Nicollet County K9 unit gets unique treatment

ST. PETER Utilizing an innovative new medical procedure, the Nicollet County Sheriff's Office hopes to get a loyal officer back on his feet: Draeco, the 9-year-old German Shepard who serves in the K-9 unit.

The Andover Animal Hospital selected five animals this month, including Draeco, to participate in the clinic's first implementation of a new stem cell treatment.

Because stem cells treatments are much more effective in animals than humans, the use of stem cells has gained the attention of veterinarians in recent years. The procedure is intended as a safe one-time treatment, though it can repeated if necessary for an animal. It is takes roughly six weeks for the treatment to restore an animal's abilities.

Nicollet County Deputy Paul Biederman, the human partner in the K-9 unit, said Draeco has suffered from decreased mobility and endurance in recent years. A K-9 unit typically only serves until the dog is 8 to 10 years old.

He said he is hopeful the procedure will improve Draeco's quality of life and extend how long the dog can serve in the department.

Few Minnesota veterinary clinics offer the procedure. Unlike the controversial embryonic stem cells, the operation extracts stem cells from the animal's own fat. The procedure involves sending the fat cell samples to a specialized clinic in California, which extracts the stem cells and sends back a sterilized batch. Finally, the animal is sedated and the stem cells are injected directly into the affected joints.

Dr. Joanne Kamper, a veterinarian with the clinic, said the stem cells work by replacing the damaged tissue in the joints. She said they also release chemicals that reduce inflammation and recruit other nearby stem cells to assist in the process.

Draeco completed his operation Oct. 16. Biederman said it will still take several weeks for Draeco's treatment to take full effect, but he said he has already seen some small improvements in the dog's abilities.

The procedure usually costs $2,500 to $2,800. But, Draego's operation was funded through donations from the clinic and private donors.

"We're hopeful this will give him a new chance and really help him out," Biederman said.

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Nicollet County K9 unit gets unique treatment

West Coast Stem Cell Clinic, Physician First Choice, Now Offering the Option to Avoid Joint Replacement with Stem Cell …

Santa Ana, California (PRWEB) October 30, 2013

The top stem cell clinic on the West Coast, Physical First Choice, is now offering stem cell therapy for the nonoperative treatment of rotator cuff disorders. This includes rotator cuff tendonitis, bursitis and tears. Often times, the stem cell injection treatments are able to provide pain relief and return patients back to desired activities. For more information and scheduling, call (888) 988-0515.

Millions of individuals in the US suffer from rotator cuff disorders, which can prohibit sports activities and make it difficult to perform any type of overhead activities. An unfortunate few end up requiring surgery for pain relief. With stem cell therapy, operations may not be necessary.

Physician First Choice offers bone marrow and fat derived stem cell injections for the shoulder. Both are offered as outpatient, low risk procedures that are performed by the Board Certified doctors at the clinic. The stem cell doctors harvest the fat or bone marrow, which is then immediately processed for injection in the shoulder.

Platelet rich plasma therapy is also offered, which only involves a simple blood draw from the patient's arm. PRP therapy has been looked at in small studies and so far the clinical results are excellent for shoulder treatment. Numerous professional athletes have received regenerative medicine injections for shoulder disorders, and the reason is because they have been very promising with outcomes considering the low risk involved.

Along with shoulder injections, Physician First Choice offers stem cell injections for arthritis in the extremities, spine injections and IV stem cell therapy for a number of conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimers. For more information and scheduling, call (888) 988-0515.

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West Coast Stem Cell Clinic, Physician First Choice, Now Offering the Option to Avoid Joint Replacement with Stem Cell ...

Early Stem Cell Transplant May Benefit Some Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients

THURSDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Early stem cell transplants do not improve overall survival in high-risk patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but may be beneficial for a small group of patients with the very highest risk, according to a new study.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is cancer of the white blood cells (lymphocytes). Larger-than-normal lymph nodes and fever are common symptoms.

Many patients with this type of cancer relapse after undergoing chemotherapy and require an autologous stem cell transplant. In that procedure, the patient's own stem cells are removed before they receive high-dose chemotherapy and/or radiation. After the chemotherapy, the patient's stem cells are returned to help replenish the body's supply of blood cells.

This study of 397 patients in the United States and Canada looked at whether giving patients a stem cell transplant before they relapsed would improve their chances of survival. The patients, who had an intermediate-high or high risk of relapse, were randomly assigned to receive an early stem cell transplant or to a "control group" that received three additional cycles of a five-drug chemotherapy regimen.

After two years, 69 percent of those in the early transplant group had no disease progression, compared with 55 percent of those in the control group. However, both groups had similar survival rates: 74 percent in the early transplant group and 71 percent in the control group, the study found.

This is probably because patients in the control group who relapsed were later offered stem cell transplants, according to Dr. Patrick Stiff, director of Loyola University Medical Center's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, and colleagues.

Stem cell transplantation did not improve overall survival among the entire group of high-risk and high-intermediate risk patients, the study authors noted in a Loyola news release. However, it did appear to benefit a subgroup of high-risk patients. Among these patients, the two-year survival rate was 82 percent in the transplantation group and 64 percent in the control group, according to the report published Oct. 31 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Early transplantation and late transplantation appear to be roughly equivalent approaches in the treatment of the combined risk groups," the researchers concluded. However, "early transplantation appears to be beneficial for the small group of patients presenting with high-risk disease," the authors added.

It's hoped that the findings "will trigger discussions between such patients and their physicians as to the feasibility of doing early transplants," Stiff said in the news release.

-- Robert Preidt

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Early Stem Cell Transplant May Benefit Some Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients

Study evaluates early stem cell transplants for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Oct. 30, 2013 Performing early stem cell transplants in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma does not improve overall survival in high-risk patients, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

But early transplantation does appear to be beneficial among a small group of patients who are at the very highest risk, the study found.

Lead author is Patrick Stiff, MD, director of Loyola University Medical Center's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center. The study was developed by the SWOG cancer research cooperative group and funded by the National Cancer Institute. Stiff is chair of the SWOG Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Committee.

The traditional first-line therapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a combination of four chemotherapy drugs. In recent years, physicians have added a fifth drug, the monoclonal antibody rituximab. This five-drug regimen is known as R-CHOP. The treatment typically puts patients into remission. But many patients relapse and go on to get an autologous stem cell transplant after second-line chemotherapy.

The study was designed to determine whether doing an early stem cell transplant -- without first waiting to see whether a patient relapses -- would increase survival.

The clinical trial included 40 sites in the United States and Canada. In addition to SWOG, the study included the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, Cancer and Leukemia Group B and Canadian NCIC Clinical Trials Group.

The study included 397 patients who were in defined groups of high risk or intermediate-high risk of relapsing. After initial chemotherapy, those who responded were randomly assigned to receive an autologous stem cell transplant (125 patients) or to a control group of 128 patients who received three additional cycles of the R-CHOP regimen. Enrollment began in 1999 and ended in 2007. (Some of the patients in the beginning of the study did not receive rituximab.)

After two years, 69 percent of the transplantation patients had no disease progression, compared with 55 percent of the control group -- a statistically significant difference. However, the difference in two-year survival rates (74 percent in the transplantation group and 71 percent in the control group) was not statistically significant. This is probably because patients in the control group who relapsed were later offered stem cell transplants, Stiff and colleagues wrote.

But while stem cell transplants did not improve overall survival among the entire group of high-risk and high-intermediate risk patients, the subset of high risk patients did appear to receive both a remission and survival benefit. A retrospective analysis of the data showed that among these high-risk patients, the two-year survival rate was 82 percent in the transplantation group and 64 percent in the control group.

"Early transplantation and late transplantation achieve roughly equivalent overall survival in the combined risk groups," researchers concluded, yet "early transplantation appears to be beneficial for the small group of patients presenting with high-risk disease."

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Study evaluates early stem cell transplants for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Father begins stem cell donation in life-saving cancer treatment for daughter

Mackenzie Furniss, nine, is suffering from an advanced form of childhood cancer but has a last chance of life thanks to a 300,000 treatment devised by a German doctor.

Her father, Jason, 39, has given his stem cells to be used in a bid to eradicate the life-threatening cancer.

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Mr Furniss and his wife, Kimberley, 29, from Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, raised 178,000 towards the treatment before the Scottish Government stepped in with the rest.

The German professor who devised the treatment, Peter Lang, arranged for the treatment to be carried out at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, Glasgow.

It is the first time the procedure - haploidentical stem cell transplantation - has been carried out north of the Border and only the second time in the UK.

Mackenzie's treatment started on Thursday and is expected to take six months, including six trips to Professor Lang's clinic near Stuttgart where she will have antibody treatment to reduce the risk of her father's stem cells being rejected.

Mrs Furniss said: "We are just looking forward to the treatment being finished. Mackenzie just wants it to be over now. It's not a simple procedure, and we know it will take a while.

"Mackenzie really just wants to get back to normal and see her friends and go and play."

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Father begins stem cell donation in life-saving cancer treatment for daughter

Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center: The Future of Regenerative Medicine

Vernon Hills, IL (PRWEB) November 01, 2013

Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center, a research affiliate of Cell Surgical Network (CSN) provide stem cell therapy for a variety of degenerative conditions by deploying non-embryonic adult mesenchymal stem cells from a patients own adipose tissue or fat (also called Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF)). The Stromal Vascular Fraction is a broth that contains stem cells and growth factors. We harvest and deploy Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF) at our Vernon Hills, Illinois location.

Your adipose derived adult stem cells are your body's natural healing cells. They are recruited by chemical signals emitted by damaged tissues to repair and regenerate your damaged cells. Under investigational protocols, adipose derived adult stem cells can be deployed to improve patients quality of life with a number of degenerative conditions and diseases.

We use adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells for deployment & clinical research. Early stem cell therapy research has traditionally been associated with the controversial use of embryonic stem cells. The new focus is on non-embryonic adult mesenchymal stem cells which are found in a person's own blood, bone marrow and fat. Recent technological advances enable us to use adipose derived stem cells with our closed system to keep sterility intact throughout the whole process.

Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center uses autologous stem cells from a person's own fat that are easy to harvest safely under local anesthesia and are abundant in quantities.

Our current areas of study include; Orthopaedics, Neurology, Autoimmune and Ophthalmology conditions. If you think you may be a candidate for one of our stem cell protocols you may contact Gina Virgilio at (847) 367-8815. For more information please visit our website: http://www.chicagostemcellsinstitute.com.

About Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center:

At the Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center, we provide care for people suffering from diseases that may be alleviated by access to adult stem cell based regenerative treatment. The Center utilizes a fat transfer surgical technology to isolate and implant the patients own stem cells from a small quantity of fat harvested by liposuction on the same day. Patients who seek care at the Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center are evaluated by a respective member of our multispecialty expert panel of Board Certified physicians representing many medical fields. The Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center emphasizes quality and is highly committed to clinical research and the advancement of regenerative medicine.

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Chicago Stem Cell Treatment Center: The Future of Regenerative Medicine

Stem Cells Therapy

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.(BUSINESS WIRE)

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT; OTCBB:ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that its chief scientific officer, Robert Lanza, M.D., will be delivering a Keynote lecture at the World Conference on Regenerative Medicine being held in Leipzig, Germany October 23-25th. The Conference is considered one of the worlds largest and most influential events in stem cells and regenerative medicine, and provides a platform that brings scientists with an academic, clinical and industrial background together. Dr. Lanzas Lecture, entitled ES and iPS Cells Moving into the Clinic, will take place at 9:00 a.m. at the Congress Center Leipzig.

The World Conference will, as in past years, encompass a broad range of topics in regenerative medicine from biomaterials to biomarkers as well as regulation and stem cell technologies. The organizers expect more than 1,000 attendees and hundreds of papers with ground-breaking scientific insights and new results. Furthermore, the conference will host a large exhibition where international researchers and biotechnology companies can demonstrate the reach of current technologys translation and the implementation of research in products. In addition to Dr. Lanzas Keynote Lecture, the Conference will include presentations on cell and immunotherapy, stem cells, cell and tissue engineering, biomaterials and tissue interaction, models of regeneration, molecular mechanisms of regeneration, diagnostic and imaging of regeneration, and regulatory affairs.

About Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. is a biotechnology company applying cellular technology in the field of regenerative medicine. For more information, visit http://www.advancedcell.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release regarding future financial and operating results, the relevance and applicability of clinical trials in animals to studying the effect of products in humans, future growth in animal and human research and development programs, potential new applications of and expanded indications covering our technology, the effects of donorless sources of stem cells on potency and the risk of communicable diseases in the manufacturing context, the existence and size of potential or existing market opportunities for the company, the effect of the companys products on the medical needs and quality of life of pets, and any other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates, and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: limited operating history, need for and limited sources of future capital, failures or delays in obtaining regulatory approval of products, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, reliance on new and unproven technology in the development of products, protection of our intellectual property, and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the companys periodic reports, including the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2013. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the companys management at the time they are made, and the company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions, expectations, or other circumstances should change. There can be no assurance that the Companys clinical trials will be successful.

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Stem Cells Therapy