Fracture Putty Can Heal a Broken Bone In Days 236
An anonymous reader writes "If we break a bone it can take weeks or even month to heal depending on the type and severity of the break. In some extreme cases the complexity of the fracture can make it impossible to heal properly. Researchers at the University of Georgia Regenerative Bioscience Center have come up with a new solution for healing broken bones that cuts recovery time to days. It relies on the use of stem cells that contain a bone generating protein. These cells are injected in gel form directly into the area of the broken bone, where they quickly get to work forming new bone. The end result is very rapid recovery, possibly sidestepping the muscle atrophy that can come with long bone healing times. The gel has been proven to work on animals as big as a sheep and has funding from the DoD. Lets hope it is proven to work on humans in the coming years."
How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
Can this putty pick up the comics section from the local newspaper as it heals your bones? If not, I'm out.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you probably stumped some of the younger slashdotters with that joke.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Insightful)
Can this putty pick up the comics section from the local newspaper as it heals your bones? If not, I'm out.
I think you probably stumped some of the younger slashdotters with that joke.
yeah, wot's a "newspaper" ?!!!
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Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:4, Funny)
It's like a flexible ipad.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, iPads flex! Once, at least.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
It appears to be some combination of the word "news" and the word "paper". I'm confuzzled however, what is "paper"?
It's what we used before the three shells.
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I'm embarrassed to say that I got it.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know about comics, but it may be able to help a broken humerus.
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
sheep in the metaphorical sense... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, you mean they literally tested it on sheep. They weren't referencing the people who volunteered for testing?
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
HI BILLY MAYS HERE FOR FRACTURE PUTTY! ARE YOU TIRED OF HOPPING AROUND ON CRUTCHES LIKE SOME SORT OF ALIEN BATTLE MECH?! DID YOU BREAK YOUR KNUCKLE BACKHANDING YOUR WIFE BECAUSE SHE WOULDN'T CLEAN THE KITCHEN WITH ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY OXY-CLEAN?! DID THE SOUND WAVES FROM MY VOICE SHATTER THE BONES IN YOUR ARM?! THEN FRACTURE PUTTY IS FOR YOU!
FRACTURE PUTTY CAN MEND BROKEN BONES FASTER THAN YOU CAN MEND YOUR LOVELESS MARRIAGE! DEVELOPED BY SCIENTISTS FROM THE INSTITUTE OF PLUMBER'S CRACK, FRACTURE PUTTY IS MADE OF INDESTRUCTABLE SPACE-AGE MEMORY FOAM POLYBICARBONATESILICADEXTROSEGLUTAMATE!
ORDER NOW AND WE'LL SLASH THE PRICE FROM $39.99 TO $19.99! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! ORDER IN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES AND WE'LL INCLUDE A SECOND CONTAINER OF FRACTURE PUTTY ABSOLUTELY FREE!
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And to get around the filter... Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
P.S. I really wish they'd do away with the filters. It really hampers the possibility for creative ASCII art and the like that actually made Slashdot pretty cool back in the day. =\
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Funny)
It really hampers the possibility for creative ASCII art and the like that actually made Slashdot pretty cool back in the day. =\
And my "creative ASCII art", he means "penises".
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Rickrolling is the G-rated version of linking every comment to goatse.cx. Then Slashdot started putting [realdomainname.tld] after every link.
Oh those goatse.cx linkers ... what will they think of next?
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Tiny URL?
If you click on one of those on slashdot it serves you right. There is absolutely no need to use one of those here (or indeed anywhere I can think of except in printed magazines or newspapers).
Re:How "silly" is it, though? (Score:5, Insightful)
says the anon who sadly didn't post creative ascii art.
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I type in all caps in honor of the great Billy Mays. I earnestly await June 28th every year because that's the day everyone can get away with it.
AAAGH. (Score:2)
Ugh. Not "silly" enough to fix your funny bone. ;^)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Putty
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
People creating "jackass" type TV shows and youtube videos are up %1000
Sheep (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Sheep (Score:5, Funny)
I think you mean "boning sheep".
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STEER clear of sheep!?!? Wocka wocka wocka!
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The ideal date turns into a case of beer and a pizza when you're done.
A seat cover and lamb chops ain't bad!
They still have to be your own cells, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:They still have to be your own cells, right? (Score:4, Informative)
Said it was developed from stem cells - but, it is a gell containing a bone generating protein.
Re:They still have to be your own cells, right? (Score:5, Informative)
I had my ankle fused recently and part of the procedure was some kind of putty that they infused with a small sample of marrow they scraped from right below my knee. My recovery was about a month, but it worked remarkably well. I am not sure how that compares to the procedure in this article, but it is not hard to harvest the needed stem cells from the patient themselves.
Re:They still have to be your own cells, right? (Score:5, Informative)
You have a decent supply of stem cells that should work just fine, right in your body.
Re:They still have to be your own cells, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
if you don't have a large supply of your own stem cells in your home fridge
They know (in the lab anyway) how to take a random cell from you, force it to turn into a pleuripotent stem-cell and then make it become a 'whatever' (e.g. bone) cell. A happy side effect of Bush's fetal stem cell ban.
So, I guess on a long-term basis, you'll have to wait a few days after you break your bone for this kind of treatment. Or, I guess if you're rich you can have this kind of stuff banked and ready. It's not worth $10,000 a year to me to guard against this kind of wait, but maybe if I had 4 billion in the bank I'd look at it differently.
Here we go... (Score:5, Funny)
The question we're all afraid to ask:
What happens if I rub this stuff on my penis?
Re:Here we go... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Here we go... (Score:5, Funny)
boner
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Ever heard of a bacculum?.....
Here's a hint.. the bone forms through ossification of a portion of the corpus cavernosum.
Another hint: humans are one of the few (only?) Primates to lack them.
(Granted, you would probably have to inject the stuff for that to happen.... and I doubt it would be controlled.)
NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Interesting)
I just spent six weeks in a cast after breaking my right arm Christmas Night (no...no rogue or drunk reindeer involved). There is now a titanium plate and six screws in my arm. My other wrist is broken also (yes...I fell and had a hell of hard time getting up). Now, I have to endure painful PT to regain full use of my arm again and have a 5 inch scar too (no...it is NOT cool).
How I would have loved to have this stuff injected into the fractures and have it immobilized for a few days while it took action and fuzed the bones. I do hope this comes to fruition...cool stuff. Who said war wasn't useful?
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Insightful)
. I do hope this comes to fruition...cool stuff. Who said war wasn't useful?
Take all the money we spend on wars and spend it on R&D. We'll get a lot more cool stuff a lot faster. War is not useful. It's good for absolutely nothing.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Funny)
Good God, y'all.
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Say it again!
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Funny)
War is not useful. It's good for absolutely nothing.
No..it always has the minimum benefit of teaching Americans geography.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Interesting)
No it doesn't, they just remember the names of places. The Chaser did a bit where they took a map and rewrote it so that Australia was labelled as either Iran or North Korea, then showed that map to Americans and asked them to located them. They just saw the name, and pointed at it saying "there it is!"
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I'm not so sure they're learning much geography from war. The last time, they were looking for a Saudi-Arabian man who attacked them from Afghanistan and went hiding in Pakistan, yet they went looking for him in Iraq.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Take all the money we spend on wars and spend it on R&D. We'll get a lot more cool stuff a lot faster. War is not useful. It's good for absolutely nothing.
If the money not spent on war were spent instead on R&D, this would be true -- cut the DoD budget in half and give the money to NIH and NSF, and we'd have a boom in science and technology like none the world has ever seen. But politics doesn't work that way. The military wastes a hell of a lot of money, no question about it. It also spend a lot of money on very worthwhile research, and like it or not, it's easier to get Congress to appropriate that money for wounded soldiers. Who, regardless of your opinion on the way in which they were injured, deserve to have their wounds cared for as well as possible by the same government that sent them out to get injured in the first place.
In the specific area of trauma care, the simple fact is that most of modern emergency and orthopedic medicine is an outgrowth of military medicine. Like it or not, next time you call 911, you'll have a much better chance of survival because of generations of work directed toward keeping wounded soldiers alive.
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Actually, I think that's a pretty good almost-car analogy.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Interesting)
With the interesting side effect of calling most members of the armed forces crash test dummies.
I'm a veteran, and I have used VA medical care. I have to confess that this analogy works very well from that perspective.
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Heh, good point.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know, they had some pretty solid hits ("Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?") and seem to have a fairly decent following. Just because you don't like American Funk, doesn't mean someone else doesn't.
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I hear ya. I could've used this stuff 30+ years ago, when breaking bones was almost a monthly thing. Then again, I might've done even dumber things.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Insightful)
... Who said war wasn't useful?
Family members of the dead.
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I broke my arm and dislocated my elbow in november. Looks like I'll make a complete recovery but it's quite painful and annoying.
However the break isn't the problem, the plate and screws fix that. The problem is the dislocated elbow and the tissue damage and damage to tendons, muscles etc. That's what it takes time to recover from and I doubt that this will help with that part...
Still sounds cool though !
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Amen Brother!!
I really wish this discussion would take a more serious tone than boning sheep!
I was involved in a serious car accident last May (I was the front seat passenger and the other driver was at fault), and which resulted in a compound fracture of my Tibia and Fibula. I spent 2 weeks in a trauma center followed by 3 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital, followed by months of physical therapy, and now wound care (the force of the impact ripped the front of my leg open). My most recent X-rays show inco
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In my case, I had the option to go with pins and a small supportive
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Insightful)
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But many religious people own toasters. Does that mean all religious people like toast?
Depends. Is this [burntimpressions.com] the toaster in question?
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I've been trying to find some stats on atheists who object to stem cell research - but I can't find many. What I have found are a number of atheist and Christian forum type sites which discuss stem cell research (among other things). Overwhelmingly, the atheists support stem cell research - in the region of 95% - 98%. The reverse is true of Christians (I don't have time to do much research into other religions, but as that's the vast majority of American religious types, I'll stick with that). There seems t
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Informative)
I've only seen conservatives and the religious get their panties in a twist over fetal stem cell research. Back in the day, W made it as explicit as possible that he was only banning fetal stem cell research.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:4, Informative)
>I've only seen conservatives and the religious get their panties in a twist over fetal stem cell research. Back in the day, W made it as explicit as possible that he was only banning fetal stem cell research.
1) Back in the day when he made that ban, there wasn't any other kind. The adult stem-cell harvesting techniques only got invented to get around the ban.
2) Even then it was stupid. Nobody was proposing doing special abortions for stem cells, just using the ones from the abortions happening anyway. Even then that wasn't required - fetal stem cells don't require abortions at all and could even then be harvested in quantity from things like the placenta and umbilical cord.
So there was a massive ready supply being dumped in the medical waste basket at every hospital maternity ward in the world for no reason whatsoever.
Now while the discovery of adult stem-cell harvesting opened up some useful new avenues of treatment, the fact is that the gap between the ban and that development greatly slowed down massive areas of research and many treatments that may have been becoming available now will still be away for several years - years during which many patients will die who would have lived if not for that ban.
So much for a pro-life law.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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Though "strangely" those same people rarely have a complaint about IVF treatment.
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Religion doesn't necessarily have have anything to do with opinions on abortive stem cell harvesting, research, or usage, for either side. Here are two anecdotal examples:
1- My mother is very religious, but thinks abortive stem cells should be harvested since the embryos/fetuses are lost already. Her position is one of salvaging what possible good can come from what is essentially a complet
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We could go so many routes with this conversation.
Re:NOW they develop this... (Score:5, Informative)
This is only true because it is easier and more economical to destroy the blastocyst for collection than it is to harvest single cells from them nondestructively.
This then causes a viscious circle, in which researchers requiring access to fresh embryonic cell cultures are strapped for cash and labspace/time, because they are denied funding, because of destructive collection techniques. Being strapped for cash and time, they can't realistically use nondestructive techniques using the limited funds they get from private investments, and still do their research... necessitating destructive collection. (Which in turn, reinforces the situation where they don't get grant money.....)
The solution is to offer grant money with the hardlined requirement of nondestructive collection. When the majority of embryonic stemcell collection is non-fatal to the embryos, then the religious types won't object to the collection and research.
The scientists cannot really be the ones to act here; they are strapped for research funds enough already, and are the victims of the viscious circle. The ones that need to act are the religious politicians who are currently ignorant/recalcitrant of the non-destructive alternatives. (These non-destructive approaches have been around since the 90s, when the whole embryonic stemcell shitstorm started. I remember a c-span segment late on a Saturday night with a cellular biologist giving a presentation against the stemcell funding ban to a practically empty building. The politicians had scheduled his presentation for a time when they wouldn't be there. The whole basis of his presentation was the refutation of the "embryonic stemcells == murder" partyline that was driving the ban's momentum. It was a very good presentation, but again, nobody was in attendance.)
If you ask the hardnosed "embryonic stemcells are murder!" Religious crowd what they would think if the cells could be harvested without destroying the blastocyst, thus preserving it for future implantation, you will find that they react with shock, curiosity of if that's true, and then curiosity/anger of why that isn't done exclusively.
The problem is not that the tissue comes from blastocysts. The problem is that the blastocysts are destroyed. This is only necessary because of the funding restrictions an.d the added costs and culture times associated with single cell extractions.
Fix the funding problem with some limiting verbage to require nondestructive collection, and the whole ethical tapestry dissolves like cotton candy in a rainstorm.
Of course, the real challenge is getting the willfully ignorant in government to realize what they are doing.... as the poor researcher found out the hard way. I don't remember his name, but whoever he is, I do applaud the effort.
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> If you are a non-believer, and you are wrong, when you die you will be in for a very rude awakening. If you are a believer, and you are wrong you will be in, oh wait you won't care.
You know, you wrote so sensibly, then you ended on Pascal's Bargain - which sadly has been completely and utterly discredited for the utterly horrible and illogical trash-argument it always was.
A theoretical question about height (Score:5, Interesting)
Do we have any osteopathologists on slashdot who can comment on whether this can theoretically shorten such a procedure's duration to make someone taller in a matter of one or two weeks? The current procedure takes at least a few months, if not a year.
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I don't know anything about the topic, but I'd guess there are also limits on how quickly you can stretch out the other parts of your body like muscle, tendon, and skin.
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Adult stem cells better then fetal? (Score:5, Informative)
Three nice things about them:
1) They are usually harvested from the entity translated too so less problem with rejection ( is this the case here the article didn't say).
2) The have been proven to work and use in many other places.
3) No one has any moral objections to them.
So many good reasons to not even worry about fetal stem cells , but no one ever bothers to talk about that.
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No, they aren't. This is a common mantras from religious zealots that have no idea where stem cells come from and just look for an excuse to shove their belief down out throats.
Right now, Fetal Stem cells have many more advantages.
Re:Adult stem cells better then fetal? (Score:5, Informative)
Right now, Fetal Stem cells have many more advantages.
Except that these are multipotent, not pluripotent stem cells, and therefore, we're not talking about fetal stem cells.
The sources for MSCs include "umbilical cord blood, adipose tissue, adult muscle or the dental pulp of deciduous baby teeth"... but not fetal stem cells.
Nice try, though...
Re:Adult stem cells better then fetal? (Score:5, Informative)
Would it have been so hard to not be a bigot and just provide at least one source?
Perhaps 'Stem Cell Basics': http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics5.asp [nih.gov]
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While decrying zealots make sure you don't see one in the mirror.
Apples vs Oranges (Score:3)
Adult stem cell are easier to control, but are not nearly as versatile as fetal stem cells. It is wrong to claim one is better than the other.
large animals (Score:5, Insightful)
this would be great for horses. its nearly impossible to allow multi-leg fractures to heal properly with a large animal .. they usually just get put down.
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this would be great for horses. its nearly impossible to allow multi-leg fractures to heal properly with a large animal .. they usually just get put down.
This is the first thing I thought of too. There's big money around horses that could move this technology along.
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Other bone glue (Score:2)
That's similar: (Score:4, Informative)
Using stem cells for skin healing:
http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/the_skin_gun [thatvideosite.com]
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Perfect for compound fractures, then. Heals both the skin and the bone.
veterinary applications (Score:3, Interesting)
Seems to me this would be a great benefit to veterinarians. The hardest part of treating a fracture in an animal is getting the patient to stay still while they recuperate. Would be a lot easier to do that for a couple of days vs. several weeks. Racehorses might be able to live with injuries that result in euthanasia now.
Get back to me... (Score:2)
when they figure out a way to use this to make me some artificial bone wolverine like claws.
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You might be better off with a surgically implanted spike + extender. God knows how you'd ever manage to keep it sterile, let alone bind in the neural controls to make it work, but it's probably easier and simpler than growing bones plus muscles to extend things.
Anyone else think of Harry Potter? (Score:2)
not sure (Score:5, Funny)
what bone fracture has to do with ssh....
anyway - weird things exist nowadays
PuTTY (Score:5, Funny)
Pro sports (Score:2)
If this goes through, will pro sports allow the procedure? A tangential issue, but one that could be interesting.
Hope its proven? (Score:3)
Well, if they had done their research they would find that it was proven long ago that artificially adding stem cells to healing bone works.
It also forms new bone on amputees.
The HECK with healing bones! (Score:2)
I want to use it to develop an exoskeleton!
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No need to guess. They break the sheeps' legs. This is why animal testing exists.
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So what? Sheep are not conscious. Life does not equal consciousness.
No consciousness = no ability to suffer or to have emotions. They don't feel pain, their nervous system just processes the information that it is wounded the same way your laptop processes the fact that it's battery is empty or that it's keyboard has been amputated... I mean unplugged.
They respond to wounds and injuries, but they don't interpret any of it as pain without consciousness. And no evidence shows sheep are conscious (unlike other animals).
There is exactly as much evidence to show that sheep, plants, and rocks are conscious as there is to show that humans are conscious.
Step 0: Cogito ergo sum
Step 1: Define consciousness
Step 2: Describe the physical construct and mechanisms which create consciousness
Step 3: Identify consciousness in various things
Step 4: Show that no other construct / phenomena could result in consciousness
Step 5: Identify a lack of consciousness in various things
We're on step 1.
stemcells.nih.gov says (Score:2)
repair that war machine (Score:2)