Word: collagenous
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Though few people outside medicine and biology know the word, collagen is one of the most important constituents of the human body, making up 30% of its protein. In bone and tooth enamel, its long chains of molecules serve the same purpose as that of steel reinforcing rods in concrete. In mobile tissues' such as tendons, arteries and heart valves, they are like flexible steel wires. And despite the unfamiliarity of its name, collagen (from the Greek kolla, or glue, and pronounced col-uh-jen) has been popular in the humblest homes for centuries. When the hides and bones...
...theory, so versatile a natural body component should be ideal for replacing corneas, blood vessels, valves, and perhaps even whole organs. But practical considerations have long frustrated theory. In humans, animal collagen almost certainly would trigger inflammatory reactions and rejection mechanisms. Now, through the unlikely partnership of a Japanese shoe-leather company, which was making sausage casings on the side, and the Rogosin Laboratories of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, it looks as though animal collagen may yet become the ideal material for many medical uses...
...Tails. X-ray studies reveal natural collagen as three strands of molecules twisted together like rope. The strands are short, and many have to be joined end to end to make up the body's long collagen fibers. Dr. Tomio Nishihara, a physical chemist who heads research for the Japan Leather Co., and Dr. Francis O. Schmitt of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thought there must be something on the ends of the basic molecules that enabled them to couple. Dr. Albert L. Rubin and an M.I.T. team set about testing the theory. They found that each collagen strand...
Almost 1,600 physicians from all over the U.S. gathered in Detroit's Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel last week, listened to highly technical papers on such arcane subjects as the treatment of collagen diseases and new analogues of adrenocortical steroids. What made the gathering noteworthy was the identity of the sponsoring organization: the all-Negro National Medical Association. Founded in 1895 and long dedicated to breaking down social and professional prejudice and discrimination against Negro physicians, the N.M.A. could count its battle largely won. The next phase: improving its members' technical competence through a capsulized postgraduate course...
...Bellevue Hospital. ¶ Allergic conditions are often "materially relieved," said Drs. Theron G. Randolph and John P. Rollins of Northwestern University. In asthma, the relief is short-lived, but some hay fever (ragweed) victims were sneeze-free for the season after a few shots of ACTH. ¶ The "collagen diseases" (involving the connective tissues) are most responsive. Rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatic fever, which first put ACTH in the headlines (TIME, May 2), are placed in this group by many authorities. Several others follow the same pattern of quick relief, quick relapse when treatment is stopped.¶ Swollen lymph glands...