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Stimulating Bone Growth In Astronauts
Anonymous Coward writes: "This story will be very interesting for women and space geeks. A State University of New York at Stonybrook researcher has invented a machine that stimulates bone growth in subjects by just having them stand on a vibrating platform. A sheep using the gizmo 20 minutes a day had 20% denser bones after only a year. The idea was to help post-menopausal women, but now it might be used to strengthen astronauts' bones before and during flights. As you know, bones in zero gravity tend to get weaker and more brittle. The weird part is how the device works. Muscle builds by responding to damage, but that's apparently not how bone gets stimulated into growing. It seems that muscle contractions occur within frequencies of 20-50Hz and bones "hear" that oscillation as a message to build up. According to the article, the platform mimics that signal by vibrating undetectably within those frequencies. Cool, huh? Here's the story."
The only downside is the endless paper-TV ads. "How much would expect to pay for this? $500? $1000? Nope - for an incredible $249 the new BoneGro can be yours!"
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
This is true. I've always thought that the piezoelectric theory of bone growth was fascinating. Osteoclasts do indeed resorb bone (they are from the blood-derived monocyte lineage)and many of the current pharmacologic interventions in osteoporosis either inhibit their activity or stimulate the activity of the bone-building osteoblasts.
One of the main problems with osteoporosis is that, for women, density is lost in the wrong way. Whereas men usually maintain an appropriate matrix which helps protect against common fractures, women lose many of the stabilizing trabecular bone "cross-beams." I had always wondered if this were in part due to differences in weight-bearing exercises. Maybe so, and maybe the piezoelectric effect induced by this vibration will solve part of the problem. The most important thing in this case is not the density of bone, however, but whether the end result (Colles fractures, spinal compression, hip fractures) are reduced. Hopefully there will be some good trials in the future to address this. Hip fractures, because they are usually in the elderly, are a major public health problem. 25% of women with osteoporotic hip fractures die within 6 months. It's just sad to see people who were formerly able to take good care of themselves waste away after a bad fall.
So, I suppose, until this and other devices/drugs make osteoporosis a thing of the past, a public service announcement is in order. If you are a white/East Asian female 10-25, GET LOTS OF CALCIUM! It really is the time when your bones are packing away the calcium for the rest of your life. Osteoporosis is quite debilitating, even to geeks. Maybe especially to geeks, since they are maybe more likely to get less exercise! Take supplements, drink milk, do whatever. Just know that you will probably thank yourself 30-40 years down the road...
Invicta{HOG}
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Hmmm... so that means if I strap a subwoofer to my ass my bones will get stronger?
And it explains why rap fans are so hard headed....
Temkin
You'd swear those seats were designed to hold munchkins
Its not just the seats, its everything. You get a tiny meal on a tiny plate which you have to eat with tiny knives and forks. You get drinks in tiny little cups, and Coke from tiny cans.
I can't help but get the feeling that if one ever gets to take a tour of Boeing's engineering department, you'll find hundreds of really small engineers toiling away to build better planes for people, all seemingly unaware that real people are much bigger.
Hmmm... so that means if I strap a subwoofer to my ass my bones will get stronger?
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