Growth Hormone

The National Institutes of Health has resumed recruiting healthy children for a controversial experiment in which researchers hope to make short children taller by injecting them with genetically engineered human growth hormone.Some medical experts say they are troubled by the research because it treats a child's height -- so often a matter of emotional bias, peer pressure or parental vanity -- as a medical disability, while those who support it say that making someone a few inches taller with hormone injections is no more harmful than breast implants, liposuction or other conventional cosmetic surgery.

Just a few blocks from the exotic fish at the National Aquarium, research is under way to "redesign" some of their less glamorous cousins, such as trout and catfish, for faster growth that could revolutionize the farming of fish worldwide.Through the wonders of genetic engineering, Thomas Chen and his team at the University of Maryland's Center of Marine Biotechnology -- located at the Community College of Baltimore -- have increased the growth rate of certain fish species by as much as 40 percent.

Newspapers have printed many articles on "mad cow disease." They have described the possible risk to humans of eating beef from sick cows, as well as the impact of the disease on farmers and the slaughtering industry in Great Britain. I would like to know more about the human disease thought to result from eating beef from infected cows.Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, aka mad cow disease, is a neurological disease first recognized by British veterinarians in 1985. The present panic was initiated when British physicians recognized 10 people, all under age 42, with symptoms similar to those of a human form of this disease, called Creutzfeldt-Jacob (C-J)

Seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens is on trial today - again - for allegedly lying to Congress, and that means the spotlight will again find Brian McNamee, the pitcher's former personal trainer. McNamee has said he injected Clemens on numerous occasions with steroidsand human growth hormone. But the man I'll be thinking about is Andy Pettitte, Clemens' longtime friend and teammate. Here's the thing about steroid cases - they have the potential to rip up friendships and clubhouses.

Sports fans and commentators speak of human growth hormone as a magical substance that offers the same benefits as anabolic steroids but cannot be detected in urine tests. So when a player is linked to hGH, as Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons was by an SI.com report, many presume the player was desperate to bulk up and power baseballs into the stands. The scientific community doesn't uniformly agree, however, that hGH would help an athlete do so. Several studies of senior patients have found that hGH helps build lean muscle mass but does not increase muscle strength.

Molecular biologist Thomas T. Chen has figured out how to fool Mother Nature.The fish he bathes in growth hormone or embryos he injects with growth hormone genes grow 20 to 80 percent faster than fish left with the amount of the hormone nature gave them, according to his studies.Manipulating the genetic makeup of living things to make them better, bigger, faster-growing and disease resistant is the mission of the Center of Marine Biotechnology in Baltimore. And the marine biotech center will form the cornerstone of the Christopher Columbus Center of Marine Research and Exploration being dedicated today.

After decades of helplessly watching Alzheimer's, Huntington's and other diseases ravage the brain, medical science is striking back with a potent weapon -- the brain's newly discovered power to heal itself.Enlightened by the insights of molecular biology, scientists now know that Mother Nature equips the brain with a kind of fountain of youth -- hormones and other chemicals that nurture andsustain brain cells. But when the fountain begins to dry up, as it sometimes does with age and some mental disorders, brain cells wither and die.Memory loss, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other degenerative diseases are now believed to be the biological desert created when these rejuvenating chemicals vanish.

When you run, you burn 100 calories per mile, whether you run fast or slow. You keep essentially the same physical form when you run fast or slow, using the same motions and burning the same number of calories per mile.Scientists recently studied two groups of men. One group ran 2 miles slowly -- in 35 minutes -- and burned 200 calories during their workout. The second group ran 2 miles fast -- in 17 minutes -- and burned the same 200 calories, but the faster group lost far more body fat. Why does intense exercise make you more lean?

Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. is challenging a growing trend among dairies to label their milk "hormone free," saying that claim misleads consumers into believing the cow growth hormone Monsanto makes is unsafe. St. Louis-based Monsanto's aggressive move against a group of dairies to halt use of the labels could send ripples through the food industry.

Where's Mark Henderson when you need him? I kept waiting for someone to drive a lawn tractor through the deep rough at Winged Foot yesterday at a pivotal moment in the U.S. Open, clearing a space for Phil Mickelson to seal his third straight victory in a major tournament. Wasn't to be. No relief was forthcoming for the golfers who played the final round of this year's "Rumble in the Jungle" --- and both Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie melted down at the end to open the door for Australian Geoff Ogilvy.