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Meet the Interstitium, the Largest Organ We Never Knew We Had (thedailybeast.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Beast: A study published in Scientific Reports on Tuesday suggests that a previously unknown organ has been found in the human body. More astonishingly, the paper puts forth the idea that this new organ is the largest by volume among all 80 organs -- if what the researchers found is, in fact, an organ. The new organ, [pathologist Neil Theise] explained, was a thin layer of dense connective tissue throughout the body, sandwiched just under our skin and within the middle layer of every visceral organ. The organ also made up all the fascia, or the thin mesh of tissue separating every muscle and all the tissue around every vein and artery, from largest to smallest. What initially seemed to be a solid, dense, connective tissue layer was actually a complex network of fluid-filled cavities that are strong and flexible, yet so tiny and undiscerning that they escaped the attention of the brightest scientific minds for generations. In fact, Theise expanded, this "interstitium" could explain many of modern medicine's mysteries, often dismissed by the establishment as either silly or explainable by other phenomena. Take acupuncture, Theise said -- that energetic healing jolt may be traced to the interstitium. Or perhaps the interstitium acted as a "shock absorber," something that protected other organs and muscles in daily function. Also, the space is in direct communication with the lymphatic system as the origin of lymph fluid -- which means the interstitium's system of fluid-filled backroads could explain the metastasis of cancer cells and their quick spread beyond the limits of the organ in which the cancer started.
0.5...
Table-ized A.I.
The desire to make dick jokes when seeing "largest organ" is too much... Must... Walk... Away...
What initially seemed to be a solid, dense, connective tissue layer was actually a complex network of fluid-filled cavities that are strong and flexible
I propose:
The interstitium is the body's internet.
After all, it's a very small layer of tubes that transmits through the entire body...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Ah shitty Editorial Review. Proving yet again if you wait 40 years then revisit a topic people investigated then moved on to more interesting topics you too can have a crappy article in a top tier journal. I have a 20 year old histology text book that goes into more detail then the article does.
The Interstitium would help to explain the value of walking, shifting around the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..., providing background circulation of fluids. It would help to explain why people find comfort in a peace amble, especially those suffering from mental conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... could be a form of internalised therapy, to make up for stress affecting other fluid flows. Got nothing better to do, walk around you home to keep circulation going, whilst waiting for water to boil for a cuppa, or while roasting a steak, just a peaceful amble about to home to stimulate Interstitium fluid flows, the expansive and contracts of major muscle groups would certainly move that fluid around the body.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I remember reading about this on /. about a decade ago.
Now that this structure of what appears to be the container for the extracellular fluid and a major shock absorber for tissues has been identified, it will be interesting to see what disease processes might be the result of degradation of its function.
I'd expect examination of breakdowns in this system to result in the causes of several diseases, currently dismissed as psychosomatic or as real but mysteries, to be identified.
I'd also expect that the structure might degrade in old age, and that this might be another source of age-related problems.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I grew up on those "I am Joe's ..." articles as featured in Readers Digest. :)
So weâ(TM)re basically little air bags all surrounded by bubble wrap. Once we become a space faring civilizations, aliens will find us, cut us open, and wonder why someone shipped empty parcels all over the universe.
Spent too much time posting links to legit scientific papers on possible effects of acupuncture here in the past. I finally realized that many of the authors had gasp Chinese names and that's gonna be a deal breaker when the 'merican "engineers" here start shrieking DOUBLE BLIND TEST.
google acupuncture nitric oxide to get started if interested. And, no, this isn't about homeopathy and/or crystal power so spare the straw men.
I knew it had looked familiar.
Everyone who practices Chi Gong or other internal arts knows that ... since millennia.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Nerds, please explain how that is an organ.
how does this relate to and compare with cars?
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And to think Al Gore is responsible for all this?
At first, it was, "where is it?"
So I lifted a layer or two of muscle and out it fell. She marbled, "how is it sooo big and long and I want it in me now!".
But then I let my muscle back down and then she said, No way!"
Your doctor doesn't want you to know about it.
there is no "healing jolt" (shame acupuncture works as well as acupuncture - both can be explained with placebo and similar effects - there is demonstrably no healing compared to control group, just in some cases lesser perception of pain).
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Seems like an early April Fools Day post to me. You could just about replace Interstitium with The Force or Medichlorians and it all makes sense.
Typical. A moron's only strategy.
If you make up a hypothesis, YOU have to back it up and convince US. Until you do so, nothing is established, and hence nothing exists that could even be argued against in the first place.
Otherwise anyone could just declare that YOU do not exist, and say "Go ahead. Prove that you exist!" (and simply ignore your arguments too, spew more of the same bullshit, and declare himself the winner. Nevermind that the premise is already invalid). :P
BTW: YOU'd say you think, therefore you exist. I'd reply that your comment is simply made up by my brain.
I work on people with disorders of this type all the time.
It can cause intense migraines, unexplained pain & weakness, it can put hundreds of pound of pressure on bones and underlying tissue and yet it responds to gentle pressure over time much better than strong pressure. It behaves bit like oobleck in that regard.
I just think of it as fascia mainly but I think of fascia different than most other people. Sort of like the Eskimos and snow.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Is this what the eastern medical traditions call chi?
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
Needling has been shown to help some chronic pain, most probably through release of endorphins and similar.
Isn't this the point though? Medicine is all about curing and treating medical conditions. Whether or not it is wrapped up in some pseudo-scientific BS if the process actually works and relieves a medical condition without causing harm then surely it is good medicine even though it may be appalling science.
Common definitions of an organ, Webster:
> a. differentiated structure (such as a heart, kidney, leaf, or stem) consisting of cells and tissues and performing some specific function in an organism.
> b. bodily parts performing a function or cooperating in an activity the eyes and related structures that make up the visual organs.
Wikipedia:
> Organs are collections of tissues with a similar function.
Britannica:
> a group of tissues in a living organism that have been adapted to perform a specific function.
Oxford:
> part of an organism which is typically self-contained and has a specific vital function.
These newly discovered channels, do not seem to consist of either cells or tissues and does not appear to be self-contained. I just feel like the authors thought, "if we say it might be a new organ we'll get bigger headlines."
Can you really just rename the lymphatic system, declare it is a new organ, associate it with woo and pat yourself on the back? In that case, I've discovered a new organ I'd like to call the sanguitium... it explains the mysterious medical benefit of bloodletting and balancing the humors.
Acupuncture is not based on 'points' on meridians.
Acupuncture is pretty much not based on anything at all. Certainly not based on scientific evidence. The evidence regarding its efficacy is thin and it clearly is being used to "treat" far too many conditions for which there is no evidence that it has any effect. There appears to be some evidence that it can help certain pain conditions (though this is still being evaluated) but the mechanism of action is unclear and the clinical practice guidelines are inconsistent to put it mildly. The NIH has been researching acupuncture and until they can show with appropriate studies evidence of effectiveness beyond placebo and a mechanism of action acupuncture should be regarded with skepticism.
If layman do a 'double blind' study it is most likely that both needles are at the wrong point :)
Most double blind studies of acupuncture to date show that it is nothing but a placebo under most circumstances and for most conditions.
I remember reading about this structure at least 30 years ago when I was doing AI research. In fact I believe it was even called the same thing. I imagine the knowledge existed long before that.
If you search the term you get literally millions of hits. That stuff could not have popped up overnight.
I guess what's "new" is some AW made a Facebook page about it or something and is claiming the fame. Or could be a pharma company claiming it for business use (patent, drugs, or some shit).
Everyone who practices Chi Gong or other internal arts knows that ... since millennia.
Oh do they now? Are you seriously claiming that QiGong is anything more than a mild form of exercise? In spite of the fact that there is little evidence to support its efficacy for any specific health benefit.
You know what they call alternative medicine that is shown to actually work? Medicine.
maybe they did demonstrate their claims using the most empirical method of all: "Does it work?"
If it actually works it should be straight forward to actually prove it. Placebos "work" (sometimes) but we don't rely on them for treatment for good reasons.
Nerds, please explain how that is an organ.
If you aren't a nerd yourself then slashdot isn't the place for you. Go figure it out yourself.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise... That was a fun moment in Fight Club when I recognized the references to the Reader's Digest articles.
12:50 - press return.
My submission that I volunteered to be the Largest Organ Donor by signing off on everything I have within me, to medicine, has only recently increased the total number of ogans, by 1.
...tossed around, groped, punctured, slapped, by physicians with their immense ego, without them knowing exactly what they were doing all along. So much for medical sciences proficiency... ;/
If we find damage, shrinkage, etc in football players with that traumatic encephalopathy or whatever it is called, that would be a good starting place for working out what the Interstitium is and isn't doing as a shock absorber.
I really wonder why intelligent people like you claim that. Hint: you can not double blind (neither the applyer of the needle nor the receiver know where he needle is placed) manual treat a human body.
Not true at all. You can simulate the needle placement with other stimulus. An electric shock can feel like a needle prick as long as the patient cannot see it. And there have been studies about the effectiveness of double blinding for acupuncture specifically.
You want to tell me that you have a study in the US that proves that 4 billion people outside of the USA are treated wrong
First off there are NOT 4 billion people receiving acupuncture so lets dispense with that nonsense right away. Acupuncture is used by a small percentage of the population - most of whom are inclined towards "alternative medicine" which for the most part is a PC term for quackery. Second, there are studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment and they mostly find that it is no better than placebo. So YES, I am saying EXACTLY that people are being treated wrong. People take all sorts of folk remedies all over the globe that have no evidence of efficacy.
Half the planet is using acupuncture and related medical treatment like Shiatsu and Thai Massage
More than half the planet also believes that there is an invisible man in the sky who created them and that they should obey despite there being precisely zero evidence for the existence of such a being. Just because a lot of people believe something doesn't equal evidence. There are quite a number of treatments that insurance pays for for which the evidence of effectiveness is scant to non existent. They pay for it because the evidence there is limited evidence for or against its effectiveness. Most insurance in the US will not cover acupuncture under normal circumstances. Some insurance companies will turn a blind eye to it with a prescription from a doctor but this is the exception rather than the rule.
It is much more plausible that the US pharm. and health care industry simply is funding fraud studies and dismisses simple treatments because they rather like to sell pharmaceutics instead.
Only to an idiot who is inclined to believe conspiracy theories over scientific studies. Are you seriously arguing that modern medicine does not work despite the ample proof that it does.
I have thousands of cases of evidence that QiGong is a very healthy thing.
No you do not. You certainly do not have an proper studies of such nonsense.
Assuming that QiGong is a mild exercise is idiotic. It is a martial art and healing system.
It is neither a martial art nor is there any evidence that it is a healing system. There is nothing martial about it. I've been involved in various martial arts my whole life and QuGong is exactly the sort of fraudlent crap that guilible people like yourself get sold. I'm betting you think tai chi is a fighting art too. Most of the so called martial arts are really stylized dance classes with a bit of mythology tacked on. Fun, maybe healthy but most don't teach anything about fighting. Just exercise, usually in funny looking costumes. If you want to see what a real martial art looks like, go to an MMA gym, a college wrestling room, or a jiu-jitsu class. Go see what the armed forces do. THOSE are martial arts.
As for it being a "healing system" put down the cool aid. It's been studied and there is NO evidence it has any effect on health aside from that of mild exercise. If you want me to believe you then present the evidence.
Medicine helps in situations where medicine helps ... e.g. a common cold. It does not really help when you have a slipped disc. Qi/Chi Gong does not help you either, but it might prevent getting a slipped disc.
Welcome to the logical fallacy post hoc ergo propter hoc. We're done here.
This is so funny to someone who knows basic histology. They discovered that you can get a whole lot of attention by reframing well-known tissue as a new organ. And hopefully some research grants. That's the real discovery.
An infamous quack scientist makes a bold attention-grabbing claim in a predatory pay-to-play low-tier academic journal.
It's bullshit.
What? You mean you did not know about this?! This is old news.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
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