A New Tool For Bone Regeneration

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When it comes to rebuilding bones, one of the tools in the orthopedic surgeon’s toolbox is bone grafts. This involves, to oversimplify it a bit, gluing particles of bone to where bone needs rebuilding. However, this comes with problems, most notably:

  • that the bone tissue and the adhesive “glue” need to be prepared separately and mixed in situ, which is fiddly, to say the least
  • that the resultant mixture mixed in situ will usually be unevenly mixed, resulting in weak bonding and degradation over time
  • having any more of one part or the other in any given site means that bone regeneration and adhesion become a “pick one” matter, when both are critically needed

You may be wondering: why can’t they mix them before putting them in?

And the answer is: because then either the glue will set the bone prematurely (and now we have a clump of bone outside of the body which is not what we wanted), or else the glue will have issues with setting in situ, and now we have bone tissue running down the inside of someone’s leg and setting somewhere else, which is also not what we want.

These kinds of problems may seem a little more “arts and crafts” than “orthopedic surgery”, but they are the kind of nitty-gritty real-life real challenges that actually get in the way of healing patients’ bones.

The new solution

Biomaterial research scientists have developed an injectable hydrogel (containing all the necessary ingredients* that uses light to achieve cross-linking of bone particles and mineralization without any of the above being necessary. In again oversimplified terms: they inject the hydrogel where it’s needed, and then irradiate the site with harmless visible light which instantly sets it in place. As to how the light gets in there: it’s just very shiny, like candling an egg to see inside, or like how you can still approximately see bright light even with your eyes closed.

*alginate (natural polysaccharide derived from brown algae), RGD peptide-containing mussel** adhesive protein, calcium ions, phosphonodiols, and a photoinitiator.

**unclear whether this would trigger a shellfish allergy. Probably kosher per “פיקוח נפש” and Talmud Yoma 85b, but we are a health science newsletter, not Talmudic scholars, so please talk to your Rabbi. Probably halal per Qur’an 5:4 and failing that, the same principle as previously mentioned, expressed in Qur’an 5:3 and 6:119, but once again, your humble writer here is no Mufti, so please talk to your Imam. As for if you are vegetarian or vegan, then that is for you to decide whether to take a “medications with animal ingredients are unfortunate but necessary” stance, as most do. This vegan writer would (she’d grumble about it, though, and at least try to find an acceptable alternative first).

Back to the more general practicalities…

How it works, in less oversimplified terms:

❝The coacervate-based formulation, which is immiscible in water, ensures that the hydrogel retains its shape and position after injection into the body. Upon visible light irradiation, cross-linking occurs, and amorphous calcium phosphate, which functions as a bone graft material, is simultaneously formed. This eliminates the need for separate bone grafts or adhesives, enabling the hydrogel to provide both bone regeneration and adhesion.❞

See the paper: Visible light-induced simultaneous bioactive amorphous calcium phosphate mineralization and in situ crosslinking of coacervate-based injectable underwater adhesive hydrogels for enhanced bone regeneration

“That’s great, but I was hoping for something I can do right now, ideally at home”

If getting glued back together was not on your bucket list, that’s understandable. There’s still a lot you can do for bone density; here’s a quick overview:

Too much information?

If that was too much information all at once, then we recommend this as your one-stop article:

The Bare-Bones Truth About Osteoporosis

Want more information?

We are but a humble newsletter and can only include so much per day, but we highly recommend this book we reviewed a little while back, which goes into everything in a lot more detail than we can here:

The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis: How To Improve Bone Strength And Reduce Your Fracture Risk – by Keith McCormick

Enjoy!

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  • Nutrivore – by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The core idea of this book is that foods can be assigned a numerical value according to their total nutritional value, and that this number can be used to guide a person’s diet such that we will eat, in aggregate, a diet that is more nutritious. So far, so simple.

    What Dr. Ballantyne also does, besides explaining and illustrating this system (there are chapters explaining the calculation system, and appendices with values), is also going over what to consider important and what we can let slide, and what things we might need more of to address a wide assortment of potential health concerns. And yes, this is definitely a “positive diet” approach, i.e. it focuses on what to add in, not what to cut out.

    The premise of the “positive diet” approach is simple, by the way: if we get a full set of good nutrients, we will be satisfied and not crave unhealthy food.

    She also offers a lot of helpful “rules of thumb”, and provides a variety of cheat-sheets and suchlike to make things as easy as possible.

    There’s also a recipes section! Though, it’s not huge and it’s probably not necessary, but it’s just one more “she’s thinking of everything” element.

    Bottom line: if you’d like a single-volume “Bible of” nutrition-made-easy, this is a very usable tome.

    Click here to check out Nutrivore, and start filling up your diet!

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  • What’s the difference between ‘strep throat’ and a sore throat? We’re developing a vaccine for one of them

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    What’s the difference? is a new editorial product that explains the similarities and differences between commonly confused health and medical terms, and why they matter.


    It’s the time of the year for coughs, colds and sore throats. So you might have heard people talk about having a “strep throat”.

    But what is that? Is it just a bad sore throat that goes away by itself in a day or two? Should you be worried?

    Here’s what we know about the similarities and differences between strep throat and a sore throat, and why they matter.

    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    How are they similar?

    It’s difficult to tell the difference between a sore throat and strep throat as they look and feel similar.

    People usually have a fever, a bright red throat and sometimes painful lumps in the neck (swollen lymph nodes). A throat swab can help diagnose strep throat, but the results can take a few days.

    Thankfully, both types of sore throat usually get better by themselves.

    How are they different?

    Most sore throats are caused by viruses such as common cold viruses, the flu (influenza virus), or the virus that causes glandular fever (Epstein-Barr virus).

    These viral sore throats can occur at any age. Antibiotics don’t work against viruses so if you have a viral sore throat, you won’t get better faster if you take antibiotics. You might even have some unwanted antibiotic side-effects.

    But strep throat is caused by Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria, also known as strep A. Strep throat is most common in school-aged children, but can affect other age groups. In some cases, you may need antibiotics to avoid some rare but serious complications.

    In fact, the potential for complications is one key difference between a viral sore throat and strep throat.

    Generally, a viral sore throat is very unlikely to cause complications (one exception is those caused by Epstein-Barr virus which has been associated with illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis and certain cancers).

    But strep A can cause invasive disease, a rare but serious complication. This is when bacteria living somewhere on the body (usually the skin or throat) get into another part of the body where there shouldn’t be bacteria, such as the bloodstream. This can make people extremely sick.

    Invasive strep A infections and deaths have been rising in recent years around the world, especially in young children and older adults. This may be due to a number of factors such as increased social mixing at this stage of the COVID pandemic and an increase in circulating common cold viruses. But overall the reasons behind the increase in invasive strep A infections are not clear.

    Another rare but serious side effect of strep A is autoimmune disease. This is when the body’s immune system makes antibodies that react against its own cells.

    The most common example is rheumatic heart disease. This is when the body’s immune system damages the heart valves a few weeks or months after a strep throat or skin infection.

    Around the world more than 40 million people live with rheumatic heart disease and more than 300,000 die from its complications every year, mostly in developing countries.

    However, parts of Australia have some of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world. More than 5,300 Indigenous Australians live with it.

    Streptococcus pyogenes
    Strep throat is caused by Streptococcus bacteria and can be treated with antibiotics if needed. Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

    Why do some people get sicker than others?

    We know strep A infections and rheumatic heart disease are more common in low socioeconomic communities where poverty and overcrowding lead to increased strep A transmission and disease.

    However, we don’t fully understand why some people only get a mild infection with strep throat while others get very sick with invasive disease.

    We also don’t understand why some people get rheumatic heart disease after strep A infections when most others don’t. Our research team is trying to find out.

    How about a vaccine for strep A?

    There is no strep A vaccine but many groups in Australia, New Zealand and worldwide are working towards one.

    For instance, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Telethon Kids Institute have formed the Australian Strep A Vaccine Initiative to develop strep A vaccines. There’s also a global consortium working towards the same goal.

    Companies such as Vaxcyte and GlaxoSmithKline have also been developing strep A vaccines.

    What if I have a sore throat?

    Most sore throats will get better by themselves. But if yours doesn’t get better in a few days or you have ongoing fever, see your GP.

    Your GP can examine you, consider running some tests and help you decide if you need antibiotics.

    Kim Davis, General paediatrician and paediatric infectious diseases specialist, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Alma Fulurija, Immunologist and the Australian Strep A Vaccine Initiative project lead, Telethon Kids Institute, and Myra Hardy, Postdoctoral Researcher, Infection, Immunity and Global Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Garlic vs Ginger – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing garlic to ginger, we picked the ginger.

    Why?

    Both are great, and it is close!

    Notwithstanding that (almost?) nobody eats garlic or ginger for the macros, let’s do a moment’s due diligence on that first: garlic has more than 3x the protein and about 2x the fiber (and slightly higher carbs). But, given the small quantities in which people usually consume these foods, these numbers aren’t too meaningful.

    In the category of micronutrients, garlic has a lot more vitamins and minerals. We’ll not do a full breakdown for this though, because again, unless you’re eating it by the cupful, this won’t make a huge difference.

    Which means that so far, we have two nominal wins for garlic.

    Both plants have many medicinal properties. They are both cardioprotective and anticancer, and both full of antioxidants. The benefits of both are comparable in these regards.

    Both have antidiabetic action also, but ginger’s effects are stronger when compared head-to head.

    So that’s an actual practical win for ginger.

    Each plant’s respective effects on the gastrointestinal tract sets them further apart—ginger has antiemetic effects and can be used for treating nausea and vomiting from a variety of causes. Garlic, meanwhile, can cause adverse gastrointestinal effects in some people—but it’s usually neutral for most people in this regard.

    Another win for ginger in practical terms.

    Want to learn more?

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    Take care!

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    Fatigue and a general lack of energy can be symptoms of many things, and for most of them, looking after our mitochondrial health can at least help, if not outright fix the issue.

    The Seven Ways

    Dr. Jonas Kuene suggests that we…

    • Enjoy a good diet: especially, limiting simple sugars, reducing overall carbohydrate intake, and swapping seed oils for healthier oils like avocado oil and olive oil.
    • Take supplements: including coenzyme Q10, alpha-lipoic acid, and vitamins
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    • Sleep: aiming for 7–9 hours, and if that’s not possible at night, add a nap during the day to make up the lost time
    • Get near-infrared radiation: from the sun, and/or made-for-purpose IR health devices.

    For more info on these (including the referenced science), enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

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    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • What the Health – by Kip Andersen, Keegan Kuhn, & Eunice Wong

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This is a book from the makers of the famous documentary of the same name. Which means that yes, they are journalists not scientists, but they got input from very many scientists, doctors, nutritionists, and so forth, for a very reliable result.

    It’s worth noting however that while a lot of the book is about the health hazards of a lot of the “Standard American Diet”, or “SAD” as it is appropriately abbreviated, a lot is also about how various industries bribe lobby the government to either push, or give them leeway to push, their products over healthier ones. So, there’s a lot about what would amount to corruption if it weren’t tied up in legalese that makes it just “lobbying” rather than bribery.

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    The recipes themselves are entirely plant-based, and de facto vegan.

    Bottom line: this one’s more of a polemic against industry malfeasance than it is a textbook of nutrition science, but there is enough information in here that it could have been the textbook if it wanted to, changing only the style and not the content.

    Click here to check out What The Health, and make informed choices about yours!

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  • Brave – by Dr. Margie Warrell

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Whether it’s the courage to jump out of a plane or the courage to have a difficult conversation, bravery is an important quality that we often don’t go far out of our way to grow. At least, not as adults.

    Rather than viewing bravery as a static attribute—you either have it or you don’t—psychologist Dr. Margie Warrell makes the case for its potential for lifelong development.

    The book is divided into five sections:

    1. Live purposefully
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    3. Work passionately
    4. Dig deep
    5. Dare boldly

    …and each has approximately 10 chapters, each a few pages long, the kind that can easily make this a “chapter-a-day” daily reader.

    As a quick clarification: that “speak bravely” section isn’t about public speaking, but is rather about speaking up when it counts. Life is too short for regrets, and our interactions with others tend to be what matters most in the long-run. It makes a huge difference to our life!

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    Don’t Forget…

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