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Osteoporosis Drug Makes Lengthy Space Trips More Tolerable
An anonymous reader writes "Japanese researchers have discovered that by taking drugs normally targeted at osteoporosis sufferers they can mitigate the long term effects of weightlessness. This makes it more possible that humans could reasonably fly to Mars land there and be fully functional even after the lengthy journey."
JAXA provides much more detail, including interviews with both lead investigator Toshio Matsumoto and Koichi Wakata, the first subject of the experiment.
Well, one problem down, about a million to go.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
This makes it more possible that humans could reasonably fly to Mars land there and be fully functional even after the lengthy journey.
Drugs or no drugs your arms would be pretty tired.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Somebody needs to let Tasha Yar know about that.
I am officially gone from
ganja isn't just for osteoperosis :)
This is interesting and just points to how we're not suited, naturally, to space.
Bisphosphonates maintain bones' density but not living bone tissue and structural integrity. Look up "fossy jaw". It's like comparing a chalk deposit to a living coral reef.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphosphonate#Adverse_effects
I'd be very curious to hear about the side effects of using these medications in space. Grandma had plenty of difficulty using them here on earth...
Postmenopausal women lose bones because they don't produce nearly as much progesterone as they used to, while they still produce some 40-60% of the estrogen they used to make. "Hormone Replacement Therapy" poisoned women by supplementing estrogen and a fake progesterone, Provera, which the body is unable to convert into other hormones.
Supplementing progesterone is a much better bone-salvager than bisphosphonates, but natural hormones can't get patented. Furthermore, you don't need a prescription for progesterone, because it is entirely safe at any dose (as compared to insulin, which is also available without a prescription, but which is exceedingly easy to overdose on), and was available before the 1930-something food & drug act went into effect (grandfathered in), and Doctors need to get people to come back for periodic appointments to get refills for prescriptions that only they can authorize.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Using this sort of drugs for space trips is silly. If you want to _stay_ in space, build space stations or space craft that have artificial "gravity", not mess about with crap like this.
Artificial gravity is not an impossible problem - tethers and counterweights, docking at centre of mass. Plenty of options.
The big problem I see is adequate and cost effective radiation shielding. Once you solve radiation shielding and artificial gravity, you no longer need to "rush" to Mars before you rot or get irradiated to death.
If you don't solve these two problems first, trying to go to Mars or having long space trips is like a baby trying to jump before it is able to stand or walk. A waste of time and resources, and a bad idea.
Who decided it was to be called "Mars land" and when?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Strontium versus Biphosphonate (Fosamax)
My excellent other half has been taking strontium citrate for a year now and her mild cervical osteoporosis (and her tooth strength) have improved immensely.
In Australia the rules for receiving subsidised prescription osteoporosis medicines are that you need to be over 71 yo and have had a osteoporotic fracture!
The prescriptions are all for patented medicines: Strontium is available as Strontium ranelate (the ranelic acid part does little more than allow the manufacturer to claim a patent and hence fund the required double blind studies). Strontium is well tolerated, is more effective and more benign than biphosphonates.
The biphosphonates are just not good enough: not well tolerated (nausea) and 10% fossy jaw were the jaw bone literally rots out!
Researching sources of "health food" strontium as a cheaper substitute, show that Strontium citrate (available online from US) is 8% of the cost of off script strontium ranelate.
Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this one before...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_Liberator
"Doi had been researching various methods of preserving bone mass in zero gravity conditions, leading to healthy but frequently unappetizing food... when it is found that Noguchi and another crew member have space radiation exposure and abnormally increased bone volume during a periodic medical check-up, Doi strangely questions the safety of his food, hinting that there may be more going on that is apparent...Orudo and the crew member have transformed into homicidal monsters, successfully killing most of crew members and ISS Police units."
My god.....
So their solution to off-setting the effects of weightlessness is to take medications? I always thought that the problem could always be avoided by using the method of rotating a vessel to provide "gravity" around the outer edge.