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Finding Relief from Box Jellyfish Stings

Robert Hartwick
Robert Hartwick

Box jellyfish are responsible for more deaths each year than shark attacks.  But despite the danger, scientists and medical professionals still do not agree on the best way to treat and manage jellyfish stings.

Researchers at UH M?noa have developed an array of experiments to allow scientists to safely test first-aid measures used for box jellyfish stings without using human subjects.  By creating an artificial skin with human cells, scientists were able to simulate a sting and test different scenarios.

Their research has dispelled common home remedies… like putting urine or ice on a sting.  It’s also created state-of-the-art sting technology for the military and possibly civilian use in the near future.  Dr. Angel Yanagihara is a researcher with UH’s Pacific Biosciences Research Center. 

Dr. Yanagihara recommends three items that were published in the study for jellyfish treatment:

1. Vinegar works as a rinse. 
2. Hot water works as a treatment to start to inactivate venom. 
3. But far better than #1 and #2 is a new UH developed technology StingNoMoreSpray and Cream.

Yanagihara’s research was recently published in the science journal “Toxins”

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
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