What Does serum Mean
Serum is a term that has multiple uses. In medicine , serum is a solution made up of various compounds in the body; in this case, we speak of physiological serum .
The composition of this serum can vary, although it usually contains water and sodium chloride. Doctors use saline to inject certain substances into the body or to provide essential elements when there is a reduction in blood volume. The physiological saline, on the other hand, allows the irrigation of cavities and tissues.
Another use of the concept of serum is linked to blood serum . It is the part of the lymph or blood that maintains the liquid state after a coagulation process. In other words: when the blood coagulates, the part of it that remains liquid and does not change its state is the serum.
The blood serum that has polyclonal type antibodies is known as immunological serum. This serum is used, through transfusions, for the treatment of different infections .
When milk coagulates, on the other hand, there is also a component that remains liquid: this substance is called whey . When making cheese , the whey is obtained by separating it from the curd.
The whey is turbid and yellow and green tone between fluid. Depending on the coagulation mode, it can be sour, sweet or bitter. In all cases it has phosphorus, calcium, fat, protein and lactose.
On the other hand, there is the well-known truth serum (also called truth drug), a psychoactive drug that is used to obtain a forced confession by an individual who refuses to share certain data, either out of fear or because of loyalty to a criminal group, for example. According to international law, using this serum is one of the officially recognized forms of torture, although this does not prevent it from being applied to psychotic patients in the field of psychiatry to evaluate them and carry out their treatments.
Among the chemicals that are part of the truth serum are temazepam, scopolamine and ethanol, among other hypnotics and sedatives capable of altering high-level cognitive functions, such as inhibition, the ability to solve problems, the planning and impulse control ; Amital sodium, sodium pentothal, and other barbiturates are also included.
According to the majority trend of scientists, the data obtained through the use of truth serum, which is applied intravenously, is not always entirely accurate, since some subjects mix true events with creations of their imagination . There are also specialists who assure that this drug does not increase the chances of a transparent confession , but simply encourages the person to speak more.
One of the most high-profile cases in which the truth serum helped capture and sentence a criminal took place in India, with Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, a Pakistani militant and member of the Islamist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, through the which participated in the 2008 bombings in Bombay. The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation used intravenous barbiturates to interrogate Kasab, the only terrorist associated with the aforementioned attacks who they managed to capture alive.
Regardless of the true effectiveness of the truth serum, this particular case could be solved, and Kasab was convicted on dozens of charges , including murder, illegal possession of weapons, and promoting the war against India. His sentence included the death penalty and life imprisonment.