Major New Function Discovered For the Spleen

circletimessquare writes "The spleen doesn't get much respect — as one researcher put it, 'the spleen lacks the gravitas of neighboring organs.' Those undergoing a splenectomy seem to be able to carry on without any consequences. However, some studies have suggested an enhanced risk of early death for those who have undergone splenectomies. Now researchers have discovered why: the spleen apparently serves as a vast reservoir for monocytes, the largest of the white blood cells, the wrecking crew of the immune system. After major trauma, such as a heart attack, the monocytes are disgorged into the blood stream and immediately get to work repairing the damage. '"The parallel in military terms is a standing army," said Matthias Nahrendorf, an author of the report. "You don't want to have to recruit an entire fighting force from the ground up every time you need it."'"

Comments

Raise an army ab initio for every war?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

"The parallel in military terms is a standing army," said Matthias Nahrendorf, an author of the report. "You don't want to have to recruit an entire fighting force from the ground up every time you need it."

One of the first thing the US Government did after defeating England in the Revolutionary War is to dismantle and demobilize the army. Curiously most Americans today who support strict and original interpretation of the constitution are also enthusiastic support of military adventurism. Just saying.

Re:How could the miss that?

[spydabyte]

No, despite popular belief from sci-fi films and tv shows, you cannot just cut something open and look at it with the human eye or any amount of visual enhancements to get an understanding of a complex system such as the human body.

Re:How could the miss that? Lies? Lies?

[davidsyes]

heheheh, when i first read, "Major New Function Discovered for ...." I laughed, and had to tell myself, SPLEEN, SPLEEN, not what else i was thinking, since that other tiny matter i thought of has only one apparent useful purpose... (Or, maybe, Mr. Threat, you know of other, undisclosed/"disclothesed" uses?)

Re:Center of the Immune System

[lobiusmoop]

Perhaps I'm feeding a troll, I don't care.
I watched Sicko a while back, scared the crap out of me, made me appreciate what we've got in the UK. I'd recommend watching it.

Standing Armies

[bill_mcgonigle]

Sigh, I'll bite.

You don't want to have to recruit an entire fighting force from the ground up every time you need it.

Yes, you *do*. That's why the USA Constitution specifies a 2-year maximum on a standing army. The 'Navy' (expensive hard assets) can be ongoing, but you want to make it hard for politicians to start a war.

If it's important enough, you'll have enough volunteers to fight your war. If you don't get those volunteers, it's not a war worth fighting. Democratization of the ability to go to war was supposed to be a major advance for our country.