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Mutation Found in 'Muscle Man' Toddler

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  #1  
Old 06-24-2004
acidosmosis's Avatar
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Mutation Found in 'Muscle Man' Toddler

Quote:
Somewhere in Germany is a baby Superman, born in Berlin with bulging arm and leg muscles. Not yet 5, he can hold seven-pound weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do. He has muscles twice the size of other kids his age and half their body fat. DNA testing showed why: The boy has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth.


The discovery, reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites), represents the first documented human case of such a mutation.


Many scientists believe the find could eventually lead to drugs for treating people with muscular dystrophy and other muscle-destroying conditions. And athletes would almost surely want to get their hands on such a drug and use it like steroids to bulk up.


The boy's mutant DNA segment was found to block production of a protein called myostatin that limits muscle growth. The news comes seven years after researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore created buff "mighty mice" by "turning off" the gene that directs cells to produce myostatin.


"Now we can say that myostatin acts the same way in humans as in animals," said the boy's physician, Dr. Markus Schuelke, a professor in the child neurology department at Charite/University Medical Center Berlin. "We can apply that knowledge to humans, including trial therapies for muscular dystrophy."


Given the huge potential market for such drugs, researchers at universities and pharmaceutical companies already are trying to find a way to limit the amount and activity of myostatin in the body. Wyeth has just begun human tests of a genetically engineered antibody designed to neutralize myostatin.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ty_muscle_gene
When I read the first paragraph I was thinking, weight lifters will be paying to have this researched in hopes that some sort of gene therapy arises to allow them to gain weight easier. Or even a simple drug of some sort like some new steroid.
  #2  
Old 06-24-2004
---agissi---'s Avatar
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Thats pretty awesome, not that I really care for those drugs much, unless its to actually help/save someone.
  #3  
Old 07-11-2004
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too late

for u agissi........next thing u know u'd be running for govenor of california
  #4  
Old 07-12-2004
---agissi---'s Avatar
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um, I dont understand how does me running for gov. of cali fit into any of that?
  #5  
Old 07-12-2004
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i know

u've taken too many falls on that motorcycle, but former mr. universe arnold is currently running the show, so what better follow up than u poppin' a few pills and.....pump u up!
  #6  
Old 07-13-2004
---agissi---'s Avatar
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who the heck are you, knowing that I've banged myself up kinda bad on my dirt bike :\

ATTN: I think we've got a stalker

btw poping pills and stuff is nasty

Last edited by ---agissi---; 07-13-2004 at 01:25 AM..
  #7  
Old 07-13-2004
STK STK is offline
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Uh Oh, agissi you better watch your back. Yes, I agree, unless they are perscribed, there is deffinately a better way to get "pumped up". I might note that the other ways are natural and have no side effects if you do it correctly.