Finally, the Spleen Gets Some Respect

[steven johnson]

Removing the spleen can have seripus health implications beyond just increased pneumonia in the elderly. Their monocytes have many functions, apparently.


Reporting in the current issue of the journal Science, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School describe studies showing that the spleen is a reservoir for huge numbers of immune cells called monocytes, and that in the event of a serious trauma to the body like a heart attack, gashing wound or microbial invasion, the spleen will disgorge those monocyte multitudes into the bloodstream to tackle the crisis.

The new findings in no way counter the necessity of excising a ruptured spleen, the researchers said, but they do suggest that the loss of the organ is more than a mere "inconvenience," as it has often been depicted, and could help explain previous reports showing an enhanced risk of early death among people who have undergone splenectomies.

The splenectomized men, the researchers found, were twice as likely to die of cardiovascular disease as were the veterans in the control group.

...monocytes, the largest of the body's white blood cells. "It was recognized that these cells are the major repair workers after a heart attack," Dr. Nahrendorf said. "They remove dead muscle cells, they start rebuilding stable scar tissue, they stimulate the generation of new blood vessels."


Finally, the Spleen Gets Some Respect

[MADem]

1. Gall bladders, too--they're always grabbing them, as well. NT

[Make7]

2. funky - you have a comma in your opening [div] tag

It appears to be making the whole excerpt look funky in my browser (Opera) - not sure if other people are seeing the same thing, but here is the problem you need to edit in your post:

    [div, class="excerpt"] to [div class="excerpt"]


Although that may just be an Opera issue, your link doesn't appear to be working either. There seems to be an errant "br /" inserted in the web address and an extra space at the end. You should change:

    'http://www.nytimes.br /com/2009/08/04/science/04angier.html '

      to

    'http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/science/04angier.html'

 

[steven johnson]

3. sorry -- I'm using a Treo smart phone

with a crippled java toolset. And the NYT website enters me with a 'http://mobile...' URL. Combine that with having to type out each letter on a 1.6"x1.6" touch screen. I'm amazed I ever get mistake-free posts.

Sorry for the poor formatting.

[MADem]

4. Looks good to me.....of course, I'm using one of those clunky old fashioned laptops. nt

[Make7]

5. No worries.

The formatting only seems messed up in Opera, in other browsers I just tried the text shows up fine but isn't inside a excerpt element. Although the link was broken in every browser I tried - it's probably easy enough for someone to just google some text and find the story.

With a 1.6" touchscreen, I'm surprised you even attempt to make posts. :) I'd say you're doing pretty good... considering...

[parasearchers]

6. The Spleen? Hero or Villian?

The Spleen Leaps into action