
Newly-discovered human organ may help explain how cancer spreads - coloneltcb
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2164903-newly-discovered-human-organ-may-help-explain-how-cancer-spreads/
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joe_the_user
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](https://www.painscience.com/articles/does-fascia-matter.php)

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

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

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joe_the_user
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.

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jaclaz
Actual article here:

[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23062-6](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-23062-6)

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

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

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pietroglyph
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.

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killjoywashere
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.

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behm
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!

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JeanMarcS
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 ?

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

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aldoushuxley001
where in the head? Is there a region in the brain this occurs?

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dsr_
Possibly:

[https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-
events/news/2015/research/ps...](https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-
events/news/2015/research/psychologist-brian-magnetic/)

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nsouth
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).

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

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

