Biomedical Growth Research Initiative

[UPDATE: After writing this post a month ago and concluding it was a scam, I have since gotten into contact with the organization’s main representative and changed my opinion of the organization not being a scam. To read the full message and change in opinion, click HERE.]

Again I was searching around and gathering as much data from the internet as possible and I found this “organization” or site which I was perusing through my new favorite resource, the Short Support website. I personally would say that the site/group is the most useful site I have found up to date.

The site is at growth-research.org/ or you can click HERE.

The Biomedical Growth Research Initiative has a nice mission statement at the homepage which reads.

“” The “Biomedical Growth Research Initiative” is an international initiative of people with various forms of short stature syndrome. Our initiative wants to support biomedical growth research, so that new safe and effective height increase therapies will be available as soon as possible.

The initiative has received three detailed research proposals from worldwide leading biomedical research groups at respected universities. These research projects could revolutionize the therapy of unwanted short stature in the near future. But without funding these projects won´t be realized and nothing will change. …””

Me: Of course then the person asks the reader to give a donation. The address given is somewhere in Tel Aviv and at a PO Box too. A little shady and suspicious but I do like the design of the website. It looks like a real organization or company front homepage design. Then it goes on to say on the other pages….

The PotentialsThe potential of biomedical research in general

On June 26, 2000 the former US President Bill Clinton and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced, that a rough draft of the Human Genome had been completed after 10 years of work. They declared a new era of medical discovery, which would open new doors in treating and even curing an endless list of currently incurable diseases. Dr. Michael Dexter, the director of the Wellcome Trust, which funded the British part of the Human Genome Project, underlined the enormous potential of genetic research with the following words: “Mapping the Human Genome has been compared with putting a man on the moon, but I believe it is more than that”.Biomedical research already resulted in 100 drugs, that are on the market, and 350 new drugs, that are tested in human clinical trials all over the world.

Interesting Links :

Research results

Gene therapy

According to many researchers gene therapy is one the most promssing fields of biomedical research. All gene therapies have the same or at least a similar principle. Gene therapies want to deliver a therapeutic gene to the cells, that need this gene (e.g. liver cells, bone cells etc.). And the problem is always the same, too. The delivery methods (the gene vectors) are still not perfect. Current studies often use harmless viruses, like the virus of the common cold (an adenovirus), to deliver the therapeutic gene to body cells. Other researchers are working with liposomes, naked DNA or transposones. Some researchers try to combine viruses and liposomes or use gene guns. Still we don´t know exactly, which will be the most effective method. But surely this will change in the near future, as successful clinical trial results prove. Most researchers agree, that the delivery problem will be solved in about 4 or 5 years. Then the major problem of all gene therapies is solved. This means, that effective gene therapies, which will cure currently incurable diseseases, will be a reality in the foreseeable future.

Some of the most impressing research results in the field of gene therapy so far include:

There are also very promissing gene therapy studies against cystic fibrosis, different forms of cancer and other illnesses. Surely genetic therapies and biomedical research will radically change the possibilities of medicine. And gene therapies will only have minimal side-effects or be side-effect-free, as they work very specific on the molecular level. Current drugs don´t work very specifically, so serious side-effects are not unusual. According to a study by the University of Toronto side-effects of drugs are among the most frequent causes of deaths in American hospitals – even before diabetes and pneumonia. This will be changed dramatically by very specific biomedical drugs.

Stem cell therapy and tissue engineering

Another very interesting field of biomedical research is stem cell therapy and tissue engineering.Tissue Engineering is the study of the growth of new connective tissues, or organs, from cells and a collagenous scaffold to produce a fully functional organ for implantation back into the donor host. This technique will allow organs to be grown from implantation (rather than transplantation) and hence free from imunological rejection. The starting point for any tissue-engineered organ is the harvesting of small amounts of tissue from the future recipient of the Tissue Engineered organ. This could be as small as a 2mm punch biopsy for some applications.

Organizations:

Height IncreaseThe potential of biomedical research for a safe and effective height increase therapy

And surely biomedical and genetic research will also lead to new safe and effective therapies for people with unwanted short stature. Researchers already know, that genes on the Y-chromsome influence human height (the reason, why men are usually larger than women). And we know some genes, that are responsible for severe growth disorders, e.g. the gene for achondroplasia (the most common severe growth disorder) was discovered in 1994 by researchers at the University of California. An international research team from Germany, the Netherlands and Japan found the SHOX-gene, which is responsible for another growth disorder. Additionally it is known, that all the cells of the human skeleton are replaced within 4 years, also in adults. So biomedical therapies should be able to influence the bone growth process. And some British molecular biologists are interested in growth plate cartilage research and Dr. Simon Lee from the Chinese University of Hong Kong is working on a tissue engineered growth plate implant. Dr. Levine at the John Hopkins Institute is looking for the genetic roots of towering height. Lately there is also some encouraging news about stem cell therapies, that can grow new bone. These cell therapies may also be used to increase height. Perhaps the most exciting research results and visions come from the Wiscon Institute, where Dr. Heber-Katz works. She thinks, that it will be possible to regrow whole limbs by gene and cell therapies. If her research is successful, it will probably result in completely new therapies to increase height safely and effectively.

Interesting Links:

Aims And TasksAims and tasks of The Biomedical Research Initiative

These early research results suggest, that new therapies for growth disorders and height problems on the molecular level will be possible. But of course much more research is necessary. So specific biomedical growth research should be supported as well as possible. This is the aim of the “Biomedical Growth Research Initiative”.

This international initiative of people with unwanted short stature wants to support biomedical growth research, so that new height increase therapies will be available as soon as possible.

The most important tasks of the initiative are:

  • Finding donators and/or investors for specific biomedical height increase research projects: This is the most important task of our initiative. We have two detailed research proposals from worldwide leading biomedical research groups at respected universities. These research projects could revolutionize the therapy of unwanted short stature in the near future. But without funding these projects won´t be realized and nothing will change. So if you know any financially influential person, that may be interested in donating or investing into biomedical height increase research, please e-mail our contact person Harald Oberlaender at harald_oberlaender@hotmail.com Every interested donator or investor will receive the complete research proposals written by the researchers, all the necessary contact addresses and some additional information about the potential of biomedical research. Interested investors will also receive an initial market analysis. Surely a lot of people wish to be taller and we are convinced, that this treatment has blockbuster potential (more than 1 billion dollars market potential per year). So this research is surely also very interesting from a business point of view. Of course every interested donator or investor will be able to visit the researchers personally in their laboratories at their universities before making a final funding decision.
  • The information of the public about the potential of biomedical growth research: The more people are informed about the initiative, the more people will support biomedical height increase research. And so hopefully we will find an interested donator or investor soon. The public should also be informed, that height problems are serious problems and that short stature seriously affects many aspects of life, as the academic studies prove. The initiative plans to cooperate with TV-magazines, newspapers, radio shows etc.

So everybody, who is interested in supporting our search for interested donators and/or investors, please e-mail our contact person Harald Oberlaender at harald_oberlaender@hotmail.com

Interesting Links:

Me: Here is my conclusion on the website or organization. It is a scam. My scam-o-meter is detecting really suspicious intentions. The truth is that the site is quite informative, and does have some references and links that it uses which is science and research backed. However, I am quite certain that the person who built the website is really just looking for donations and money. There is always the possibility that the organization was shut down and the address had to be changed so the mailing address is a PO Box but I would not bet on the venture being legitimate. I will say this again and again for people who might forget easily. Be wary of scams. 

Height Increase Scam, Grow Taller Scam, Part II

In this 2nd post of a two post series which exposes the people or companies who lie on the internet space preying on teh insecurity and hope of the Height Increase Seeker (H.I.S)

Again, I wanted to note that the information below is not of my research or analysis. It is taken from the Short Support website at  www.shortsupport.org/ which you can also reach by clicking right HERE.

The page basically lists the worst scammers and hucksters that they have met or heard about who try to give people the fake dream that their height issues can be resolved, from either a quick pop of a pill or a few stretching exercises.

This page lists specific notes about some of the companies. The page used to be called the “Worst of the Worst”. However, that name led some people to believe that the companies not listed here sell products that might actually work. Not true. All the companies are frauds and all the products they sell are scams. We’ve just heard more complaints or have our own comments about some of the companies.

[1]Advanced Natural BalanceEZ Shop

gainHeight.com

Gnosis Health Products

growtallernow.com

Height Now

Ultimate Growth Secrets

 These companies don’t list their mailing address on their site, not even a P.O. Box. You must be extremely suspicious of a merchant who wishes to remain anonymous. This is especially true when the merchant sells a product that you can not try before deciding to make a purchase. If you don’t have their address after the product fails, you won’t be able to send back the product for a refund.We found their addresses in one of the Whois database of Internet Domain Names.While Advanced Natural Balance does list an address, it is a fake one. It is common for addresses that begin with 1313 to be fraudulent entries. Advanced Physical Tech.’s Whois entry is also probably fake. The zip code is the same as a popular TV show, which tales place in a residential area of Beverly Hills. It is possible that these two companies are really the same.

  • [2]Amazing Height Advancement
  • Dr. Carl Brazer
  • Grow Taller Dynamics
  • Height System Team
  • Heightchallenged
  • Heightincrease.in
  • Natralex Labs
  • Theron Nutrition
 These companies go one step further than the ones listed in the previous note. Not only do they fail to list their postal addresses on their Web sites, but they pay a service to ensure that their addresses remain private. They are not listed in the Whois database of Internet Domain Names. It’s not difficult to guess what they have to hide.
[3]OneRom Many of the companies that sell Height Increase products also offer some kind of money back guarantee. According to our readers, the companies often do not honor their guarantee simply by ignoring the customer’s complaint. This is particularly easy for those companies that do not provide a mailing address or phone number on their Web sites. Companies that can only be contacted by email can easily determine which contacts to process and which ones to ignore.OneRom a little more inventive. They require that their customers provide documentation proving that they did not grow while using the product. You won’t find this information on their Web sites. Customers only find out about the guarantee requirements after they have made their purchase. The products arrive with a money back guarantee form. Read it carefully. It says that to receive a refund, you must provide documentation from a hospital that there has been no growth. You must also include the name and phone number of the doctor who measured you, before and after you used the product. Many people may be too embarrassed to admit to their doctor that they spent money for the product and don’t have their height measured before starting treatment.
[4]gainHeight.comgrowtallernow.com

OneRom

P-Tech Solutions

 Several companies sell special shoe insoles. Some sell a product called Kimi and others call it Yoko. The insoles, so the companies claim, use the Chinese medical tradition of reflexology. Reflexology maps locations on the bottoms of the feet to organs and systems in the body. By pressing on these map locations, a practitioner can cure an illness for the associated organ.Kimi & Yoko take reflexology a step further. Their insole is supposed to use acupressure to stimulate growth. Acupressure is related to acupuncture, but uses pressure instead of needles. However, that’s little comfort for the insole wearer. Readers report that it is very painful to walk on the insoles and they often give up before the allotted time. Either way, no one has ever reported any success with these products.Though the companies appear different, there are similarities that suggest some link. People who have purchased both Kimi and Yoko say that the packaging and material is exactly the same, except for the product name. When you buy the Kimi product, you also receive 50 free bonus. The companies make the outrageous claim that the bonuses are worth $379. In fact, all of these are simply informational and most just provide links to other Web sites. Several of the free bonuses link to or copy information from Short Persons Support. growtallernow.com even lists our research as their own on thier home page. The company that sells Yoko offers 10 free bonuses, worth between $40 and $50, many of which match the first 10 Kimi bonus. Short Persons Support does not support nor have we received any moneys from these companies.

For companies that brazenly lie about about their bonuses, it is no leap of reason to assume that they are also lying about their products and money back guarantees.

One reader reported returning his Yoko insoles to gainHeight.com, in Malaysia in July 2002. As of January 2003, the person had not received a refund and the company had stopped responding to inquires.
[5]Beauty Forever One reader reported being conned out of thousands of dollars by Beauty Forever. This is perhaps the worst scam of them all because the products are so expensive. Four boxes of growth patches plus the equipment to use with them costs over $1,100! There is no guarantee. Beauty Forever is essentially a beauty salon that has expanded its business model to include fraud. Treatments includes putting the customer’s feet in a bucket of warm water, followed by a foot massage with the expensive machine. It appears to use the same process of Reflexology as does Kimi. Neither work but if you are going to throw away your money, you might as well waste it on the less expensive product. The company is located in Singapore so if you live here, stay away fromt the store and the outlets.
[6](Company name will not be mentioned) One reader reported that (Company will not be named) never sent the product. They claimed problems with the courier company but did not refund the $260 and eventually stopped answering inquires. Failure to ship has become more common with these companies in recent years.
[7]SatoGrowth On reader reported purchasing a two month supply of Satogrowth powder. The company did not send the product as seen on their Web site, but instead sent two small plastic packs of the powder. The reader lost $215 on those two small packs.
[8]Prolex In early 2005, many Scam Height Increase companies operating out of Canada were shut down by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Prolex maintained its Web site but offered a cryptic message about being out of stock. Unfortunately, by year-end, it was back in business.Besides not working, one of our readers reported that the product arrived without a return address label, making it difficult to return for the “so called” money back guarantee.Two other readers reported requesting a refund after they found that the product did not or could not work. The company quietly ignored these requests.

Rather than developing their own content, Prolex plagiarized parts of Short Persons Support. At one time, their Growing Taller page lifted content directly from our Leg Lengthening New Developments page.
[9]P-Tech Solutions One of our readers reported contacting P-Tech to obtain assurances that their product work as advertised. After several unreturned emails, the reader accused the company of fraudulent practices. Finally a company representative responded with:Get a life you loser.This says something about what these companies, or at least this particular one, think about their customers. They don’t respect them and they don’t want to help them. They simply want their money.

Four readers reported not receiving the product, after paying for it.

Another reader contacted some of the people list on P-Tech’s testimonials page to verify that their experiences were positive. The people contacted were very irritated and said they never used the product.

One reader reported problems returning the unopened package because the company does not respond to these email requests and the phone number doesn’t work.
[10]FloridaShowtime One reader reported that her son was charged by FloridaShowtime for two orders instead of one and that the product never arrived. After many emails and calls went unanswered, a representative from the company replied by email that they would refund her money, less shipping, if she returned the package. That’s hard to do when there is no package.
[11]I Grew Taller While we have not received any specific complaints about this company, we have noticed that it is very unreliable. Twice it’s been down for extended times for a site redesign and it even changed its URL once. The site is very slow. The site gives a U.S. Postal address but the URL is registered to an Indonesian company. The server being located in Indonesia would explain why it is so slow.
[12]Advanced Physical Technologies Some companies point to research results to prove their claims. While the companies target English speaking clients, the research they quote is usually from a non-English speaking facility. We do not question the integrity of the facility but the language difference makes it difficult for a prospective client to investigate the claim. Difficult but not always impossible.Advanced Physical Technologies quotes the conclusion of a study by Amato G, Izzo G, La Montagna G, Bellastella A.:CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that 12 months of rhGH treatment at the lowest doses so far used normalizes bone metabolism and cortical bone density, and improves trabecular bone density leading to height increase without causing adverse events.

The conclusion in the abstract of the published paper is close:

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that 12 months of rhGH treatment at the lowest doses so far used normalizes bone metabolism and cortical bone density, and improves trabecular bone density without causing adverse events.

but clearly does not address Height Increase.
[13]Body Image Solutions One reader reported that this company did not reply to emails questioning why their product wasn’t working for him.
[14]TIME Height Increase TIME Height Increase has one of the most unique marketing strategies that we’ve seen and the best example of a non-product. The company charges only $20 for their secret method to make anyone taller. It is the cheapest price on the height increasing market. People who suspect that height increasing schemes are scams are more likely to spend the $20 just in case it may work.The company loads their web sites with words about products that have nothing to do with their own. You might expect that they do this to make comparisons with their competitors but their goal is more devious They pack their Web site with meaningless text so search engines will place them higher in their search results. They even have a page that they don’t want you to read:Please visit another page, This page is simply for the search engine to find

This behaviour tends to decrease the accuracy of search engine results and the search engine companies guard against it. We have contacted the major search engines and have report TMT’s actions.

So what is this amazing secret that can cause people to grow in just hours and is reversible. The secret that the company paid $700 to learn. According to one reader, the secret is

…a piece of paper saying how to insert a base into a shoe to make oneself taller.

The company might as well end the letter with a Hah Hah!
[15]Body RemodelingGinza Kojima Height Increase Clinic These companies are very different from most others listed on the Companies page. Where as most sell products, these two “clinics” sell height increasing services. They bill themselves in the same business sector as Cosmetic Leg Lengthening but claim similar results without invasive surgery. There may be some merit in their techniques for posture correction but their claims of almost limitless growth are highly suspicious.
[16]Adult Height IncreaseAmazing Height Advancement These companies are very thrifty. They don’t even bother to establish a Web address and Web site. Instead, they use social networking sites to advertise their products. Amazing Height Advancement doesn’t even take credit cards. To order their product, you have to send email, which may not be secure. The companies don’t provide their address or phone numbers so it will be difficult to ask for a refund when you find that the product didn’t work. By using a social networking site, it’s not possible to obtain their address from Whois.
[17]Human Growth Hormones Before 2009, there were many Web sites that sold Human Growth Hormone products specifically for height increase and many more that sold HGH for other reasons such as increased energy levels and to reverse the effects of aging. The evidence that HGH actually works for these non-height increasing health issues is not good but outside the domain of the Short Persons Support. This site sells HGH for many purposes including height increase. Unfortunately, we expect that more HGH sites will expand their market to include height increase. This company’s height increase product for is more expensive than their other HGH products and among the most expensive in this market.
[18]Grow Taller 4 Idiots The company goes under many different names and different Web addresses. All Web address sell electronic instructions for $47. The names of some of the books are difference but there is evidence that they all belong to the same company.One reader reported buying an ebook from the company but it was sever sent. The company did not reply to his emails.Another reader asked for his money back when he learned that there was no book – only online instructions. He was told the account was sent to accounting for a refund but after 60 emails, nothing ever arrived. A lot of these companies are really one or two people who were able to create a Web site and populate it with content. They are not large enough to have accounting or service departments.
[19]GrowthBoosterGrowthEnhancer

Parmalab

 A reader submitted this link to a bulleting board post:Parmalab, GrowthBooster, GrowthEnhancer and all that crap are various businesses run by 3 brothers from Montreal, Quebec Canada.The oldest of all is a 33 years of age and the second youngest is 30 and the youngest is 25

http://www.heightguide.com

The oldest: Zia Sharifi
The Middle: Ahmed Wali Sharifi
The Youngest Feroz or Faroz Sharifi

PACAP

Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Pathway Is Induced by Mechanical Load and Reduces the Activity of Hedgehog Signaling in Chondrogenic Micromass Cell Cultures.

“Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neurohormone exerting protective function during various stress conditions either in mature or developing tissues. Previously we proved the presence of PACAP signaling elements in chicken limb bud-derived chondrogenic cells in micromass cell cultures. Since no data can be found if PACAP signaling is playing any role during mechanical stress in any tissues, we aimed to investigate its contribution in mechanotransduction during chondrogenesis. Expressions of the mRNAs of PACAP and its major receptor, PAC1 increased, while that of other receptors, VPAC1, VPAC2 decreased upon mechanical stimulus. Mechanical load enhanced the expression of collagen type X, a marker of hypertrophic differentiation of chondrocytes and PACAP addition attenuated this elevation{maybe if there was a PACAP or PAC1 inhibitor, longitudinal bone growth could be increased}. Moreover, exogenous PACAP also prevented the mechanical load evoked activation of hedgehog signaling: protein levels of Sonic and Indian Hedgehogs and Gli1 transcription factor were lowered while expressions of Gli2 and Gli3 were elevated by PACAP application during mechanical load. Our results suggest that mechanical load activates PACAP signaling and exogenous PACAP acts against the hypertrophy inducing effect of mechanical load.”

“Various cell surface receptors can serve for mechanosensation of chondrocytes, such as
certain purinoreceptors, integrins, stretch activated Ca2+ channels, TRPV4 and NMDA receptors. Downstream targets of these receptors can regulate the morphology, metabolism,
proliferation and Ca2+ homeostasis of chondrocytes. Our group demonstrated a PKA regulated
mechanosensitive activation of Sox9 and PP2A and the involvement of the hedgehog signaling in mechanotransduction”

“PACAP is a short peptide existing in two biological active forms; PACAP 1–38 and PACAP 1–27. Both forms have a very short life span. Three main G-protein coupled receptors of PACAP have been identified; PAC1, VPAC1 and VPAC2, the latter two have lower affinity to the neuropeptide. Activation of these receptors can regulate divers signaling pathways, from which the canonical signaling connection induces the activation of PKA and/or MAPK system”

“exogenous addition of PACAP exerts positive effects both on chondro- and osteogenesis”

“PACAP was proven to prevent apoptosis, ischemic conditions, and oxidative stress”

“PACAP 1–38 at 100 nM was applied on day two of culturing and continuously from day one . MS, mechanical stimulation applied on day two and days 2–3 for 30 min.”

“The enhanced protein levels of collagen type IX and X imply that chondrogenic cells are shifted
toward a prehypertrophic differentiation”

“the mechanical stimulation resulted in a significant elevation of SHH protein expression which was normalized by the application of exogenous PACAP.  The mRNA expression of Indian hedgehog (IHH) was decreased, moreover, the protein expression reduced to an almost undetectable level after PACAP administration. In contrast with this, the mechanical load enhanced the mRNA and protein expression of IHH”

“a simultaneous significant elevation of the amount of type IX collagen[concurrent with an elevation of Type X collagen expression] may reflect on certain matrix reorganization upon mechanical load”

“The presence of collagen type IX determines the architecture of the collagen network in cartilage and its expressional changes have been demonstrated in aging. Addition of PACAP elevated the amount of collagen type II, but reduced the type IX collagen-content in micromass cultures”

“Strong mechanical load is known to induce the apoptotic program of chondrocytes or mesenchymal stem cells resulting in a shift toward the prehypertrophic phenotype. In mature joints, intense mechanical force can result in the reduction of the superficial layer of articulating cartilage and may cause a decrease of the epiphysial growth plate followed by a reduced expression of collagen type II and X”

“Since mechanical load can be regarded as a physical stress to the chondrogenic cells,
one can suppose a mechanoprotective role of PACAP during chondrogenesis.”

“Gli2 has been shown as a primary cilium specific transcription factor influenced by mechanical load and has also been demonstrated to regulate vascularization of cartilage following chondrocyte hypertrophy”

Grow Taller Using Yoga , Part III

Today I found a small excerpt from the magazine Esquire where  the idea of height increase was mentioned. It was part of a 14 part series intended for guys so that they can make themselves better. It was appropriately titled….

Note: The reference/source can be found in the and reached by clicking HERE.

14 Ways to Make Yourself Better Right Now…Be Taller

 

Hang from doorframes all you want. Once you’re done growing — typically in your late teens — there’s really only one way to make yourself taller: yoga.

According to Alex von Bidder, a New York City yoga instructor, one to two years of basic yoga can get you up to an inch in height — simply by making you stand straighter. He recommends the following poses, two to three times a week. We recommend not turning into one of those guys who carries around his own yoga mat.

 

Mountain pose – (Separates vertebrae, aligns spine.)

Feet just inside shoulder width, tailbone tucked toward your heels, belly button sucked in. Move your shoulder blades back and down. Stretch your head up toward the ceiling. Hold for one minute.

 

 

 

 

 

Downward-facing dog – (Strengthens, draws back shoulders.)

Begin on all fours with your hands just in front of your shoulders. Lift your knees off the floor, straighten your legs, and push your heels toward the floor. Breathe deeply for one minute.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple supported backbend – (Provides a deep, supported stretch.)

Lie back with a cylindrical pillow just below your shoulder blades and a rolled-up blanket beneath your neck. Open your arms, palms facing up. Breathe deeply.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple reclining twist – (Tones torso, balances spine.)

Tuck your chin slightly. Arms open, palms up. Breathe in and bring your knees to your chest, then, as you exhale, lower your legs to the right side. Breathe deeply for one minute. Repeat on the left side.

Illustration Credit: Chris Philpot

 

 

 

 

Me: So the article says that we can gain an extra inch o our height from continuously doing yoga for 1-2 years. I think that is of course better than nothing since 1 more inch is still 1 more inch, and that does not even include all of the health, emotional, and mental benefits that comes from doing yoga.

 

Nick Vujicic – How To Live An Inspired Life Without Limbs

Ever since I posted that Youtube video on the previous post showing the extraordinary life and living challenges with the ever awesome Sean Stephenson, I wanted to show more proof the need to be fully grateful and happy for what we do have.

In this world, there are many people who don’t have legs, or arms. Whether they are because of war and battles or because other unfortunate circumstances, or because they were born with that condition, some people somehow manage to change their own mindsets and life philosophy to build a strong inner core and be able to offer something of amazing value to the world. I guess my point with this post is to reframe our own situation in a better light. Practicing gratefulness is one of the best spiritual habits we can develop to make use happier and more at peace.

In quite possibly the most extreme case, we have Nick Vujicic. While we may believe that we are going through extreme pain adn suffering dealing with our own height issues, we should still be thankful that we have (or at least I hope we all have) our two legs, no matter how short they may be. At least we have legs to walk and run with.

I don’t think I can do justive to explain his life so I will just quote part of the Wikipedia article on his life.

“” Nicholas James Vujicic  (born 4 December 1982) is an Australian preacher and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. As a child, he struggled mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, but eventually came to terms with his disability and, at the age of seventeen started his own non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs. Vujicic presents motivational speeches worldwide, on life with a disability, hope, and finding meaning in life….Vujicic currently lives in California….On 12 February 2012, he married his fiancée Kanae Miyahara.””

If you want to learn more about his life and his causes, go to either the Wikipedia article about him HERE or his website HERE.

Again, I post the first part of a short documentary done on Nick’s life and his unique challenges. Forgive me for any technical difficulties in uploading the video. I found the video off of Youtube from this link HERE.

Note: Again, I have nothing to gain from posting this video. Even though I don’t share his viewpoint or faith in God, it is important to be able to learn from his extremely positive attitude on life and be able to use that as a takeaway.

I liked this video and felt it was appropriate posting it here. Although Nick cites his belief in God a lot, we don’t have to hold the same belief system as him. I personally believe that we can only do as well as we are given power to.

 

Long Bone Tensile Strength, Loading Capacity, Compression Strength

I did not take enough biology or physiology in school so I will do some research and then come back to explain in detail how the long bones functions. I wanted to focus on the tensile strength, leading capacity, density, and composition of long bones. For use to be able to manipulate or change something, we must learn and study it as much and as deeply as possible.

One of the major things I wanted to learn was this….

“How much force or load can the long bone, specifically the human femur withstand, in terms of a compressive load, a tensile load, and a lateral load?”

From the article “DIFFERENCES IN THE TENSILE STRENGTH OF BONE OF DIFFERENT HISTOLOGICAL TYPES”, We learn that “…bone containing Haversian systems has less tensile strength than that with no Haversian systems in it .”

THE STRENGTH OF BONE

“When an object is acted on by an external force there will be an intermolecular resistance inside the object which will tend to prevent the object deforming. The magnitude of this resistance is called the STRESS. The stress will, however, only tend to prevent the object deforming. The amount that the object is actually deformed is called the STRAIN. There are three ways in which forces can act upon objects to produce strain.They can produce compression,tension or shear. In compression the molecules of the object come closer together:in tension they separate from each other,and in shear they slide over one another. From the biological point of view it is nearly always the tension strength of bone that is important. Most accidental fractures of bone are tension fractures, even the spiral fractures associated with torsion(Evans, Pedersen & Lissner, 1951). Compressive and shearing fractures are usually the result of impact, which is relatively uncommon in nature, ….”

The reason for tension fractures being more common than compression fractures is the that bone, like most brittle substances, is stronger in compression than in tension (Evans,1957,chap.4). 

The human femur is nearly twice as strong in compression as it is in tension; the ultimate strength is of the order of 12,000 lb./sq.in. in tension and 20,000 lb./ sq.in. in compression, and more or less the same relationship holds for oxen (Evans, 1957,chap.14). 

Me: I really hope you got that part. That shows just how much force/sq. in our upper leg bone can withstand before it can deform and stretch.

“…it is well known that dry bone is stronger than wet bone.”

“…Some authors have pointed out that where as dry bone behaves as an almost perfectly elastic substance, wet bone creeps. In a perfectly elastic substance strain is always proportional to stress. A substance that is imperfectly elastic will behave more or less like an elastic substance up to a certain stress, called its elastic limit, but after that point the amount of strain caused by a given increase of stress is larger…”

“…the energy absorbing capacity of bone is more or less proportional to the total strain.”

” There are in fact two reasons for supposing that it is the Haversian systems themselves that make the bone weaker: first,they reduce the actual amount of bone present, and secondly, they reduce the total amount of calcium in the bone. “

From source 2, I find the answer to the question, “What substance in bone contributes to tensile strength?” The answer is Collagen fibrils arranged in lamellae results in the tensile strength of bone. 🙂

From the Wikipedia article on human bone HERE, I paste the section about the Mechanical properties of bones…

The primary tissue of bone, osseous tissue, is a relatively hard and lightweight composite material, formed mostly of calcium phosphate in the chemical arrangement termed calcium hydroxylapatite (this is the osseous tissue that gives bones their rigidity). It has relatively high compressive strength, of about 170 MPa (1800 kgf/cm²)[4] but poor tensile strength of 104–121 MPa and very low shear stress strength (51.6 MPa),[5] meaning it resists pushing forces well, but not pulling or torsional forces. While bone is essentially brittle, it does have a significant degree of elasticity, contributed chiefly by collagen. All bones consist of living and dead cells embedded in the mineralized organic matrix that makes up the osseous tissue.

Me: So if we did stretch the human bones using a tensile force, it would require around 100-120 MPa of Newton/m^2. It is supposed to be mostly brittle but there is s slight bit of elasticity. 

There are two types of bone, explained below…

Compact (cortical) bone

The hard outer layer of bones is composed of compact bonetissue, so-called due to its minimal gaps and spaces. Its porosity is 5–30%.[6] This tissue gives bones their smooth, white, and solid appearance, and accounts for 80% of the total bone mass of an adult skeleton. Compact bone may also be referred to as dense bone.

Trabecular (cancellous) bone

Filling the interior of the bone is the trabecular bone tissue (an open cell porous network also called cancellous or spongy bone), which is composed of a network of rod- and plate-like elements that make the overall organ lighter and allow room for blood vessels and marrow. Trabecular bone accounts for the remaining 20% of total bone mass but has nearly ten times the surface area of compact bone. Its porosity is 30–90%.[6] If, for any reason, there is an alteration in the strain the cancellous is subjected to, there is a rearrangement of the trabeculae. The microscopic difference between compact and cancellous bone is that compact bone consists of haversian sites and osteons, while cancellous bones do not. Also, bone surrounds blood in the compact bone, while blood surrounds bone in the cancellous bone.

From source 4 we learn more about the mechanical properties of the long bones.

Besides the metabolically active cellular portion of bone tissue, bone is also made up of a matrix (a bonding of multiple fibers and chemicals) of different materials, including primarily collagen fibers and crystalline salts. The crystalline salts deposited in the matrix of bone are composed principally of calcium and phosphate, which are combined to form hydroxyapatite crystals. As you can see, the chemical formula for hydroxyapatite crystals includes molecules of calcium (Ca), phosphate (PO4), and hydroxide (OH):

Ca10[PO4]6[0H]2
In particular, it is the collagen fibers and the calcium salts that help to strengthen bone. In fact, the collagen fibers of bone have great tensile strength (the strength to endure stretching forces), while the calcium salts, which are similar in physical properties to marble, have great compressional strength (the strength to endure squeezing forces). These combined properties, plus the degree of bondage between the collagen fibers and the crystals, provide a bony structure that has both extreme tensile and compressional strength

However, the compressional strength of bone is greater than that of even the best reinforced concrete, and the tensile strength approaches that of reinforced concrete. But, even with their great compressional and tensile strengths, neither bone nor concrete has a very high level of torsional strength (the strength to endure twisting). In fact, bone fractures often occur as a result of torsional forces that are exerted on an arm or a leg.

Except for the articular cartilage that covers the very ends of each epiphysis, the bone is completely enclosed by a tough covering called the periosteum. Within the periosteum lies a bony layer called compact bone, which is solid, strong, and resistant to bending. The epiphyses are composed largely of spongy (cancellous) bone, which provides the greatest amount of elastic strength since the epiphyses are subjected to the greatest forces of compression.

Me: So we know that in terms of compression forces and tensile forces, the epiphysis are super durable. 

In humans, different bones stop lengthening at different ages, but ossification is fully complete by about age 25. During this lengthening period, the stresses of physical activity result in the strengthening of bone tissue.

From source 4 we learn some more critical elements

Collagen has a low Youngs Modulus (stress/strain) aka (F/A)/(delL/L) , good tensile strength, and poor compressive strength.

Calcium appatite is a stiff, brittle material with good compressive strength
The mineral content is the main determinant of the E of cortical bone
Cancellous bone is 25% as dense, 10% as stiff and 500% as ductile as cortical bone
Cortical bone is excellent in resisting torque
Cancellous bone is good in resisting comression and shear 
The cortical part of the long bone is actually stronger than most metals
In uniaxial, monotonic tension and compression loading :

  • Longitudinal loading
  • Tensile strength ~130 MPa
  • Compressive strength ~190 MPa
  • Transverse loading
  • Tensile strength ~50 MPa
  • Compressive strength ~130 MPa

Cortical bone has adapted to a situation where compression loading is greater than tensile loading
Tensile and compressive yield strengths are close to the respective ultimate strength
Bone loaded above its yield stress deforms by a relatively large amount compared to its elastic behaviour
Prior to fracture, cortical bone has undergone relatively large deformations
Ultimate tensile strength is slightly more sensitive to strain rate than Young’s modulus

Bone will continue to deform if submitted to a constant stress for an extended period of time
Strain plotted with time for adult human cortical bone under tension
If cortical bone is loaded at a certain level for enough time, it will break, although the stress level is well below yield and ultimate strengths
If creep occurs without fracture, a permanent deformation results : viscoplastic behavior
If the applied stress is above a threshold level (70 MPa or 55% of its ultimate strength for human cortical bone in tension), the rate at which creep deformation occurs and the magnitude of permanent deformation after unloading both increase sharply 
As for Cancellous Bone, these are the results….

The tensile behavior of trabecular bone is much different from its compressive behavior after yielding : failure occurs by fracture of the individual trabeculae => the specimen can take less and less load until final fracture occurs

Me: Overall, if we really wanted to, we can theoretically create a machine that can apply in the range of 60-120 MPa of tensile force/area at a very steady rate and get the human long bones to elongate, and hoping that the bone is not brittle from age or fracture, the bone will slowly elongate However, the numbers are clearly showing that applying a force from the side or by twisting the bone will lead to the bone more easily fracturing and deforming.