Slashdot Mirror
Rudimentary Liver Grown In a Dish
ananyo writes "Japanese scientists have coaxed stem cells into forming a 5-millimeter-long, three-dimensional tissue that the researchers labelled a liver bud — an early stage of liver development. The bud lacks bile ducts but has blood vessels, and when transplanted into a mouse, was able to metabolize some drugs that human livers metabolize but mouse livers normally cannot. The work is 'the first report demonstrating the creation of a human functional organ with vascular networks from pluripotent stem cells,' the team claims."
So these Japanese researchers put some stem cells in a dish and got a little liver. So what? I once put a fifty on the table and got a little head.
You are welcome on my lawn.
And now chronic drunks rejoice -- this bud's for you!
YOu're funny not insightful.
There are plenty of children who are born with liver defects and cancer that requires them to get a transplant for them to live. There are plenty of adults who, because of their own genetic load, have their livers fail for no reason, and yet, someone makes a comment implying that everyone with a liver disease is an alcoholic. That say a lot about people.
But there's more.
Alcoholism is considered to be a defect in character. You are weak if you drink too much - which is more than 4 drinks for men and 2 for women according to the NIH. Yeah, YOU (whoever is reading this) are probably drinking too much, too.
But wait, no one, not even AA, considers that maybe, just maybe, alcoholics and every other substance abuser is self medicating. Some really shitty things happen to people and unfortunately, booze is the easiest option. Tell me of an over the counter anti-anxiety drug - other than alcohol. Tell me.
Yeah, just go to your doc and ask, "Doc, I'm really uptight. Can you give me some Xanax?" Just watch their reaction. Go ahead.
Sure go for psychiatric treatment. Go ahead and you will be forever uninsurable. - unless you get an awesome health insurance plan from an employer and that's assuming they still hire you after they do the background check. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's illegal in some parts, but just prove it. They can ALWAYS say that you didn't meet some requirement that they didn't catch on the last interview. Prove it. And if you do, good luck getting another job. Any job. There's a database that tracks lawsuits against employers.
I know. I lived it.