1.   Boston may be even more crucial in deciding the fate of the new cartilage procedure.

2.   But a number of labs can now culture new cartilage from a small sample of cells.

3.   Doctors created new cartilage with scar tissue, which should hold out four or five years.

4.   Producing the magnets and tagged cells is a cheap and noninvasive method of forming new cartilage tissue.

5.   Researchers also are looking at ways to send a genetic signal to instruct new cartilage to be as firm and shock-resistant as the original.

6.   The new cartilage can survive because oxygen and nutrients from surrounding body fluids diffuse into the cells.

7.   Doctors smoothed three bones, removed loose cartilage and made microfractures designed to spur new cartilage growth and provide greater cushion.

8.   Proponents theorize that taking extra glucosamine stimulates new cartilage production, while chondroitin slows its destruction.