-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 5:10 PM
Subject: Zero-G Health Impacts
>
>In a message dated 3/12/2001 11:49:26 PM Alaskan Standard Time,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>> The second problem, bone loss, is a bit more severe. It apparantly only
>> affects the lower body, ie, the legs and the hips, since these are the
>> bones that carry our weight on earth. The upper body seems to be
>> unaffected by this problem. Against this problem we have no good
solutions
>> ready today.
>
>How about bone replacement? I know it sounds drastic, but, what about
simply
>using a carbon compound to directly replace bone in the long bones of the
>leg? Hip replacements are done all the time. Here, of course, there's a
>significant problem with the myriad muscle attachements on the femur --
but,
>if that could be solved, it seems like it might be workable. I have heard
>that a carbon compound is sometimes used for amputees, as the carbon
material
>bonds with existing bone.
My God. To say that this is an extreme solution is the understatement of
the century. Prosthetic bone replacements aren't attached to the muscles --
they can't be, since the connective tissue cells that make up the ligaments
blend in directly with the living bone cells. As surgeons are fond of
pointing out, joint replacements are actually much more vulnerable to
breakage than living bone because the latter is a living tissue that
regularly repairs developing damage in itself. And I haven't heard of any
compound anywhere on the horizon that could be used to strengthen atrophying
bone -- if there was, every woman with ostoporosis would be clamoring for it
right now. I don't see any practical way to completely replace even a
single bone in the human body (unless you're Wolverine from "X-Men"). We
simply have to keep bones from losing calcium in 0-g in the first place --
and since exercise, from what I hear, doesn't seem to do the trick, unless
and until we discover a really effective and safe anti-osteoporosis drug
we're stuck with artificial gravity for long-duration spaceflight.
Bruce Moomaw
==
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