Newly-discovered human organ may help explain how cancer spreads | Hacker News Reader

Newly-discovered human organ may help explain how cancer spreads

newscientist.com

158 pointscoloneltcb26 comments

Wow,

It sound not like a new organ was discovered but that it been discovered that the fascia[1] have these tubes and that the fascia really is an organ.

In studying message, a lot of approaches already treat the fascia as an active, responsive organ rather than as a passive collection of fibrous tissue. The science behind this has been considered murky at best. Now there, at least, is an explanation.

The topic is debated here: https://www.painscience.com/articles/does-fascia-matter.php

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascia

Some eastern medicine and some massage schools recommend against massage and certain types or exercises when you are sick, claiming they will worsen the infection. If metastatic cells can move then surely viruses and bacteria can fit through these channels.

This seems more like an extension of the lymphatic system; also you're confusing musculoskeletal fascia with ground substance.

The linked Wikipedia article considers the substance that organs rest on, such as the pericardium, to be part of the fascia system. Though the muscle fascia and organ fascia distinction is worth keeping in mind, the article implies that tubes have been found in both.

Also, I think whether these tubes are part of lymphic system is speculation at this point. The main thing is that they havne't considered in anatomy because they're destroyed by embalming.

Actual article here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23062-6

I wonder how many organs are left to find. Was only recently they added the mesentery to the list.

I don't know that it's so much about "finding" organs anymore, it's more a process of "defining" them.

This article doesn't seem to outline a redefinition, but an actual discovery as a result of better imaging technology. It makes you wonder what other things we can only see in a living body.

It's more of a novel way of seeing what we knew was there, and then some willfully clever writing to make the scientifically routine sound new again. The interstitial space and it's role in carrying debris, waste products, and cells into the lymphatic system is well described, indeed a fundamental premise of physiology in health and disease. Extracellular fluid constitutes about 1/3 of a human's fluid volume. Do you really think we haven't thought about where that 15 liters is?

As was said on the other thread, this is like buying the Hubble Space Telescope, pointing it between Mars and Jupiter and breathlessly reporting a new kind of planet that consists of a lot of rocks spread in an orbital ring.

I thought it was pretty astounding two years ago when researchers at UVA found a direct link between the brain and immune system that wasn't previously known to exist.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/important-link-be...

That's amazing! We have 2018 and still find such important stuff!

The focus on the cancer PR bingo kinda plays the message down a little... This isn't just important for the understanding of cancer spreading. This could explain and effect so much more.

Just give them their damn nobel price!

Noob question (as I’m not a biologist at all, knowing nothing about this field) : is it a possible explaination for the whole « energy flowing in the body » thing ? If there in fact is a network of fluid inside the body that we didn’t know about before, can’t it explain ?

No, bodily "energy flows" are all in the head. It's very easy to think yourself into all sorts of physical sensations.

where in the head? Is there a region in the brain this occurs?

HPA?

Most likely somatosensory thalamocoritcal networks (the anterior parts of the parietal lobe and the corresponding thalamus). Maybe the insula, which is involved in visceral sensations as well.

Possibly:

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2015/research/ps...

The thing is, if I see a fire and put my hand in it, I'll experience pain. An MRI scanner would be able to detect certain parts of my brain being excited.

If my brain was then artificially stimulated in the same region, no doubt I'd feel the same pain again. However, none of this means that the fire wasn't real in the first place.

Of course, it's interesting because perhaps the fire isn't real and it's just some fringe part of the brain playing up, but I'm not sure how you'd go about designing an experiment to work that out (i.e. whether the circuits exist because the fire is real, or whether they've evolved some anomalous behaviour).

So how do you explain the ability for a man to delay orgasm as long as desired through tantric sex? The technique is to draw energy upwards from the genitals so as not to reach an energetic "critical mass" and trigger the "usual reflex".

However if you were to mean that energy flows are controlled by the mind, then you'd be bang on. "Where the mind goes, the chi flows" as they say.

Because sexual response is controlled by the brain.

If I imagine myself in a calming forest, I can feel calmer and my heart rate may go down. Does that mean I magically transported my soul to a forest or some other such superstition?

Yes.

Or at least some cultures { think of it / use language } in that way

It's nothing to do with reducing your arousal, but redirecting the nervous energy away from the genitals.

If you mean like chi or chakra type energy flow, chakras are generally centered on hormone producing organs. A flush of hormones seems the most likely source or explanation for known sensations like kundalini.

Though I am not clear if that is what you are asking about.

That has more to do with conscious control of your vagus nerve for mindful breathing.

hmmm... why did they take so long to find out something in the body?

It's complicated science. Kind of like physics or chemistry. We just don't know how we could live forever.

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