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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.
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
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. :)
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.
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.
You can not really test accupuncture with double blind studies, or how should the one poking you not know, kr know if he is really poking you? And how can you mot know if you get poked or not?
There where attempts with double blind studies, where they used kind of electrodes to cause a fake sensation: turned out that electric stimulation had the same effect as a real needle. Hence we have since 30 years electronic and even laser based self accupuncture aparatus.
And accupuncture works quite fine, no idea why americans are so anti to thousands of years old proven working technologies, that basically cost nothing und rarely have side effects.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.