[HN Gopher] Scientists discover a new hormone that can build str...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Scientists discover a new hormone that can build strong bones in
       mice
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 420 points
       Date   : 2024-07-22 16:42 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ucsf.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ucsf.edu)
        
       | jl6 wrote:
       | > To test the ability of the hormone to assist in bone healing,
       | the researchers created a hydrogel patch that could be applied
       | directly to the site of a bone fracture, where it would slowly
       | release CCN3 for two weeks. In elderly mice, bone fractures don't
       | usually heal well. However, the CCN3 patch spurred the formation
       | of new bone at the site of the fracture, contributing to youthful
       | healing of the fracture.
       | 
       | So, uh, did this research involve breaking mice bones?
        
         | sva_ wrote:
         | You know when they kill a mouse in the lab they call it a
         | 'sarcrifice'. There's some harrowing stuff and I personally
         | would probably not be able to do it.
         | 
         | I think most ppl who do it just happened to find themselves in
         | a part of their academic career where they have little choice
         | if they want to proceed.
        
           | Thorrez wrote:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_laboratory_mou.
           | ..
        
             | amelius wrote:
             | Where is the monument to the Beef Cow?
        
               | snakeyjake wrote:
               | Kansas City, MO, USA
               | 
               | https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1003469,-94.5952033,3a,56
               | .6y...
        
               | Kon-Peki wrote:
               | What is the backstory to that monument?
               | 
               | Here is another:
               | 
               | https://chicagostudies.uchicago.edu/back-yards/back-
               | yards-un...
        
               | pvaldes wrote:
               | > Where is the monument to the Beef Cow?
               | 
               | With or without monument, It always will have a very
               | special place on my stomach.
        
               | krisoft wrote:
               | Everywhere. Cattle is a very popular topic of sculptures.
               | Just to mention two from the top of my head:
               | 
               | This one is in Oxford: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki
               | /File:Bull_statue,_outside...
               | 
               | This one is in Budapest:
               | https://www.kozterkep.hu/1005/boci-szobor
               | 
               | And of course there is that swiss artist who creates
               | parades of cows around cities:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CowParade
        
               | saintfire wrote:
               | Basically the entire United States.
        
           | sleepydog wrote:
           | I knew someone who had to conduct dozens of these
           | "sacrifices" as part of her neuroscience PhD. She used a
           | mouse-sized guillotine like this one:
           | 
           | https://www.wpiinc.com/var-2645-rodent-guillotine.html
        
         | m3kw9 wrote:
         | Naw, they found mice that tripped while running, it's that
         | simple man.
        
           | jaggs wrote:
           | Oh thank you, thank you...
        
         | greenchair wrote:
         | key word elderly provides an alibi.
        
         | cjbgkagh wrote:
         | Absolutely, there is probably some jig to hold the mouse and do
         | the break reliably in the same way each time. I knew a
         | researcher that did research that involved killing newborn baby
         | rabbits and he said that he hated that part of the job but kept
         | reminding himself that he is working on a cure for very sick
         | human children that currently had no hope of treatment. It was
         | exploratory research so there was only a small chance of
         | success and many years later there was success in a unrelated
         | field so in the end his work was redundant - but he couldn't
         | have known that at the time.
         | 
         | By my morals it's ok to kill animals for the benefit of humans,
         | animals kill animals for sustenance and for now we are still a
         | part of nature. In the future perhaps we won't need to and I'll
         | happily support that. For now in order to get to that future we
         | must do the unpleasant thing with an understanding that it
         | should be not be done egregiously, gratuitously, or needlessly.
         | Not for the sake of the animals, although that is a given, but
         | for the sake of the humans involved in harming those animals as
         | I think doing such things does take it's toll.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | But, were the animals at least unconscious when the
           | experiments (and preparations thereof) took place?
           | 
           | Anyway, if you've ever seen a cat play with a half-dead mouse
           | you might change your previous opinion on these experiments.
           | 
           | On the other hand, this research might lead to people putting
           | patches on their jaws to stop the cosmetic effects of ageing.
           | 
           | Ethics is a difficult discipline ...
        
             | cjbgkagh wrote:
             | Unfortunately they were conscious, they were painful deaths
             | and it was the experiment that killed them. They were not
             | euthanized after the experiment which is more the norm. I
             | was told there was no viable alternative to obtaining the
             | data. I only found out because I was helping process the
             | data and I asked where the data was from.
             | 
             | What I don't like is that the inefficiencies in science
             | means that many, and perhaps most, of the experiments that
             | are being done are probably unnecessary and only being done
             | due to bureaucratic inertia. I lament the horrible state of
             | science and the needless suffering that causes both humans
             | and animals.
             | 
             | So on one hand I think it's possible to justify the what is
             | in effect torture of animals if a case can be made that the
             | science obtained from it could be worth it. On the other
             | hand I don't think it's normally the case that this is true
             | and science should do a better job in justifying this
             | torture. If unable to then it should stop.
        
         | cheeseomlit wrote:
         | Stories of mice being used in gruesome experiments always give
         | me a bit of moral outrage, but when there's one in my house I
         | have no qualms about killing it with extreme prejudice. So,
         | they should just round up all the home-invader mice for
         | experimentation- my conscious would rest easier knowing they're
         | all just repaying their debt to society
        
           | themaninthedark wrote:
           | My recollection is that laboratory mice are a very tight
           | family line with very well understood DNA (and behavior?
           | maybe), so you would gain a lot of variability and thus lose
           | scientific rigor and may need longer, more complicated tests.
        
         | pvaldes wrote:
         | Probably. And then giving the mice the superpowers of
         | wolverine.
         | 
         | Everybody loves this when it happens to a human in a film, no
         | matter how much radioactive spiders will be crushed. If this
         | makes you feel better while watching your plaster dry, I would
         | bet my money on that sedation was applied and, if that old mice
         | is still alive, it feels now like a two months old heartthrob.
        
         | bregma wrote:
         | Tell me about the rabbits again George.
        
       | bulbosaur123 wrote:
       | The billion dollar question: can this somehow help develop
       | treatment for making bones longer?
        
         | isoprophlex wrote:
         | I'm missing something, what good are long bones, specifically?
         | Seems to me strength is the most important parameter,
         | especially in aging populations..?
        
           | toomuchtodo wrote:
           | Height, dating marketplace. Status in general.
           | 
           | https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-07-19/dating-apps-
           | an...
           | 
           | https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/miriamfauzia/height-
           | dat...
           | 
           | https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/only-15-women-
           | interest-58-...
           | 
           | https://theblog.okcupid.com/the-big-lies-people-tell-in-
           | onli...
        
             | isoprophlex wrote:
             | Okay wow that's immediately obvious. Thanks... My mind got
             | stuck at octogenarians growing absurdly long bones in the
             | autumn of their lives
        
               | magnetowasright wrote:
               | Picturing octogenarians with disproportionately long arms
               | and legs is hilarious. Beats shrinking in height from
               | bone loss and the impacts of having a fall in your 80s.
        
             | hooverd wrote:
             | Online dating seems miserable! Although the misery makes
             | sense to me. It's a highly competitive arena with very low
             | friction. It reminds me of using Facebook Marketplace vs
             | Craigslist. FBM is full of the worst, flakiest people to
             | coordinate a transaction with. The added friction from CL
             | cuts down of the number of drive-bys and lowballers
             | somewhat.
             | 
             | * I met my first real partner online- but that was on
             | MySpace pre-appification of everything. I haven't dated
             | anyone I met online since, so maybe I'm just talking out of
             | my ass here.
        
               | shiroiushi wrote:
               | >It reminds me of using Facebook Marketplace vs
               | Craigslist. FBM is full of the worst, flakiest people to
               | coordinate a transaction with. The added friction from CL
               | cuts down of the number of drive-bys and lowballers
               | somewhat.
               | 
               | Totally opposite of my experience when I was last using
               | them. CL was absolutely full of scammers trying to send
               | me cashier's checks for stuff. FBM had people who were
               | real people, who actually came with cash to buy my stuff.
               | FBM's UI was absolutely terrible, but it was worth it to
               | avoid all the scamming on CL.
               | 
               | >Online dating seems miserable!
               | 
               | I met all my girlfriends on there in the past couple of
               | decades. The latest one is working out wonderfully. Sure,
               | there were some bad dates and some not-so-great people,
               | but you'll get that anywhere.
        
             | Wohlf wrote:
             | If everyone is 6 foot no one is. 7 foot would just become
             | the new baseline.
        
         | gffrd wrote:
         | Reminds me of this article from a few years ago about guys
         | getting leg-lengthening surgery: https://www.gq-
         | magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/leg-lengthen...
        
         | rideontime wrote:
         | This is getting downvoted, but they only need to find one
         | short, insecure billionaire to make this comment come true.
        
           | toomuchtodo wrote:
           | Bezos and Zuckerberg are both 5' 7" (170cm), interestingly
           | enough.
        
             | FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
             | Tom Cruise, too (or shorter... allegedly)
        
           | shermantanktop wrote:
           | Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the track record of
           | billionaires throwing money at problems unrelated to how they
           | made their billions is not great. Yachts are easy to buy,
           | cancer cures and life extension technologies are not so easy
           | to buy.
        
           | YurgenJurgensen wrote:
           | This becoming viable would do to high-status men what white
           | lead makeup did to high status women in the 19th century.
           | Being tall isn't as important as being taller than average,
           | so you'd create an arms race among those who could afford the
           | treatment. Which itself would strengthen the association
           | between being short and being poor. And we all know how this
           | ends, with a 7 foot tall millionaires dying of heart attacks
           | as their circulatory system doesn't naturally scale with
           | their height.
        
         | AprilArcus wrote:
         | No, once the epiphyseal plates close further growth of long
         | bones is impossible. Only intervention during puberty can
         | influence final adult height.
        
           | rjurney wrote:
           | So feed it to kids!
        
         | moffkalast wrote:
         | Smh, these slenderman cosplayers are really going too far.
        
         | bregma wrote:
         | According to the unsolicited email I regularly receive, there
         | are already products on the market for making bones longer. And
         | lasting all night, which would I guess make it significantly
         | easier to get out of bed in the morning.
        
       | hzay wrote:
       | This is great. My mother had osteoporosis and I hope they come up
       | with a therapy she can use!
       | 
       | However as a currently breastfeeding mother, I'm asked by doctors
       | to take calcium supplements every day (I only remember it once a
       | week or so), and they threaten me with future osteoporosis if I
       | don't take it. But these researchers are saying that
       | breastfeeding mothers' bones aren't affected despite calcium
       | depletion?
       | 
       | Fwiw I've also read research that the bones are indeed affected
       | (as measured by density) but they rebound after you stop
       | breastfeeding. I remember that the most depletion happened in the
       | lumbar region, and that the rebound didn't happen fully if there
       | was "parity" (multiple kids).
       | 
       | So idk. I hope their premise is correct.
        
         | everybodyknows wrote:
         | > (I only remember it once a week or so)
         | 
         | Yikes. How about one of those 7-compartment SMTWTFS pill boxes?
         | Store it alongside your morning coffee supply.
        
           | hzay wrote:
           | My amnesia is somewhat intentional. Like some of the
           | commenters here, I'm doubtful if I should really take it
           | everyday. Just seems excessive? Did it during pregnancy ofc,
           | and it's not like the early days of breastfeeding when you're
           | making almost a liter a day (kiddo is 2.5 so while still
           | BFing, it's not an important source of food), so idk. My
           | grandmother had like 10 kids, breastfed them all and never
           | had bone issues. My mother breastfed us v little (<6 months
           | all together) and got osteoporosis. I'm not at all sure how
           | well-supported this recommendation is.
           | 
           | I try to eat more yogurt/kefir instead.
        
         | zdragnar wrote:
         | The conventional wisdom and common recommendation is to
         | supplement with calcium, but I saw at least one study stating
         | that it is not necessary:
         | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9584497/
         | 
         | I rather suspect that if you are already eating a diet
         | deficient in calcium, breastfeeding may exacerbate the issue,
         | and since the supplements tend to have a poor bioavailability,
         | taking them even if you don't need to isn't going to be
         | harmful. Eat a healthy balance of foods and you are probably
         | fine.
         | 
         | I may have a nurse for a mother, but I am very much not a
         | doctor.
        
           | ImHereToVote wrote:
           | Meat is a great source of bioavailable calcium.
        
             | jnathsf wrote:
             | is this true? Outside of seafood that's not what I'm
             | seeing. Mostly dairy and plant-based foods have the most
             | calcium [1]
             | 
             | [1] https://www.bonehealthandosteoporosis.org/patients/trea
             | tment...
        
               | ImHereToVote wrote:
               | That isn't a table of bioavailability.
        
           | jijijijij wrote:
           | > taking them even if you don't need to isn't going to be
           | harmful
           | 
           | I think, the transporter for calcium is the same used for
           | some other minerals. So, if you're not mindful (about
           | timing), you may be competitively blocking the absorption of
           | e.g. zinc, which is much more precious nutritionally - zinc
           | is very important for immune function and healing, while
           | deficiency is common.
           | 
           | Calcium supplements can cause constipation, which may be not
           | very fun after giving birth... Not to mention the
           | implications of (lack of) quality control in the supplement
           | market, by proxy, for a rapidly developing human being. Which
           | substances are part of the formulation, other than calcium
           | salts? Does the adult portion of copper or X accumulate in a
           | mother's milk?
           | 
           | Not saying, you shouldn't take calcium supplements. But
           | really, _any_ supplement can be harmful, if consumed without
           | need or consideration. (Fun fact: Vitamin A supplementation
           | increases lung cancer risk!)
        
         | DidYaWipe wrote:
         | You still need to provide calcium to the body to deploy to
         | one's own bones. This hormone apparently directs that process.
         | It can't do that in the absence of sufficient calcium, of
         | course, so supplements still seem like a good idea.
        
         | jimmaswell wrote:
         | My water supply appears to be flush with calcium - I have to
         | poke my shower head's holes out every few months. I wonder if
         | it's good for me or if it's in too large of excess. Would
         | probably help if I remembered the vitamin D more often, since
         | you need that to absorb the calcium.
        
           | bornfreddy wrote:
           | Tip: vinegar does wonders (for shower heads, not absorption).
        
       | ck2 wrote:
       | This will incidentally be helpful to space travel to Mars and
       | living there.
       | 
       | Among the dozen other serious health problems with zero/low
       | gravity like oh serious eye problems, humans sadly aren't going
       | to Mars anytime soon.
       | 
       | Then again this would need to be tested on the moon or in orbit
       | first, might not make a difference even with the hormone.
       | 
       | (vitamin K2 might help too)
        
         | cactusfrog wrote:
         | Bone density loss in space is estimated at a loss of 1-2% of
         | total bone density per month of microgravity exposure. The
         | worst cases of terrestrial bone loss are around 5% of total
         | bone mineral density per year.
        
         | DennisP wrote:
         | We know microgravity is terrible for us but we don't have data
         | on 1/3 gravity. We might be fine. Or maybe we'd be fine if we
         | took this drug, did some weight training, and added twenty
         | minutes of centrifuge every day.
         | 
         | For the trip, there are several ways we could set up spin
         | gravity.
        
           | Terr_ wrote:
           | For more on this "we don't really have the data for anything"
           | problem, a humorously approachable read is "A City On Mars"
           | [0]. Also the "nobody knows how laws would work" and other
           | interesting complications.
           | 
           | [0] https://www.acityonmars.com/
        
         | __MatrixMan__ wrote:
         | One step closer to being able to make Belters.
        
         | inglor_cz wrote:
         | If you lose 10 per cent of your bone density on the way to
         | Mars, but then live in the conditions of 0.33 G, doesn't it
         | cancel out?
         | 
         | The real nasty problem would be getting back to Earth.
        
           | snewman wrote:
           | In many ways it doesn't cancel out. On Mars, things weigh
           | less but their mass is the same. So, for example, if you are
           | walking on Mars at a normal Earth walking speed, and you bump
           | your shin on something, the inertia of your leg as it hits
           | the obstacle is just as great as the inertia of your leg on
           | Earth. In general, a lot of the little physical interactions
           | that you rely on bone strength to get through scale according
           | to mass / inertia (and muscle strength), not weight.
        
         | jijijijij wrote:
         | I just wanted to say, I really appreciate your tangent here.
         | Space travel didn't come to my mind at all and your comment
         | made me feel the tiny things contributing to larger stories,
         | for a moment. Caught me weirdly off-guard.
        
         | shiroiushi wrote:
         | You're ignoring the prime reason humans aren't going to travel
         | to Mars anytime soon: radiation. Good luck getting there
         | without accumulating a huge dose of hard radiation that gives
         | you cancer. This is why we should be worrying about building
         | human settlements on the Moon first: we can put them
         | underground (for radiation shielding, plus other benefits like
         | avoiding meteorites), and the travel time is so short that the
         | cumulative radiation exposure is very low. 3 days of exposure
         | to cosmic rays is very low compared to a year or so, or at best
         | 6 months.
         | 
         | Once we have manufacturing capability on the Moon, we can build
         | much larger ships that have some decent radiation shielding.
         | 
         | Of course, the low gravity causes a bunch more problems. But
         | here again, with significant space- and Moon-based industry, we
         | could build much larger ships with spin gravity. This doesn't
         | help the people working on the Moon though, but at least here
         | we could cycle them on and off the Moon every 6 months or so,
         | since the trip is only 3 days, so they could come back to Earth
         | and re-acclimate to 1g periodically.
         | 
         | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/explorers-will-fac...
        
         | nakedneuron wrote:
         | I'm expecting mice will do the job. Why else is research
         | centered about them?
        
       | ImHereToVote wrote:
       | By all accounts seems like this is a cure to age related bone
       | loss. Almost everyone suffers from age related bone loss of some
       | degree. Would like love to hear news about commercialisation of
       | this.
        
         | cjbgkagh wrote:
         | In my 20 mins of searching; it looks like it's CCN3 is produced
         | by humans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOV_(gene)) and
         | presumably humans have the receptors for it as well - though
         | I'm uncertain if the same effect in mice will translate to
         | humans. Since naturally occurring genes and genetic sequences
         | are not patentable even if they don't commercialize you could
         | probably get a 3rd party to make it reasonably cheaply. So if
         | it is found to work I wouldn't even worry about
         | commercialization.
        
           | ImHereToVote wrote:
           | I just want to buy it once by bones start to get retarded.
        
         | rjurney wrote:
         | So long as its safe. Almost always, these things don't pan
         | out... or at least the first molecular iteration. That's the
         | primary reason medicine is so expensive.
        
           | nextos wrote:
           | Yes, the trick will be to prevent too much growth and
           | therefore the appearance of rogue mutants that may lead to
           | e.g. osteosarcoma.
           | 
           | Lots of organs in the body lack regeneration capabilities
           | once you age as an evolutionary mechanism to avoid tumors.
           | 
           | Uri Alon's book _Systems Medicine_ has lots of models to
           | explain those differences depending on e.g. organ size.
        
             | Qem wrote:
             | I was wondering just about this, if hormone replacement
             | therapy is really that safe, as one can imagine the natural
             | drop in its levels with age may not necessarily be
             | pathological itself, but a protection mechanism. Like the
             | ageing body were an old boiler you can't just do a
             | overhaul, so as the pipes rust, you turn the pressure down,
             | to keep it operating it within a safe envelope. HRT then
             | would be like an unwitting intern trying to improve the
             | system by cranking the settings up back to the level of a
             | brand new one.
        
               | kridsdale1 wrote:
               | Evolution doesn't work this way. Everything that happens
               | to an organism past the standard age range of
               | reproduction has 0 effect on natural selection. There is
               | no system affecting "graceful decline" of body systems in
               | some protective way for things that happen past 35 in
               | women and maybe 45 in men.
               | 
               | But yes, as a HRT user myself (age 38), I do see it as
               | replacing the fluids in my car to make it operate like
               | when it was peak tuned at age 22.
        
               | nextos wrote:
               | That is absolutely not true. Even genetic variants from
               | your father that are not inherited by you still influence
               | your chances of survival and how likely you are to pass
               | your genes to an offspring. Imagine your dad has a rare
               | genetic variant, which you don't inherit, that means he
               | is likely to be dead by age 50. Your fitness will be
               | lower as you will lack a father during your childhood.
               | 
               | See this famous study: The nature of nurture: Effects of
               | parental genotypes. _Science_ , 359, 424-428 (2018).
               | doi:10.1126/science.aan6877. The summary literally
               | states:
               | 
               |  _" Genetic variants in parents may affect the fitness of
               | their offspring, even if the child does not carry the
               | allele. This indirect effect is referred to as genetic
               | nurture. Kong et al. used data from genome-wide
               | association studies of educational attainment to
               | construct polygenic scores for parents that only
               | considered the nontransmitted alleles."_
        
               | throwaway2037 wrote:
               | What are your tested free-T levels after HRT? 500, 800,
               | 1000? Age 38: That is pretty early, in my experience,
               | unless you are using it as "HET" (hormone enhancement
               | therapy) for bodybuilding -- basically, medical doctor-
               | approved anabolic steroids.
        
             | fuzztester wrote:
             | >Lots of organs in the body lack regeneration capabilities
             | once you age as an evolutionary mechanism to avoid tumors.
             | 
             | why is this so?
        
               | nextos wrote:
               | Simplifying a lot, once you age, your cells have
               | accumulated lots of genetic and epigenetic defects, so
               | they are more likely to become cancerous if you let them
               | divide quickly.
               | 
               | Besides, you have less lymphocytes looking for
               | carcinogenic cells, as your immune system is older.
        
               | fuzztester wrote:
               | thanks
        
           | smolder wrote:
           | > That's the primary reason medicine is so expensive.
           | 
           | My aim isn't to make a long thread out of the topic but:
           | while I'd agree it's one reason, I'd dispute it's primary.
           | Demand for medicine is pretty inelastic, meaning there is
           | generally a lot of power on the supply side to set high
           | prices. Then you have the dynamics between health insurers
           | and providers, the burdens of regulation and liability for
           | adverse effects, the tendency to focus research and marketing
           | on novel [patentable] remedies over potentially cheaper ones,
           | and the tendency to focus on remedy over prevention. It's
           | fairly difficult to pick a primary reason.
        
             | rjurney wrote:
             | The reason they have so much power on the supply side is
             | that what they do is incredibly painstaking and expensive.
             | I agree the system sucks.
             | 
             | Sublingual Toradol is available from pharmacies in Mexico.
             | I fly to San Diego every five years, take the tram to the
             | border and walk across to Tijuana to stock up. Toradol is
             | an NSAID they give you via injection in the emergency room
             | for chronic pain and headaches. By mouth it tends to cause
             | GI bleeding worse than any other NSAID. A number of people
             | died before they restricted the pill to five days
             | consecutive use. Dissolving Toradol under your tongue
             | bypasses the GI tract, making sublingual Toradol much
             | safer. I carry a pill pack of four pills in my wallet, and
             | having a pain medication as effective as morphine without
             | sedation in my pocket at all times seriously improves my
             | quality of life. There is something I can DO when my
             | chronic pain flares up enough that it starts to get to me.
             | 
             | In the US the Sprix nasal inhaler is the functional
             | equivalent of sublingual Toradol. I've read the research
             | papers on both medications and I compared the charts for
             | pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and... the curves are
             | virtually identical. They have the same impact on the body,
             | both delivery mechanisms are equally effective in safety
             | terms.
             | 
             | Sublingual Toradol is generic - the original papers on it
             | are from the 80s. The Sprix is a patented delivery
             | mechanism... wait for it...
             | 
             | * A dose of subligual Toradol in a Tijuana pharmacy: $0.25
             | 
             | * A single dose Sprix nasal inhaler from a US pharmacy: $25
             | last I checked. Only indicated for severe migraines.
             | 
             | That's a price multiple of 100x, as in one hundred times
             | for a functionally equivalent medication. Last time I went
             | to Tijuana the murder rate had multiplied by 10x since the
             | last time I was there, so I went to the pharmacy right at
             | the border. The price per dose was $0.50 there, but its
             | cheaper if you go downtown. It isn't a counterfeited
             | medication, so you don't have to worry about that. I wish
             | more pain patients had access to sublingual Toradol. If a
             | drug company wanted to improve chronic pain care, they
             | could fund clinical trials in the US and get the medication
             | approved. It will never happen in the states. Pure greed is
             | the ONLY reason.
             | 
             | Actually, there's a lot more research on sublingual Toradol
             | since I last checked: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term
             | =%22sublingual+toradol%... See the sublingual film work? No
             | reason for that instead of a pill except you can patent it.
             | BOOM. BURN IT ALL DOWN.
        
               | unaindz wrote:
               | I don't think we disagree but I find it interesting that
               | you state: "...what they do is incredibly painstaking and
               | expensive"
               | 
               | And later proceed to explain an example of two different
               | patents based on a drug from the 80s improving nothing
               | but changing just enough to patent it and sell it for
               | 100x the generic.
        
       | lacrosse_tannin wrote:
       | Does it do anything for connective tissue?
        
         | MrDrMcCoy wrote:
         | According to the article, that's the next thing they're going
         | to test for.
        
       | Brechreiz wrote:
       | It's ok if you drink plenty of malk.
        
         | qwertox wrote:
         | Never heard of malk. Googling it just yields a brand.
        
           | FrustratedMonky wrote:
           | A little of the Moloko Plus
           | 
           | "The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or
           | synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking."
        
           | aspenmayer wrote:
           | https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Malk
           | 
           | https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Malk
           | 
           | https://frinkiac.com/caption/S06E21/319051
        
         | pixl97 wrote:
         | It's got vitamin R
        
       | tbirdny wrote:
       | This is great. But, the root of the problem for most
       | postmenopausal women is simply the lack of estrogen. You need
       | estrogen to make bone. Men and women do. Men are mostly protected
       | from osteoporosis because they convert testosterone to estrogen.
       | Elderly men have more estrogen than postmenopausal women. Their
       | levels go to near zero. It's a tragedy that more doctors don't
       | recommend HRT for older women, at least some level of
       | replacement, maybe not up to peak levels when they were younger.
       | The lack of estrogen causes a lot of suffering.
        
         | a2tech wrote:
         | I sit in a lot of doctor training sessions and the feelings on
         | hrt have changed a lot in the last 5-10 years. It's now well
         | thought of and an acceptable risk. Apparently the quality of
         | life improvement is huge compared to the relatively minor risk
        
           | adamc wrote:
           | Although I knew a woman who had breast cancer and a
           | consequence was taking her off HRT. Which she was dreading.
        
             | mrmuagi wrote:
             | I saw this recent video on a similar topic (prostate cancer
             | and testerone/TRT considerations) [1], and bookmarked it
             | for later. Not knowledgeable to speak further on it though.
             | 
             | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVCsm4dNh0
        
               | apwell23 wrote:
               | If testosterone causes PC then men in their teens and 20s
               | would be the most likely candidates to suffer from it.
               | But PC is almost always a disease of old age .
        
               | tum92 wrote:
               | Estrogen exposure is a _significant_ risk factor for
               | endometrial cancer, which most commonly occurs in post-
               | menopausal women. It's a cumulative effect, as are many
               | other things.
               | 
               | Not a comment on the parent post, just highlighting that
               | biology is not so straight forward.
        
               | adrianN wrote:
               | It is my understanding that excess testosterone can take
               | prostate cancer from ,,it grows so slowly you'll die of
               | something else first" to something that kills you
               | quickly.
        
               | gavinmckenzie wrote:
               | What my doctor has told me, after attending a urology +
               | prostate cancer conference, is to think of the prostate
               | as a sponge that absorbs testosterone. And once the
               | sponge overflows, prostate cancer can be triggered.
               | 
               | But once cancer has occurred, adding more testosterone
               | doesn't matter because the sponge is already super-
               | saturated.
               | 
               | In fact, doctors who have this perspective will permit
               | men with prostate cancer to continue testosterone
               | therapy.
        
               | unaindz wrote:
               | My father was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and
               | the first treatment was eradicating all testosterone from
               | his body as the affected cells were "feeding" from it.
               | It's not a cure as they tend to find other ways to grow
               | with time but testosterone does make it faster.
               | 
               | Of course there are many types of cancer so this may not
               | be true for all prostate cancers.
        
             | RoyalHenOil wrote:
             | When I reach my elder years, I would happily undergo a
             | preemptive mastectomy in exchange for stronger bones that
             | would let me stay mobile for longer.
        
         | ravenstine wrote:
         | Men are also more likely to do strength training, which also
         | helps build bone density. Women are also more likely to
         | regularly perform cardio/aerobic exercises, which can reduce
         | bone density when done in excess and without adequate
         | nutrition. Lack of estrogen is of course the root, but I think
         | we can't dismiss behavior differences contributing to the
         | effect. In my experience, many women do minimal to no strength
         | training because they're worried that muscle tone will make
         | them look masculine. Maybe this is a really bad idea to live
         | by.
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | > Women are also more likely to regularly perform
           | cardio/aerobic exercises, which can reduce bone density when
           | done in excess and without adequate nutrition.
           | 
           | What is the biological mechanism behind this statement?
        
             | ravenstine wrote:
             | Elevated cortisol (in response to the stress of running or
             | whatever) increases bone resorption and inhibits bone
             | growth. This isn't necessarily an issue for anyone doing
             | lots of cardio, but it's an increase in risk. It also
             | reduces protein synthesis, which is important for both
             | muscle and bone (it isn't just calcium).
        
               | magicalist wrote:
               | > _Elevated cortisol (in response to the stress of
               | running or whatever) increases bone resorption and
               | inhibits bone growth_
               | 
               | Cortisol is also released during strength training,
               | though.
               | 
               | Seems like a real issue is _low impact_ cardio, which isn
               | 't negative for bone density (as far as I can tell) but
               | does have a theoretical opportunity cost when you could
               | be doing weight-bearing cardio, which does improve bone
               | density.
               | 
               | Agreed with littlestymaar's comment higher up, though,
               | that exercise rates being what they are, the theoretical
               | opportunity cost may be quite theoretical.
        
               | hprotagonist wrote:
               | > Cortisol is also released during strength training,
               | though.
               | 
               | more than compensated for by the compressive loading
               | signals from lifting heavy.
        
               | ambicapter wrote:
               | How do compressive loading signals compensate for
               | cortisol production? Seems like one is a nerve signal and
               | the other is a hormone?
        
               | digdugdirk wrote:
               | The previous post was referring to the overall bone
               | density change. The skeletal loading from strength
               | training is a stronger signal for bone density increase
               | vs the negative impact on bone density from increased
               | cortisol production.
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | > Elevated cortisol ... increases bone resorption and
               | inhibits bone growth
               | 
               | Would that also be true for caffeine consumption? IIRC it
               | increases cortisol levels, but I don't really know much
               | about what else it does, I've only read the Wikipedia
               | page and gone "Wow, I'm _really_ glad I 've already cut
               | back".
        
               | hilbert42 wrote:
               | _" "Wow, I'm really glad I've already cut back"."_
               | 
               | What you said about caffeine worried me somewhat, so I
               | looked it up on Wiki and what I found about it was mostly
               | innocuous and some properties are even beneficial, it's
               | even on WHO's list of essential medicines.
               | 
               | Many vegetables have much more dangerous compounds and
               | toxins: oxalic acid (a rust remover and bleach that can
               | rot your kidneys) in rhubarb and Popeye's spinach and
               | many other green-leaf vegies, solanine in potatoes, and
               | very dangerous cancer-causing aflatoxins in peanut
               | butter, and that's just the beginning, there are many
               | dozens more! Now you know, are you going to starve?
               | 
               | And to boot, caffeine is a nice looking heterocyclic
               | purine-like molecule with a six and a five-member ring
               | both heavily laden with nitrogen, so what's the worry
               | about? What's not to like about it?
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Overdose
               | 
               | """Consumption of 1-1.5 grams [...] per day is associated
               | with a condition known as caffeinism.[141] Caffeinism
               | usually combines caffeine dependency with a wide range of
               | unpleasant symptoms including nervousness, irritability,
               | restlessness, insomnia, headaches, and palpitations after
               | caffeine use."""
               | 
               | """cases of very high caffeine intake (e.g. > 5 g) may
               | result in caffeine intoxication with symptoms including
               | mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation,
               | disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations or psychosis,
               | and rhabdomyolysis."""
        
               | hilbert42 wrote:
               | 1-1.5g. Who do you know consumes 10 to 15 cups of coffee
               | per day consistently? I'd suggest very few.
               | 
               | >5g. Now, who do you know consumes more than 50 cups of
               | coffee per day consistently? I'd suggest none.
               | 
               | If you scaled up oxalic acid daily doses in the same
               | ratio as for the caffeine example then in the first
               | instance the person would almost undoubtedly have kidney
               | stones. In the second example the person would be dead.
               | Right, at that dose Popeye's spinach meal would almost
               | certainly have killed him.
               | 
               | At least the 'caffeinated' person, whilst off his head,
               | would likely be still alive.
               | 
               | Even water has a LD50 rating. As millions attest,
               | caffeine is one of the safer less harmful chemicals that
               | plants use to defend themselves with. Almost every other
               | organic molecule that plants use to ward off insects is
               | more toxic.
               | 
               | Here's a few we actually eat:
               | www.mashed.com/1299947/most-dangerous-vegetables/ There
               | are tens of thousands of others that you'd want to keep
               | well away from, Nux vomica, Manchineel, Death caps,
               | Atropa belladonna, etc. By comparison, in the danger
               | stakes, caffeine doesn't even get off the starting block.
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | > Who do you know consumes 10 to 15 cups of coffee per
               | day consistently? I'd suggest very few.
               | 
               | Me in 2009, by dose, as a result of constantly increasing
               | my consumption and ending up at multiple tablespoons (not
               | teaspoons) of instant per cup and nothing else but coffee
               | as daily fluid intake.
               | 
               | Hence being glad I'd already cut back by the time I'd
               | read about the impact of too much.
               | 
               | They warned us in school about the dangers of tobacco and
               | alcohol (and all the illegal drugs*), but nobody ever
               | said "there is such a thing as too much caffeine".
               | 
               | There is, and the unlimited free coffee in most
               | workplaces turns out to be a problem for me.
               | 
               | * regarding your point about LD50 water, school also lied
               | about the dangers of Ecstasy. Leah Betts' actual cause of
               | death was water overdose, but she was the literal poster-
               | child for the anti-drugs campaign in my time.
        
               | lupusreal wrote:
               | 1 gram of caffeine is 10 to 20 caffeine pills. Nobody
               | does this without knowing they've got a problem.
        
               | hilbert42 wrote:
               | No doubt! 10 to 20 caffeine pills could be taken at once,
               | my example was cups of coffee per day (rough estimate
               | [?]100mg/cup). Taken over a day it would be better
               | tolerated (but I'd still not consume that amount).
        
               | creata wrote:
               | Being on WHO's list of essential medicines is no
               | indicator of how innocuous a substance is.
        
               | hilbert42 wrote:
               | I'm sorry you missed the point.
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | Re-reading your comment, I think you're the one who
               | missed mine.
               | 
               | I said "cut back" not "cut out".
        
               | callalex wrote:
               | It's really not indicative of much at all. They also
               | spout off about artificial sweeteners despite a complete
               | lack of scientific evidence. It's a political
               | organization, not a scientific one.
        
           | littlestymaar wrote:
           | This may be true, but it's not really relevant. Most people
           | don't do training at all, especially past 50 yo, where bone
           | density declines in women.
           | 
           | (And that's a significant issue in itself)
        
           | piombisallow wrote:
           | Estrogen replacement increases the risk of cancer in women.
        
             | kridsdale1 wrote:
             | This is not accurate and is the result of a
             | misinterpretation of the Women's Health study of the 2000s.
             | It's much more complicated. The specific type of molecule
             | matters.
        
               | bsder wrote:
               | Citation.
               | 
               | Breast cancer dropped with a _step function_ when HRT was
               | stopped in general for meopausal women.
               | 
               | I haven't seen any studies to the contrary.
        
               | digdugdirk wrote:
               | Did a quick search and found this one:
               | https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/risk-of-breast-cancer-
               | with...
               | 
               | Could be worth a look? I didn't dive into the study
               | itself, but it seems decent at a glance.
        
             | AuryGlenz wrote:
             | There are various forms of HRT and not all cause an
             | increase in cancer. It's a shame that notion has stuck
             | around when it could be so helpful for so many women: bone
             | density, hot flashes, vaginal atrophy, etc.
             | 
             | They do tend to cause an increase in blood clots though.
             | The risk is manageable in relatively fit women. In
             | overweight/sedentary women that gets a bit harder to
             | balance out.
        
               | wizzwizz4 wrote:
               | > _They do tend to cause an increase in blood clots
               | though._
               | 
               | That risk factor is specific to the oral route, and/or
               | conjugated equine oestrogens. Injections, patches etc. of
               | synthesised oestrogens don't seem to have that problem.
               | https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.k4810
               | 
               | > Transdermal preparations were not associated with risk
               | of venous thromboembolism, which was consistent for
               | different regimens
               | 
               | Don't eat your HRT: rub it on your gums!
        
           | hyperthesis wrote:
           | Read of a study years ago that had postmenopausal wpmen do
           | weight training - giving a dramatic 40% increase in bone
           | density in 6 weeks IIRC the details.
           | 
           | It's not that frail people need to be inactive, but that
           | inactivity causes frailty.
        
             | alecst wrote:
             | I'd like to see that, the studies I've seen show around
             | 1-5% per year.
        
               | scott_w wrote:
               | Is that trained or untrained? "Newbie gains" is a real
               | thing, mostly caused by people going from a negative
               | health state to a "normal" health state (or inactivity to
               | basic activity).
               | 
               | I can see a rapid increase in untrained people but more
               | marginal increases in trained people because of this.
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | I was under the impression newbie gains were more
               | attributable to better neuromuscular and connective
               | tissue adaptation rather than something that can lead to
               | bone growth. You can gain like 2-4lbs of muscle per month
               | in that phase, and a disproportionate amount of strength.
               | 
               | A 40% increase in _bone density_ over 6 _weeks_ sounds
               | like someone's DEXA scanner is broken. Bones just don't
               | change that quickly.
        
               | scott_w wrote:
               | Is there a case of bone density being "too low" in some
               | sense that can cause it to go up more quickly? Maybe it's
               | not the bones themselves but something the DEXA scanner
               | picks up that looks like bone growth?
        
           | safety1st wrote:
           | > many women do minimal to no strength training because
           | they're worried that muscle tone will make them look
           | masculine.
           | 
           | I've observed this as being a very widespread belief too, and
           | it seems like we need to be giving women a better biology
           | education or something, because holy shit is it wrong.
           | 
           | I guess it's more a misconception among the general non
           | weight training public that this stuff is so easy you can
           | basically develop a muscular, masculine body on accident.
           | 
           | For all but the youngest and most genetically blessed males
           | it takes _years_ of very specific diet and exercise regimes.
           | Or steroids.
           | 
           | Whereas just adding some weighted squats into her routine
           | will have immense health benefits for most women as well as
           | making their body look more feminine and attractive.
        
             | sapphicsnail wrote:
             | Men could also stop policing women's bodies and activities.
             | I have had my doctor tell me to do load-bearing exercises
             | but I've also heard men mock not just masculine-looking
             | women, but women who are interested in male-coded
             | activities like weight lifting.
        
               | lupusreal wrote:
               | I wager more men like it than men who mock it. Sports
               | Illustrated is popular for a reason, fit women being
               | considered attractive is very mainstream. There will
               | always be a few assholes that will mock anybody for
               | anything, but what can anybody do about that?
        
               | erklik wrote:
               | Far more men like women with good-looking fit bodies.
               | It's a statistically insignificant minority that likes
               | "fat women", so "men" overall aren't policing women's
               | bodies to the point of influencing women to not go to the
               | gym. It's largely women who do it to each other.
        
               | DiscourseFan wrote:
               | >It's a statistically insignificant minority that likes
               | "far women"
               | 
               | Well, I'm not sure if that's true, many men like "curvy"
               | women, but generally even they are regularly working out.
               | It would be more accurate to say that men dislike
               | unhealthy women. But then you could say the same thing
               | about men.
        
               | ClumsyPilot wrote:
               | > heard men mock.., women who are interested in male-
               | coded activities like weight lifting.
               | 
               | This sounds like some really insecure men
        
               | safety1st wrote:
               | No one is "policing bodies and activities" here, sounds
               | to me like you are just being oversensitive and trying to
               | twist the discussion into one that hates on guys. This
               | sort of coded misandry doesn't work on me anymore, it's
               | so overused, many people have wised up.
               | 
               | So I will say it again: any woman who thinks she will
               | accidentally develop a masculine physique is a fool. She
               | has a poor understanding of weight training and the human
               | body.
               | 
               | Just as any man who thinks he'll get that physique on
               | accident is also a fool!
        
               | brezelgoring wrote:
               | You must have heard it already but you won't turn into
               | Arnold by doing bodyweight squats 3 days a week for a
               | year. It will, however, shape your body and rearrange fat
               | deposits into more conventionally attractive positions
               | and I don't think there's anyone around saying that's not
               | attractive.
        
           | throwaway2037 wrote:
           | > they're worried that muscle tone will make them look
           | masculine
           | 
           | Yes, this is a common concern. It would be good to show women
           | what it looks like to workout _hard_ six days a week for more
           | than one year. (My point: That is an unrealistic weight
           | lifting schedule for 99% of women.) They still won 't look
           | very masculine. Very well toned, but not very masculine. My
           | advice when women raise this concern: "If you get too big,
           | just ease off. Maintaining is way easier than growing."
        
             | Beretta_Vexee wrote:
             | https://brokenclipboard.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/media-
             | cover...
             | 
             | It's been done. It doesn't matter that you can't see the
             | abs on 50% of the women on the Olympic team. Some think
             | they'll get the physique of a professional body builder
             | who's been abusing steroids for a decade anyway.
        
               | cs02rm0 wrote:
               | Steroids have a lot to answer for when it comes to
               | perceptions around exercise in general.
        
               | drakonka wrote:
               | Anecdotally, I have never heard this sentiment from other
               | women I know. That doesn't mean they aren't _thinking_
               | it, though. Maybe it also depends on location - where I
               | live it is very common for both men and women to do some
               | form of strength training.
               | 
               | I've been lifting weights on and off for over a decade
               | and although I do have visible abs, that's more by nature
               | of low body fat percentage than lifting. The point is -
               | no matter how hard I train, I've never even gotten close
               | to what I would consider as "too big" for my preference.
               | Even as your muscle mass increases, the end result just
               | seems to be a more _compact_ and efficient look rather
               | than "bulky" in any sense of the word.
        
               | Beretta_Vexee wrote:
               | The more you get to know athletes, the more you realize
               | the reality of the physiques of both strength and
               | endurance athletes.
               | 
               | The same applies to cardio, where the general population
               | over-estimates the calories burned and imagines that all
               | runners will become skeletons.
        
         | apwell23 wrote:
         | > . It's a tragedy that more doctors don't recommend HRT for
         | older women, at least some level of replacement
         | 
         | Once you get on this your only options are 1. use till you die
         | 2. stop and face consequences of suppressed natural estrogen
         | production from HRT.
         | 
         | Is that right?
        
           | ambicapter wrote:
           | Is their natural estrogen production not already suppressed
           | from menopause?
        
             | apwell23 wrote:
             | sure but wouldn't HRT suppress whats remanning? Otherwise
             | you are just getting free biological lunch.
        
               | AuryGlenz wrote:
               | I'm no expert but I don't believe it's similar to
               | testosterone in that it could be suppressed for life
               | after doing replacement therapy.
        
           | landryraccoon wrote:
           | "Use it till you die" seems like less and less of a penalty
           | the older you get.
        
         | Abishek_Muthian wrote:
         | When I was 32 I had a sudden cerebral spine fracture, I was
         | diagnosed as having severe Osteoporosis(I was told my bones
         | were like that of 80 year old); The doctors didn't bother much
         | as I was living with Achondroplasia (Dwarfism) and they
         | attributed everything to it.
         | 
         | I'm on bisphosphonate treatment (zoledronic acid), I've already
         | had 5 of those injections and I recently learnt that it could
         | lead to severe side effects and not that effective for treating
         | Osteoporosis.
         | 
         | Meanwhile I underwent a genetic testing and the result came out
         | as I have COMP8 mutation which leads to Multiple epiphyseal
         | dysplasia or Pseudo-achondroplasia; Both of which affects bones
         | to different extent and I have symptoms for both.
         | 
         | I'm now looking for treatments which can help improve my bone
         | density or at-least prevent further deterioration, CCN3 looks
         | really promising. I even started a project to monitor bone
         | health using BMD (Dexa) reports[1] and to submit reports for
         | research (I'm looking for researchers in this area).
         | 
         | 1 in 3 women over the age of 50 years and 1 in 5 men will
         | experience osteoporotic fractures in their lifetime, According
         | to this article more than 200 million people worldwide suffer
         | from osteoporosis but I feel investment in bone health research
         | is not enough.
         | 
         | [1] https://bonehealthtracker.com/
        
       | kingkawn wrote:
       | Triggering Paget's disease in 3, 2,...
        
       | hooverd wrote:
       | Ah, bone healing juice.
        
       | manav wrote:
       | Is there a good HN equivalent specifically for science/med/bio
       | news? I do find interesting papers here on the topic although
       | it's not the core focus.
        
         | pps wrote:
         | https://www.reddit.com/r/science/ - you can filter it by field
        
           | rednerrus wrote:
           | If this sub is the state of modern science, we are in a lot
           | of trouble.
        
             | hypeatei wrote:
             | Reddit isn't the state of anything in the real world, it's
             | a bubble.
        
               | 3abiton wrote:
               | Wait till the bots "fully" take over.
        
               | DiscourseFan wrote:
               | Pretty big bubble
        
         | ak217 wrote:
         | https://www.science.org/
         | 
         | https://www.eurekalert.org/
         | 
         | https://phys.org/
        
       | Sparkyte wrote:
       | Can't wait for breaking a hip at 80 to be a thing of the past.
       | Bone health is also a contributor in life expectancy and health
       | of a person altogether. I read a study if you can assure your
       | bones are healthy you can assure your health longterm.
        
         | masfuerte wrote:
         | Is bone health like grip strength? Grip strength correlates
         | with life expectancy because it is a good proxy for overall
         | health, but if you just work on your grip strength you won't
         | get much healthier.
        
           | ilc wrote:
           | No, because if you break a hip, you lose a ton of mobility,
           | which will cause an avalanche of problems.
        
           | samatman wrote:
           | Not entirely, for a pretty obvious reason: breaking a bone at
           | an advanced age is not infrequently the beginning of the end.
           | Not enough to make it primary (in other words, your point
           | about bone density as a correlate rather than a determinate
           | is basically correct), but enough that improving just bone
           | health on a widespread basis should help with life expectancy
           | as well.
        
           | throwaway2037 wrote:
           | What is so special about grip strength? I never heard
           | anything about this before your post.
        
             | masfuerte wrote:
             | It was a thing in the media a couple of years ago.
             | Researchers noticed a strong correlation between grip
             | strength and healthy life expectancy in the old, so there
             | were lots of pointless articles published about improving
             | your grip strength.
        
             | tobir wrote:
             | Just from memory, but it has a significant correlation to
             | testosterone levels. Also, the disparity in grip strength
             | is especially large between men and women, when compared to
             | other strength indicators.
        
           | Sparkyte wrote:
           | Try googling this it is kind of interesting. Link between
           | bone density and skin elasticity. You will find that the
           | denser the bones the healthier the skin. We may find people
           | who are 70 looking like they are 50.
        
             | wizzwizz4 wrote:
             | That sounds like they're both correlated with oestrogen
             | levels.
        
         | manmal wrote:
         | Wasn't the best contributor to life expectancy vascular &
         | endothelial health?
        
       | UncleOxidant wrote:
       | Wonder if it would help teeth as well?
        
         | birriel wrote:
         | I don't know about this hormone, but human clinical trials for
         | a tooth-regrowing drug will begin in September. It was
         | successful in animal models.
         | 
         | https://www.engadget.com/the-worlds-first-tooth-regrowing-dr...
        
           | v8xi wrote:
           | If this works and becomes a common dental procedure I will be
           | soooo happy. Every time I go to the dentist I ask them if
           | anything like this is coming down the pipeline and they
           | laugh...
        
       | danvoell wrote:
       | Amazing! Can anyone hypothesize whether it could have adverse
       | effect towards cancer cells? Im dealing with someone who has
       | osteoporosis due to cancer treatment.
        
         | cactusfrog wrote:
         | Probably promote cancer cell growth as well
        
       | gwerbret wrote:
       | @dang or whoever: I want to protest the recent (as in, after it
       | was originally posted) addition of "in mice" to the title of this
       | thread. It turns a significant scientific discovery into
       | something that seems tawdry and meaningless. Discoveries in mice
       | involving novel biological mechanisms can be important for at
       | least 3 reasons:
       | 
       | - The mechanisms discovered work exactly the same way in humans.
       | This is not a long shot at all, as mice aren't that far from
       | humans genetically and physiologically.
       | 
       | - The mechanisms work slightly different in humans, pointing us
       | to different natural solutions to a problem.
       | 
       | - The mechanisms work entirely different in humans, pointing us
       | to potentially-important evolutionary divergences (maybe the
       | biology was improved on in humans).
       | 
       | In any of these instances, the findings remain important, and "in
       | mice" just cheapens that. After all, this work was published in
       | _Nature_ , which is still one of the top journals in any research
       | field. The folks running the journal may have their issues, but
       | they're not all idiots.
       | 
       | Edit: wording.
        
         | bheadmaster wrote:
         | > It turns a significant scientific discovery into something
         | that seems tawdry and meaningless.
         | 
         | > Discoveries in mice involving novel biological mechanisms can
         | be important [...]
         | 
         | If discoveries in mice can be important, then how does stating
         | that they're _in mice_ make them less important?
        
           | gwerbret wrote:
           | Because people have a tendency to automatically dismiss
           | findings when they're said to be "in mice".
        
             | defrost wrote:
             | More to the point, it's a gendered difference, in mice and
             | likely in humans also.                   "One of the
             | remarkable things about these findings is that if we hadn't
             | been studying female mice, which unfortunately is the norm
             | in biomedical research, then we could have completely
             | missed out on this finding,"
             | 
             | Many people understand that results in mice _indicate_
             | similar results in humans, those that don 't are likely to
             | misunderstand or dismiss work in other ways in any case.
        
               | unaindz wrote:
               | I'm not sure if they tested on males but my understanding
               | is that the hormone is produced by females but arguably
               | could work on males too, just like with TRT where being
               | biologically female doesn't deprive of the testosterone
               | effects.
        
             | bheadmaster wrote:
             | That's because people assume that research is done on
             | humans, if the sample species is not specified. Wouldn't it
             | be dishonest to exploit that assumption?
        
           | FrustratedMonky wrote:
           | The 'in mice' has become another talking point on 'the
           | right', mainly to discredit science and 'studies' in general.
           | And that all 'mice' based studies are false.
           | 
           | It is the main talking point of the Weinstein brothers on
           | their podcast. But their main thrust is not the reasonable
           | list of points by the OP, the Weinstein point is that all
           | mice studies are meaningless junk science and don't mean
           | anything.
           | 
           | So, the 'in mice' has become a moniker for 'bad science' from
           | those on 'the right'.
        
         | Al-Khwarizmi wrote:
         | I would say it turns an OK headline into a more precise
         | headline.
        
         | DonHopkins wrote:
         | Yeah, and why do people always add "in mice" after reading a
         | fortune cookie? It makes their predictions seem so much less
         | serious.
        
       | DonHopkins wrote:
       | Oh great, just what my cat wants: crunchier mice.
        
       | _visgean wrote:
       | Just what we need, super strong mice!
        
       | pfdietz wrote:
       | It sounds like CCN3 (NOV) has widespread effects in the body.
       | Also, this wikipedia page needs updating for this result.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOV_(gene)
        
       | sharpshadow wrote:
       | "One of the remarkable things about these findings is that if we
       | hadn't been studying female mice, which unfortunately is the norm
       | in biomedical research, then we could have completely missed out
       | on this finding..."
       | 
       | Imagine then how much we missed from male mice.
        
       | venkat223 wrote:
       | If a person goes on eating mango fruit in the seasons his bones
       | get stronger and that calcium harmones are triggered
        
       | venkat223 wrote:
       | In young age mango fruit eaters get strong bones till old age or
       | even death
        
         | moh_maya wrote:
         | Can you please share some evidence (peer-reviewed scientific
         | research publications / clinical data) supporting this? Curious
         | about the potential mechanisms.
        
       | mynjin wrote:
       | So is it reasonable to assume that males who induce lactation
       | will also produce this bone building maternal brain hormone?
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | In the medical world "Could" means you are step 2 of 100 to a
       | released product
        
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