A New Way to Grow Bones 34
Roland Piquepaille writes "As it is often the case, a recent discovery just came out from a simple idea. By studying diseases in which the human body generates too much bone, UCLA researchers have discovered a natural molecule that can be used to generate new bone growth in patients who lack it. This new molecule has aptly been named UCB, or University of California Bone. This new protein for growing bones is more precise and has fewer side effects than the ones currently used by orthopedic surgeons to aid in bone repair. But if you suffer from a bone deficit today, you'll have to wait almost ten years before an FDA approval and a commercial introduction of products based on this discovery. Read more for other details and references, plus a picture of a bone defect corrected by the UCB."
Delivery Mechanism (Score:1)
Re:Delivery Mechanism (Score:1)
Not more spam! (Score:2)
"Make your bones stronger, satsify her longer"
I guess you'd call that UCB UBE?
10 year wait (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:10 year wait (Score:5, Interesting)
The development lifecycle is about 10 years for each stage. There seems to be an initial conceptual stage, starting with the origin of the idea through to a product that can sustain itself. Another 10 years covers the scientific R&D, turning the product into something that is usable. A third 10-year step then turns something usable into something cost-effective to use. There's a fourth 10-year step, of "garage development", where the product has insufficient commercial value to be useful to corporations, but is definitely of interest to real inventers. This finishes when the product enters homes as an executive toy or gimic. A fourth 10-year step covers development of a product that is actually useful in and of itself.
The first computers appeared around 1945-1948. The scientific computers actually useful in science started appearing in the mid 1950s, and the 1960s is when you saw business machines really make headway. Home-brew computers appeared in the mid 1970s, usable home computers could be found in the 1980s and home computing became pretty standard by the mid 1990s.
VR started in the 1960s. Scientific prototypes appeared in the 1970s and early corporate uses seem to originate around the 1980s. You could buy digitizing gloves and VR helmets for home-brew VR in the mid 1990s. Early home-use VR should therefore appear this year or next, and VR should be pretty much the norm by 2015.
Quantum computers were theorized about 10 years ago, and we're now starting to see early prototypes of single transistors. Quantum computing is unlikely to be in a particularly useful state for another 30 years, based on this timetable.
Timesharing operating systems started in the early 1960s. The timetable predicts that homebrew OS' of this kind should have appeared early 1990s. Enter Linux and 386BSD. The timetable also predicts that they should have entered the home in a usable state in early 2000s - about the time Linux started really showing up in the desktop market, pre-loaded and ready to run.
The pattern is not "absolute", but it does give a rough guide as to when things are likely to move from one phase of development to another.
Innuendo (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Innuendo (Score:5, Funny)
Hehe.
You think that's bad? 3D artists have turned 'bone' into a verb. If you add a bone to an object (i.e. if you're building a posable human), they call it 'boning'. Somewhere there's a tutorial floating around called 'boning a horse'.
UCLA vs. UCB ? (Score:2)
I think someone from U.C. Berkeley pulled a fast one on the University of California Los Angeles.
Re:UCLA vs. UCB ? (Score:3, Funny)
Naw, the other guys are just working on the more complicated University of California Liver Augmentation.
Re:UCLA vs. UCB ? (Score:2)
To grow a bone... (Score:2, Funny)
New bone growth is great, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
On a personal note, I would go with more bone.
That's not the problem.. (Score:5, Informative)
We have become very good at fixing broken bones, but when there is major bone loss we have no great solutions. Infections and trauma that result in substantial bone loss either require a tumor type prosthesis (replacement) or an amputation. Neither are great choices.
The current methods for stimulating bone growth (e.g. you want to make sure that your spinal fusion for arthritis will work, or that your bad tibia(shin bone) fracture will heal) usually involve either the use of BMPs (bone morphogenic proteins) at non physiologic concentrations (>1,000x found in the body) or by the use of electric/or ultrasonic stimulators. BMPs are very expensive $ - several thousand dollars for a few table spoons worth of material. The electric/ultrasonic stimulators by in large have not been found to be very useful.
Bone loss is still a significant problem in orthopaedics and oral surgery, and the discovery of anything that provides a significant means to renew bone stock will be a major advance for patients. Having said this - I'll wait and see if the UCBs make it to the marketplace. That should be about 10 years from now.
Re:That's not the problem.. (Score:2)
Smoke two packs and call me in the morning.
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UCB? (Score:1)
Glad we're being cautious (Score:1)
On a related note, the FDA discovered a new brain malfunction in children, called Conformance Deficit Disorder (CDD), yesterday. Approval and sales of drugs treating this are expected to go through tomorrow.
Anyone else think of the Upright Citizens Brigade? (Score:2)
anyone been able to find the citation details? (Score:1)
god farking damnit (Score:2)
bone graft (Score:2)
Re:bone graft (Score:2)
Oh well :)
Not exactly from the hip (Score:2)
Skel-e-grow (Score:2, Funny)
New, indeed!
Re:My thoughts (Score:2)
Here is more detail. link (Score:2)
Google articles on UCB. Good job to Professor Ben Wu at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Thomas R. Bales Professor Kang Ting [google.com]