Obviously this depends on the quality of an article, but there is more to the "extra bits" (i.e. that which is not plain data) than mere fluff. If you are very

Obviously this depends on the quality of an article, but there is more to the "extra bits" (i.e. that which is not plain data) than mere fluff. If you are very familiar with a topic (i.e have a PhD in precisely that area), the extra bits are not of much interest, though the methodology might be. If you have some passing familiarity, then the introduction and discussion can help you a lot in understanding the implications proposed for the data. Most biomedical experimentation takes place in the context of considerable amount of uncertainty, e.g. relevance of the model used for human disease, etc, and more, as described in the article you linked to, so it does help many readers to have some kind of context. The lack of discussion in biomedical articles is likely due to a fear of reprisals.