LSJL upregulates Cftr.  Although other than the name I can’t find a connection between this gene and Cfm1 and Cfm2.

According to Hierarchical fine mapping of the cystic fibrosis modifier locus on 19q13 identifies an association with two elements near the genes CEACAM3 and CEACAM6., Cfm1 is located on the same gene as Tgfb1 a height increase gene.  “seven microsatellite markers on 19q13 spanning a 4.8-Mb genomic area encompassing both, TGFB1 and CFM1”

“Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal-recessively inherited disease transmitted by two defective copies of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). The disease manifests as a generalized exocrinopathy, affecting all tissues that express the chloride and bicarbonate channel CFTR ”

Cystic fibrosis can result in shorter height.

Filamin-interacting proteins, Cfm1 and Cfm2, are essential for the formation of cartilaginous skeletal elements.

“Mutations of Filamin genes, which encode actin-binding proteins, cause skeletal abnormalities. The molecular mechanisms underlying Filamin functions in skeletal system formation remain elusive. In our screen to identify skeletal development molecules, we found that Cfm (Fam101) genes, Cfm1 (Fam101b) and Cfm2 (Fam101a), are predominantly co-expressed in developing cartilage and intervertebral discs (IVDs). To investigate the functional role of Cfm genes in skeletal development, we generated single knockout mice for Cfm1 and Cfm2, as well as Cfm1/Cfm2 double-knockout (Cfm DKO) mice, by targeted gene disruption. Mice with loss of a single Cfm gene displayed no overt phenotype, whereas Cfm DKO mice showed skeletal malformations including spinal curvatures, vertebral fusions, and impairment of bone growth, showing that the phenotypes of Cfm DKO mice resemble those of Filamin B (Flnb)-deficient mice. The number of cartilaginous cells in IVDs is remarkably reduced, and chondrocytes are moderately reduced in Cfm DKO mice. We observed increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation in Cfm DKO cartilaginous cells. In addition to direct interaction between Cfm and Filamin proteins in developing chondrocytes, Cfm is required for the interaction between Flnb and Smad3, which [regulates] Runx2 expression. Cfm DKO primary chondrocytes showed decreased cellular size and fewer actin bundles compared to those of wild-type chondrocytes. Cfms are essential partner molecules of Flnb in regulating differentiation and proliferation of chondryocytes and actin dynamics.”

“Inhibitors of actin polymerization stimulate chondrocyte differentiation in cultured mesenchymal cells and murine embryonic stem cells”

“mouse Cfm2 transcripts markedly increased in ATDC5 cells upon differentiation.”

“The CR length and tibial length of Cfm DKO mice were significantly shorter than those of wild-type, Cfm+/−/Cfm2−/−, and Cfm1−/− / Cfm2+/− mice at 4 weeks”

“Cfm1 and Cfm2 bind to Filamins (Flna, Flnb and Flnc)”<-LSJL upregulates Filamin C.

“Flna and Flnb are expressed in chondrocytes”

“Cfm1 and Cfm2 regulate chondrocyte survival and proliferation, and interact with Filamins. Cfms interacted with Filamins to organize perinuclear actin networks and regulated nuclear shape”

“Cfm is required for the interaction between Flnb and Smad3 in chondrocytes, and the Flnb-Cfm-Smad3 complex may play an important role in chondrogenesis.”

“Flnb normally prevents excessive Smad3 phosphorylation.”

“TGF-β1 stimulation up-regulated Cfm1 protein expression, but Cfm2 protein and mRNA were below detection level in an epithelial cell line”

As a response to the previous post I did about a member from the Make Me Taller forums named Mordred on a post HERE who talked about the idea of implanting chondrocytes into the closed growth plate area, I wanted to list the issues and challenges and problems which I can see at this point with this overall method.

Coming with an idea like implanting chondrocytes, progenitor cells like mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), or completely in vitro epiphyseal cartilage plates into the original closed epiphyseal regions is easy and it makes sense.

However the hard part will always be…

• Actually regrowing the epiphyseal hyaline cartilage plates and get the extracellular matrix of the cartilage to be the right compositions, with the collagen type II, the preoteoglycans, growth factors, cytokines, the gylcoaminoglycans, and the sulphated alkalines to be as close to what is found in vivo as possible.

• Actually getting the chondrocytes in the cartilage to stack correctly in columns. We saw from a study that the chemical compound Thyroxine seems to cause the organizational pattern of the chondrocytes and the overall directionally of the eventual stacked columns. The article was “Thyroxine is the serum factor that regulates morphogenesis of columnar cartilage from isolated chondrocytes in chemically defined medium.“

• You still have to cause some form of initial distraction or fracture or break in the bone so you can embedded the cartilage or chondrocyte material. The type of initial break would have to be uniform in a specific shape so that the shape of the completely regrown plate can slip in the distraction. The fact that the ilizarov method with its easy hammer and chisel quick fracture may seem it would be faster to go with the old idea. Even then, the process will be surgical where the outer muscle and skin tissue may have to be cut open to implant the cartilage.

• You would have to check the immunological issues with this approach because of the fact that human bodies which detect foreign objects will try to attack it with its white blood cells and other resistance and defensive biological. This would cause the completely functioning body to REJECT the implant. Remember from talks with medical professionals about how hard it is to find the right blood donor, or organ donor? It is because of the human body’s natural defensive system, in rejecting foreign bodies.

• You must remember that the human body when it was young had at least two dozen growth plate cartilage areas, not just the knee region with the distal femoral area and the proximal tibial area. – If you want to get a proportional body, you would have to open or embedded the foreign in vitro grown cartilage into the humerus at least so that your arms are as long as your legs, in proportion. We must remember that in general, the wingspan of a human is about the same length as their height.

• There were growth plate cartilage in the hip joint area, in each other vertebrate of the torso, in both ends of the knee, both ends, wrist, elbow, metatarsals, metacarpals, collarbone, etc. – Would we spend possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars also embedding more cartilage into our body to get the entire body to be proportional?

Conclusion: What is clear is that the overal idea and method is reasonable and makes sense. There are just a few major challenges we would have to get around to make the idea reasonable and practical enough to get it working for the average person who hopes for an alternative to the limb lengthening solution.

I was going through the Make Me Taller Forum recently and I came across a post by a member who is suggesting his own idea on how to renew the growth process using chondrocyte implants. The post is from this thread HERE. It seems that his method is to implant stem cells into the area of the closed growth plates and then get them to differentiate into chondrocytes after they are implanted. He is on the right track, and has been thinking over the science a little which is good and I would suggest that if he ever finds this website to join on board the team and help us and the other researchers in doing more scientific research. I’ve only really been getting into the research in the last 6 months. I don’t intend to make any real breakthroughs until I have gotten the basic science from medical school textbooks down. There is no point in making wild claims and ideas (although I do write posts about them) until we are sure the science is right and agrees with what is being observed in the research labs and medical clinics.

Sometimes I wish that more people who are interested in increasing their height would find this website and read the posts to see what other people are thinking about and coming up with. I personally know and DEFINITELY realize that I am NOT the only person who would like to be taller and probably has done some research at some point on the research and literature out there on what is possible. I am constantly searching all the corners of the internet to find new information and helpful resources and scientific articles which might give us another clue on how to push the endeavor further and make some real breakthroughs.

The guy is willing to think and come up with ideas as an alternative to limb lengthening which is what we are trying to do here. I have found in general that the people on the Make Me Taker Forum to be very one sided and only think that Limb Lengthening will be the only thing that will ever work or be reasonable. They are not that helpful and sort of close minded.

Mordred n00b Credibility 0 Gender:  Posts: 9 Artificial Puberty: A possible alternative to LL « on: January 07, 2013, 02:31:33 AM » Ever since I came across LL (while searching for ways to get taller), I’ve been thinking about alternative ways to boost height without going through this painful, salient process that changes you bodily proportions. So I conjured up a theoretical method for height increase which I call “artificial puberty”: The main obstacle to height increase is the closing of epiphyseal (growth) plates.  Your growth plates close because the cartilage (which is made up of cells called chondrocytes), age, die, and ultimately become replaced by real bone.  Estrogen accelerates this process. My proposal is to implant stem cells at the site of closed growth plates, tweaking them beforehand to differentiate into chondrocytes.  This will create “artificial growth plates,” allowing growth in height once more.  Okay, so now you can grow again, but we have yet another obstacle: human growth hormone secretion diminishes after puberty.  So solve this, just supplement the implants with safe amounts of HGH injections. So basically the two steps to artificial puberty are: 1.  “artificial growth plates” – chondrocyte implants 2.  “artificial growth” – SAFE amounts of HGH injections Assuming that this procedure is possible, it would offer a number of benefits lacking in LL: 1.  Keeps proportions intact – HGH makes every part of your body grow with opened growth plates 2.  Less painful – Pain isn’t a factor in my case, because I would do anything to grow taller, but this procedure definitely would be less painful. 3.  Less overt – You don’t have metal rods sticking out of your legs. 4.  You can (probably) walk/live a “normal” life while undergoing this procedure. With the stem cell technology boom, this type of procedure, or something like this anyways, will probably be feasible in less than 10 years.  Think about it; we’re already implanting stem cells in deaf/blind people so they can hear/see again.  Why can’t we do this?

In response we see posts like these….

Repelsteeltje MMT Member Credibility 1 Gender:  Posts: 119

Re: Artificial Puberty: A possible alternative to LL « Reply #8 on: January 07, 2013, 05:39:58 PM » I’ve seen studies and articles that are saying the same. There is much more possible than we think… However, as optimistic as I am if it comes to alternative treatments for height increase I don’t think we will ever get the change using a treatment like this. Also, lengthening your legs without having pain in the future is one thing and may be possible at some point. But to be in proportion you also need to lengthen your torso. And to be honest I don’t think this is ever going to happen. Of course very much is possible nowadays. But we have to be realistic.

Like the post before, I wanted to look at another idea, urban myth, or old wive’s tale. This one is about the connection between stunted growth and stunted growth.

I remember finding on many Yahoo Questions like Here, Here, Here, Here, and many many other internet boards and forums where one person asks this question and the others often ridicule,  joke, and say something. 

It seems that the general arguement made by anyone who really does believe this idea is that through masturbation, assuming a person is a teenage or adolescent male, it will lead them to ejaculate and lose semen, which contains hormones, specifically testosterone which is something you need to grow taller.

As we know from past research, having some relatively high level of testosterone is a good thing since testosterone will eventually aromatize into estrogen, which will be what causes the initial step in the endocrine system process which starts puberty and causes the “growth spurt” so many guys and girls experience around the 10-13 year range.

There is some evidence to show that good testosterone levels may have some positive correlation to being taller than average. If we remember from basic evolution, there are alpha males, and there are beta males. Alpha males are usually bigger, taller, and more aggressive than beta males. Alpha males also tend to have more sexual partners than beta males, and be more dominant and be leaders. They also have higher levels of testosterone.

However we also know that estrogen is also what will cause the eventual depletion of chondrocytes in the resting zone of the growth plate. The reason the growth plates really close is because at the end of puberty, there is a sort of 2nd wave of higher level of estrogen release into the body causing the last remaining chondrocytes to go through apoptosis and get the rest of the hyaline cartilage matrix to calcify and convert to bone matrix. From the PubMed study “Normal bone growth requires optimal estrogen levels: negative effects of both high and low dose estrogen on the number of growth plate chondrocytes.” I had porposed in a previous post “Alpha, Above Average Testosterone Males Are More Likely To Be Taller, An Endocrine Explanation” a hypothesis that the short stature male syndrome commonly called “Napoleon Complex” could be from a male who has too much testosterone in his system, with all the testosterone converting to estrogen and ending the growth process earlier than other men.

From this quick hormonal explanation, we can see that the scientific theory on the idea that masturbation would cause testosterone level to drop would not make any sense. What I am willing to propose, as a hypothetical is that there is a chance that at least occasional masturbation during the adolescent, teenage, still growing years might be actually beneficial for the growth process.

The first reason is that if the ejaculation process did cause any testosterone level, it would actually help a little in delay the eventual process of growth plate process, and increase the amount of time gor growth. Plus, masturbation does cause the release of good endorphins through the brain by the dopamine during orgasm. From source, “Dopamine-synthesising neurons that originate in the lower brainstem (specifically the ventral tegmental area) are activated during ejaculation in men, as measured by PET imaging (Holstege et al., 2003).”

Also…

Abundant evidence points to dopamine as the key neurotransmitter involved in stimulating orgasm in humans. Thus, administration of the dopamine precursor L-dopa, dopaminergic agonists (e.g. apomorphine), dopamine releasers (e.g. amphetamine), or dopamine reuptake inhibitors (e.g. cocaine or bupropion) facilitate the expression of orgasm in men and women. Conversely, administration of antipsychotics impair orgasm, by blocking postsynaptic dopamine receptors (see Komisaruk et al., 2006).

It would seem that L-Dopa is the precursor to Dopamine. We saw from previous like “Increase Height And Grow Taller Eating Mucuna Pruriens Or Velvet Bean“with L-Dopa, which is Levadopa, that it can cause human growth hormone (hGH) release. 

We CAN”T show this process: Masturbation–>Orgasm–>Dopamine–>L-Dopa–>increased hGH released –> increased height

The actual process direction is L-Dopa–>Dopamine.

What we can prove with the research and knowledge we do know that is people who are still growing who go through a lot of stress and anxiety does cause them to develop stunted growth. From PubMed study “Stress response in school-age children who have been growth retarded since early childhood.” there is a weak but positive correlation between stunted growth and psychological issues, although it could be more likely that stunted growth leads to psychological issues, not that psychological issues leads to stunted growth. There are however a few articles that was written in the mid 90s that I’ve found which suggest that extreme stress in the childhood years while still in physical development can lead to development issues not just emotionally and mentally but also physically. There have been quite a times that young adults or teenagers who ask this question of whether their psychological damage from some type of abuse in their childhood can lead to stunted physical growth like HERE. What we know from orginary medical science is that stress does cause the increase in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid (source is Wikipedia). I have found multiple PubMed studies which show that glucocorticoids in general have been used to even inhibit the growth of exceptionally tall adolescent girls.

From the article “Editorial: Inhibitory Actions of Glucocorticoids on Skeletal Growth. Is Local Insulin-Like Growth Factor I to Blame?“…

Glucocorticoids have profound effects on the skeleton due to their actions on the cells of bone and cartilage. The consequences of these effects have serious clinical implications, and glucocorticoids cause osteoporosis and impaired longitudinal growth.

Unfortunately, most of the skeletal effects following chronic exposure to glucocorticoids result in decreased skeletal mass and short stature (2, 3, 4).

This shows a direct connection between constant high levels of stress and stunted growth and short stature.

If we go back to the issue of masturbation again, we understand that masturbation leads to orgasm, which causes a release of dopamine neurotransmitters to the brain. After most orgasms in general and the release of semen, stress levels in men drop dramatically. This shows that in an indirect way, masturbation can at least lead to reduced levels of stress in young, adolescent males who have high levels of hormones in their bodies driving them crazy, causing possible stress and anxiety.

In conclusion, masturbation will NOT lead to stunted growth. Masturbation may not cause height increase, but it may actually HELP PREVENT stunted growth from the excess increased levels of glucocorticoids caused by stress from the increased hormone levels in young males going through puberty. 

I remember getting a message in the website email inbox where a person asked why is it that his friend who has been living a really unhealthy lifestyle like smoking profusely and drinking a lot at his formative growing years still end up being 6′ 4″ where he would be eating right and staying away from drugs only ended up 5′ 9″. He was incredulous over the fact that he felt it was so unfair that his friend would be so much taller for doing the wrong things and still be better off in terms of height.

This got me to wonder whether the claim that “smoking causes stunted growth” to be true or not. So I wanted to spent some energy in this post and do some research to see whether smoking would really cause stunted growth. Before on this website, I had looked at the age old claim and “old mother’s tale” that “drinking milk will help you grow taller” with “The Real Correlation Between Milk, Calcium, Bone Growth, And Height“and whether “drinking coffee stunts your growth” with “Does Coffee And Caffeine Stunt Your Growth?” This post is for the smoking claim.

Analysis: First, we have heard many times over from “studies” that for mothers of the person being analyzed, that the babies of mothers who do smoke are on average less in weight than babies of mother’s who don’t smoke. If we rememberr our conjecture that often the height of a person can be determined by their initial birth size. Most people in general go through a similar growing pattern and growing rate. It just so happens that many giants who were genetically predisposed to being tall were born from bigger, taller mothers who had wider hips (The wider hips to taller eventually babies theory is proposed by me) would be able to hold a bigger baby in their womb/ uterus before they give birth giving the person a greater initial amount of mass, volume, and number of cells to proliferate than other people. This was the case with Yao Ming and Karan Singh who both were born at tremendous sizes. They went through a similar growth rate pattern in their developing years like everyone else, except that their initial size at birth was much bigger than other people. So by converse logic, we can say that at least for the case for smoking effecting a person’s size and height before they are born, there is a high correlation and chance that smoking will cause them to be stunted in overal eventual height. From the website HealthGuidance.com, the theory is this…

Smoking will not affect the pituitary glands which produce the hormones necessary for growth, but however it does result in an increase in carbon monoxide in the blood. This then in turn means that the blood has a lower concentration of oxygen and of the other things that it needs to build and repair tissue such as minerals and vitamins. What this then means is that when an area needs protein or other nutrients to grow, it will not be supplied with them as quickly or in such high quantities and quality. This may then mean that that function of the body is not carried out at all, or just that it is not carried out well.

At the same time smoking may result in lower amounts of testosterone – the hormone involved in building muscle, growing hair, and burning fat. This hormone is also involved in growth as it is an anabolic hormone that tells the body when to build tissue.

I would continue to find form other websites liks LiveStrong.com that smoking does cause some stunting by around 1 inch of height. They state…

In a previous post “Review On Supplement Double Action V Growth Enhancer Supplement, Gain Height and Taller” I had reviewed a product I had found being sold on Ebay as a dietary supplement which can supposedly help people increase their height but on average around 10 cm even in their 20-30s. I did a slightly lengthy review on it, but it seems that the seller, a hi-hawaii is selling also another height increasing dietary supplement product, this one called “Catwalk Growth Enhancer Supplement, 300 mg x 60 Tablets/Bottle, Gain Height & Taller”

What I will do for this post is similar but I will focus more on looking at the active ingredients listed so see if there is any potential. These are the ingredients the sellers claim are in the pill, something called “Cat Walk“. The name makes me think that its intended purpose is to make the legs longer for females who are probably trying to be or are models.

Ingredients: Maltose, dextrin, dolomite, shark cartilage extract, at the end Sansounin, olive leaf extract, Nokogiriyashiekisu, L-ornithine, L-citrulline, black pepper extract, cellulose, sucrose fatty acid ester, silicon dioxide, particulate, V. C, glycine, niacin, L-leucine, V. E, calcium pantothenate, L-valine, L-isoleucine, V. B2, V. B1, V. B6, V. A, folate, V. D, V. B12

Analysis: This analysis is only on the ingredients. In the previous post I sort of went over the issues I had with the seller of this product. The bottle is $65 for 1 bottle and $180 for 3 bottles. Some of the ingredients I have never seen before and some I have. The L-ornithine, L-Leucine, and glycine I remember are amino acids which are just basic building blocks of proteins. Others like silison dioxide I had seen before from my research into whether Silicea and Baryta Carbonica have any potential to increase height long ago. Niacin is Vitamin B3 and there has been a lot of controversy over this compound due to other people’s research before me. It seems however that a lot of the other ingredients are just different types of vitamins which can be found from a multivitamin like a Centrum Silver. I know that maltose is a type of basic sugar and that dolomite is a type of stone, made of Calcium Magnesium Carbonate, apparently (Wikipedia). It has no claimed medicinal or cosmetic applications. The shark cartilage extract is interesting since shark cartilage has been reported to help cure cancer and may increased the collagen level in a person’s body very little. black pepper extract is something that can be good for either reducing or causing inflammation. Other compounds like Nokogirihashiekisu is really hard to find any english based resources to see what it is, but a quick search on google suggest that it is some type of extract from a plant. This is also the case with Sansounin. These two I have no idea what they do. From just doing a very short outline guess at the applications and properties of the ingredients, I would say the supplement being sold is little more than a multivitamin combined with a few extracts from japanese plant extracts. I extremely doubt it would even help young children who are still growing increase their growth rate or ultimate height. There is even a chance that making a human swallow dolomite could cause them to develop pathologies and medical conditions, like kidney stones. Just stay away from this Ebay product since there is almost zero chance it will do anything.

Here is a picture at the bottom of the sales page which supposedly shows a Japanese man who grew upwards of 20 cms (almost 8 inches) from taking this supplement.

My Opinion: I want to say that this picture is one of the worst ways to prove that the supplement is effective. It is a sideways view shot of an asian looking man who on the right appears to be taller. There is so many ways for the seller or graphic artist to digitally edit the photo that this one picture is never enough to prove that such a thing does work. It could be that the two people in the two pictures are two different people, who happen to have close or similar side pictures. Or the picture was photoshopped, edited. or the angle of the picture was changed and moved closer to the person, to make the same person on the left look bigger in the right picture. If I was to guess, I’d say that the two pictures are of two different men.

I have NEVER heard of any supplement ever claim that they can make a 28 year old man grow taller, especially by 20 cms. The Japanese or whoever is selling this supplement are very outrageous and arrogant to claim that such a product even exist.

Further on, we would see pictures of another female who supposed grew taller by over 10 cms in 1 month, but of course the two pictures are of the back of a woman’s head. Really???

There is one picture at the bottom of the page in Japanese which might try at least to explain why the supplement has a chance of working but I personally can’t read Japanese so I am not sure.

From the page on Ebay selling this product, in the Description section…

Catwalk Growth Enhancer Supplement, Gain Height and Taller

18g/Bottle (300mgx60 Tablets)

Expiry Date: 2014

Suitable for someone who are serious about wanting to gain your height, it is special for long legs.

Ingredients:

Maltose, dextrin, dolomite, shark cartilage extract, at the end Sansounin, olive leaf extract, Nokogiriyashiekisu, L-ornithine, L-citrulline,black pepper extract, cellulose, sucrose fatty acid ester, silicon dioxide, particulate, V. C, glycine, niacin, L-leucine, V. E, calcium pantothenate, L-valine, L-isoleucine, V. B2, V. B1, V. B6, V. A, folate, V. D, V. B12

How to use :Take 2-6 tables a day before bed time. (with warm water). Should start with small quantity at first and increase it.

Quantity to see result :

10-19 years old = 1-2 bottles
20-29 years old = 2-3 bottles
30-39 years old = 3-4 bottles
40-49 years old = 4-5 bottles
50-59 years old = 5-6 bottles

Recommend: Sleep before 11p.m.

Exercises like basketball, jogging, jumping,swiming, pilates,yoga,pilates, stretching every day.

Keeping Condition : Avoid sun light,away from children and keep in dry area.

Please avoid for who get allergy from ingredients or when you pregnant or during feeding.

This is samples of people who took this supplement but please consider that how height can you grow, it depends on each indiviual person.