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New Drug Mimics the Beneficial Effects of Exercise
Zothecula writes "A drug known as SR9009, which is currently under development at The Scripps Research Institute, increases the level of metabolic activity in skeletal muscles of mice. Treated mice become lean, develop larger muscles and can run much longer distances simply by taking SR9009, which mimics the effects of aerobic exercise. If similar effects can be obtained in people, the reversal of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and perhaps Type-II diabetes might be the very welcome result."
One of the problems facing astronauts: long periods of microgravity cause bone and muscle loss. I've read science fiction stories where people had to take pills to maintain their bones and muscles; they called them "gravity pills".
If this drug really works, I'm wondering if the astronauts in the space station, future Mars missions, etc. might wind up taking it drug routinely.
Probably a Mars mission will need to have some sort of rotating crew module to produce a gravity-like acceleration, as it will likely require at least seven months for the trip.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Yes, just yes. There are a lot of us in this position, especially post-recession. In some professions, it was the only way to keep your job, as all the "job creators" got "more efficient," largely by laying off half the workforce and expecting the rest of us to pick up the slack at the same or lower pay.
Dropping the job that is slowly killing you in favor of something a bit more active, despite being a killer talking point, is often not an option in light of debt load, family, and other monetary demands.
SR9009 is available for research purposes, $150 for 25 mg. From the structure, I would say it's likely to be only slightly soluble in water; also, the only solubility data given is in DMSO. It requires storage by refrigeration or freezing, and comes packaged under inert gas, so I would say its environmental persistence would be rather low. I don't know if a molecule like this would be stable enough for oral administration, actually. In their mouse study, injections were made.
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Recent studies have shown that shaming obese people leads to greater weight gain, not weight loss.
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
It literally is steroids, that's what replacement Testosterone is. One of the most effective steroids is good old fashioned Test. But generally your doctor will not take you to levels above that of a normal 20 year old man, for example.