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Middle East
Israeli scientists develop "bone glue"
2004-02-03
Edited for brevity.
Researchers at two different Israeli universities have recently developed novel materials that respectively stimulate speedy bone and cartilage repair, and enable faster and improved healing of injuries. At the Technion in Haifa, Dr. Dror Seliktar has invented a unique gel called Gelrin that he believes will reduce the need for bone transplants and heal bone defects caused by cancer or trauma. There is large potential market for the product, according to Seliktar, as orthopedic bone procedures will soon reach one million annually in the U.S. alone. Gelrin’s "bone glue" combines biological and synthetic components that when mixed together, supports broken bones and allows them to grow new bone tissue. After the broken bone has fused, the material is broken down in the body, says Seliktar, who was aided in his research by master’s student Liora Almany-Levi. Seliktar says Gelrin could also be used for sports injuries and fused vertebral disks, as well as reduce the need for hip replacements in the elderly by preventing degeneration of cartilage and stimulating regrowth in the joints.
Meanwhile, under Arafat’s stellar leadership, Palestinian scientists continue to develop new ways of scattering bone matter into crowds of women and children.
Posted by:Dar

#12  SteveS

Could you stop this PC bullshit, please?


A millenium ago so called Islamic medicine was living on the discoveries of a) The Greeks, Babylonians and others (just remember that during all history before 1000AD East mediterranean had been more advanced than West) b) Contacts with China and India c) The Christians, Jews and some Muslims who were notorious unbelievers. But with the completion of Islamization the Christians and Jews were either absorbed, deported or exterminated and after the closure of Ijtihad sceptic Muslims were no longer tolerated. That meant scientific activity virtually disappeared. But scientific production by really Muslim societies (ie not in transition after conquest) is about zero. As in nothing.

Posted by: JFM   2004-2-3 5:28:44 PM  

#11  Al right, that's enough...
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-2-3 5:17:18 PM  

#10  That would mean that they invented Al Gore, and therefore the internet!
Posted by: BH   2004-2-3 4:52:38 PM  

#9  Yes and they inspired the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by inventing the Al Batross.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-3 4:48:21 PM  

#8  week to let the cartiage and bone fuse,
Did he ever use a cast or someother way to enforce a period of rest? His idea sounds obvious and therefore part genius.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-3 4:44:57 PM  

#7  "what has Islam or any islamic nation contributed to advance medicine again?"

Gosh, CF, that seems a little harsh. After all, a millennium ago, Islamic science and medicine was state of the art. Of course, they have slacked off a little in the intervening ten centuries and if you were sick it would behoove you to find a western-trained doctor who believed in things like the germ theory of disease and antibiotics.

Still, Islam has provided us with a whole bunch of scientific and astronomical names that start with "al". Words like Aldebaran, alcohol, alchemy and of course, that joint in your arm, the albow.
Posted by: SteveS   2004-2-3 3:44:16 PM  

#6  My Dad was an orthopedic surgeon who experimented with using superglue in a form of alternative treatment of slipped discs: Normally, the collapsed cartilage disk is removed and the two adjacent rings of the spine are fused, creating an abnormally long segment in the spine that makes the spine less flexible. My dad removed the disk and a ring, and used superglue to bind the remaining disk and ring together after drilling out a bigger hole for the nerves coming out from the column: His research showed that the spinal column would shrink in two days. He had great success with patients reporting no pain after the second day.

His big problem was with patients reporting that they had no pain after the second day. They'd immediately engage in strenuous activity instead of resting for a week to let the cartiage and bone fuse, and ruptured the seal between them. He'd have to go in, remove the disk, and fuse the bones per standard procedure.

His biggest peeve, until he died, was a patient who didn't listen to their doctor...
Posted by: Ptah   2004-2-3 3:28:07 PM  

#5  cheap shots,... but hey... why not?
Posted by: doc   2004-2-3 3:25:12 PM  

#4  LOL.... right twice.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-2-3 3:24:41 PM  

#3  Practice?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-2-3 1:02:22 PM  

#2  Practice?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-2-3 1:01:56 PM  

#1  So.. what has Islam or any islamic nation contributed to advance medicine again?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-2-3 12:21:17 PM  

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