is thermoregulation,
or the body’s ability to
maintain its core
temperature on its own.
The heart will also
gradually slow, along with
lung function, until the
rest of the body starves of
oxygen. In addition, the
renal system quickly fails,
flooding the body with a
diluted version of urine.
This substance leaks into
the blood and organs,
causing shock or other
heart problems.
The reduced metabolism
and decreased demand on
the body’s systems
enables some people to
survive extreme cases of
hypothermia and recover
completely when properly
warmed.

4 Heat

Heatstroke happens when
the body’s internal
temperature rises above
40 degrees Celsius (104 °F)
. Classic heatstroke
develops slowly with
exposure to heat, such as
during a summer heat
wave. Exertional
heatstroke hits people
who perform highly
physical tasks in hot
conditions, such as
industrial workers and
athletes. With either type,
only about 20 percent of
sufferers survive without
treatment, and many who
do survive suffer some
degree of brain damage.
Humidity increases the
chances of heatstroke by
keeping sweat from
evaporating, slowing the
body’s ability to rid itself
of heat. Once the core
temperature reaches 42
degrees Celsius (107 °F)
for as little as 45 minutes,
cells break down. Tissues
swell, and the digestive
lining weakens, allowing
new toxins into the body.
In milder cases, called heat
exhaustion, only the
circulatory system slows.
With full heatstroke,
however, the nervous
system malfunctions
as well, causing confusion,
convulsions, and dizziness.

5 Fire

Hot air and humidity can
push the body to its limits.
But fire, unsurprisingly,
takes the body several
steps further, through
damage, death, and
disintegration.
Researchers at the
University of West Florida
are setting fire to donated
corpses to document just
what happens to the
body. The average human
body burns for seven
hours. The outer skin goes
first, crisping and crackling
before it burns away
pretty quickly. The dermal
layers of skin don’t last
much longer, vanishing
after about five minutes.
By then, the fire has
burned away your shell
and starts on the fat layer.
Fat is an effective fuel as
long as flammable
material such as clothing
or the wood of a pyre acts
like a candle wick. Fat
melts away, absorbs into
the wick, and then burns
for hours. Flames also dry
out muscles, contracting
them and making the
body move.
The fire typically burns
itself out when only bones
remain, unless they break
to expose the marrow.
Teeth don’t burn, either.
The research mimicked the
fires from crime scenes.
During cremation,
however, fires roar much
hotter, and the body burns
more quickly. Most
cremation fires burn at
600–800 degrees Celsius
(1,110–1,470°F). Yet even
at these temperatures, it
can take several hours to
completely reduce the
body to ash.
According to the
researchers, a burning
body smells exactly like
pork ribs on the barbecue.

6 Starvation
We all know starvation
kills, but the specifics are
especially horrifying. The
stomach physically
shrinks, which can make it
uncomfortable to start
eating normal amounts
again even if food arrives
to save you. The heart and
heart muscles also
physically shrink,
restricting the amount
they can do and dropping
blood pressure. Prolonged
starvation causes anemia.
In women, menstruation
can stop completely.
When your body lacks
enough sugars to burn, it
start breaking down fat.
This might sound
desirable enough, but
when stored fat breaks
down quickly, it releases
compounds called ketones
along with energy.
Ketones build up, leading
to nausea and exhaustion,
not to mention bad
breath.
Your bones may
permanently weaken after
temporary starvation.
Perhaps more surprising is
the permanent effect on
the brain. Without vital
nutrients like potassium
and phosphorus, the brain
malfunctions. You may
physically lose gray matter
in the brain—even if you
resume eating, some of
the loss is permanent,
making the impaired brain
function permanent as
well.
Growing children and
teens can suffer chronic
health issues later in life,
such as the inability for a
woman to carry a baby to
term. Perhaps most
weirdly, people suffering
from long-term starvation
often grow a full coat of
tiny, soft hairs called
lanugo to help the body
regulate temperature. "sorry for those fasting''.....lolz

7 Extreme Height

Even if you’re not afraid of
heights, you’ve likely
experienced a spinning,
sick feeling when you look
off the top of a skyscraper.
This is vertigo, and it’s
more than just
psychological.
Balance is a tricky thing.
When we’re on the
ground, we orient
ourselves using stationary,
steady objects. When
we’re at the top of a 30-
story building, however,
that doesn’t work. The
nearest stationary object
(besides the floor beneath
your feet) is so far away
that your body can’t use it
to reassure itself that it,
too, is stationary.
The building’s sway adds
an additional problem.
When you’re up high
enough, everything sways
slightly, and our bodies
detect it even if our
conscious minds can’t. The
higher we get, the more
the sway, and the harder
for us to regulate our
balance. If the effect
becomes too great, it can
interfere with our own
center of gravity.
People bad at estimating
distances suffer from more
powerful acrophobia. A
California State University
study looked at how
people estimated
buildings’ heights. Those
who overestimated the
height of a building had
stronger reactions to
standing at the top.
Findings suggest a direct
link between perception
and fear.

8 Chemicals

Hydrogen sulfide is pretty
nasty stuff. You know it as
the smell of rotting eggs,
and in high amounts, it
may have killed off the
dinosaurs and a huge
portion of other
prehistoric life. But all
living things produce the
chemical in very small
amounts, and it helps
regulate the rate at which
our internal processes
function. Most recently, it’s
been found to have a new
use—putting mice into a
state of suspended
animation.
When administered at the
proper dose, hydrogen
sulfide slows the body’s
metabolic rate and drops
the core temperature to
well below the
hypothermia threshold. All
bodily functions, including
circulation and pulmonary
activity, almost shut
down.
In animal tests, hydrogen
sulfide suppresses normal
body function, perhaps
forming an invaluable tool
in slowing the damage
done by burns and
illnesses until a person can
receive proper treatment.

9 Radiation

Radioactive decay releases
energy into the immediate
environment. That energy
interacts with the cells of
the body, either killing
them outright or causing
them to mutate. Mutations
develop into cancer, and
some types of radioactive
material hit specific body
parts especially hard. For
example, radioactive
iodine accumulates in the
thyroid gland, causing
thyroid cancer, especially
in children.
It takes a relatively huge
amount of radiation
exposure to significantly
increase a person’s risk of
developing cancer. The
standard person is
exposed to between 0.24
and 0.3 rem of radiation in
a year. For your risk of
developing cancer to
increase by 0.5 percent,
you need about 10 rem.
At the much higher level
of 200 rem, radiation
sickness kicks in. Radiation
sickness causes short-
term, instant effects like
vomiting, a reduction of
red blood cells, and
damage to bone marrow.
This bone damage causes
another, more latent
problem—bone marrow is
responsible for producing
platelets, which are
essential in blood clotting.

10 loneliness

Feeling lonely is normal.
Even in the most crowded
of rooms, we can still feel
an overwhelming sense of
loneliness if we connect
with no one. But chronic
loneliness can have a very
real effect on our bodies.
According to University of
Chicago psychologists,
people who report being
lonely show severely
suppressed immune
systems for an interesting
reason. Since lonely
people view the world as
a dangerous, unfriendly
place, their immune
systems fixate on fighting
bacterial infections. This
leaves them unable to
produce as many antiviral
antibodies, leaving them
consequently more
susceptible to viral
illnesses
.
They are also more
susceptible to high blood
pressure, as hardened
arteries have also been
linked to chronic
loneliness, and difficulty
sleeping. Higher stress
leaves the lonely more
vulnerable to heart
disease and strokes.

+++Extreme Water

We all know the dangers
of dehydration, but we
hear less about the
dangers of drinking water
to excess.
Water intoxication causes
all kinds of problems, the
most deadly being
hyponatremia. When the
kidneys can’t get rid of the
extra water, they push it
into the bloodstream,
where it dilutes the blood
and causes a severe drop
in electrolytes. Without
enough salt in the body,
you suffer from
headaches, exhaustion,
vomiting, and
disorientation.
Once the bloodstream can
no longer handle it, the
water rushes into cells,
which swell. This becomes
deadly when the cells lack
room for expansion, such
as in the brain and spine.
You can then suffer from
brain swelling, coma,
seizures, and ultimately
death
.
You may also run into
another problem from
drinking too much. Water
can contain pollutants.
When you regularly drink
more water than the
safely recommended
amount (which is actually
rather less than the long-
touted eight glasses per
day), the pollutants can
build to a level with which
the body can no longer
cope.

Interesting piece, pretty long though, anyways i know this is going to make front page

Great piece.

Thanks i hope so

Stored Blood On Anaemic Patients.

The development of blood storage systems allowed donation and transfusion. The availability of storage facilities raises the question of how long blood products can and should be stored and how long they are safe and effective. Appreciation of a growing lists of storage lesions of red blood cells has developed with increasing understanding of red blood cell

http://www.scharticles.com/effects-of-donated-stored-blood-on-anaemic-patients/