Tuesday, September 18

Park on the driveway, drive on the parkway

I have another one for that list of things that are named the opposite of what they should be. The newly tested drug "Reclast" is supposed to fight osteoporosis by building stronger bones. I once took a human biology class--didn't do very well--but I did remember that bones are formed by two cells. Osteoblasts build bone, and Osteoclasts break it down. So "Reclast" should actually be called "Reblast." Also, if I'm not mistaken, "clast" comes from Greek meening "broken". So does "Reclast" actually mean "Re-broken"? Maybe the "Re" is Greek for "not".
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1 comment:

  1. EmilySeptember 18, 2007 at 3:17 PM

    Reblast sounds like an energy drink and Unclast just doesn't sound like good marketing. However I wouldn't trust a linguistically unsound drug to fix anything in me. It would have a negative placebo effect even if chemically it ought to work.

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